Specialist expertise will be utilised to help boost development and green energy opportunities in Scotland.
The Planning Hub will support planning authorities to improve their resourcing, skills and capacity to deliver planning determinations promptly.
It will initially focus on improving consenting speed for hydrogen developments until March 2025.
Minister for Public Finance Ivan McKee visited Chapelcross in Annan, the site of a multi-million pound, net-zero focused development includes plans for hydrogen production storage, advanced manufacturing, and energy and enterprise campuses. He said: “Communities across Scotland benefit from a planning system that is efficient, effective and well-resourced.
“The Planning Hub will utilise and build capacity and skills to enable good quality development that improves places and quality of life, whilst growing our economy and supporting the transition to net zero.
“In the first instance, it will have a focus on hydrogen applications – a vital industry that Scotland is embracing as we diversify our energy supply.”
Sarah Gadsden, Chief Executive, Improvement Service said: “It is good to see the Scottish Government highlight the important role of planning in achieving net zero and their subsequent investment in building capacity in the sector.
“We are very pleased to host the hub as it complements the Improvement Service’s broader approach to supporting public service reform and the work of our National Planning Improvement team supporting planning authorities.”
A major change to this year’s Winter Fuel Payment means that to get the allowance that’s worth up to £300, you must also receive Pension Credit.If you don’t currently get Pension Credit, but think you could be eligible, it’s vital to check now and apply, otherwise you could miss out.
The allowance is now linked to certain means-tested benefits including Pension Credit. Pension Credit helps those over State Pension age who are living on a low income. It works by topping up income to a minimum level and can be worth more than £3,900 a year.
To keep getting your Winter Fuel Payment you must be eligible for Pension Credit or one of the other following benefits during the ‘qualifying week’ of 16 to 22 September 2024:
Universal Credit
income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
Income Support
Our Benefits calculator will show you if you’re entitled to any of these benefits
In Scotland the Winter Fuel Payment will be replaced by the Pension Age Winter Heating Payment, worth up to £300.
This will also be linked to Pension Credit and certain means-tested benefits.
It’s the Pension Credit Week of Action and Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall recommends checking if you, a loved one or a friend could be eligible for Pension Credit.
For someone aged 66 or over it could entitle them to the Winter Fuel Payment and other benefits: https://ow.ly/NRPh50Tcu6m
The Scottish Government, including the Scottish Safety Camera Programme, is tackling speeding on Scotland’s roads with a new road safety campaign, asking drivers in Edinburgh to slow down to help reduce collisions and casualties.
Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Fiona Hyslop, and Police Scotland’s Chief Superintendent Hilary Sloan launched the campaign at the Traffic Scotland National Control Centre in South Queensferry.
With speeding contributing to 1 in 5 deaths on Scotland’s roads1, safety cameras play a crucial role in reducing speed and casualties, ultimately saving lives.
Global research shows that camera sites led to 42% less fatal or serious injuries over a four-year period, while fixed camera sites reduced the number of speeders by 70% in the same time period.2
Speeding increases the likelihood and severity of collisions and casualties. In 2022, there were 615 fatalities or casualties on roads in Edinburgh.
Transport and Environment Convener at the City of Edinburgh Council, Councillor Stephen Jenkinson, said: “This is a really important campaign to ensure drivers here in Edinburgh and across the country properly consider their driving behaviour. By slowing down and driving more carefully we can reduce collisions and casualties on our roads.
“All drivers need to respect speed limits and always consider how weather and road conditions can impact their driving.
“We want Edinburgh to be as safe a city as possible for all road users and pedestrians and this campaign is a good step forward.”
Nearly half (44%) of reported casualties on Scotland’s roads take place on rural roads, however because speeds are higher on these roads, they account for almost three-quarters (74%) of road deaths.3
Research shows fatal collisions caused by drivers travelling at 65mph could be halved if the drivers slowed down by just 5mph.4
Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Fiona Hyslop, said: “No matter how experienced you are as a driver, collisions can happen to anyone, and the consequences could be devastating – for you, for other road users, and for loved ones.
“We’re urging drivers to consider their driving behaviour and reduce their speed, making our roads safer for everyone.”
Chief Superintendent Hilary Sloan, Head of Road Policing, said: “Speeding is always a risk. It only takes a split second to lose control and it only has to happen once.
“A collision affects more than just you and your vehicle – it impacts your family, the victim’s family, emergency services and people who witness it.
“Everyone has to take responsibility to save lives on Scotland’s roads.”
Running across TV, radio and digital channels, the campaign delivers a strong message to drivers – You only have to lose control once. The message is brought to life in a thought-provoking TV ad highlighting the split-second moment before a collision from a driver’s point of view.
For more information about the campaign, go to roadsafety.scot.
Follow Road Safety Scotland Facebook and X (formerly known as Twitter) (@roadsafetyscot) pages for more details.
John Swinney presented his first programme for government to parliament on Wednesday. John Swinney came to power as First Minister in May, but due to the UK General election, this was his first opportunity to set out his government’s programme (write MAIRI SPOWAGE and EMMA CONGREVE).
The Programme for Government has four key themes: eradicating child poverty, economic prosperity, improving public services and protecting the planet. So far, so familiar – and not a huge departure in the substance from the three priorities presented in the 2023-24 Programme for Government by his predecessor.
The speech, of course, focused on the upside and how each strand of what was set out will be mutually reinforcing. One thing we often comment on when looking at these high-level speeches is that some of these things might occasionally conflict with each other. So, what is good for business might not be good for tackling child poverty, and vice versa.
However, the FM made clear that child poverty is ‘first and foremost in these priorities’. This sounds like a clear signal that where there are trade-offs, child poverty concerns will win over. Some may disagree with putting that first above all else, but for those of us trying to understand why certain decisions are being made, it’s not unhelpful for the government to be setting out a clear steer.
We’ll be looking at what that means in practice when it comes to Budget allocations; to implement much of what he talked about – for example, a roll-out of the type of whole family support that has been piloted so far – will require new money.
Also, following on from the Finance Secretary’s grim statement on Tuesday, no amount of prioritisation can totally overcome fiscal constraints.
Despite the fact that more targeted (rather than universal) measures are probably sensible for targeting child poverty, the non-delivery of the pledge to roll-out free school meals to all children in primary 6 and 7 is likely to sit uneasily with the FM. More tough decisions in this mould are likely to need to be made.
Elsewhere in the Programme for Government, there are some interesting specifics in relation to the economy, particularly on planning. The government has committed the establishing Scotland’s first “Planning Hub”, the establishment of Masterplan consent areas, and a planning apprenticeship programme. Whilst this sounds like pretty dry stuff, one of the most common frustrations raised by businesses is about the planning system, so this is likely to be welcomed.
Other things were notable by their absence. The Human Rights Bill and the Learning Disability, Autism and Neorodivergence Bill were not on the list of Bills for this 2024-25 session.
Given the 2025-26 session will be cut short by an election, they aren’t likely to be passed this parliament. This has come as a shock to many given previous assurances and the substantial resources that civil servants and stakeholders alike have put into the pre-legislative process to get these ready.
We’re yet to hear a convincing explanation for why they’ve been delayed.
The fiscal statement casts a long shadow
The statement on Wednesday was hugely overshadowed by the fiscal statement on Tuesday. Overall, as well as setting out fiscal “black holes” it felt like Tuesday’s statement sucked up most of the political energy around in the week, leaving Wednesday to feel like a bit of a low energy anti-climax.
We are still not sure after the statement exactly what the Finance Secretary sees as the gap in the budget. Given she has set out £500m of “direct savings” plus the use of £460m of use of Scotwind money, we assume it is roughly £1 billion. £800m of this has been tied to “pay pressure”, and the rest (we assume £100-200m?) has been described as “in demand-led activities like legal aid, police and fire pensions and the costs of accommodation for Ukrainian displaced people” plus COVID-related health measures.
After a bit more detective work, we’ve documented the “£500m of direct savings” in the table below, along with where we still have questions:
Published description
What we’ve worked out
Savings
£65m
Pre-announced decisions: peak fare train fairs to return, no free bus travel for asylum seekers plus agreement with local government to draw on existing programmes to fund pay deals
According to Transport Scotland, the cost of the full year subsidy for the peak fares pilot was approximately £40m[i]. In theory then, not having it running for the last 6 months saves £20m, although it is unclear to us if this was budgeted for to begin with given the pilot was only expected to last for 6 months of the year.The BBC reports £2m had been set aside for free bus travel for asylum seekers[ii]BBC reports that Councils have been asked to redirect £5m of this year’s nature restoration fund to help fund pay deals[iii]. In addition, £10m has been redirected from the Connecting Scotland’s digital devices programme (free iPADs and laptops for people who were digitally excluded), £2m from the fund to expand free school meals to p6 and 7 pupils who receive the Scottish Child Payment (although they say it will still be delivered) and £26m from the Flood Risk Management Programme, on the basis that “councils do not need it in this year”.ivThese total £65m.
£188.4
New additional measures announced on 3rd September
Full table of figures are laid out in the Annex of the letter to the Finance Committee.As there are no figures to help put these reductions into context (i.e. in relation to the size of the original budget allocations) it makes it hard to judge whether these are likely to have a large or small impact.
£60m
Savings anticipated through emergency spending controls, in addition to savings set out as part of the £188.4 million.
They are linked to recruitment freezes, and reductions in costs of travel and marketing, as per the letter to Cabinet reported in the mediav. We have no information on how the number has been calculated.
£160m
The cost of universality in the Winter Fuel Payment.
The money for an equivalent to the UKG universal WFP was added to the Block Grant adjustment for 2024-25. The recent UKG decision to remove universality means that this money will need to be returned to UKG through the fiscal framework reconciliation process.SG could spend this money in 2024/25, but would then need to find savings in subsequent years to cover the reconciliation.We understand a decision on whether it will be spent this year is yet to be made.
Total savings
£473.5m
Up to £500 million saving measures
We understand from officials that the “up to £500m” is a rounding up of the total.
The fact that we are having to piece this together, including from media reports, is obviously not ideal. We don’t think it would have been too much to ask to have all this detail laid out, along with the evidence of impact that was cited in the letter to the Fiance and Public Affairs Committee.
We hope more information is released into the public domain in the coming weeks alongside the Autumn Budget Revision so help clear things up, as far as possible…
A look ahead to the budget
We now know the Scottish Budget will be on the 4th of December. The other important day to understand what the budget may look like for the rest of this financial year and the next will be the UK Budget on 30th October.
We should at that point have much more clarity about the financial envelope which the Scottish Government is working with for 2025-26.
There are also likely to be significant changes to departmental allocations for the current financial year (2024-25). Rachel Reeves said in her fiscal statement as Chancellor in July that she expected some of these in-year issues to be soaked up by departmental budgets.
The extent to which this will actually be achieved will also impact the monies coming to the Scottish Government. Therefore we may be most of the way through 2024-25 before we actually understand how much of the Scotwind revenue is required to balance the budget in 2024-25. It may mean that this is not the last fiscal statement we have about the current financial year.
Given all these in-year movements we would like to call, yet again (like SPICe have done in their blog), for the Government to provide in the Budget next year’s plans alongside the current position for 2024-25.
The convention (for some reason) would be to present the budget plans for 2025-26 compared to the plans that were set out for 2024-25 in December 2023. The in-year movements we have seen over the last three years make a nonsense of this convention (which reduces transparency and hampers parliamentary scrutiny).
This may be a bit of a niche point but it would make analysis of these statements much easier. Here’s hoping that this is finally the year this change is made.
First Minister: athletes at the top of their fields inspirational
As the 2024 Paralympic Games draws to a close, First Minister John Swinney has commended Scottish athletes for their world-class performances which will inspire future generations.
21 Scottish athletes took part individually or in team events, securing 11 gold medals, eight silver medals and one bronze medal – contributing to ParalympicsGB’s overall medals tally of 124 medals.
Athletes from Scotland broke records in pursuit of gold medals, including Stephen Clegg’s record-breaking S12 backstroke time, Jenny Holl’s effort as pilot for Sophie Unwin on her way to gold and a world record in the Women’s B 3,000m individual cycling pursuit, and Sammi Kinghorn achieving a gold medal while setting a new Paralympic Record for the Women’s T53 100m.
The First Minister said: “I want to pay tribute to and congratulate all of the ParalympicsGB squad, including the 21 Scots on the team, for your performances in Paris.
“You are all athletes at the top of your field, and Scotland has been cheering you on throughout these Games.
“Your performances will inspire people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities to take up sport, achieve their own goals and become more active in their own lives. The next generation will be inspired by where you are now, and the Scottish Government and partners will work to ensure there will be opportunities for them to follow suit.”
Forbes Dunlop, CEO of sportscotland, said: “On behalf of everyone at sportscotland I want to congratulate every single one of the Scottish athletes who have represented Paralympics GB in Paris over the last couple of weeks.
“There have been some extremely strong performances from our athletes, including personal bests, Paralympic and World records and a very impressive haul of medals, demonstrating the enormous level of commitment and talent across the team.
“All of this success is down to years of hard work from the athletes, their coaches and their wider support teams including Scottish Governing Bodies of Sport and the sportscotland institute of sport and we are proud to be part of the ‘team behind team’ supporting the athletes.”
Gavin Macleod, CEO of Scottish Disability Sport, said: “Congratulations to all the Scottish Paralympians and their significant support networks in Paris.
“The performances are testimony to the inclusive approach Scottish Governing Bodies of sport are taking to ensuring para-athletes are supported.
“Not all of us will be able to reach the heights of these international high-performance athletes however, what we can do is commit to working in partnership to ensure that children, young people and adults can access quality PE, comprehensive sporting opportunities and the chance to move more every day.”
£1.57m for five new place-based partnerships to tackle child poverty
Innovative approaches to providing families with locally-based wrap-around support will be backed in five more areas as part of £1.57 million of additional investment this financial year.
The Fairer Futures Partnerships will ensure services are integrated to help families where and when they need it. The partnerships will build on the learning from three pathfinder projects in Dundee, Glasgow and Clackmannanshire.
In Dundee and Glasgow these have seen key-workers helping at-risk families and ‘walking alongside’ them until the right services or support have been identified and provided, and changing the way services are offered.
In Clackmannanshire activities have focused on supporting the community around the child, using schools as anchor points for breakfast clubs, after-school childcare, holiday provision, food services, childcare support and transportation to support holistic child development and family wellbeing .
The five new partnerships are in Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, East Ayrshire, Aberdeen and Perth and Kinross.
Speaking ahead of a debate on Eradicating Child Poverty in the Scottish Parliament, Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “Eradicating child poverty is the Scottish Government’s single greatest priority, but this relies on the contribution of many partners.
“Five additional ‘Fairer Futures’ partnerships within local authorities will now be established.
“We know families will only be able to thrive if they have access to the right support at the right time. Designing services around people’s needs means they work better for low-income families, for example to help maximise their incomes, support parents into work and improve the overall wellbeing of families.
“We want to work together with local government to deliver our shared priorities, which include tackling child poverty, to embed this model of whole family support with the potential for this to continue to be expanded further over time to more parts of the country.”
Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care Neil Gray has issued a statement identifying racism as a significant public health challenge, and a key cause of health inequalities.
Echoing the First Minister and other Scottish Government ministers’ comments on racism in the wake of recent violence in other parts of the United Kingdom, the Health Secretary has outlined various measures, including asking health boards to develop and deliver their own anti-racism plans.
Mr Gray said: “These changes can’t come fast enough. Racism already has a life-threatening effect on minority ethnic communities across the UK. That has been the case for generations.
“The only way we can make a difference now is to actively work against racism. This work is just one step in the right direction. There is no place in Scotland for hatred or racism of any kind.”
Earlier in the week, the Scottish Government’s 2024/25 Programme for Government included plans to embed anti-racism across the public sector.
New protected zones come into force on 24 September
From 24 September 2024 it will be an offence to intentionally or recklessly influence, harass or prevent anyone from accessing or providing abortion services in protected zones around certain hospitals and clinics.
The Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Act 2024 comes into force and creates protected zones of 200 metres around all premises providing abortion services.
Within those zones, it will be a criminal offence to behave in ways that could influence the decisions of women and staff to access services; impede their access; or otherwise cause alarm, harassment or distress.
Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health Jenni Minto said: “I thank Gillian Mackay for all her hard work in progressing the Act and I am eternally grateful to all the women and staff who contributed to that process.
“It is unacceptable for women to face any unwanted influence, distress or alarm when accessing abortion services. In bringing the Act into force, I hope women across Scotland hear the clear message that the Scottish Government will protect their access to healthcare.
“People continue to have the right to free speech and protest in a democracy – however, no one has the right to interfere in women’s personal medical decisions. This Act makes that clear.”
Police Scotland will be responsible for enforcing Safe Access Zones. Anyone who breaks Safe Access Zone laws could be fined up to £10,000 under summary procedure or to an unlimited amount under solemn procedure. Full details of the penalties that apply for committing an offence.
Establishment of carbon budget approach to setting climate targets
Legislation to create a carbon budget approach to setting climate targets has been published.
The Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Bill seeks to amend the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, in response to the Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) advice that Scotland’s interim emissions reduction target for 2030 was beyond what could be achieved.
Annual emissions targets are vulnerable to year-to-year fluctuations in emissions such as a particularly cold winter or unexpected events such as a global pandemic.
Based on recommendations from the CCC, the Bill therefore seeks to set a limit on the amount of greenhouse gases emitted over a five-year period, to provide a more reliable framework for emissions reduction.
Acting Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero Gillian Martin said: “Our commitment to ending Scotland’s contribution to global emissions by 2045 at the latest, as agreed by Parliament on a cross-party basis, is unwavering.
“We are now halfway to net zero and continue to be ahead of the UK as a whole in delivering long term emissions reductions.
“However, it is crucial that our target pathway to 2045 is set at a pace and scale that is feasible and reflects the latest independent advice.
“Carbon budgets are an established model for assessment of emissions reductions used by other nations including Japan, France, and Wales.
“We will continue leading on climate action that is fair, ambitious and capable of rising to the emergency before us, and reflects our commitment to the ambition of credible emissions reduction. We are maintaining our commitment to a just transition to net zero and progressing our international work on climate change.”
‘We’re not a nice-to-have sector. We’re an essential sector‘
It all feels a bit grim (writes SCVO Chief Exec ANNA FOWLIE).
A few weeks ago, the Chancellor revealed a “black hole” in public finances across the UK and announced the end to the universal winter fuel allowance. This week the Cabinet Secretary for Finance announced significant cuts to programmes this year to enable the Scottish Government to fund public sector pay deals.
On Wednesday, John Swinney took to the lectern in the Scottish Parliament to present his first Programme for Government, having watched them being delivered from different seats across the Scottish Parliament in the previous 24 years.
I’m sure that was a novel experience for him, but I’m left with a sense of déjà vu.
There is no doubt that parts of our public sector need reform. It’s been more than 13 years since the Christie Commission said that reform must empower individuals, integrate service provision, prioritise expenditure on prevention and increase shared services. But have we seen significant shifts, or have the deckchairs just been rearranged and repainted while pointing towards little ‘pilots’ as evidence of progress?
The voluntary sector is often closest to the most vulnerable people in our society and best placed to support them, including helping them to navigate the baffling complexity of some public services.
Hundreds of organisations are rooted in communities, supporting families to help address the First Minister’s top priority of tackling child poverty. Indeed, the sector will be key to achieving all four of the First Minister’s priorities.
However, with resources increasingly being pulled into the public sector, much of the voluntary sector is resigned to getting scraps from the table.
With years of static funding, an inability to keep pace with public sector pay and constant inability to plan because of a lack of Fair Funding, it does feel like we’ve reached a crisis point.
There is no doubt Government sometimes needs to make difficult choices, but they’re avoiding the hard ones. If we are to turn the rhetoric on addressing poverty and public service reform into reality, we can’t expect current systems and structures to deliver the radical change we need, and we can’t imagine that the public sector can do it all alone.
Public sector staff deserve to be paid fairly, but the voluntary sector deserves to be treated fairly. We deserve more than warm words.
We need to channel the limited resources we have to the experts. People are the experts in their own lives – and most know what they need.
Those at the front-line know how best to support them, but we need to challenge the practice that the public sector is prioritised without truly thinking about how ‘public services’ are best delivered, and by whom.
We’re not a nice-to-have sector. We’re an essential sector.
