Chamber and committees

The 2021-2022 Programme for Government includes a commitment to ‘begin work on establishing a ‘Percentage for the Arts’ scheme’, which would channel a small percentage of spending on all new public buildings and spaces into support for arts and culture.

We are currently in the initial stages of scoping this commitment, which requires us to take into account analytical, regulatory and legislative considerations. We expect to be able to share more information on this work in the coming months.

Providing consistent high quality personalised care for people living in care homes is a key priority for health and care services in Scotland. The Scottish Government is clear that anyone living in a care home who would benefit from access to NHS services should receive it. This includes access to care and support in relation to symptoms caused by long-term effects of COVID-19, where such services are clinically assessed to be in the best interest for their care.

The Scottish Government is currently working with people, families, the care home sector and other stakeholders to develop a framework for adults living in care homes. The Framework will seek to examine how the health and care of people living in care homes should be optimised, supported, and delivered, and to ensure that they receive the right care from health care professions at the right time and have access to the same level of involvement, choice and support for their health and wellbeing as if they were living in their own home. It will also aim to enhance the health of people living within a care home, improving the way we assess, monitor and respond to enduring and changing health and care needs through working with health and care professionals, health and social care partnerships and care home providers.

In addition, we have awarded the Care Inspectorate £95,000 to enable them to build on the learning from the Care About Physical Activity (CAPA) programme. The project will work across cares homes, care at home, housing support and day services for adults, with a focus on engaging people in physical and mental activities and movement in order to positively affect health and wellbeing.

As at the week beginning 11 April 2022, over 6300 non-hospitalised individuals had received COVID-19 treatments (oral antivirals or monoclonal antibody treatment) in Scotland since 22 December 2021.

Adults and children (aged 12 years and above) are eligible to be assessed for their suitability for new COVID-19 treatments if they:

? have symptoms of coronavirus that started in the last 5 days with no signs of clinical recovery;

? are a member of one of the patient groups considered at high risk from coronavirus and with a clinical condition prioritised for treatment; and

? coronavirus is confirmed by a positive lateral flow device (LFD) or PCR test.

Some COVID-19 positive individuals who meet the eligibility criteria will decide not to receive antiviral treatments, or may be unable to, for example due to other medications they are taking.

The information on those who were eligible for treatment and who received it within five days and those who did not receive it within five days is not held centrally.

The current suspension of abatement rules is directly linked to the period of pandemic response. The Scottish Government will keep the suspension of these rules under review, however, because public service pensions policy is only executively devolved to the Scottish Government, any extension to the suspended provisions would require the consent of the UK government.

The eligibility criteria for new COVID-19 treatments were developed by an independent expert working group commissioned by the UK Department of Health and Social Care, based on detailed clinical evidence. The criteria are set out in a UK-wide clinical commissioning policy . The policy targets those higher risk individuals who have the potential to both be least likely to generate a material immune response to vaccines and be at highest risk of disease progression, hospitalisation and death.

The UK Department of Health and Social Care has recently established an expert panel to provide advice to the UK Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) on which patient cohorts should be eligible for access to COVID-19 treatments, including whether changes should be made to which patient cohorts are currently eligible for direct access to antivirals to reduce the risk of hospitalisation. More information about the Therapeutics Clinical Review Panel, including how to submit an enquiry to the panel can be found online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/covid-19-therapeutics-clinical-review-panel

General information on the arrangements for direct access to COVID-19 treatments in Scotland can be found on NHS Inform .

The powers required to legislate in respect of company acquisition and ownership are reserved to the UK Parliament and, as such, the Scottish Government does not have the power to take action in this area. In addition recent legislative change in the UK via the National Security and Investment Act enables an increased screening of acquisitions in certain sectors on grounds, for example, of national security. This reflects similar change in EU legislation.

The Scottish Government and Enterprise Agencies therefore aim to work with businesses in Scotland, domestic and overseas owned, to ensure Scottish operations are not only secured here but opportunities for growth are pursued. Scotland has a highly supportive eco-system for early stage and high growth businesses with potential to scale. In a UK context Scotland is recognised by the Scale Up Institute as having a particularly supportive business eco-system for ambitious Scottish companies, with our Enterprise Agencies at the centre of a network based upon collaboration between public, private, third sector organisations and academic partners.

In support of this approach both our Inward Investment and Global Capital Investment Plans place maximum emphasis on securing good quality investment into Scotland aligning with our values as a nation and delivering our net zero economy supported by good green jobs. We will therefore continue to work closely with those Scottish and overseas-owned businesses and organisations with whom those values most closely align.

Scotland’s population is predicted to decline from 2028 and the ending of free movement has hindered our ability to attract and retain the people our communities, public services and economy needs. It is vital that we expand the advice and support available to people moving to Scotland, showcasing all that we have to offer.

Consequently, we have made a Programme for Government commitment to deliver a Migration Service which support those who have chosen to make Scotland their home. This service will build on existing resources focusing on two elements: attracting people from across the world to Scotland and ensuring that those who have moved have access to the information required to stay here. We are currently in the policy development phase of delivering the service which we anticipate will be operational in 2023-24.

This Government’s recent manifesto included a commitment to establish a Youth National Performing Company. Work will commence soon setting out what this will look like and how it could be achieved. I will write to the Member to provide her with an update as work progresses.

The Scottish Government provides regular funding of £150,000 to the Scottish Youth Theatre per year. In addition, we have provided £130,000 of additional support in 2021-2022. The Scottish Youth Theatre was also awarded funding from the Creative Scotland Cultural Organisations Recovery Fund to support their recovery from the pandemic.

Spending data on additional support for learning (ASL) is provided below. This data is collected from local authorities via the Local Financial Returns (LFR). In addition to 2020-21 expenditure data, figures for 2019-20 have also been provided due to revisions in LFR statistics since the response to S6W-00064 on 1 June 2021. These revisions reflect an upward revision in ASL spending reported by Aberdeen City, and a downwards revision in ASL spending reported by Renfrewshire local authority.

Local authorities are asked to provide this data in line with guidance to ensure returns are completed on a consistent basis to allow for a reasonable degree of comparability. However, these figures may be affected by variations in local accounting practices and education strategies. It is important to bear this in mind when making comparisons between local authorities and years.

Local authorities are asked to record all centrally funded ASL expenditure under Special Education, irrespective of where it is delivered. Decisions about prioritisation and budgets, including those for the provision of services for pupils with additional support needs, are a matter for individual councils. We recognise the challenges facing authorities in balancing their need to meet a wide range of statutory duties, local priorities and local circumstances.

Tables 1 and 2 show gross revenue expenditure on additional support for learning (ASL) education from 2020-21 and 2019-20 respectively, split by Pre-Primary, Primary, Secondary and Special Education.

Table 1 – 2020-21 ASL expenditure by Local Authority (£000)