Seòmar agus comataidhean

If the member could share more detail on the specific concerns and services she is referring to then I would be happy to write directly to her.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10083 on16 August 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 is committed to continuing to invest in NHS dentistry in rural areas, which is why we have updated the Recruitment and Retention Allowance to reflect the particular challenges in attracting dentists to work in more remote areas.

Dentists, who meet all the requirements and are providing GDS in a Classification 1 area, will receive:

• £25,000 paid over two years, at £12,500 per annum, for dentists in sub-part A of the first part of a dental list;
• £12,500 paid over one year for dentists undertaking VT.

Dentists, who meet all the requirements and are providing GDS in a Classification 2 area, will receive:

• £15,000 paid over two years, at £7,500 per annum, for dentists in sub-part A of the first part of a dental list;
• £7,500 paid over one year for dentists undertaking VT.

The percentage of the population registered with a NHS dentist in Scotland is broken down by NHS Board rather than council area and is published by Public Health Scotland (PHS). As of September 2021, the percentage of patients who are not registered with a NHS dentist is as follows:-

Ayrshire and Arran

• 15.3% of children
• 1% of adults

Borders

• 14.6% of children
• 15.7% of adults

Dumfries and Galloway

• 13.7% of children
• 8.5% of adults

Lanarkshire

• 13.2% of children
• 0% of adults

Lothian

• 16.1% of children
• 7.9% of adults

Universal Credit is available as support for those unemployed and there are other benefits such as Employment Support Allowance (ESA) and Job Seekers Allowance (JSA), however these are all reserved to the UK Government. Furthermore Employment Law is also reserved to the UK Government and the Scottish Government has no powers over associated policies.

We have provided £240 million of additional investment over two financial years, and a further £145.5 million of permanent funding from April this year, to support the employment of additional teachers and support staff.

We will also fund 3,500 additional teachers and 500 support staff over this Parliamentary term – over and above the 1,400 teachers recruited during the pandemic.

We will continue to work closely with COSLA regarding the employment of teachers, to maximise the number of jobs available, including permanent posts.

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 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.

The Scottish Government has invested £25m, as part of the 2022-23 Budget, to relieve pressure on the adult social care sector. £22m of this funding was distributed based on grant aided expenditure, 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. Another £2m has been given to local authorities since 2019 to provide additional capacities for Mental Health Officers.

There are a range of social work degrees available from full-time undergraduate to in-work postgraduate courses. Since 2018, an additional two universities offer social work courses, which has resulted in nine universities offering courses across Scotland. More information can be found here: Studying social work at university - Scottish Social Services Council (sssc.uk.com)

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 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. We are also providing an extra £264,000 to Robert Gordon University and Open University to support distance learning courses.

As you have correctly stated, over the last five years, the Scottish Government has provided £25m to support the training of social workers by funding distributed by the Scottish Social Services Council. This includes approximately £2.7m per year for post-graduate bursaries and £2.4m per year support for practice-based learning to increase the number of entrants into the profession.

The Scottish Government has invested £25m, as part of the 2022-23 Budget, to relieve pressure on the adult social care sector. £22m of this funding was distributed based on grant aided expenditure, 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. Another £2m has been given to local authorities since 2019 to provide additional capacities for MHOs.

As part of our ambition to increase access to the social work profession the Scottish Government is also working with Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Social Services Council to explore the creation of a Graduate Apprenticeship in Social Work. We are also providing £264,000 to Robert Gordon University and Open University to support distance learning courses.

In regards to the number of social workers recruited and retained, this is not information the Scottish Government holds centrally. This would be a matter for local authorities. Please see the following table, which provides a breakdown of how many social workers are employed in local authorities. More information can be found at: Workforce data reports | Scottish Social Services Workforce Data (sssc.uk.com)

Table 1 – Number of social workers (up to December 2020)

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, and the business support staff that assist them, 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. 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. Local authorities have the flexibility to allocate Scottish Government funding based on their individual needs. The intention of the funding is to allow local authorities 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.

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 of which have been exacerbated by COVID.

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)

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 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, and is providing £264,000 funding to Robert Gordon University and Open University to increase their intake of students over the next 12 months.

Further, we are clear that a strong and well supported social work profession is key to delivering the aims set out in the Independent Review of Adult Social Care (IRASC) and the Promise and our commitment to set up a National Care Service (NCS) within the current Parliamentary session.

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

The Scottish Government will continue to work with COSLA and 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 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 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 by among other things, ensuring adequate retention schemes are in place.

The Scottish Government is scaling up work across Scotland to ensure a mandatory supported year for the first year in practice for Newly Qualified Social Workers. Work has also started on the development of an Advanced Practice Framework that will set out the structures which support social workers to progress through different career phases.

Our ambition is to raise the status of and ensure investment in the social work profession. This is to be delivered through our commitment to establishing the National Care Service and National Social Work Agency.

Considering the findings of the report, the Scottish Government will continue to work with COSLA and other stakeholders to help local authorities maintain appropriate workforce levels.