Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the social work workforce. We greatly value their contribution to supporting the most vulnerable in society, particularly throughout the pandemic.

Over the last five years, £25 million funding has been invested to support the training of social workers, including via postgraduate bursaries and support for practice-based learning. The postgraduate social work bursary scheme provides a contribution to the fees level set by universities.

There are other sources of funding that can be applied for. Full details of these can be found at www.saas.gov.uk and www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/Funding-Support-Grants

There are a range of social work degrees available from full-time undergraduate to in-work postgraduate courses. Social work courses are offered at nine universities across Scotland. More information can be found here: Studying social work at university - Scottish Social Services Council (sssc.uk.com)

As part of our ambition to increase access to the social work profession the Scottish Government is working with Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Social Services Council to explore the creation of a Graduate Apprenticeship in Social Work.

The Scottish Government is acutely aware of the importance that our social work workforce has on Scotland’s community, particularly in the lives of our most vulnerable individuals. In order to fully support our community, the capacity and skill level of our social workers is of vital importance.

Although no specific campaigns have been run to raise awareness of the potential to study in the social work field, social work degree courses are often found to be oversubscribed year on year. There are currently nine universities in Scotland who deliver social work programmes. The number of individuals applying for these courses continues to exceed the number of places available, with an overall increase of almost 100 individuals in the last three years. This is shown by 629 applications in 2018-19 versus 720 applications in 2021-22.

As part of their response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) on behalf of Scottish Ministers developed the Temporary Social Work Register. This was a public campaign which called for anyone who had left the social work profession in the last five years, as well as final year social work students, to re-join the field on a temporary basis to help alleviate some of the pressures which the pandemic caused. This initially encouraged an influx of almost 300 applications to re-join the sector, with many finding employment.

Whilst no public campaigns were run for employment specifically in the social work field, the Scottish Government has undertaken three phases of the ‘CaretoCare’ campaign, which encourages individuals into a career in Adult Social Care, therefore raising awareness for the social services sector as a whole.

Local authorities have discretion over whether they provide the £150 cost of living payment as a credit to the council tax accounts of eligible households or as a cash payment, with the overriding objective being that payments are made by the end of April 2022. Eligibility is not determined by the age of those present in the household but is based on whether the home is in council tax valuation bands A, B, C or D, or, in any council tax band and the household is in receipt of a council tax reduction. Additionally, certain types of household exempt from council tax are eligible to receive this payment, including where properties are unoccupied because the resident has gone to someone else's home to provide care or the resident receives care elsewhere .

Reducing health inequalities is a clear priority for the Scottish Government and one of the biggest challenges we face, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Providing people with the right support locally and connecting them to the right services is crucial if we are to improve their wealth and their health.

The SG established a Short Life Working Group (SLWG) in October 2020 in acknowledgement of the key role of Primary Care in relation to tackling inequalities. The purpose of the group was not to conduct an academic or systematic review of the literature but to draw on the expertise of a wide range of stakeholders with extensive experience in this field. The group has also worked closely with an expert reference group of people who have lived experience of suffering the impact of health inequality first hand.

The SLWG’s remit was to identify service improvements and actions specifically for Primary Care to help reduce health inequalities and improve health equity. The report of the Primary Care Health Inequalities SLWG can be accessed here: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781804351642 . It makes a series of recommendations which cover a range of short-term and long-terms actions, which will tackle health inequalities and inequity head-on in primary care settings and wider communities. These include actions to improve equalities data in general practice, strengthening the focus of inequalities through the GP contract and a new Enhanced Service for the first time focussed on activating practices’ full potential to proactively support vulnerable people at risk of poor health outcomes.

I intend to give detailed consideration to the recommendations made and implementation options. I also wish to place on record my sincere thanks to the SLWG and the Chance to Change Group, both of whom gave considerable time and energy to this key priority during Covid-19.

The number of flights operating between Scotland and Heathrow in the future will be determined by demand, capacity, and competition from airlines serving other global hubs and how successful Scotland is in growing direct international connectivity. Similarly the environmental impact of these flights will depend on the type of aircraft and fuel used, with aerospace companies aiming to develop the first zero-emission commercial aircraft by around 2035. Detailed forecasting has not yet been carried out in respect of the possible future scenarios due to the high level of uncertainty around the different variables, for example the long term impact of COVID-19 on travel patterns, including demand for air travel.

I refer the Member to the answer to question S6W-06655 on 14 March 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

The Scottish Government will invest £60 million to renew play parks in Scotland, so children have access to high-quality outdoor play in their own communities. This funding is for public, free-to-access parks and will be distributed to local authorities over the course of this parliamentary term.

In 2021-22, Glasgow City Council received £525,000 funding. For the financial year 2022-23, the Scottish Government and COSLA have agreed an allocation of £514,000 to Glasgow City Council to support the renewal of play parks. We wrote to all local authorities to confirm their second allocation of funding on 24 February 2022.

The Scottish Government has commissioned an independent evaluation to assess the effectiveness of the current approach to early medical abortion at home. The evaluation is being led by NHS Lothian, along with a number of academic experts. The Scottish Government will make a decision on the long-term future of early medical abortion at home once this evaluation has been completed. The Ministerial approval for early medical abortion at home in Scotland is currently being reviewed, with a view to enabling the current arrangements to be extended temporarily in order to allow them to continue until the evaluation has been completed and its findings have been considered.

Statistics on homelessness, based on administrative data, are collected by local authorities in the course of processing homelessness applications and for households in temporary accommodation. A limitation of this approach is that data is not collected for any households, including students, that are homeless but do not engage with their local authority. Data is available for a number of characteristics including age, gender and ethnicity but not in relation to those in full or part time in further and higher education. The Scottish government does not collect economic activity in the collection, some LAs may however collect the information for their own purposes but the extent of this is unknown. The latest statistics publication is available here: Homelessness in Scotland: 2020 to 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government has already started work on a Review of Purpose Built Student Accommodation which is running in parallel with the development of a Rented Sector Strategy both of which will inform a comprehensive Student Accommodation Strategy.

Tariffs are set by charge point owners, taking into account local demand and use, to cover a number of costs including electricity provided. In July 2021 Transport Scotland published a joint report with Scottish Futures Trust highlighting the importance of tariffs to attract private sector investment to expand the public charging network. In January we announced a new £60m fund to grow the public charging network in Scotland and, as part of this, our work with local authorities will consider the levels of tariffs required to ensure the public network is financially sustainable. In parallel, following a UK-wide consultation on consumer experience at public charge points last year, the Scottish Government is engaging with the UK Government Office for Zero Emission Vehicles on progress with development of regulatory powers related to electric vehicle charging tariffs and will keep outcomes of work in this area under review.