Chamber and committees

The Western Isles fall within the £421.6 million Scottish Government investment in the R100 North contract which is expected to connect over 2,200 premises across the Western Isles to full fibre broadband. Work is currently scheduled to begin in the latter half of 2025.

As at 15 April 2024, 30 connections had been delivered through our demand-led R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher scheme, with a further 24 vouchers requested.

Between 2014 and 2020 the publicly-funded Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) Programme brought a minimum of a superfast broadband service to over 12,600 premises across the Western Isles with new subsea cables laid across the west coast of Scotland delivering fibre connections to the Western Isles for the first time.

The number of Apprenticeship providers by year are as follows:

The Scottish Government provided funding for adult neurodevelopmental pathway trials in 2022. Following the adult neurodevelopmental pilots, a final report was published in March 2023 outlining what is required to provide a multi-disciplinary neurodevelopmental approach across Scotland. The Scottish Government has accepted the recommendations and we are working with the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT) on implementation. This included launching a new Neuro-affirming Community of Practice in October last year.

The Scottish Government funds the NAIT to support local areas to improve their neurodevelopmental support and diagnosis for adults. Additionally, the Scottish Government has commissioned work through NHS Education for Scotland and the NAIT to provide a range of professional learning about ADHD and neurodevelopmental conditions.

The recent appointment by the First Minister of his ministerial team has resulted in changes in the ministerial titles of certain Cabinet Secretaries and Ministers. A change in title does not necessarily equate to a change in ministerial responsibilities. International development is now within the portfolio responsibilities of the Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture.

Full information on the roles and responsibilities of the Scottish Ministers is set out on the Scottish Government website ( www.gov.scot ).

Ministerial responsibility for planning, which includes the fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4), sits with myself.

Various Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) medicines continue to experience limited and intermittent supply issues. We are aware that market data has indicated that some of these issues will continue beyond May 2024 into the Summer.

As the pricing and supply of medicines is a reserved matter for the UK Government, we continue to engage with them to find a lasting solution on minimising the impact of these medicine shortages on patients and their families.

The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer (CPO) sits on the UK Government’s Medicine Shortages Response Group (MSRG). The CPO continues to raise the issue of ADHD medicine shortages and has urged the UK Government to consider alternative solutions, if possible, for medicines with continuous and intermittent supply issues. There was general agreement that the situation wasn’t improving, and that the UK medicine supply team would consider what further could be done, including organising a meeting with the manufacturers to seek further solutions. We hope to be in a position to update on this further in due course.

For anyone who experiences difficulties in obtaining their prescribed ADHD medication, I encourage them to discuss this with their specialist, who should be able to review their circumstances and prescribe an alternative treatment if appropriate until stock supplies are stabilised.

The position described is entirely a matter for the CHS Chair. The Scottish Government is aware that the Chair of Children’s Hearings Scotland has been pleased to meet with other Members. The Member may wish to meet the Chair to seek further reassurance that these matters have been fully and appropriately addressed.

These questions are within the statutory domain of the National Convener. The detailed arrangements are operated by Children’s Hearings Scotland in terms of their published complaints policy. Scottish Ministers have no locus, and it is open to the Member to raise these matters with the body directly.

As a public body CHS are required by law to operate in line with the SPSO requirements, and all complainants must have recourse to the SPSO as the final stage for complaints. The SPSO has statutory powers to investigate complaints, the National Convener is independent of Government in the exercise of his children’s panel appointment and tenure functions. The Scottish Government has no locus.

I met with the Chair and Chief Executive/National Convener of Children’s Hearings Scotland (CHS) on March 21, 2024 and discussed a range of issues relating to the operation of the tribunal element of the children’s hearings system, including matters related to the functions of the National Convener namely children’s panel capacity and CHS plans for the retention, recruitment and training of children’s panel volunteers.