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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 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 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’s investment of £25m announced as part of the 2022-23 Budget was additional funding to relieve pressure on the adult social care sector to ensure care can be delivered safely to those who need it. £22m of funding was distributed based on grant aided expenditure for adult social work for 2022-23, 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 to respond to the current pressures.

Over the last five years, the Scottish Government has provided over £25m to support the training of social workers during this period, including for post-graduate bursaries and support for practice-based learning to increase the number of entrants into the profession.

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

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.

In May 2022 the Scottish Government established a short-life working group to provide analytical expertise and insight into the impacts of the cost of living crisis. Part of the purpose of the group is to assess the impact on priority groups in particular, including unpaid carers, who were identified as a sub-group of low income households likely to be disproportionately impacted. Input from partners forms part of the evidence, informing policy responses to cost-of-living increases. The outputs from this working group have been used for internal briefing purposes, including preparing a paper to inform discussions at Cabinet. The material has also informed discussions with the UK Government on cost of living.

The Scottish Government’s 2022-23 budget has allocated almost £3 billion to a range of support that will help mitigate the impact of the increased cost of living on households, including those of unpaid carers. This consists of work to tackle child poverty, reduce inequalities and support financial wellbeing, alongside social security payments not available anywhere else in UK.

To keep pace with rising costs, the Scottish Government has increased eight Scottish benefits by 6%, including Young Carer Grant and Carer's Allowance Supplement, through an investment of £4.6 million in 2022-23, and continues to urge Westminster to match efforts and increase the level of support for unpaid carers, including ensuring that unpaid carers not on Universal Credit also benefit from the UK Government’s cost of living payments.

Carers in Scotland continuously in receipt of Carer’s Allowance have received over £2,520 more than carers in England since 2018, through an investment of £188 million following the introduction of the Carer’s Allowance Supplement. Each carer received a further £245.70 on 10 June 2022.

The Scottish Government engages regularly with unpaid carers and carer representative organisations to better understand carers’ lived experience. This ongoing engagement informs decision making with the aim of improving the support available for carers. The Scottish Government funds Carers Scotland, which has produced a number of reports on the various impacts of caring, including financial.

We will publish a Carers Strategy which will set out a cross-government approach to carers’ financial inclusion including through social security policies, the Scottish Welfare Fund, action on fuel poverty and supporting carers in employment and education.

As we discussed in our meeting of 24 March and in my letter to you of 19 May, skills recognition is central to Scottish Government’s just transition ambitions, and is also set out in the North Sea Transition Deal. You will be aware that on 24 May OPITO published the People and Skills Strategy and the first of five Action Plans, which is focused on Aligning Offshore Standards. This work is supported by the Skills Passport Industry Steering Group which meets monthly, providing insight and sharing information to support the development of a Skills Passport. A range of energy industry organisations are represented on the Steering Group, ensuring different needs and perspectives across the industry are represented.

This must be an initiative led by industryand taken forward in partnership with the workforce. OPITO continue to engage with stakeholders, including the offshore unions. The Aligning Offshore Standards Action Plan, which includes key activities and timescales, was supported by unions at a recent meeting of the North Sea Transition Deal Delivery Group, attended by UNITE. The North Sea Transition Deal Delivery Group will continue to oversee delivery of the Deal commitments, including oversight of the Strategy and Action Plans.

Scottish Government funding schemes, in the main, do not fund community-run retrofit organisations directly.

However, a number of our schemes do support retrofitting. For example, our flagship Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES), delivered by Local Energy Scotland, has offered advice to over 900 organisations and supported over 600 community and locally owned renewable projects throughout Scotland, offering funding of over £58 million since its inception in 2010. CARES has supported 119 organisations to retrofit decarbonised heat and/or install renewable generation into their buildings.

The following schemes also provide support to households, businesses and other eligible organisations for retrofitting, though not exclusively:

• Warmer Homes Scotland – more than £176 million has been invested through the scheme since its launch in September 2015 helping over 27,000 households throughout Scotland.
• Area Based Schemes – up until the end of the 2020-2021 programme, £400 million has been invested delivering 110,000 measures to homes since 2013.
• Home Energy Scotland loans and cashback – since 2017, the scheme has issued 6808 loans, valued at over £37 million, and 4097 cashback offers, valued at over £11 million, to existing homes.
• SME loans and cashback – since 2008, the scheme has paid close to £40 million in loans and cashback, funding more than 1627 projects.
• Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund – since August 2020, the fund has committed over £14 million to the retrofit of 1800 social homes across Scotland.
• Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme – this programme has provided grant support for the retrofitting of over 1000 homes to decarbonise their energy consumption.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09444 on 27 July 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 .

Audiology Waiting Times have not been published since 27 May 2014, following an agreement between the Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland that this was no longer required. Audiology services are currently measured as part of the 18 Weeks Referral to Treatment (RTT) standard. For more information on this standard, and to view the latest publication, please see the 18 Weeks RTT page . Please note that this publication does not go down to specialty level and shows the performance of NHSScotland and the Health Boards for all specialties only. This information can also be found at ISD Audiology Waiting Times website .

In January 2022 the Cabinet Secretary of Health and Social Care announced an Independent Review of Audiology would be established to examine hearing services provided to both children and adults in Health Boards across Scotland, to ensure public confidence in the quality and effectiveness of current service provision. The group will provide recommendations for a national plan for improvement of the service and its specific remit will be published by the Chair via its Terms of Reference in due course.

We provide year round support for children from low income families, including over the summer holiday period, through the Scottish Child Payment (worth £20 per week for every eligible child under the age of 6), Bridging Payments (worth up to £520 in 2022 with over 148,000 school age children benefitting and a further £130 paid for each eligible child ahead of the summer holidays) and School Clothing Grants (worth £120 for eligible primary school children and £150 for secondary). We recognise that holiday periods can present additional challenges for families, so we have provided local authorities with £21.75 million to fund free school meals alternatives for all eligible families. This is provided directly to families in the form of vouchers or cash payments. This year we have also invested a further £10 million into a targeted summer holiday programme, designed to reach those school age children and their families who can benefit most from access to free holiday childcare, activities and nutritious food.

In line with the Grant Agreement between Scottish Rail Holdings Ltd and ScotRail Trains Ltd, the first Service Level Commitment (SLC) has to be prepared within the first quarter from 1 April 2022 i.e. end of June 2022.

Transport Scotland’s will publish the Service Level Commitment on the Transport Scotland website once this process has been agreed and finalised.