Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-08624 on  6 June 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 resource for local authorities to tackle homelessness through the annual local government finance settlement. In 2022-23, local authorities received £55.322 million [1] of homelessness grant aided expenditure. In addition, the Scottish Government has made available £100 million between 2018-19 and 2025-26 from the Ending Homelessness Together fund to transform homelessness services. Of this, £42 million supports the development and implementation of local authority rapid rehousing transition plans.

In May 2020, the Unsuitable Accommodation Order was extended to all households to ensure people are provided with suitable accommodation to support them out of homelessness. We are aware that full compliance with the Order remains challenging for some local authorities. Scottish Government officials have met with the local authorities that are facing the greatest barriers in complying with the Order to offer support. Engagement with local authorities has shown positive progress is being made in reducing the use of unsuitable accommodation and there are plans for learning to be shared more widely.

Ultimately, it is for local authorities to meet their statutory duty to provide temporary accommodation that is suitable for the needs of a household.

[1] Scottish Local Government Finance 'Green Book' 2022-23 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Home Energy Scotland (HES) is the Scottish Government’s impartial, bespoke advice service for households. It acts as the gateway to various Scottish Government funding programmes to make homes warmer, greener and more energy efficient, such as the HES loan/cashback scheme. In order to ensure that work is done to the required quality and that appropriate consumer protections are in place, it is a recommendation within the HES loan/cashback scheme that applicants use a Green Deal certified installer. For solid wall, underfloor, flat roof or room-in-roof insulation, it is compulsory that an applicant’s installer is Green Deal certified.

The pace of the transition to zero emission heating requires a substantial growth in supply chains, not only within the Greater Glasgow area but across Scotland as a whole. A broad range of different skills are needed to support the transition, however we are aware that the installer skills for zero emissions heating and energy efficiency measures represent the largest gap.

Unlocking investment in the supply chain must start with clear demand for its products and services and our investment of at least £1.8 billion, as outlined in the Heat in Buildings Strategy, will strengthen demand and support an increase in jobs and skilled workers.

We have partnered with Skills Development Scotland to undertake a ‘Heat in Buildings Workforce Assessment Project’ which will help us better understand the timing of workforce growth and how best to support people transitioning into key sectors.

We are carefully considering a wide spectrum of support for supply chains to grow, transition and innovate to meet the heat in buildings challenge and have committed to publishing our Heat in Buildings Supply Chain Delivery Plan later this year which will detail actions and public support to aid workforce growth through a combination of reskilling, upskilling and youth employment.

The Scottish Government welcomes the Promise Scotland’s Oversight Board report and the continued focus and momentum across all stakeholders to Keep The Promise.

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

On 30 March 2022 the Scottish Government published the Keeping The Promise Implementation Plan , setting out how it will Keep The Promise by 2030. The Plan contains over 80 actions which span over a range of areas including education, health, justice and child poverty.

We have published tables showing the debt advice levy funding for Scotland and the funding allocation for each year since 2019:

Debt advice levy funding: 2019 to 2020 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

https://www.gov.scot/publications/levy-funding-allocated-by-scottish-government-for-2020-21/

https://www.gov.scot/publications/levy-funding-allocated-by-scottish-government-for-2021-22/

https://www.gov.scot/publications/levy-funding-allocated-by-scottish-government-for-2022-23/

The Scottish Fiscal Commission publish estimates and forecasts of eligibility and payments for Scottish Child Payment and Best Start Grant but only for Scotland. There are no estimates or forecasts of eligibility and take-up (the proportion of eligible children that receive payments) by area within Scotland. The following figures cannot be used to inform eligibility or take-up for East Kilbride specifically.

However, internal Scottish Government analysis suggests around 6000 children in East Kilbride are forecast to be eligible for Scottish Child Payment in each of the next 6 years and around 1000 for Best Start Grant. Also, that in 2022-23 around 4000 children are forecast to receive Scottish Child Payment, rising to 5000 from 2023-24 onwards. For Best Start Grant, around 1000 children are expected to receive payment in each of the next 6 years.

All figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand to reflect these are approximate estimates and use national level eligibility and take-up rates. See Tables 1 and 2:

Table 1: Estimated number of children in East Kilbride constituency forecast to be eligible for Scottish Child Payment and Best Start Grant.

The SEPA budget position for 2020-21 was reported as part of the overall ENFOR Directorate budget monitoring return, which was reporting an underspend, providing flexibility to finance colleagues to offset any potential overspends.

Unutilised funding that is not required for purpose originally allocated is actively re-allocated across Scottish Government to mitigate emerging budget pressures. Where effective re-allocation is not possible due to late declaration of underspend, unutilised funding can be carried forward through the Scottish Reserve for utilisation in a future financial year.

The Scottish Government’s Alcohol Framework sets out our priorities for preventing alcohol-related harm. It contains 20 actions building on existing measures to change Scotland’s relationship with alcohol, including our world-leading minimum unit pricing policy.

We take a whole population approach to tackling alcohol-related harms, in line with the World Health Organization’s focus on affordability, availability and attractiveness of alcohol.

Key actions in the framework include:

? Consulting on potential restrictions on alcohol advertising and promotion in Scotland this year

? reviewing the level of minimum unit pricing

? progressing a review of Alcohol Brief Interventions

? working with the UK Government on the forthcoming Alcohol Treatment Guidance

We are also exploring the evidence around Managed Alcohol Programmes and are delighted to be able to contribute to the running of the innovative model being piloted in Glasgow by Simon Community Scotland and its evaluation.

During Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2022, we welcomed the training offer that Beat, the UK’s eating disorder charity, has developed to ensure that our future workforce feels confident to support anyone who comes forward with concerns about disordered eating.

We were also pleased to announce additional funding for Beat which includes Beyond the Symptoms training for GPs and healthcare professionals. This supports them to identify when a patient has an eating disorder and confidently intervene early. This funding was in addition to the £5 million additional investment to support those with eating disorders in 2021-22.

More generally, our Programme of Government commits to ensuring that by 2026 each GP Practice will have access to a mental health and wellbeing service; creating 1,000 additional dedicated staff who can help grow community mental health resilience and direct social prescribing.

The latest Gateway Review into our Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) was carried out in May this year. We are carefully considering the recommendations, and will share these and our response to them in due course.