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COSLA and The Scottish Government published our Data Strategy for Health and Social Care which has committed to setting out the preferred information standards for use across Scotland’s health and social care sector. Scottish Government will seek to align with international and UK defined standards to facilitate interoperability and bring consistency to the ways in which clinical information is recorded. Work is progressing to implement SNOMED CT in health settings (with a new Ontology server now operational), alongside the recent implementation of ICD 11 codes in mental health. Furthermore, work is now underway to stand up a Data Standards board for Scotland’s health and care data in summer 2023.

Applications closed on the 15 January with 72 applications in total received. Following a rigorous panel selection 48 applicants were successful in obtaining a place on the programme. The MSc programme launched in March and is constructed to provide the 48 participants with the opportunity to achieve Certificate, Diploma, or Masters level accreditation as they progress. Programme participants represent 31 organisations across the health and care sector. The first module, 'Fundamentals of Leading Digital Transformation' commenced in April.

We are further modernising and expanding our Connect Me service to all primary care settings for management of hypertension. Over 70,000 people have now been supported through Connect Me to manage their blood pressure from home in Scotland with improved outcomes. It is estimated to have prevented more than 170,000 unnecessary appointments. We expect Connect Me for hypertension management to be operational in every Health Board in Scotland by the Autumn.

Scottish Government has established the £2,75m Digital Lifelines programme which aims to reduce drug-related harm and death. Significant cross-sector programme of work is well underway and will focus on inclusion, services and innovation. The next phase of the programme has begun and will be led by the Digital Health and Care Innovation Centre (DHI). More information is available here –

https://tec.scot/programme-areas/digital-lifelines-scotland

Digital skills resources for healthcare staff can be accessed on the dedicated Digital health & Care Section of the Turas Learning Platform: https://learn.nes.nhs.scot/2198 .

Social Security Scotland works with individuals and disability organisations to design services so that everyone who may be eligible for benefits understands how they can apply for and receive them.

Clients can apply in ways that suit them best either by paper or online application, by telephone or they can receive application support from our Local Delivery team who can arrange a face-to-face appointment in a client’s home, a community setting or video call.

We have tested every stage of the application process with people and are committed to making adjustments based on feedback.

Social Security Scotland is committed to continuously improving to deliver benefits for the people of Scotland based on dignity, fairness and respect.

The Scottish Government have been clear that any Investment Zones here must be a good fit for Scotland’s policy, economic and governance landscape; be well aligned to our National Strategy for Economic Transformation, our approach to regional economic policy, and our recently published innovation strategy, and; be taken forward jointly by the Scottish and UK Governments, and in close partnership between government and the relevant Regional Economic Partnerships.

SEPA will ensure that the Official Statistics for household waste which report against the national household waste recycling targets, will include DRS materials once it is implemented.

The DRS scheme has been delayed to October 2025 at the earliest. We are in the process of reviewing the existing guidance with a view to updating it in due course.

Asylum and immigration are entirely reserved to the UK Parliament and are handled by the Home Office, including provision of asylum accommodation for people who would otherwise be destitute while waiting for an asylum decision from the Home Office.

The Scottish Government has regular discussions with the Home Office and local authority representatives about asylum accommodation, including different types of contingency accommodation. We have been consistently clear that people seeking asylum should be accommodated in communities, with access to the essential support and services they need. The Scottish Government supports widening dispersal in principle, but believes that participation by local authorities should be voluntary. Funding for local authorities, introduced for the first time in 2022, is a positive step but this needs to be a long term commitment to make asylum dispersal more attractive and enable better support for people seeking asylum as well as local communities. Improved partnership working, data and information sharing are also needed. The Scottish Government is clear that the Home Office must engage with local authorities and COSLA on these matters.

As part of the UK Government’s plans to pursue alternative accommodation sites, the UK Immigration Minister spoke to Scottish Government and COSLA on 25 May.

In that meeting the Scottish Government was very clear that hotels and other forms of temporary accommodation, including vessels, are not suitable for people seeking asylum. It is not comparable to use for displaced people from Ukraine or other groups supported in temporary accommodation, because of fundamental differences in the rights and agency of people seeking asylum. While people are waiting for a decision on their asylum application they are restricted from working and have no recourse to public funds – a policy which prevents access to most mainstream benefits.

The Scottish Government was also clear that if the Home Office were to impose a vessel in Scotland they must: undertake a detailed risk assessment and engagement through the Asylum Partnership Board and local service providers in Scotland; fully engage the relevant local authority in this work; and that suitable funding is provided for local authorities and services to ensure that essential services are in place, people are supported appropriately and any impact on local services is minimal.

There are no current plans to publish correspondence in order to prevent substantial prejudice of relations between administrations and in the interest of maintaining the effective conduct of public affairs.

The Tax Advisory Group will build on the Scottish Government’s inclusive approach to tax policymaking. The group will be a key part of the achieving our ambitions for Open Government and greater engagement on tax policy and will be a long-term feature of how we engage on tax. Further details, including on the frequency of meetings, will be set out later this month. Minutes from the meetings will be published once agreed by the group.