Did you mean Scottish Welfare find?
Kate Forbes: Murdo Fraser knows that local councils are the employers and that it would not be appropriate for the Scottish Government to interfere in negotiations between trade unions, the workforce and local government. I have just outlined the settlement that we have provided to local government, which is a greater than 3 per cent increase in the core settlement, alongside additional funding to help...
Alison Thewliss: ...in this pandemic. As we see from the US and our European neighbours, the Chancellor ought to use the powers that he has open to him to stimulate growth and provide an investment-led recovery. The Scottish Government have outlined an ambitious five-year infrastructure plan with a particular focus on affordable housing. They are managing to do that even with a 5% cut to their capital budget....
Alison Thewliss: ...that coronavirus would wreak on our economy. Let me quote this to the Chamber: “The UK’s resilience has been weakened under sustained Tory cuts. Wages have barely grown in the last decade. The welfare state safety nets have been torn to shreds. Public services have struggled through chronic underinvestment and asset stripping, and some parts of the UK that have still not fully...
Clare Haughey: ...’s Transition and Recovery”, he will see exactly where we are going with mental health services across the piece—from challenging stigma through to our specialist in-patient services. The funding that I have described takes our total spend on mental health in 2021-22 to in excess of £1.2 billion. The recovery and renewal fund will ensure delivery of the mental health transition and...
Michael Matheson: I will take this opportunity to update Parliament on the Scottish Government’s approach to international travel and border health measures. I will set out more detail shortly, but I can confirm that, from Monday 15 February, all international travellers who arrive directly into Scotland by air will be subject to a requirement to enter managed isolation. First, I will provide the latest...
Fulton MacGregor: I particularly welcome the recent investment in North Lanarkshire Council, and across Scotland, from the regeneration capital grant fund. As well as mitigating the impact of United Kingdom Government welfare cuts, what other action is the Scottish Government taking to tackle deep-seated poverty and inequality?
Shirley-Anne Somerville: ...the take-up of reserved benefits, retaining the £20 per week uplift to universal credit and extending it to legacy benefits, scrapping the two-child limit and removing the benefits cap. The Scottish Government is committed to maximising people’s incomes, and that has, of course, been made all the more urgent in the context of Covid. In response to the pandemic, we have increased the...
Mr Mark Ruskell: ...-income households are far less likely to not isolate at all. With one in three not fully isolating when requested, we need to do much more to support people. There are concerning signs that the Scottish Government’s £500 self-isolation support grant is not getting to everyone who needs it. I warmly welcome the First Minister’s announcement yesterday that the grant will be extended to...
Kate Forbes: ...who have been hit the hardest. Our approach continues to target support in the immediate term, as well as tracking a course over the coming year to build a fairer, stronger and greener economy. Fundamentally, it focuses on three key priorities: creating jobs and investing in a sustainable recovery; responding to the health pandemic; and tackling inequalities. This is a time of great fiscal...
...the numbers of people that we thought it would. If it is appropriate, local authorities signpost people who apply but are deemed not to be eligible to alternative support, principally through the Scottish welfare fund. We have also increased funding to the Scottish welfare fund, so we are seeking to get support to as many people as possible, focusing on those who are most in need. However,...
Rishi Sunak: The Scottish Government obviously have control over their tax-raising powers and indeed have the ability to top up and design benefits, so if that is something that they are keen to do, they have the ability to raise the tax to fund a permanent uplift in the welfare system. I am sure that that is an opportunity that the Scottish Government can take up if they want to and see fit to do so.
...were set out at its establishment, and they are tied to entitlement to benefits, although we sought to have a degree of flexibility around that in Scotland. The payment is administered through the Scottish welfare fund. We will continue to consider how we ensure that support for self-isolation and more general support for the new circumstances in which we are now in reaches more people. At...
David Linden: ...to receive help from the local authority, including accommodation. The SNP is clear on the fact that a settled home is vital in supporting people to have a happy and healthy life. That is why the Scottish Government are investing £32.5 million, which is more than half their £50-million Ending Homelessness Together fund, to support local authorities to prioritise settled accommodation for...
Richard Thomson: ...give us an additional layer of protection that none of us has had until now. As more vaccines and different variants of vaccines become available over the coming months, it is the intention of the Scottish Government—in line with advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation—to continue with the roll-out, initially focusing on care homes, for older adults and carers,...
Kate Forbes: ...confidence in them still being able to ask intelligent questions. I welcome the opportunity to provide a further update on the budget, continuing my commitment to engage with Parliament on the funding that is being provided to support the Covid-19 response following the unprecedented summer and autumn budget revisions. I will also take the opportunity to outline further support for...
Aileen Campbell: The Scottish Government provides assistance to food banks in a number of ways, including through over £13 million of funding this year and wider advice and support. We have gone beyond our original £70 million food fund commitment and have now committed over £130 million to tackling food insecurity that has been caused by the pandemic, as well as having committed to the provision of free...
Aileen Campbell: I am glad that we got a chance to hear Richard Lyle’s question. I have given details of some of the investments that we are making that will help in some ways, such as the top-up of the Scottish welfare fund. More particularly and specifically, the £100 million winter package that was announced recently will help to support communities, individuals and families on a range of different...
Richard Lochhead: The member asked a variety of questions, but I will try to answer quickly. Our universities and colleges have an obligation to ensure that welfare support and support with supplies are available for any student who is self-isolating in halls of residence and for other students of whom the institutions are aware. That support has now been taken forward and, as the member knows, institutions...
Kirsten Oswald: ...debate. I thank the CIPD for its work on this issue, as well as the Institute for the Future of Work, Scope, the disability charity, the City & Guilds Group, the Chartered Management Institute, the Scottish Trades Union Congress, trade unions, local authorities and many others that are contributing to this debate. It is clear to them all and to workers all over Scotland and beyond that we...
Bob Doris: I speak in support of the Scottish Government motion with no enthusiasm, because no one wants to place such significant restrictions—particularly those that my constituents and I will now face in a level 4 area—on the communities that we all serve. I accept that those restrictions are required, however, given the stubbornly high infection rates and Christmas just around the corner, as...