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NHS 24 aims to provide high standards of care and despite the substantial increase in demand placed on the Service by the outbreak of COVID-19, NHS 24 continues to provide a highly effective, safe triage system to the people of Scotland.

As a result of this increased demand, and changes to service delivery, we have increased funding to NHS 24 by over £20m this year for additional recruitment and the addition of a new call centre in Dundee, which opened in December 2021.

This is supporting the additional recruitment of 575 full time equivalent call handlers and 140 full time equivalent clinicians to date, including through the recently established 24/7 mental health hub.

Calls to the 111 Service can be abandoned for a variety of reasons, including telephony providers ending calls after a period of time or patients choosing to end the call after being connected and hearing the options available to them. These include accessing self-care advice via NHS Inform, or contacting another area of the health service better placed to meet their needs.

NHS 24 is undertaking a piece of work to evaluate abandoned calls and determine how many of these callers are accessing other advice/support as directed and how many are re-dialling the Service after their call has been cut off by telephony providers or they have hung up the call. This will involve working closely with telephony provider and significant engagement with callers to the Service and will help the Service reduce instances of abandoned calls.

We will commission and support the Understanding Scottish Places (USP) consortium to review evaluation and data needs and share that understanding so that local partners can develop solutions that respond to the local circumstances.

In addition, the approach adopted via the Scotland Loves Local programme works with local partners to shape local opportunities that encourage and motivate people to change behaviours by thinking local first and supporting their local businesses and communities.

The independent review of the 2013 Town Centre Action Plan, A New future for Scotland’s Town Centres, was commissioned by Scottish Ministers and published in February 2021. We are working collaboratively with COSLA and partners to respond to the review with a revised action plan which will be published later in the spring, subject to approval from Ministers and COSLA.

The Scottish Government is establishing a group to help identify potential place demonstrator projects, including in towns and town centres, as part of our 5 year £325 million Place-Based Investment Programme.

The duty to ensure compliance with the new legislation on interlinked fire alarms in domestic properties rests with local authorities. The legislation provides flexibility for people to fit the necessary alarms in due course if they have been unable to do so by the February 2022 deadline.

The Scottish Government published a joint statement with COSLA on 21 January, which set out that local authorities will be taking a proportionate and measured approach to compliance taking individual circumstances into account as well as reflecting the evolving situation with the COVID-19 pandemic. No one will be criminalised if they need more time and there are no penalties for non-compliance.

People who are experiencing financial hardship may be receiving, or be eligible for, a range of financial support services (both direct and in-kind), and the nature and amount of support will depend on individual circumstances. Therefore it is not possible to make a meaningful estimate of what would be required in terms of additional support to bring all those below the poverty threshold above that threshold.

Scottish Government recognise the positive contribution older people make to their communities and are committed to ensuring that people are financially secure and supported as they age. Fairness and human rights remain at the heart of the Scottish Government’s approach as we work to keep older people safe, cared for and connected, with access to the essentials they need, with funding of over £1.3 million to organisations who are directly supporting the needs of older people during the Covid pandemic, including funding for helplines, food distribution and keeping people connected.

The SSSC has been administering Postgraduate Bursaries on behalf of Scottish Government since 2004. Funding of £2,655m each year is provided to support up to 300 students undertake the postgraduate course in social work.

A review of the scheme was undertaken by SSSC in 2021 to widen access to eligible postgraduate students. In response to Covid -19 Scottish Government approved a Hardship Fund for postgraduate social work students in May 2020. The fund remains in place.

As part of the 2021 Manifesto Commitments, the Scottish Government committed to undertake a review into the funding provision for postgraduate students. The review will be led by SAAS and areas for exploration are in the early development stages and therefore I cannot confirm at this stage what courses will be considered as part of the review.

I refer the Member to the answer to question S6W-06940 on 14 March 2022

The post graduate social work bursary scheme provides a contribution to the fees level set by the individual universities. This is to ensure that the funding available is able to support up to 300 students

There are other sources of funding that can be applied for. Full details of these can be found at www.saas.gov.uk and www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/Funding-Support-Grants

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 does not hold information on how many older people who are in relative or absolute poverty have raised concerns about not being able to afford both heating and food this winter. The sources of information below provides indicators of levels of poverty; and engagement with stakeholder organisations.

Poverty and food insecurity

One indicator of levels of poverty and food insecurity is the latest Family Resources Survey (FRS). The most recent information available for 2019/20 showed that food insecurity rates for Scotland reflected those of the UK as a whole, and that the rate of food insecurity was lower for people over 65. Both the FRS and the 2020 Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) indicated rates of between 1% and 3% for over 65s, compared to 8% overall.

According to the FRS, around a quarter of people in both relative and absolute poverty were experiencing low, or very low food security. The relative poverty rate after housing costs for pensioners was 14% in 2017-20, or 150,000 pensioners each year - consistently below that for working-age adults (19%).

Fuel poverty

Data from the Scottish Government’s national Warmer Homes Scotland (WHS) scheme provides an indicator for those at risk of fuel poverty. The scheme is designed to help those living in or at risk of fuel poverty through installing insulation and heating measures into individual properties. Eligibility for the scheme is based on “proxies”, including certain benefits such as Employment Support Allowance (ESA) and Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which are an indication of the likelihood of the household living in or being at risk of fuel poverty.

Referrals to WHS during the period 1 November 2021 and 28 February 2022 are as follows.

The Scottish Government does not hold separate data on the percentage rise in the cost of living for older people who are in relative or absolute poverty. The information below provides an indication.

Inflation, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index rose by 5.5% in the 12 months to January 2022. This has been the highest yearly increase since the 1990s.

Figures from the ONS suggest that retired and non-retired households have experienced similar levels of inflation rates since April 2021, and so have high- and low-income households. However, rises in costs are being driven by different things - including different exposure to transport costs (affecting non-retired people more heavily) and housing and household services (affecting retired people more). Separate figure are not available for Scotland

With regard to water charges, the water and sewerage charges for households will rise by 4.2% on 1 April 2022 – this means the average household charge in Scotland will be £391 in 2022-23. Water charges are linked to council tax bands and discounts which apply to council tax also apply to water charges (such as student exemption or the single occupant discount). From 1 April 2021 the water charges reduction scheme discount – available to customers in receipt of full Council Tax Reduction – has increased to 35%, up from 25%. Over the next year (2022-23), households in receipt of the full council tax reduction discount will actually pay less than they did in 2020-21.

A key driver of price increases is energy prices, which have increased significantly over the year and continue to increase due to the crisis in Ukraine. Low-income households are particularly exposed to increases in the price of energy as they spend a larger proportion of the household income on fuel and housing costs. The Institute for Fiscal Studies suggest that by April lowest-income households will be facing inflation rates of almost 7%, higher than the average rate of 6%. The Resolution Foundation estimate that later this year the poorest third of households will be spending at least 10% of their household income on energy bills alone, compared to around 7% now.