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As a result of the 22-23 Emergency Budget Review genomics was allocated a revised budget of £5 million, which has been sustained for 23-24.

Social Security Scotland works to progress applications as quickly as possible.

Decisions for the majority of people who applied for Scottish Child Payment, or added additional children to their award, between 14 November and 31 December 2022 have now been issued and this will be reported on in the next round of statistics. As previously announced, all successful awards will be backdated to the date that the application was received.

Around 143,000 school age children benefitted from the Winter 2022 Bridging Payment of £260, with over £37.1 million of payments awarded to families. We do not hold information on the number of people who applied for Scottish Child Payment who also received Bridging Payments.

The latest available information on new applications for Scottish Child Payment is contained in the most recent official statistics release, covering the period to 31 December 2022 - https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/reporting/publications/scottish-child-payment-high-level-statistics-to-31-december-2022 .

Social Security Scotland received 91,225 new applications for Scottish Child Payment between 14 November and 31 December 2022. This does not include applications from existing clients looking to add additional children to their current award.

The majority of people who applied or added additional children to their existing award during this period have now received a decision. People who made new applications and received an award decision received their payment by the end of February. For people who were adding additional children, payments will follow their existing payment cycle.

Where someone applied for Scottish Child Payment before 31 December 2022 and has not received a decision, this is because additional information or evidence is required to process their application. Social Security Scotland has been in contact with everyone in this situation.

There were significant capacity constraints across the medicines homecare market in 2022. A key challenge has been recruitment of staff in a challenging labour market, with some providers more adversely affected than others. The situation is improving but continues to be closely monitored.

Certain homecare providers have highlighted issues with nursing capacity in recent months. Where this has been raised as an issue, there has been close working with providers to ensure that available staffing resource is used in a way that helps minimise disruption to service performance.

Homecare providers have not reported any recent issues with staffing within their pharmacy departments.

Several homecare providers have experienced staffing shortages within customer services departments, and this has been a major contributing factor to the capacity constraints experienced.

There have been a small number of instances where there have been delays to the delivery of medicines to patients, which has the potential to impact on patient safety. Medicines homecare providers and Health boards have processes in place to support managing and learning from any patient safety incidents that arise during service delivery.

This is a matter for Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland. The information requested is not held centrally.

As at 14 February 2023 there were 370 Ukrainian displaced people in Welcome accommodation in Edinburgh, with a further 1,140 on board MS Victoria. There were 650 Ukrainian displaced people in Welcome accommodation in Glasgow, with a further 995 on board MS Ambition.

Matching teams working on-board both vessels are making offers of accommodation based on the circumstances of guests, including employment, health and personal preferences.

While priority will be given to match those disembarking the ships with local offers of accommodation, some guests will be asked to consider accommodation further afield, in other parts of Scotland. Due to the range of uncertainty, thus far it has not been possible to produce an estimate of how many will remain within Glasgow and Edinburgh.

We are still considering the feasibility of a grant scheme or other assistance to help displaced Ukrainians into private rented sector accommodation (PRS), and working through options for this in partnership with COSLA, local authorities and the third sector.    

A number of Scottish local authorities already have rental guarantee schemes in place. Officials are working to understand their effectiveness and opportunities to support or expand them as may be most beneficial. We are also exploring a number of opportunities to broaden housing supply and, where possible, to relieve market pressures.  

As research, analysis and assessment is ongoing and necessitates close cooperation with local government stakeholders and other partners, no timeline has yet been placed on this activity.

The Scottish Government is aware of the severe pressures which rising energy and other inflation-related costs are putting on the sector. The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care has established a Ministerial Advisory Group to ensure we collaborate effectively to meet these challenges.

Many of the policy and economic levers that would help reduce the pressures on care homes are reserved to Westminster and the Scottish Government has written on a number of occasions to the UK Government to raise these matters.

The Scottish Government is in regular contact with NHS Boards and providers of social care across the Highlands and Islands region to understand the challenges they are facing which include the rise in energy costs.

The Scottish Government is aware of the points raised by the Church of Scotland (hereinafter ‘CoS’) and has been in regular and ongoing contact with CoS on these matters.

Officials met with representatives including the Church of Scotland in August last year, and I subsequently met with them in September. I did this to hear directly from CoS and others about their concerns and proposed solutions. Letters were sent to the Church of Scotland on 1 November 2022, 2 December 2022 and 17 January 2023 and, most recently, I wrote to CoS on 16 February.

The RCI was introduced on 1 April 2022, with unanimous cross-party support. Key stakeholders, including religious bodies, were involved in developing these regulations. Officials have thoroughly reviewed all of the options available to address the issues raised by the Church of Scotland, which arise primarily due to the large amount of property they own.

The Scottish Government introduced legislation to the Scottish Parliament on 23 January 2023 with the intention (subject to Parliamentary approval) of extending the transitional period by 12 months before offence provisions take effect. This decision was taken in response to the concerns raised by the Church of Scotland and others, fully understanding the current challenges in which all organisations including the charitable, third sector and faith and belief community are operating, owing to Brexit, Covid, and inflationary pressures. Should the Parliament approve the draft proposals, those in scope will have a further 12 months to comply with the requirements, in addition to the initial 12 month transitional period.

Stakeholders are encouraged to engage with the process as early as possible, and give themselves plenty of time to register. The Scottish Government and Registers of Scotland are working together to continue raising awareness and help support stakeholders through the process. This will include a programme of additional awareness raising and reviewing the existing guidance.

The Scottish Government has offered the Church of Scotland the option of another meeting with Registers of Scotland and Scottish Government officials should they wish, to discuss how they can be supported to achieve compliance.

Ensuring the safety and supporting the wellbeing of those fleeing the illegal war in Ukraine is central to our Scottish response. Even before arrival in Scotland, our National Services Scotland engage with applicants to identify and triage people ensuring those with pre-existing or identified health needs are supported on arrival. In addition all people receive information which signposts mental health support and trauma informed care services when they arrive.

We are working closely with our partners including Heads of Psychology Scotland, NHS Scotland, COSLA, local authorities, the Scottish Refugee Council and others, to further develop our wellbeing packs for displaced people from Ukraine. These online packs include specific psychological wellbeing information for services supporting Ukrainian families, host families, and professionals: Ukraine Refugee Psychological Wellbeing Pack: Guidance for services - www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-psychological-wellbeing-advice-pack-guidance-ukrainian-arrivals/ . 

Last year, the Scottish Government amended legislation so there will be no charge for NHS Scotland services for people who have fled Ukraine, including mental health services.