Scottish Parliament Update

SASW’s Communications and Policy Officer Emily Galloway provides a brief overview of what happened in the Scottish Parliament last week

On Tuesday the 7th of September, the First Minister announced the 2021-22 Programme for Government (PfG). The Programme is published every year at the beginning of September and sets out the actions the Government will take in the coming year and beyond. Key elements of note to social work are:

  • National Care Service Bill by June 2022
  • Investing £100 million over the next three years to support frontline service for preventing violence against women and girls
  • Investing £250 million to tackle the drugs death emergency over the next five years to support better outreach, treatment, rehabilitation and aftercare, access to same day treatment and a wider range of treatment options and guaranteed funding for grassroots orgs providing support
  • Near Me to be introduced to all social care settings
  • £8 million package to support the wellbeing of those working in health and social care
  • Work to begin on a minimum income guarantee

The full Programme for Government can be found, here.

Covid-19 update. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said, “The latest figures show clearly that we are still experiencing a surge in cases and a very high level of infection in the population. However, the latest data also gives us some early, albeit tentative at this stage, indication that the rate of increase might now be slowing down.” More can be found, here.

Scottish Parliament debate on Covid Vaccine Certification Scheme (also known as Vaccine passports) which saw the measures being passed on Thursday evening, despite vociferous push back from opposition parties.  Watch the debate, here.

Criminal Justice Committee took evidence from stakeholders on Covid and the Justice Sector. More here.

The Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee took evidence on the Petition to End Conversion Therapy. More here.