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Funding for Autism Understanding Scotland has been provided from the Mental Health budget, with a proportion of this being issued via Inspiring Scotland’s Increasing Understanding of Autism Programme.

In 2021-22 and 2022-23, the Scottish Government has invested £400,000 in this programme, which has provided support to around 2,000 people.

A financial modelling exercise for the cost of re-opening the Independent Living Fund (ILF) 2015 Fund was carried out for the Independent Review of Adult Social Care (IRASC) and explored the number of people in receipt of care packages over a range of support costs. This analysis suggested £32 million per annum was required to re-open the ILF 2015 Fund based on an indicative care package value of £600 per week.

Subsequently the SG undertook further analysis to better understand the data relating to the costs of care packages offered by Local Authorities (LAs). This identified significant variations in how these costs are recorded and therefore uncertainty around likely costs of reopening the ILF 2015 Fund. Work is ongoing to improve social care data more broadly to support the establishment of the National Care Service in Scotland.

Funding for the Independent Living Fund (ILF) Scotland is transferred each year to ILF Scotland to meet existing commitments to the current ILF population under the ILF Scotland policy framework. These policies are set by Ministers and can be found on the ILF website: ILF Scotland Policies | ILF Scotland .

The Scottish Government receives £53.3 million per year from the UK Government to help maintain support for the former ILF/UK population transferred in July 2015. The following table shows the funding allocated by SG to ILF Scotland annually since the first full financial year of 2016-17. In addition, the annual outturn of ILF Scotland can be found within their published accounts (linked here: ILF Scotland Annual Accounts )

Unused recipient funds, including those in consequence of the death of recipients, are returned to ILF Scotland who in consultation with SG officials, decide whether to use it for spending priorities associated with ILF or to offset ILF Scotland’s monthly drawdown on its annual funding allocation. In the past funds have been used to cover the cost of Scottish Living Wage uplifts for personal assistants employed by ILF recipients, reductions in contributions from recipients towards the cost of their support and a Digital Transformation for ILF Scotland IT systems.

The tuition fee rates for first full-time undergraduate degrees in Scotland are £1,820.

Tuition fees in England and Wales can be up to £9,250 and £9,000 respectively.

Scottish Government has made no recent assessment of the merits of introducing national guidance on liver disease to address the specific epidemiology of liver disease in Scotland.

However, there are policy initiatives to address the main risk factors associated with chronic liver disease, such as alcohol use, obesity and hepatitis C.

These policy initiatives include Minimum Unit Price for alcohol, Scotland’s diet and healthy weight delivery plan to address obesity and effective elimination of hepatitis C by 2024.

The information requested relates to Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) operational data and is not held by the Scottish Government. This is an operational matter for the SQA and I have asked the Chief Executive to write to you.

Yes, third sector organisations are still able to receive funding through the National Drugs Mission. This might be direct funding from the Scottish Government, via Corra, or as a result of local commissioning by ADPs.

As noted in the reply to S6W-19672, five organisations have contacted The Scottish Government on the presence or suspected presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete within their building estate.

At this time, the following public sector buildings are reported to us as partially or fully closed:

We are engaging with public sector organisations to seek reassurance of both their awareness and any action identified on this issue. Building owners and employers are responsible for managing the condition of buildings within their ownership or control, including duties under health and safety legislation to maintain a safe workplace.