Seòmar agus comataidhean

We support veterans across our housing legislation. We published Social Housing Allocations in Scotland – A Practice Guide in 2019, to ensure that social landlords have an allocation policy that complies with all relevant legislation and statutory guidance. The guide provides clarity for social landlords about giving priority to Service leavers. The guidance also reinforces the need for social landlords to have clear information and housing options in place for all applicants, including veterans.

We amended legislation so that, from 1 July 2019, where the landlord is a charity providing accommodation to veterans, a private residential tenancy agreement will not apply. This will ensure that veterans specific accommodation in the private rented sector can continue to be used, ensuring that a veteran may be offered temporary accommodation for a period of rehabilitation and training, or permanent accommodation in line with the organisation’s charitable purpose and the needs of the veterans.

There is a statutory requirement on local authorities to produce a Local Housing Strategy that sets out its strategy, priorities and plans for the delivery of housing and related service. In September 2019 we published refreshed Local Housing Strategy guidance which encourages Local Authorities to fully consider the housing requirements of the Armed Forces community. The guidance has also been strengthened to encourage appropriate engagement with relevant organisations, such as Veterans Scotland, to better understand the needs of the Armed Forces community when developing Local Housing Strategies.

Scotland has some of the strongest homelessness legislation in the world and all local authorities have a legal duty to provide support to anyone at risk of homelessness, including veterans. We are also proposing new homelessness prevention duties, to be included in a forthcoming Housing Bill. These will include new duties on public bodies to ‘ask and act’ about housing situations and a change to existing legislation to allow local authorities to act at an earlier stage to prevent homelessness. Our approach is based around the principles of shared public responsibility, earlier intervention across systems and more choice and control for people over their housing options, which will include the veterans population

We are also taking action to make improvements across the rented sector that will progress the right to an adequate home and deliver our vision for Housing to 2040.

The net zero skills gap and sector analysis research is being undertaken in relation to the Carbon Neutral Islands Project. This work is in its early stages and the contract of £80,000 was awarded to Aquetera Ltd.

The Scottish Government has been pursuing a number of analytical projects in relation to veterans within the justice system and we will continue to consider how evidence on this cohort can be improved going forward.

We have also identified sources of regular data collection where a marker can be added to improve the evidence we hold on veterans. For example, we have included the question on former service in the UK Armed Forces from Scotland’s 2022 Census into the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS), the Scottish Health Survey and the Scottish Household Survey. The SCJS asks people about their experiences and perceptions of crime, in addition to a range of issues related to crime, policing and the justice system. The first results are expected in mid-late 2023.

We have also improved the utility of the Official Statistics on Scotland’s prison population, through introducing an interactive analysis tool in 2022 which provides a number of options for analysis of prisoner characteristics – including on a veteran marker (derived from prisoners self-declaring on arrival). Furthermore, we have utilised the findings from the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) Prisoner Survey for self-declared veterans, which includes questions on views and experiences of prison, services and support and are engaging with SPS about their ongoing redevelopment of the prisoner survey.

We have worked with the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Office for Veterans’ Affairs (OVA), and the other devolved administrations to develop and promote the first UK-wide Veterans’ Survey. This online survey is collecting information from veterans of the UK Armed Forces to help us understand their experiences and circumstances, including questions on interactions with the justice system and awareness and use of support services. It is also being made available to all veterans in prison to ensure the views and experiences of this cohort are captured. The first findings are expected by summer 2023.

Finally, we remain in contact with stakeholders, including the SPS, academics, the third sector and colleagues in England and Wales (such as Ministry of Justice, Office for Veterans Affairs, Ministry of Defence) to keep abreast of research developments and emerging evidence on veterans and the justice system.

The Scottish Government continues to support the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework Partnership’s (SCQFP) veterans qualifications and skills mapping tool, which went live in February 2022. The Scottish Government provided £13,500 of funding in 2022-23, and £35,000 in 2021-22, to support the ongoing development of the tool.

This tool is particularly important in Scotland as Armed Forces qualifications are routinely only accredited to the Regulated Qualifications Framework used in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. We will also launch this year a campaign working with the business community to help employers understand the benefits that veterans bring to the workforce, to help increase employment opportunities for veterans.

Please refer to my previous answer to question S6W-13027 for the details of which organisations failed the technical checks process and the reasons for this.

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 has received correspondence from business representative organisations and individual businesses within the retail, hospitality or leisure sectors, or their elected representatives.

Prior to the publication of the Scottish Budget 2023-24, the number one ask of business organisations was to freeze the non-domestic rates poundage, which we have delivered, saving businesses £308 million compared to an inflationary increase, along with a package of reliefs worth £744m. We expect around half the properties in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors to be eligible for 100% Small Business Bonus Scheme relief next year. Properties in these sectors may also be eligible for the transitional relief schemes set out in the Budget.

The value of payments made by our Fuel Insecurity Fund delivery partners varies substantially, from the cost of fuel vouchers to energy bill debt write-offs. Each payment is awarded on an individual case by case assessment, as to the most appropriate support and intervention that can be provided to help achieve a sustainable outcome.

We use a range of measures to monitor the wellbeing of the workforce taking into account the diverse nature of the workforce operating in a range of roles and geographies, the broad spectrum of wellbeing needs at both a professional and personal level and different reporting arrangements across sectors. Our approach reflects a combination of the following measures; the annual iMatter survey, feedback from local and national staffside and other stakeholder channels, academic research, data collected by regulators and partners and evaluation of nationally-led initiatives. In addition, the Wellbeing Champions Network is now well-established to provide feedback on areas of priority need, and to share best practice across health, social care and social work organisations.

We are continuing to work with leaders across health, social care and social work, as well as hearing directly from staff, to understand where the current pressures are, and what further actions can be taken to mitigate their impact on staff. We are working on a range of local initiatives designed to meet the basic and practical needs of staff, and their teams. This includes access to quiet spaces to support health and wellbeing, and the installation of lockers.

When the Connecting Scotland programme first launched, its early aims were to support people shielding or vulnerable to Covid-19. This allowed for devices, connectivity and skills to be provided alongside guidance and information on how to access health and care services such as Near Me video appointments or finding information on NHS Inform.

Our digital in care homes programme was launched to complement Connecting Scotland and saw over 75% of all adult and children's care homes in Scotland take up the offer of digital devices, data packages and skills. These homes cover over 90% of all residents in Scotland with devices being used to help residents to remain connected to friends and family and to access key services such as the NHS.

The Scottish Government have set out plans in the Digital Health and Care Delivery Plan to launch a new digital inclusion in health and care programme by March 2022 that will look to support people in housing and mental health with greater access to services.

Connecting Scotland is also working closely with the Digital Lifelines team to identify opportunities and further enhance digital services to support people with multiple and complex digital needs. The digital lifeline programme aims to connect individuals and support services to prevent drug related deaths, or reducing the risk of harm.

The Trade and Investment Envoy network was established in 2017 and is made up of appointees who work on a volunteer basis to provide Ministers with strategic business insights and connections. We do not directly measure their contributions, however their programme of activities, which are agreed with the Scottish Government, do make a valuable contribution to building strategic relationships for Scotland.

The network has had great success in opening doors, and identifying strategic opportunities to support our export, capital investment and foreign direct investment efforts. Envoys provide critical business insights, intelligence, introductions and advocacy focused on building trade, as well as inward and capital investor relations, with a particular focus on high growth markets in technology, life & chemical sciences, financial & business services and energy. Envoys have supported numerous Ministerial visits including the Dubai Expo 2020, facilitated Government to Government engagement, assisted Scottish companies expand overseas, participated in various (Ministerial) steering groups and supported GlobalScot network expansion.

Envoys, along with GlobalScots were vital in the development of National Strategy for Economic Transformation, Sector Export Plans as well as supporting the delivery of Scotland’s Inward Investment Plan.

Given the above we are confident that our Envoys have contributed towards Scotland retaining its position as the leading UK destination for inward investment outside of London for the past seven years, landing 122 new projects in 2021 according to the EY Annual Attractiveness Survey 2022.