Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14838 on 9 March 2023. 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 Statutory Guidance for the Scottish Welfare Fund sets out the responsibilities for Local Authorities in their administration of the Fund, including promotion and raising awareness across all potentially eligible individuals. This includes providing information on the Fund and making clear guidance available on how to apply for a grant. Local Authorities are also required to ensure that other services which have contact with people in crisis have up to date information about the Fund, including promotional posters and leaflets.

As recently indicated by the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government in correspondence to the Committee for Social Justice and Social Security, the Independent Review of the Scottish Welfare Fund is due to publish soon and will inform next steps across a range of areas, including accessibility and promotion.

Despite the system wide pressures, health boards continue to deliver a primary care out of hours service for the provision of urgent care when GP Practices are closed. Although the 2022 OOH workforce survey showed a decrease of around 97 whole time equivalent GP’s working in the service, it should be noted that the data collection was incomplete with not all Health Boards providing full returns so this figure should be approached with caution as it is not directly comparable with data from previous surveys.

It is also important to note the increased number of other professions which reflects that this service is now provided using a multi-disciplinary model which includes nurses, advanced nurse practitioners and paramedics.

The Scottish Government has continuous contact with Health Boards and has recently engaged with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde on the provision of their Out of Hours services.

Despite the system wide pressures, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde continue to deliver a primary care out of hours service for the provision of urgent care when GP Practices are closed. Although the figures published on 14 February 2023 report a decline in the number of GPs working in the service it is important to note that this service is now provided using a multi-disciplinary model which includes nurses, advanced nurse practitioners and paramedics.

Additionally, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde has advised that in the past 6 months they have successfully recruited 15 salaried doctors to the Out Of Hours service. The Board has provided assurance that this will increase the level of stability going forward.

The Scottish Government welcomed Audit Scotland’s report, which provided useful lessons which we are already implementing through successor schemes to the NPD and hub models which the report considered. These schemes allowed us to deliver much needed new schools, new NHS facilities, new colleges and other key infrastructure that would otherwise not have been possible. They also provided a significant boost to the Scottish economy at a time of constrained private sector investment.

The eleven main recommendations in the Audit Scotland report are in included within the following tables along with accompanying Scottish Government comments.

The Scottish Government should:

The Learning Estate Investment Programme’s (LEIP) outcomes-based funding model was designed by Scottish Government, Local Government and Scottish Futures Trust (SFT). The funding model was established to support the implementation of the Learning Estate Strategy which was produced was produced collaboratively by Scottish Government and Local Government. The concepts, principles and outcomes for the LEIP, as well as the mechanics of the funding model, were agreed in workshops between Scottish Government, Local Government and SFT, under the governance of an investment programme board which was co-chaired by Scottish Government and COSLA.

The use of the LEIP funding model and the associated outcomes have been ratified by COSLA Leaders, and further information on the mechanics of the model are published and available on SFT’s website.

The LEIP board, which meets quarterly, is co-chaired by Scottish Government and COSLA. The board has membership and representation from Scottish Government, COSLA, SOLACE, Local Authority networks and SFT. This governance structure provides oversight and direction to the LEIP - including on the outcomes to be measured, the assessment process for projects and the funding model - as the programme has developed.

We continue to engage with local authorities on an ongoing basis, including workshops on the funding model for each phase of the LEIP, and dedicated workshops with local authorities for each project.

The Learning Estate Investment Programme (LEIP) currently comprises of thirty-seven projects. One school project is complete and eight are currently in construction, with the remainder in development by the local authorities. Projects are delivered locally, with a central programme function consisting of design and technical expertise, as well as budget, programme and risk management to support the programme and continue to foster collaboration. Many of the projects are also working in collaboration with other aspects of the public sector with the inclusion of sports, community, NHS and Police Scotland facilities.

The LEIP is subject to the Gateway Review process. In relation to individual projects, post-project reviews and post-occupancy evaluations are required under the LEIP terms and conditions, learning from which will be collated and disseminated to understand if other elements of the programme can also be expanded across other sectors.

The funding model for LEIP has evolved from the concept of the Growth Accelerator model developed by Scottish Futures Trust and Scottish Government, and adapted for the Learning Estate. The aspects that have worked well from both the Growth Accelerator and Learning Estate models - particularly the premise that central funding is for the outcomes investment can achieve, rather than the investment itself - have then been used in the development of the Green Growth Accelerator model, which is currently in use.

The Scottish Government has provided local government with an additional £147.1 million capital funding in 2023-24. The maintenance of buildings and assets is the responsibility of individual local authorities and it is up to councils to manage their own budgets and allocate the total financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities.

Local authorities also have a range of powers enabling them to take action on buildings that fall into disrepair, such as the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 and Building (Scotland) Act 2003 (the Act). Section 28 of the Act gives local authorities powers to take action on defective buildings, this includes serving a notice to bring the building back into a reasonable state of repair having regard to its age, type and location.

Further support is made through the Place Based Investment Programme which aims to align place based investment, working collaboratively with local communities to deliver shared aspirations for their place. The programme includes investment of £140 million over the course of the parliament to local authorities. This investment is expected to support delivery of our policy ambitions for place, 20-minute neighbourhoods, town centre action, community led regeneration, community wealth building and contribute to net zero. The funding can be used for example for the repurposing of buildings, maintenance and repairs, reallocating external space and community led land acquisition.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that numbers of teachers and support staff are protected. We will provide local government with £145.5 million in next year's budget, which is conditional on the successful delivery of the following objectives:

• Maintaining teacher numbers at 2022 census levels, as published in the Summary School Statistics in December 2022.
• Maintaining pupil support staff numbers at 2022 census levels, which we will publish on 21 March 2023 based on the data collected from local authorities in September 2022.
• Ensuring that places remain available for probationer teachers who need them through the Teacher Induction Scheme.

Where these objectives are not being met, the Scottish Government reserves the right to withhold or recoup funding which has been provided for this purpose.