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The SPCB is committed to supporting its staff with the cost of living and is putting in place a range of measures to support its staff.  The SPCB believes that this is the right thing to do at this very difficult time, recognising that this is an urgent priority for staff.

The SPCB has agreed to make a cost-of-living payment to support staff who are most in need during this time.  The payment to staff will be made in instalments between December and March with all staff earning £43,662 and below receiving a payment.  Staff earning £32,000 (the average UK full time equivalent salary) and less will receive a higher payment.  This is because research by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) demonstrates that staff earning at this level and below are most impacted by cost-of-living pressures.

This approach to making one-off, non-consolidated payments to staff is in common with other employers, including His Majesty the King.

The SPCB is putting in place other measures such as access to independent financial advice and financial wellbeing workshops.

The SPCB has discussed this with its recognised trade union partners and the information has been shared with Scottish Parliament staff.

The majority of homelessness funding provided to local authorities is provided via the block grant, Scottish Government has provided £11.2 billion to Local Authorities as part of the block grant in 2022-23. It is at each local authority’s discretion as to how they use this resource to prevent and respond to homelessness. Decisions as to whether the responsibility for homelessness services are delegated to the local authority or the integration joint boards are made locally.

In addition to the block grant are specific allocations of funding for the purpose of addressing homelessness. Information on these additional funding allocations provided to local authorities can be found in the responses to parliamentary questions S6W-10127 on 22 August 2022 and S6W-06821 on 10 March 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 provides funding annually to Health Boards for smoking cessation and prevention services. The funding is provided as part of a wider Outcomes Framework allocation whereby budget is provided to Health Boards to cover a range of outcomes. It is then up to Health Boards to decide on the amount spent on each of those outcomes.

The following table sets out estimated funding for smoking cessation and prevention which is calculated on the basis of smoking rates and deprivation, however as above it is for Health Boards to determine final spend on this outcome.

The information requested is publicly available on the Scottish Government website and can be found here: Growth Sector Statistics Database .

The latest figures showing employment in the sector, in 2020, had remained broadly the same at 87,000, representing 3% total employment in Scotland.

We are aware however that they do not truly reflect some key aspects of the sector, such as the number of freelancers and self-employed people. We estimate this to be around 40,000, which we have gathered from the APS data source.

The First Home Fund closed at the end of the 2021-22 financial year. The Scottish Government does not plan to reopen the fund - key findings from the evaluation show that 72% of buyers would have been able to purchase a property which met their needs without financial assistance. However, we continue to support home ownership through various interventions to help first time buyers. These include our Low Cost Initiative for First-Time Buyers (LIFT) scheme which helps people on low to moderate incomes to buy their first home either through the open market (Open Market Shared Equity) or new build (New Supply Shared Equity). Support is also available through the Self Build Loan Fund.

The Islands Impact Assessment became a legal duty in December 2020, one year after the launch of the First Home Fund. Nonetheless, as the fund was available to all eligible applicants in Scotland to utilise, with no upper price cap, it was not likely to have an effect on an island community which was significantly different from its effect on other communities.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who will reply in writing within 20 days.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who will reply in writing within 20 days.

We are committed to working with people with lived experience as we progress our first phase of work to design an investment programme that ensures that the Changing Places Toilets which are built are fit for purpose. We work closely with PAMIS (Promoting A More Inclusive Society) and will engage further with people with lived experience as we develop our Changing Places Toilets investment programme. On 2 November, I also attended a meeting of the Cross-Party Group on Changing Places Toilets to provide an update on progress.

Engaging with people with lived experience is at the heart of policy-making in the Scottish Government. We believe that people have the right to contribute to, and to influence, the decisions that affect their lives, choices and life chances, and that involving the people likely to be affected by the decision in the process results in better decision making.

The Scottish Government remains committed to Keeping The Promise by 2030, working in partnership with all partners including Local Authorities, the third sector and importantly the care community.

Through our commitment to lead from the front, the Scottish Government is working closely with Local Authorities and the third sector to create the conditions for change at a national and local level.

To support Whole Family Wellbeing we have committed to provide £32m per annum directly to local areas to build local service capacity and transform delivery of holistic family support services. Children’s Services Planning Partnerships have received their allocation for 2022-23, and are collectively responsible for deciding how to deploy this in a way which best drives change in their areas.

In addition, we are also providing up to £6m to support the work of CSPPs, including collaborative partnerships East Ayrshire, East Lothian, Glasgow City to accelerate plans and provide local learning that can be shared nationally. As well as provision of our Learning into Action Network.

The Scottish Government is committed to funding The Promise Partnership Fund of £4m per annum to support local services and organisations to Keep The Promise. Local Authorities and third sector partners are eligible to bid for this fund through the Corra Foundation.

The Scottish Government continues to support a wide range of projects and initiatives across communities in Scotland that improve outcomes for children, young people, adults and families who are care experienced and those on the edges of care.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The Prisoner Records system (PR2) does not allow data to be gathered retrospectively. On Wednesday 23 November the number of cells out of use were: