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More than £711 million has been spent in the last five financial years to mitigate the effects of UK Government policy. It included investment in Discretionary Housing Payments, the Scottish Welfare Fund, money advice services, and Universal Credit Scottish choices.

The Scottish Government uses Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) to fully mitigate the bedroom tax and we have recently provided funding to mitigate the benefit cap as far as is possible within devolved powers. DHPs are also used to support those affected by the ongoing freeze to local housing allowance rates.

In 2023-24 we are making £83.7 million available to local authorities to spend on DHPs. Since 2018 (including 2023-24) we have invested over £452 million in DHPs, and a further £8.7 million to assist local authorities with the administration of the scheme.

The Scottish Welfare Fund (SWF) is an essential source of occasional support for those most in need. In 2023-24 we are investing £35.5 million in the SWF. Since 2018 (including 2023-24) we have invested over £210 million in the fund and a further £32 million to assist local authorities with the administration of the scheme.

From 2018 to late 2022, the Scottish Government allocated funding from its overall welfare and debt advice budget for advice relating to UK Government welfare reforms. From October 2022, this funding stream was brought together with previously separate funding streams to support the Money Talk Team service delivered by Citizens Advice Scotland. Since 2018, £6.58 million has been invested in money advice services specifically relating to UK Government welfare reforms.

Since 2017, the Scottish Government has been giving people in Scotland the choice to receive their Universal Credit award either monthly or twice monthly and to have the housing costs in their Universal Credit award paid directly to their landlord. Since 2018, the cost to the Scottish Government of providing these choices has been £0.8 million.

A breakdown of spend on Discretionary Housing Payments, the Scottish Welfare Fund, money advice services, and universal credit Scottish choices in the last five financial years and the current financial year is provided in the following table.

The purpose of the Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan scheme is to decarbonise heat in homes through installation of zero emissions heating systems, and reduce heat demand through energy efficiency measures, in support of the Scottish Government’s Heat in Buildings Strategy.

Recently we have seen a substantial increase in the number of applications received to the scheme. Much of this rise has been driven by a surge in applications for solar PV and energy storage systems, the majority of which are not installed alongside a zero emissions heating system and therefore do not contribute directly to decarbonisation of heat in homes.

So we have reviewed funding to ensure that we are focusing finite public funding in the ways which best support the Heat in Buildings strategy aims.

Solar PV and energy storage systems will continue to be funded through the scheme, but only where installed alongside a certified renewable heating measure (such as a heat pump) or where there is already one in place. As such, funding is being targeted at measures which will have the biggest impact on reducing emissions from heating homes.

Measures and funding offered through the Private Rented Sector Landlord Loan scheme are currently under review, but in the meantime, the conditions under which solar PV and energy storage are offered loan funding have been aligned with the HES Grant and Loan scheme.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of energy generated from solar in contributing to the decarbonisation of Scotland’s energy supply and to a just transition to net zero. This is why we have set out a draft vision for solar in Scotland, in the draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan 2023. The final solar vision will be published by the end of 2023.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission publish estimates and forecasts of eligibility and payments for Scottish Child Payment and Best Start Grant but only for Scotland. There are no estimates or forecasts of eligibility and take-up (the proportion of eligible children that receive payments) by area within Scotland. Their figures cannot be used to inform eligibility or take-up rates for East Kilbride specifically.

Social Security Scotland publish statistics for applications and payments for Scottish Child Payment and Best Start Grant by local authority areas (including South Lanarkshire) but not at constituency level and statistics for 2023-24 are not yet available.

However, internal Scottish Government analysis suggests around 5500 children in East Kilbride are eligible for Scottish Child Payment in 2023-24 and around 1000 for Best Start Grant. Of those, it is estimated around 4500 children will receive Scottish Child Payment and around 1000 children will receive Best Start Grant.

These figures have been rounded to the nearest five hundred to reflect the fact they are approximate estimates and use national level eligibility and take-up rates. We have not provided specific estimates for each Best Start Grant payment due to the uncertainty associated with such small numbers however the number of children eligible for Best Start Grant are expected to be roughly spread evenly across the three different payment types. Since Early Learning Payment and School Age Payment are paid automatically to eligible clients already receiving Scottish Child Payment but Pregnancy and Baby Payment is not, we would expect slightly fewer children to receive this payment than the other Best Start Grants. See Table 1:

Table 1: Estimated number of children in East Kilbride constituency forecast to be eligible for and receive Scottish Child Payment and Best Start Grant, 2023-24.

The Scottish Government received two reports in 2022, one jointly from NHS Fife and NHS Lothian and one jointly from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Ayrshire and Arran. The reports contain data on the number of women in threatened extreme preterm labour (labour at less than 27 weeks gestation) who were transferred from NHS Fife to NHS Lothian or from NHS Ayrshire and Arran to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in anticipation of the requirement for specialist neonatal care for their baby.

I refer the member to answer to question S6W-19519 on 27 July 2023.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

This is a matter for Public Health Scotland (PHS) and Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infection (ARHAI) Scotland, SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences for Scottish patients are analysed by the Bioinformatics team within PHS and evidence based guidance on IPC is provided by ARHAI Scotland. The information is not held centrally and I have asked them to respond separately.

Reviews for the Network Support Grant and National Concessionary Travel Schemes are being taken forward this financial year and are ongoing. The review of concessionary travel is one of the workstreams being progressed through the Fair Fares Review.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

SPS records the number of training interventions delivered rather than the number of staff who have received the training. The diverse range of individuals who have benefited from these interventions include both operational staff and members of the senior leadership team.

SPS Trauma-informed training is linked to a range of learning and development interventions for SPS staff. As of 10 July 2023, SPS has delivered 2608 trauma-informed training interventions to staff.

The Scottish Police Authority (SPA) did not refer itself to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. The SPA considered the Scottish Police Federation Deep Dive report in detail and was satisfied with the remedial actions put in place by Police Scotland. Since then, the SPA has approved Police Scotland’s Housing Strategy (2022) which aims to bring all of Police Scotland’s housing stock up to Scottish Government’s EESSH2 2032 standards over the next 3-5 years.

The condition of the police estate remains a high priority for the SPA, and it continues to scrutinise Police Scotland’s plans for the delivery of improvements, which support the delivery of the Police Scotland Estate Strategy.

(a) The Scottish Police Authority (SPA) considered the Scottish Police Federation’s (SPF) Deep Dive report in detail and was satisfied with the remedial actions which were planned and put in place by Police Scotland. The condition of the police estate remains a high priority for the SPA, and it continues to scrutinise Police Scotland’s plans for the delivery of improvements, which support the delivery of the Police Scotland Estate Strategy.

(b) Prior to the publication of the SPF report, Police Scotland had already commenced improvement works to these two properties in Dunoon. The properties were closed and residing officers were decanted to suitable temporary accommodation whilst the improvement works were underway.

Since then, the SPA has approved Police Scotland’s Housing Strategy (2022) which aims to bring all of Police Scotland’s housing stock up to Scottish Government’s EESSH2 2032 standards over the next 3-5 years.

Police Scotland is currently undertaking further work around its Dunoon housing requirements as part of delivering its Housing Strategy.