Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government welcomes the UK Supreme Court’s judgment. We are carefully considering the judgment in the Scottish context and remain committed to supporting Gillian Mackay MSP with the development of her member’s bill to safeguard access for women in Scotland to healthcare facilities that provide abortion services, without fear, harassment or intimidation.

The latest available figure, as at 27 October 2022, there are 31,793 Power of Attorney (PoA) deeds awaiting registration.

For week commencing 6 September 2021 the Office of the Public Guardian in Scotland (OPG) were processing the following Power of Attorney applications:

• Electronic (EPOAR) submissions received on 12 March 2021
• Postal submissions received around 22 February 2021

For week commencing 19 December 2022, the Office of the Public Guardian in Scotland (OPG) were processing the following Power of Attorney applications:

• Electronic (EPOAR) submissions received on 19 May 2022
• Postal submissions received around 10 May 2022

There is an expedited system for more urgent applications.

Within the 2023-24 Budget, the Scottish Government has provided COVID recovery funding to the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) totalling £26.8m which includes £0.3m for OPG recovery.

The Scottish Government has also provided additional capital funding to SCTS for 2023-24 including for the Office of the Public Guardian IT system

Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) commits to providing all children, young people and their families with the right support at the right time, and where extra help is needed this can include a personalised child’s plan, which might contain therapeutic support, depending on the circumstances.

This year, we have also initiated a Whole Family Wellbeing programme of activity to help transform the delivery of holistic family support. This includes investing £32 million through Children’s Services Planning Partnerships and supporting them in driving this work at the local level. This is to ensure that all families, including adoptive and foster care families, can access support based on their needs, where and when they need it.

All local authorities have a legal duty to provide support to meet the needs of people who have been adopted and their families. We provided £128,000 this year for specific therapeutic support, namely to Adoption UK Scotland for the TESSA programme which provides therapeutic input for adoptive families, and to Health in Mind to run a Trauma Support Service for people affected by historical adoption practices, as well as implementing peer support for both groups and individuals.

The phasing of the PDR review programme is kept under review to ensure that it reflects – and helps to promote – wider Scottish Government objectives. The stakeholder update which I issued with the Chief Planner in October 2022 confirmed that, in light of the current cost and climate crises, Phase 3 of the review will focus on PDR for domestic and non-domestic renewable energy equipment – and that a consultation will be published early in 2023.

The primary Scottish Government funds which enable local authorities to support town centre regeneration are the Place Based Investment Programme (PBIP) which includes the Regeneration Capital Grant Fund and the Town Centre Fund which pre-dated the PBIP. I have placed a copy of tables in SPICe bib number 63928 which set out the information we have available to date on what the South Scotland region has received in each year since 2007, broken down by Town and Local Authority.

In addition, though not included in the table, the Scottish Government has provided offers of other financial and non-financial support which has benefited high streets. This is not limited to:

• funding to agencies and partnerships such as South of Scotland Enterprise Agency, Scotland’s Towns Partnership and Business Improvement Districts, VisitScotland, Historic Environment Scotland;
• funds and funding such as Regional growth deals, the Climate Challenge fund, Active Travel funding. and Covid funds such as the £80m Local authority covid economic recovery funding;
• programmes such as the Scotland Loves Local, Empowering Communities, and Vacant and Derelict Land; and Climate Action Towns.

Client Advisors from Social Security Scotland are able to directly refer clients to the Independent Advocacy Service via a dedicated secure referral portal. Following referral, VoiceAbility are required to make contact with the client within five working days - in line with the contract.

The most recent data from the 2019 Scottish Housing Condition Survey showed 45% of Scotland’s homes to be EPC C or better. To ensure all homes reach at least equivalent to Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) C, we are committed to introducing regulations from 2025. They will require Scotland’s homes to reach at least equivalent to EPC C at respective trigger points, where technically feasible and cost-effective to do so - with backstops of 2028 for the private rented sector and by 2033 for owner occupiers.

To enable this and a just transition, the Scottish Government have committed to investing at least £1.8 billion this parliamentary term to accelerate deployment of heat and energy efficiency measures. We intend to publish a consultation on the proposals for the Heat in Buildings Bill in the coming year.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13098 on 9 January 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 recognises the critical importance of school age childcare and the benefits it brings for the whole family. That is why we are committed to designing an all-year-round system of school age childcare, which will be funded for those families on the lowest incomes.

In early 2023, we will publish a School Age Childcare Framework setting out the approach and principles that will apply to design and build a robust system of school age childcare. In developing our future system, we are taking a place-based, person-centred approach to designing services and will work collaboratively with families, childcare providers, communities, and the wider public sector to build a system that meets their needs.

We are also developing and testing the role that organised children’s activities will play in a school age childcare system, alongside the regulated childcare sector, to support families, provide choice and improve access to these activities for children.

I recognise that, as with many areas of the economy, there are workforce challenges in the childcare sector which may be contributing to waiting lists for afterschool childcare. We are committed to working with the sector to address these.

I would also refer the member to the answer to questions S6W-13097 and S6W-13098 on 9 January 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at Questions and answers | Scottish Parliament Website.

While the Scottish Government does not hold the information requested, we take seriously any concerns raised by or against police officers, and are clear that when things go wrong the police are held to account, lessons learned and improvements made.

We greatly value the vital role our police officers play and recognise the vast majority of officers carry out their duties with professionalism and integrity, while keeping our communities safe.

The recruitment and discipline of police officers is a matter for the Chief Constable, with oversight by the Scottish Police Authority.

Police Scotland applies a stringent vetting process for new recruits and where officers fall short of their professional standards the disciplinary system will hold them to account.