Seòmar agus comataidhean

The weather conditions and condition of the vegetation on the hills and moors of Scotland at this time of year lend themselves to fires starting easily and spreading quickly. This is something the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) is very aware of, and has been working closely with a number of key partners on this for some time to establish a common understanding on the risk, prevention measures, and response procedures. Through the auspices of the Scottish Wildfire Forum (SWF), which SFRS chairs, a wildfire danger assessment is carried out every 5-7 days by a third party expert, and when the risk of wildfire reaches very high or extreme then the assessment is circulated across a wide network of key contacts, including public sector and private to ensure as wide a coverage as possible. This information is also used to produce a public facing message that is issued by SFRS across various media channels.

As stated in the response to the member to parliamentary question S6W-15750, climate change is identified as a strategic priority in the Scottish Government’s Fire and Rescue Framework for Scotland 2022. The Framework asks SFRS to continue to invest in the provision of specialist resources, technological advancements and forward thinking operational practices to enhance its response to wildfire incidents. It states that SFRS should continue to make use of local assets available to bolster its response during prolonged or widespread incidents such as wildfire.

We are already seeing warming here in Scotland, with more extreme weather events and rising sea levels. As a nation we must continue to adapt to these changes and prepare for the impacts of global climate change which are already locked in. The Scottish Government is responding to the full range of climate risks identified for Scotland through its 2019 Adaptation Programme, which sets out more than 170 policies and proposals to build resilience to the impacts of global climate change as part of our Just Transition to net zero emissions by 2045. We are also preparing our next Programme, in response to the most recent UK Climate Change Risk Assessment, for publication in 2024.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the average pay rates for care assistants across the private, public and third sector.

From April 2023, adult social care workers delivering direct care in commissioned services will see their pay increase to a minimum of £10.90 per hour; in line with the Real Living Wage rate for the 2023-24 Financial Year.

These are the minimum rates of pay for these workers and many providers choose to pay more than these minimums.

Information on the number of people receiving social care support has been collected by Public Health Scotland (PHS) and published as part of their Insights In Social Care publication since 2018. Prior to this, data was collected by Scottish Government through the Social Care Survey from 2013 – 2017.

Therefore, the change between 2016/17 and 2017/18 should be interpreted with caution due to the differences between data sources. However, PHS do produce an adjusted figure based on the same definitions used in the Social Care Survey that allows a longer term trend to be produced which has been used in the table below.

Data is available from 2014 onwards, as the same age breakdown is not available for 2013. Prior to 2013, there were separate surveys for Home Care and Direct Payments but no collection covering all social care services. Figures may not sum to all ages exactly due to rounding.

Table 1: The estimated number of people in Scotland receiving social care support by age, 2013-14 – 2021-22

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the average pay rates for social care staff across the private, public and third sector.

From April 2023, adult social care workers delivering direct care in commissioned services will see their pay increase to a minimum of £10.90 per hour; in line with the Real Living Wage rate for the 2023-24 Financial Year.

These are the minimum rates of pay for these workers and many providers choose to pay more than these minimums.

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering a Net Zero, Wellbeing economy and a highly skilled workforce is critical to this ambition. Our National Strategy for Economic Transformation is clear that we must adapt our education and skills system to become more responsive and agile so that it can deliver on our key priorities.

The Scottish Government are committed to working with COSLA, ADES and our partners to deliver improvements in additional support for learning implementation and to ensure meaningful change for children and young people through our Additional Support for Learning Action Plan. The most recent ASL Action Plan update published in November 2022 confirms the progress made on this commitment, including that any updates will be made as part of the next review of the national performance framework.

Ministers are required by statute to review the National Outcomes within five years of their previous publication. The next statutory review of the National Outcomes is underway. Public consultation began on 14 March 2023 and the review is expected to conclude during term 3 of Parliament (2023-24).

The action plan update confirms that this work will be informed by the development of the national measurement framework. Work continues on the development of this, as was confirmed in the answer to question S6W-15807 on 22 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 Scottish Government will continue to report on the progress of implementation of the ASL Action Plan through formal progress reports. The next progress report is due to be published in May 2024.

Commercial waste zoning was included in our consultations on the Circular Economy Bill and the Waste Route Map and we are considering options in light of consultation responses and further research.

The Programme for Government committed the Scottish Government to bring forward a Circular Economy Bill in this Parliamentary year, at which point the content of the Bill will be made public. Our final Route Map is due for publication later in 2023.

The Scottish Government remains committed to delivering Anne’s Law which will support the rights of people living in adult care homes to connect with their loved ones.

At Stage 1 of the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill, evidence was heard from seven committees and many individuals and representatives on a wide range of topics. An extension will allow the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government the necessary time to consider all of the evidence to best inform the development of Anne’s Law and the Bill.

Meantime, the Scottish Government has already utilised existing powers to adopt the core foundations of Anne’s Law through the development of two new Heath and Social Care Standards introduced in April 2022.

The new Standards established that people living in care homes should have the right to see someone who is important to them, even during an outbreak and be able to name a person or persons who can directly participate in meeting their care needs. The Care Inspectorate now refer to these Standards when registering, inspecting and supporting care homes.

In addition Public Health Scotland COVID guidance now reflects that three named visitors can visit a resident, one per day, in the event of an outbreak, and essential visiting for end-of-life care and distress should always be supported, regardless of the circumstances.

The strengthened Public Health guidance and the new Standards have helped to minimise disruption to visiting, with 99% of adult care homes reporting that they are supporting indoor visiting.

During the extension to Stage 1 of the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill the Scottish Government will continue to work with care home providers, relatives and organisations to develop the detail of Anne’s Law and prepare for its implementation.

Trade and Investment Envoys are a voluntarily network of senior business people who offer their time to share their business insights, connections, and expertise to help guide our collective trade and investment effort. They provide a valuable contribution that complements the knowledge and reach of our, and UKG international networks. The principal function of our Envoy network is to provide Scotland with a network of influential and business-experienced advocates in locations of particular interest to our priority sectors and opportunity areas. Each Envoy agrees an annual work programme that is aligned with our trade & investment plans which sets objectives to guide their efforts. We review progress with our Envoys on a quarterly basis. As our Envoys primarily operate at a more strategic, rather than operational level we do not attribute specific KPIs to them.

In addition to the November 2022 update to the Additional Support for Learning Review Action Plan, Education Scotland have been leading on a national engagement programme for pupil support staff, which sought the views of the workforce, parents and carers.

The 4-month consultation element of the programme closed in early March 2023. Over 2,500 survey responses were received from staff in all 32 local authorities. Work is still ongoing to capture the views of parents and carers. Analysis and evaluation of the programme responses is in progress and the programme report is scheduled to be completed by July 2023.