Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-36501 on 23 April 2025. 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.

It is estimated that the Single Scottish Estate (SSE) Programme generated savings of £9.274m over the 2024-25 financial year. A total of £41m of savings and benefits has been secured by the SSE Programme overall.

We have consistently called for the UK Government to remove the two-child cap at source. Fixing a broken Universal Credit system would be the best way to alleviate the impacts of the pernicious two-child cap, however it is clear that despite repeated calls on them to do so, the Scottish Government can no longer wait for action. That is why we are taking decisive action as early as possible, using the limited social security powers that we have, to scrap the cap in Scotland. Our actions will result in an estimated 20,000 fewer children living in relative poverty in 2026-27.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission’s report on “Mitigating the two-child limit and the Scottish Budget” states, “it is likely that the proposed mitigation payments would not generate large behavioural responses over and above the ways that families may already have adapted to the Scottish Child Payment.”

Our own published analysis of how Scottish Child Payment interacts with the labour market concludes that it is not currently negatively affecting work incentives at scale in the economy.

However, we will continue to analyse the impact of Scottish Child Payment on work incentives, and of the two-child cap mitigation when it is introduced.

Extended producer responsibility for packaging ensures that producers take full responsibility for the environmental impacts of the packaging they place on the market. Existing costs for the management of packaging waste are transferred from taxpayers to producers.

The Scottish Government has considered the impact on businesses through the publication of a Full Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA)

Statistics on pensioner household income by UK country and English region are published by the Department for Work and Pensions. The median income for these households is presented in the following table.

Median weekly equivalised household income for pensioner households in £ (in 2023-24 prices), before housing costs

Extended producer responsibility for packaging (pEPR) fees are intended to incentivise producers to use less packaging and ensure packaging they do use is environmentally sustainable. It also ensures that producers take full responsibility for the environmental impacts of the packaging they place on the market, transferring these costs away from taxpayers.

Producers with an annual turnover less than £2m and 50 tonnes of packaging supplied are exempt from pEPR payments, but are required to report packaging data. This exempts approximately 70% of the UK's smaller producers from paying scheme fees.

Packaging within the scope of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (cans and PET plastic) is exempt from packaging EPR. The use of reusable/refillable packaging such as beer kegs or reusable bottles is also encouraged under pEPR, as producers are only required to report and pay disposal cost fees for household packaging the first time it is placed on the market, and can then offset these fees when they recycle this packaging at the end of its life, thereby avoiding the vast majority of pEPR fees.

An efficient waste management service is defined by the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024 as a waste management service where disposal costs are as low as reasonable possible, taking into account the waste management service provided by a local authority, and any other factors specific to that authority, or to the area in relation to which it exercises its waste management functions, which in the opinion of PackUK (the EPR scheme administrator) are likely to affect its disposal costs.

Effectiveness assessments of local authorities waste management services are carried out by PackUK. The assessment of whether a local authority is running an effective waste management service for household packaging waste will include the amounts of household packaging waste managed, and the proportions recycled, recovered or disposed of. It will also account for local authority specific factors including population density, accessibility, deprivation, and government policies in each nation, as well as other relevant factors. Metrics will be agreed between PackUK and local authorities.

If PackUK determines that a local authority is not providing an effective waste management service, they will give notice to the local authority and work with them to determine how the services could be improved. Only if a local authority is not doing everything they can be reasonably expected to do to improve its waste management service and has no mitigating circumstances, could they then be subject to a deduction of their payment up to 20%.

Effectiveness assessments can be brought in from 2026 if sufficient data is available to make assessments, but must be brought in by 2028.

We are very aware of the significant opportunity which AI presents in relation to the delivery of better and more efficient public services, and work in this area has been on-going since the launch of Scotland’s AI Strategy in 2021.

We also have a long standing commitment to listen to the people of Scotland and through our recent CivTech challenge process, focused on delivering innovative technical solutions to real world public service challenges, we have looked for technology to help us better reach and learn from citizens.

As a result, Comhairle is a new digital platform being developed by Scottish based technology company, CrownShy. Comhairle connects existing open-source civic technologies into a unified interface that will allow the Scottish Government to scale the number, scope and quality of its public dialogues, and guide users towards best public engagement practice.

We have been working closely with colleagues in the UK Government to help to trial and improve their AI driven Consult tool. Making use of Large Language Models (LLMs) Consult can expedite the identification and collation of consultation responses, facilitating a faster and more insightful response when dealing with large response volumes.

As well as being trialled by policy teams, our social research teams have offered their statistical and research expertise to help develop and improve the products output quality. Working as part of the pilot team for this product has allowed the Scottish Government to help contribute to the development of a tool which we hope will be able to be used across the public sector.

We are also making use of externally supplied AI driven consultation tools to help transcribe lengthy interviews and then to aid with the faster analysis of their out puts. By investing in these products we are able to free up staff time to focus more effort on developing our responses and actions rather than the administrative side.

All of these tools are being delivered with a strong focus on openness about situations where AI is being used, and an infrastructure which offers the strongest possible security and protection for our citizen’s data.

The Scottish Government recognise that people in rural areas, particularly those who are vulnerable, can experience particular challenges in relation to their mental health, wellbeing and social care support.

Decisions around the provision of mental health services are a local responsibility and are delivered through a mixture of NHS, local authority and third sector organisations. Mental Health services will vary depending the local population needs and will be guided by clinical decision making.

While we expect service decisions to be taken locally, we have invested £66 million in our Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults since 2021. The Fund has a strong focus on prevention and early intervention and prioritises a range of ‘at risk’ groups including those people disadvantaged by geographical location (particularly remote and rural areas) with over 900 awards being made to community projects supporting people disadvantaged by geographical location (including rural areas) since its inception.

Social care funding has been increased by this government to ensure quality care is delivered in Scotland. We expect all partners involved to work together for the benefit of people supported in care across Scotland and ensure the continuity of care for all those who need it.

While we are investing almost £2.2 billion for social care and integration we do recognise that there are particular challenges faced in rural areas such as the Highlands and despite substantial funding increases, significant these challenge remains – prevention, early intervention and reform remain critical to delivering an effective, efficient and sustainable health and social care system.

The Scottish Government, in collaboration with the enterprise network and UK Government, held exploratory discussions with local authorities last year to establish their interest in submitting an Expression of Interest to the AI Growth Zones opportunity. We subsequently wrote out to local authorities to notify them of the launch of the UK Government’s call for sites, encouraging them to participate in the initiative. 41 Scottish Expressions of Interest were received by the UK Government in the initial call. We will continue to engage with the UK Government on this welcome interest from Scottish Local Authorities with a view to establishing at least one AI Growth Zone in Scotland and securing the economic opportunities that brings.