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The Scottish Government welcomes the Setting the Bar report and will consider and discuss the findings with its partners to inform and develop future social work workforce policy. Social workers make a highly skilled, unique and valuable contribution to supporting individuals and families across Scotland. We acknowledge the significant pressures social workers face around increasing workloads, staff shortages and the more complex needs of those they support – all of which have been exacerbated by COVID.

Social workers are primarily employed by local authorities. It is the responsibility of local authorities to plan their workforce and ensure they have the appropriate levels of staff in place to provide social services for their residents. The Scottish Government has already announced additional investment of £25m, as part of the 2022-23 Budget, to relieve pressure on the adult social care sector and to ensure care can be delivered safely to those who need it. As agreed by COSLA Leaders, £22m of funding from the Scottish Government was distributed based on grant aided expenditure for adult social work for 2022-23. Local authorities have the flexibility to use it in accordance with their local needs, to increase and/or retain the capacity of the social work workforce, to respond to the current pressures.

This is on top of the additional £25m funding that has already been invested by the Scottish Government to support the training of social workers over the last 5 years. In addition, between 2021 – 2023, the Scottish Association of Social Work is receiving funding of £200,000 to provide a peer support service covering a range of issues, including wellbeing and resilience.

The recently published National Care Service (Scotland) Bill will establish a new National Social Work Agency, which will support the social work profession in a range of areas, including: workforce planning and education.

Considering the findings of the report, the Scottish Government will continue to work with COSLA and other stakeholders to look at how social workers can be supported while they undertake their vital work across our communities.

The Scottish Government welcomes the Setting the Bar for Social Work in Scotland report and will consider and discuss the findings with its partners to inform and develop future social work workforce policy. Social workers make a highly skilled, unique and valuable contribution to supporting individuals and families across Scotland. We acknowledge the significant pressures social workers face around increasing workloads, staff shortages and the more complex needs of those they support – all exacerbated by COVID.

Social workers are primarily employed by local authorities and it is the responsibility of local authorities to plan their workforce and ensure they have appropriate levels of staff in place to provide social services for their residents.

The Scottish Government’s investment of £25m, announced as part of the 2022-23 Budget, was additional funding to relieve pressure on the adult social care sector to ensure care can be delivered safely to those who need it. £22m of funding was distributed based on grant aided expenditure for adult social work for 2022-23, as agreed by COSLA Leaders, and will be used to employ additional social workers or associated social work assistants or support staff – with the clear purpose of adding to the capacity of the social work workforce to respond to the current pressures.

The recently published National Care Service (Scotland) Bill will establish a new National Social Work Agency, which will support and invest in the social work profession by providing national leadership, and overseeing and supporting social work in a range of areas, including workforce planning.

In May 2022 the Scottish Government established a short-life working group to provide analytical expertise and insight into the impacts of the cost of living crisis. Part of the purpose of the group is to assess the impact on priority groups in particular, including unpaid carers, who were identified as a sub-group of low income households likely to be disproportionately impacted. Input from partners forms part of the evidence, informing policy responses to cost-of-living increases. The outputs from this working group have been used for internal briefing purposes, including preparing a paper to inform discussions at Cabinet. The material has also informed discussions with the UK Government on cost of living.

The Scottish Government’s 2022-23 budget has allocated almost £3 billion to a range of support that will help mitigate the impact of the increased cost of living on households, including those of unpaid carers. This consists of work to tackle child poverty, reduce inequalities and support financial wellbeing, alongside social security payments not available anywhere else in UK.

To keep pace with rising costs, the Scottish Government has increased eight Scottish benefits by 6%, including Young Carer Grant and Carer's Allowance Supplement, through an investment of £4.6 million in 2022-23, and continues to urge Westminster to match efforts and increase the level of support for unpaid carers, including ensuring that unpaid carers not on Universal Credit also benefit from the UK Government’s cost of living payments.

Carers in Scotland continuously in receipt of Carer’s Allowance have received over £2,520 more than carers in England since 2018, through an investment of £188 million following the introduction of the Carer’s Allowance Supplement. Each carer received a further £245.70 on 10 June 2022.

The Scottish Government engages regularly with unpaid carers and carer representative organisations to better understand carers’ lived experience. This ongoing engagement informs decision making with the aim of improving the support available for carers. The Scottish Government funds Carers Scotland, which has produced a number of reports on the various impacts of caring, including financial.

We will publish a Carers Strategy which will set out a cross-government approach to carers’ financial inclusion including through social security policies, the Scottish Welfare Fund, action on fuel poverty and supporting carers in employment and education.

As we discussed in our meeting of 24 March and in my letter to you of 19 May, skills recognition is central to Scottish Government’s just transition ambitions, and is also set out in the North Sea Transition Deal. You will be aware that on 24 May OPITO published the People and Skills Strategy and the first of five Action Plans, which is focused on Aligning Offshore Standards. This work is supported by the Skills Passport Industry Steering Group which meets monthly, providing insight and sharing information to support the development of a Skills Passport. A range of energy industry organisations are represented on the Steering Group, ensuring different needs and perspectives across the industry are represented.

This must be an initiative led by industryand taken forward in partnership with the workforce. OPITO continue to engage with stakeholders, including the offshore unions. The Aligning Offshore Standards Action Plan, which includes key activities and timescales, was supported by unions at a recent meeting of the North Sea Transition Deal Delivery Group, attended by UNITE. The North Sea Transition Deal Delivery Group will continue to oversee delivery of the Deal commitments, including oversight of the Strategy and Action Plans.

The Scottish Government welcomed the Setting the Bar report and its findings will inform future policy decisions. Social workers make a valuable contribution to supporting individuals and families across Scotland. Social work professionals need to have the time to build relationships and trust, undertake person-centred assessments, plan for the future and arrange or provide appropriate support. We acknowledge the significant pressures social workers face around increasing workloads, staff shortages and the more complex needs of those they support – all of which have been exacerbated by COVID.

Social workers are primarily employed by local authorities and it is the responsibility of local authorities to plan their workforce and ensure they have the appropriate levels of staff in place to provide social services for their residents. To aid with this, the Scottish Government provided additional funding of £25m, announced as part of the 2022-23 Budget, to relieve pressure on the adult social care sector to ensure care can be delivered safely to those who need it. As agreed by COSLA Leaders, £22m of funding was distributed based on grant aided expenditure for adult social work for 2022-23, It will be used to employ additional social workers or associated social work assistants or support staff – with the clear purpose of adding to the capacity of the social work workforce to respond to the current pressures.

The recently published National Care Service (Scotland) Bill will establish a new National Social Work Agency, which will support social work in a range of areas, including: workforce planning and social work terms and conditions.

Considering the findings of the report, the Scottish Government will continue to work with COSLA and other stakeholders to look at how social workers can be supported while they undertake their vital work across our communities.

Transport Scotland is currently progressing through the necessary governance procedures and whilst the Scottish Government remains committed to taking the project forward, procurement will commence when sufficient funding is available to support its construction.

It is standard practice for projects of this scale and nature to follow necessary and robust governance approval procedures and I refer the member to the letter issued by Transport Scotland dated 17 November 2021 confirming details of these procedures.

I met with South Ayrshire Council prior to the Local Elections to discuss their ongoing obligations in relation to the Station Hotel at Ayr Station. The Ayr Station Strategic Governance Group met on the 1st June where positive discussions around the progress of the project took place and it is expected that the Options Review report will be published by the Group in the coming weeks.

According to the latest published statistics (April 2022) there were 2953 electric vehicle charge points in Scotland at this time. This figure includes 2257 from ChargePlace Scotland, Scotland’s publicly funded electric vehicle charging network.

As our joint ASL action plan shows, the Scottish Government, COSLA and the Association of Directors of Education (ADES) are committed to including and involving children and young people in policy development, including those from armed forces and veteran’s families.

This includes publication last year of the vision statement for success for children and young people with additional support needs which was created by young people from the Young Ambassadors for Inclusion network with the support of ASLIG.

Work is also progressing to develop a measurement framework, seeking to value and increase visibility of the diverse achievements that young people achieve and develop a mechanism to ensure that these are fully recognised and celebrated.

We are working closely with the ADES National Transitions Officer, Forces Families Federations and other third sector partners to ensure that the children and young people from armed forces and veterans’ families are included in this on-going work.

We have also provided funding to Forces Children Scotland through this year’s Scottish Veterans Fund. This will support their Mindful Connections work exploring the lived experiences of veterans’ families, including children and young people, with the aim of enhancing their transition into civilian life and integration into communities.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09748 on 27 July 2022. 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 .