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The Scottish Government has given local authorities the flexibility to co-ordinate food provision to families eligible for free school meals, during the school summer holidays, in any manner which they feel best meets the local needs and circumstances of all eligible families within their respective areas. Local authorities have made provision through a variety of methods including providing eligible families with direct cash payments; supermarket or shop vouchers; delivering food items directly to the homes of eligible families; and providing food at local hubs for collection.

The provisions set out in The Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2008 apply only to food which is served in schools, however we would encourage that healthy and nutritious meal options continue to be provided to eligible families during the school summer holidays where local authorities are providing food items directly to eligible families.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-31038 on 13 August 2020. The Scottish Government has given local authorities the flexibility to co-ordinate food provision to families eligible for free school meals, during the school summer holidays, in any manner which they feel best meets the local needs and circumstances of all eligible families within their respective areas.

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/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

The Care Inspectorate is responsible for the inspection and regulation of care homes in Scotland. In 2018 and 2019, the Care Inspectorate published quality frameworks for care homes for older people and care homes for adults. The provision of food and drink that meets residents’ needs and wishes is considered during the inspection of care homes and is a key focus of Quality Indicator 1.3: People’s health benefits for their care and support.

The Care Inspectorate publishes all inspection reports on its website.

The Care Inspectorate have produced Eating and Drinking Well in Care: good practice guidance for older people, published 2018. This collaborative resource provides information on older peoples dietary needs and related food and fluid requirements, referring to a food first approach and key messages to highlight the importance of a creative approach when encouraging people to eat and drink.

The Care Inspectorate has also worked with the Royal College of Speech and Language therapists and Scottish Care to co-produce guidance for people with eating, drinking and swallowing needs which includes examples of good practice. This guidance was published in 2020.

Both of these documents help inspectors to assess the quality of care being provided but also support care home providers to better understand and implement good quality care.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring information on the Covid-19 epidemic in Scotland is available to the public. Information cannot be released if it is potentially disclosive – that is, if there is a risk that individuals could be identified. Therefore, the geographies at which we report must represent a large enough population that individuals cannot be identified.

Public Health Scotland released a dashboard on 29 July 2020 that shows information at the level of local authority. The dashboard can be accessed at https://public.tableau.com/profile/phs.covid.19#!/

Local authorities and third sector organisations have shown leadership in coordinating responses to food insecurity throughout the pandemic with support from The Scottish Government’s Food Fund. The additional £27.6 million announced for the summer holidays sits within a package of over £110 million invested to tackle food insecurity during this time.

Our Food Fund Guidance has given local authorities flexibility to meet the needs of their communities. We are regularly engaging with local partners to understand how support is being delivered and share best practice. Our approach has been commended by the Poverty and Inequality Commission and our local partners have noted how much value has been added through direct collaboration – we want to bank this good policy and practice.

To do that, on 9 June, the Scottish Government announced the creation of a Social Renewal Advisory Board, underpinned by a series of policy circles including one on access to food. The Board aims to build on the shifts in policy and practice that we have seen as a result of working across portfolios and in partnership with frontline service deliverers in local government, the third sector and communities. It will focus on reducing poverty and disadvantage, embedding a human-rights based approach and advancing equality.

The Scottish Government already takes a human rights approach to tackling food insecurity by promoting the living wage and through the design and delivery of our new Scottish social security system. We have continued to promote a cash first response to food insecurity where appropriate, and have more than doubled the value of the Scottish Welfare Fund to support this. We are putting money in the pockets those who need it, enabling access to nutritious food, and supporting people to maintain a healthy and balanced diet.

Beyond this, the National Taskforce for Human Rights Leadership will also be exploring a new statutory human rights framework for Scotland and is currently considering the approach it will take to specific rights. In doing so, it will cover civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including measures to protect against poverty.

The Scottish Government is deeply concerned by reports from England and Wales suggesting that minority ethnic communities are disproportionally affected by COVID-19.

To ensure we better understand the risks and impacts of Covid-19 on ethnic minority communities, work is already underway to improve the data and wider evidence including the recent analyses from National Records of Scotland and Public Health Scotland .

Additionally we have set up an Expert Reference Group (ERG), chaired by Ima Jackson (Senior Lecturer in the School of Health and Life Sciences at Glasgow Caledonian University) and Vittal Katikireddi (Senior Clinical Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow and honorary Consultant at Public Health Scotland).

We want to ensure that we have an accurate understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on minority ethnic communities in Scotland, and that our policy responses reflect this. In this respect, there is also a need to work on improving existing systems and processes, and analysing what we know. At the same time, we know that COVID-19 has exposed and highlighted the deep-rooted health and socio-economic inequalities that minority ethnic communities face, and the systematic failures to address these issues. The Government recognises that we have an opportunity to make fundamental and lasting changes to address these inequalities. We have asked the ERG to provide their advice and recommendations on these issues to the Government quickly.

In partnership with COSLA, the Scottish Government is continuing to consider every option to ensure that local authorities have the financial support and financial flexibility to produce balanced budgets in 2020-21.

The Scottish Government have requested urgent clarification from the Chancellor of the Exchequer around the UK Government schemes to reimburse council for lost income and to allow council tax and business rates tax deficits to be repaid over three years instead of one. The UK Government also announced an apportionment of irrecoverable council tax and business rate losses between central and local government for 2020 to 2021 will be considered as part of this year's Spending Review and we have requested further details on how this will affect Scotland's local authorities.

The Scottish Government, working in partnership with COSLA, will continue to press the UK Government for additional financial support and fiscal flexibilities for both the Scottish Government and local authorities and would welcome any support this parliament can provide in this respect.

The Scottish Government has committed to making consequentials available to support the response to Covid-19 across public services, including local government.

The Scottish Government is currently in discussions with COSLA regarding the additional consequentials and additional funding flexibilities announced by the UK Government.

The Scottish Government have also requested urgent further details from the UK Government on the new scheme to reimburse lost income and how the fiscal flexibilities around council tax and business rates can be applied to councils in Scotland.