Seòmar agus comataidhean

Public Heath Scotland publish a weekly COVID-19 statistical report every Wednesday which includes this information.

As at 15 November 2021 the:

• COVID Status app had been downloaded over 1.5 million; and separately
• vaccination status letter has been requested in paper copies 478,014 times; and
• downloaded in PDF format over 1.2 million times.

A single user may choose to download the App or PDF on multiple devices, and may request a replacement of paper copies so it is not currently possible to identify the total number of people who have obtained proof overall.

In the course of establishing their local offices, Members enter directly into a private contract for their occupation of the premises with a landlord. The SPCB is not a party to Members’ contractual arrangements with their landlords.  This arrangement has the advantage that Members are free to choose premises that they consider suitable for their purpose within their own constituency or region. Provided that the rules of the Re-imbursement of Members’ Expenses Scheme are complied with, Members can recover the cost of the initial setting up and subsequent running of their local offices under the Scheme. 

Whether to have a local office or not and where that office is within the constituency or region they were elected to represent is a decision for each constituency MSP or through agreement of regional MSPs from the same party who are required to share an office under the Scheme. 

Members are free to enter into a lease, a licence to occupy or, for example, a shorter-term arrangement to occupy a unit which is part of larger premises. Each arrangement has advantages and disadvantages for a tenant. 

When a Member is contemplating acquiring a local office, they are strongly advised to seek their own legal advice in relation to any proposed arrangement in order to protect their own interests and to ensure they are fully aware of the obligations they are undertaking as they could, at some stage, no longer be eligible for recovery of their expenses and become personally liable for them.  The cost of such legal advice can be met from the Scheme.

In order to qualify for the re-imbursement of their expenses, Members must satisfy the SPCB that their private arrangements are clear in their terms and not ambiguous, are binding contractually on the Member claiming and do not constitute an unreasonable drain on the public purse for the period that the Member is able to recover those expenses under the Scheme.

Legal Services are the SPCB’s solicitors and are not authorised by the SPCB to provide legal advice on leases or other arrangements to Members.  Legal Services do, on behalf of the Allowances Office, ensure that Members’ arrangements allow them to recover their expenses under the Scheme, by checking that each arrangement sets out clearly an offer to let or occupy specified premises, the term for which the arrangement is to last, and the rent for the premises. Legal Services provide this service to assure the Allowances Office and the SPCB that public finance obligations are met.

The Allowances Office provide advice to Members on what a Member is able to claim under the Scheme and what is required by way of evidence of any expenditure to make a claim. For example, where a Member wishes to claim rent for an office a valid agreement binding them contractually to pay the rental costs would be required. 

No. If, and when, any additional functions are added to the NHS Scotland Covid Status App then the privacy information will be updated accordingly. For more detail on the current privacy information, I refer the member to the answer to questions S6W-04212 and S6W-04213 on 25 November 2021. 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

On the 5 October, the Health Secretary announced our £300 million NHS and care winter package.

We announced funding of:

• £40m for ‘step-down’ care, so that hospital patients can temporarily go into care homes, or can receive additional care at home support;
• £62m to maximise the capacity of care at home services;
• Up to £48m to increase the hourly rate of frontline adult social care staff to at least £10.02;
• £20m to enhance Multi-Disciplinary Teams, so that more social work assessments can be carried out, and to support joint working between health and social care.

This new funding will support increases in social care capacity in the community and in primary care.

As set out in the announcement, £62 million for 2021-22 has been allocated for building capacity in care at home community-based services. This is recurring funding intended help to fulfil unmet need, and deal with the current surge in demand and complexity of individual needs, also helping to ease pressures on unpaid carers.

On the 8 November we launched a further national marketing campaign to attract more people to the sector. We are doing things differently to previous campaigns, focusing on social media, a younger target audience, and we are working with schools and colleges, and linking to the medium term work we’re doing with the SSSC and NES on career pathways and learning and development.

We have approved funding to extend the MyJobScotland recruitment website to all third and independent sector organisations until March 2022, which will mean that all social care vacancies can be advertised on one platform at no additional cost to providers.

We are also working at pace with SSSC and NES to develop a national induction programme to support new entrants into Adult Social Care.

On the 5 October, the Health Secretary announced our £300 million NHS and care winter package.

We announced funding of:

• £40m for ‘step-down’ care, so that hospital patients can temporarily go into care homes, or can receive additional care at home support;
• £62m to maximise the capacity of care at home services;
• Up to £48m to increase the hourly rate of frontline adult social care staff to at least £10.02;
• £20m to enhance Multi-Disciplinary Teams, so that more social work assessments can be carried out, and to support joint working between health and social care.

This new funding will support increases in social care capacity in the community and in primary care.

As set out in the announcement, £62 million for 2021-22 has been allocated for building capacity in care at home community-based services. This is recurring funding intended help to fulfil unmet need, and deal with the current surge in demand and complexity of individual needs, also helping to ease pressures on unpaid carers.

Health Boards have already commenced recruitment activity to meet the commitment to recruit an additional 1,000 Health and Care Support staff at AfC Bands 2, 3 & 4 to provide additional capacity across a variety of services both in the community and in hospital settings. Funding of up to £15 million is being provided in-year to fully fund all costs associate with recruitment to these posts. We are directly supporting boards to fill these posts as quickly as possible within that time frame, through securing an accelerated pre-employment process and supporting the delivery of employability initiatives such as the ‘Skills Boost for Health Care’ training for staff new to health and care.

On the 8 November we launched a further national marketing campaign to attract more people to the sector. We are doing things differently to previous campaigns, focusing on social media, a younger target audience, and we are working with schools and colleges, and linking to the medium term work we’re doing with the SSSC and NES on career pathways and learning and development.

We have approved funding to extend the MyJobScotland recruitment website to all third and independent sector organisations until March 2022, which will mean that all social care vacancies can be advertised on one platform at no additional cost to providers.

The Scottish Government published a study on the characteristics of police recorded Hate Crime in February 2021. The following table shows the number of sexual orientation aggravated hate crimes recorded by Police Scotland from 2014-15 to 2019-20. The table also shows how many of these crimes were assaults (common or serious) and crimes of threatening or abusive behaviour. The number of hate crimes with a sexual orientation aggravation presented below is higher than the figures provided in the aforementioned study. This is because the table also includes hates crime that have multiple aggravations (one of which is sexual orientation).

The study also looked in more detail at the prejudice shown by perpetrators. In the vast majority (94%) of sexual orientation aggravated hate crimes in 2018-19 the perpetrator showed prejudice towards the gay and lesbian community. In over two-thirds (69%) of crimes the words used or actions taken by the perpetrator showed a prejudice towards the gay community, with a further quarter (25%) showing prejudice towards the lesbian community. In 2018-19, the study showed that 39% of sexual orientation aggravated hate crimes had a Police Officer as a victim.

A second study into the characteristics of police recorded hate crime is due to be published in 2022. This will provide the same type of detailed disaggregated data and information on police recorded hate crimes for the year 2020-21.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04198 on 25 November 2021. 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

a & b) As you will be aware, the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, (the act), introduces new national provisions, prohibiting pavement parking, double parking and parking at dropped kerbs. A suite of secondary legislation is required for this prohibition to work in practice and give local authorities the power to implement and enforce the prohibitions.

In relation to the points regarding bringing forward dropped kerbs and double parking first, Scottish Ministers need to ensure that local authorities have an effective enforcement regime in place and that local authorities are able to issue Penalty Charge Notices correctly. As such, the enforcement regimes cannot be split and need to remain constituent parts of the same package of enforcement measures. For example, in order to issue all types of ticket, the means to provide a right of appeal needs to be in place and the changes to legislation which govern this need to be made at the same time once all of the other parts of legislation are in place.

We are continuing to consult with Local Authorities, following our initial pivot to deal with the Covid 19 pandemic, to develop both the secondary legislation required to allow them to enforce the National pavement parking prohibition as well as the Parking Standards Guidance which will underpin the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019.

Additionally, we need to consult with the public on some areas contained within the secondary legislation. Local authorities will be required to undertake an assessment to identify and progress any exemptions to the pavement parking prohibition they consider necessary. We are actively working with Local Authorities to undertake this work and Scottish Ministers have provided the requested £2.4 million of funding to enable this to be progressed in a timeous manner.

The majority of the secondary legislation is likely to be in place by 2022. Some aspects however, such as the appeals process for those who wish to appeal a ticket issued for pavement parking, as mentioned above, may not be in place until 2023.

c) Transport Scotland will be undertaking an in-depth publicity campaign before implementation to make the public aware of the date that the new provisions come into force. We have previously discussed this with disability groups and within our Parking Standards Group of which Living Streets are a stakeholder. We will be progressing this in due course as per the legislative program . In addition to this we are currently exploring other ways of proactively promoting the unacceptability of parking on the pavement and highlighting the risk it causes others. We intend to undertake this as soon as possible and indeed well before mid-2022.

d) The Scottish Government recognises the detrimental impact that obstructive and irresponsible parking can have on vulnerable groups, as well as Emergency vehicles and other road users in general. Scottish Ministers have already undertaken an extensive consultation on this matter, (Improving Parking in Scotland Consultation 2017). Feedback obtained from this consultation is available at the following link:
‎ https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/42239/improving-parking-in-scotland-may-2018.pdf
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‎ Prior to the pavement parking provisions coming into force under the Act, Local Authorities will be required to assess their footways for the purposes of determining which, if any, may be appropriate to be exempt from the pavement parking prohibition. Local Authorities will be required to consider their obligations under the Equality Act 2010 throughout this determination process and prior to an Exemption Order being proposed. Ministerial Directions and Pre-Implementation Guidance will be published to assist Local Authorities in undertaking this determination process.

Ensuring electric charge points are accessible and user friendly for all is a core part of the Scottish Government’s approach to building out Scotland’s charging infrastructure. All chargers supported by Scottish Government funding must meet the requirements and recommendations set out in Transport Scotland’s good practice guide. This makes clear that installations by local authorities and other chargepoint owners should take account of duties set out in the Equalities Act 2010, noting specific accessibility considerations including in areas such as hatched markings and dropped kerbs.

Transport Scotland is also working in partnership with Scottish Enterprise through the Can Do Innovation Challenge framework to improve the design of electric vehicle charge points to make them even more accessible. This project is being advanced with input from the disabled community and organisations including Motability, the Mobility and Access Committee, The Roads for all forum, Perth and Kinross Inclusive Living Centre and Disabled Equality Scotland.

To ensure outcomes of our current innovation challenges and user engagement is captured, Transport Scotland is working with The Department for Transport, the charity Motability, and the British Standards Institution on the development of Accessible Electric Vehicle Chargepoint standards. The set of advisory standards are due to be developed by Summer 2022, once developed, they will provide specifications for the installers and operators of public charging infrastructure to ensure a more accessible and inclusive charging system across Scotland, and the UK as a whole.