Seòmar agus comataidhean

I would highlight that although we have overall responsibility for health and social care policy in Scotland, the statutory responsibility for delivering, commissioning, providing appropriate social care capacity at a local level lies with local authorities, NHS boards and Integrated Joint Boards. This includes the responsibility for these organisations to develop contingency plans for each service they commission or provide and to have robust plans in place should a service close. COSLA have provided guidance on how to manage a service closure and under procurement contracts, including the National Care Home Contract, providers are required to have appropriate business continuity plans in place.

However, we do understand that additional pressures have been brought to the sector by the decisions of the UK Government, such as the increase in employers National Insurance Contributions, changes to the social care visa system and salary threshold levels.

Safeguards are in place to support the sector with regulators, COSLA and the Scottish Government available to provide additional support where necessary. We will continue to provide targeted support to local areas through the Collaborative Support and Assurance Group, co-chaired by myself and the COSLA spokesperson on Health and Social Care, Councillor Kelly. COSLA also chairs the National Contingency Planning Group, which can be stood up in the event of a large-scale threat to the sector affecting more than one local authority.

The Scottish Government are undertaking a programme of work to understand and respond to the current financial viability pressures facing the care home and wider social care sectors, and identify where extra support, contingencies and mitigations may be required. This work has included collaboration with COSLA, sector partners and representative bodies. Work remains ongoing but is proceeding at pace.

The projections and warnings from Scottish Care are alarming, and we certainly understand that the current challenges facing the social care sector including the care home sector are significant. Additional pressures have been brought to the sector by the decisions of the UK Government, such as the increase in employers National Insurance Contributions, changes to the social care visa system and salary threshold levels.

The Scottish Government has increased investment into our Health & Social Care Sector, the 2025-26 Budget provides funding of £21.7 billion for Health and Social Care - an uplift exceeding consequentials and taking funding to record levels. Despite substantial funding increases, it’s clear that significant challenges remain.

While I recognise the seriousness of the risks faced by the social care sector, the projections from partners such as Scottish Care are the worst-case scenario. As stated, investment in the sector has increased, quite substantially, during a period in which pressures on public finances have been most acute.

Safeguards are in place to support the sector with regulators, COSLA and the Scottish Government available to provide additional support where necessary. We will continue to provide targeted support to local areas through the Collaborative Support and Assurance Group, co-chaired by myself and the COSLA spokesperson on Health and Social Care, Councillor Kelly. COSLA also chairs the National Contingency Planning Group, which can be stood up in the event of a large-scale threat to the sector affecting more than one local authority.

But we do take these warnings seriously, and the Scottish Government are undertaking a programme of work to understand and respond to the current financial viability pressures facing the care home and wider social care sectors, and identify where extra support, contingencies and mitigations may be required. This work has included collaboration with COSLA, sector partners and representative bodies. Work remains ongoing but is proceeding at pace.

In regards to part A of the question, the best source for care home closure data sits with the Care Inspectorate (CI) via their ‘service cancellations and registrations publication’. The most recent version was published on 22 January 2025, which you can access via the link below

https://www.careinspectorate.com/images/documents/7934/CI_Stats_Report_RegCanxQtr3_24_25.csv

37 care home services have cancelled their registration with CI since the start of 2024, according to this most recent report. This includes care home services for older people, children & young people, mental health, alcohol & drugs misuse, learning disabilities and respite services.

In order to see those services that have been cancelled you can look at the cancelled services column the publication table.

It is important to note that often the services listed will most likely have been reopened under a different business name and care service number since this data was released. Over the same period, there have been 30 registered care homes services, you can view this in the registered services columns in the same table.

In regards to Part B, to understand the care home services that are at risk of closure you can look at the RAD score – current Scrutiny Assessment Tool (SAT) score, High-Medium-Low – for each service which is available on the Care Inspectorate data store publication. The most recent one was published on 28 February

https://careinspectorate.com/images/documents/8039/MDSF_data_28%20February%202025.xlsx

The SAT is a trigger tool to identify indicators of potential concerns in services. The SAT was developed using feedback from staff, information from our enforcement review, intelligence and learning from the pandemic and the Hull early indicators of concern (which has been widely adopted by the health and social care sector). It only provides a picture of the services that have been inspected, rather than all care homes in the country.

Patient safety is of the utmost importance and everyone in Scotland has the right to expect high quality, safe, and appropriate healthcare. NHS Forth Valley is responsible for assessing patient safety risks in its mental health facilities, including those posed by ligature anchor points, and for taking appropriate local action.

Oversight of the safety and quality of mental health inpatient services, including aspects of the built environment, is supported by intelligence-led, risk-based inspections carried out by Healthcare Improvement Scotland. Where concerns are identified, Healthcare Improvement Scotland will consider whether these should be escalated to the Scottish Government or Ministers.

Relevant issues may also be considered through cross-agency forums involving mental health scrutiny bodies and the Health and Safety Executive, depending on the nature of the concern.

The quarterly review which forms part of the Scottish Government’s Assurance cycle to ensure public bodies are operating efficiently and effectively includes an assessment of performance and identifies any areas that may require to be monitored.

The question does not reference the actual public satisfaction survey. The most recent survey, the British Social Attitudes survey report is for the whole of the UK. It does not have a particular locus for dental services in Scotland.

The Member is instead referred to Official statistics from Public Health Scotland at: NHS dental data monitoring report - Quarter Ending December 2024 - NHS dental data monitoring report - Publications - Public Health Scotland

The most recent findings show that in February, over 4.1 million courses of treatment were delivered to Scotland patients in 2024 under the new payment system, and over 900,000 patients were seen by an NHS dentist in the last quarter of 2024. This shows that the significant and continuing investment made in NHS dentistry is supporting high volumes of patient access to NHS care and delivering on our aims to sustain NHS dental services.

We also remain the only country in the UK to offer free dental examinations for everyone in Scotland, ensuring that cost is not a barrier to accessing care.

The Scottish Government is aware of the increased number of fires linked to lithium-ion batteries, as highlighted by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS). Lithium-ion battery use has increased, particularly as we transition to net zero emissions, and it is important to ensure proper use, storage, disposal and recycling of these batteries as highlighted by SFRS in their recent public awareness campaign on this issue.

SFRS continues to work in collaboration with key partners to ensure the highest level of preparedness for potential incidents involving lithium-ion batteries. In the event of incidents involving these batteries in domestic premises or in recycling facilities, SFRS have the ability to deploy a range of resources that can be utilised by the highly skilled crews to successfully bring incidents to a safe conclusion

Scottish Government officials and Ministers are in continuous dialogue with the UK Government about USA tariff barriers and we support all efforts to find mutually beneficial resolutions that are in the interests of Scotland. We have been clear that we need to see bold and decisive action from the UK Government that reflects the uncertainty that is being felt by business and families at this time.

We are also working closely with the UK Government’s Department for Business and Trade on its programme of Trade and Economic Cooperation with individual US States, to reduce trade barriers and advance trade and investment opportunities for the UK and Scotland.

The information requested is not held centrally. However, data are available that show of the university spin-out companies formed in Scotland less than 5% have registered trading addresses out with Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer provided in S6W-36463 on 29 April 2025 with reference to this question.

NHS Forth Valley is responsible for assessing patient safety risks in its mental health facilities, including those posed by ligature anchor points, and for taking appropriate local action. Local governance arrangements within each Health Board should include clear oversight, regular reporting, and continuous improvement in line with national guidance and patient safety standards.

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