Chamber and committees

Drug deaths remain a public health emergency and services have seen a significant increase in funding as a result of the National Mission. This increase of funding into drug policy represents a 67% increase from 2014-15 to 2023-24 according to Audit Scotland figures published in 2022. The published draft budget for 2024-25 has maintained our budget for alcohol and drugs at the same level as 2023-24.

There is currently no reason for Transport Scotland officials to consider the closure of the M74 Junction 1 Kingston Interchange, which is likely to have significant adverse impacts on the wider local road network given the volume of traffic on the M74 and M8. A clear rationale for changes to the strategic transport network, such as this, need to emerge from a robust business case in line with Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance and Transport Scotland's Guidance on the Development of Business Cases . If this change was for planning or land use change purposes, I would expect this to be initiated by Glasgow City Council.

As part of our commitment to acknowledge the role of local leadership in addressing challenges linked to depopulation, the Scottish Government has committed to establishing an Addressing Depopulation Fund to enable local authorities to trial pathfinder interventions in support of population attraction and retention. The Fund will initially make available £180,000 to be split between a prospective three local authorities across financial years 2024-25 and 2025-26.

The first iteration of Scotland’s Migration Service launched on 27 March 2024. The previous working title of ‘Talent Attraction and Migration Service’ was updated following testing with users.

The service is hosted on Scotland.org and provides information and advice to people who have recently moved to Scotland, international students, employers and inward investors, who are able to book one-to-one advice appointments with our expert suppliers – Citizens Advice Scotland and the law firm Seraphus. The scope of the full service will widen in Autumn 2024 to service the needs of individuals located outside Scotland with an interest in moving to Scotland.

Delivery of the first phase of the service is being promoted to employers across Scotland and all other users through a stakeholder advocacy approach. This involves targeted promotional activities through existing relationships and networks of stakeholders. Partnership communications toolkits have been shared with stakeholders containing materials to promote and encourage their own service users to use Scotland's Migration Service. The launch was also promoted via a news release from Scottish Government and social media post.

Further promotional activities will be conducted in Autumn to accompany the launch of the full service.

The Population Programme Board was established in 2019 to support the Ministerial Population Taskforce, which is responsible for delivering Scotland’s national Population Strategy, published in 2021. Aligned to the Ministerial Taskforce, the Programme Board meets quarterly, with the next meeting due to take place in June 2024.

The Expert Advisory Group on Migration and Population was established in October 2018, in order to provide independent expert advice and analysis to Scottish Ministers on matters relating to migration and population. The Group meets around 4 times per year, with the next meeting due to take place in April 2024.

We expect NHS Boards to follow the National CAMHS Service Specification , which sets out that CAMHS services " provide support and personalised, meaningful signposting to the child/young person and their family/carers, with informed consent, to access other services within the children and young people's service network, in cases where families' needs are best met elsewhere."

Appropriate redirection and alternative support will vary across NHS Boards depending on the services available locally, and the needs of the child or young person involved. For many children and young people, such support is likely to be community based, and should be easily and quickly accessible. Since 2020, we have provided local authorities with over £50 million to develop and deliver mental health and wellbeing supports and services, with a further £15 million committed for 2024-25.

As specified in the Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Supports and Services Framework , there should be strong links between CAMHS and the community supports in all areas, with services taking a whole-system approach to ensure that children and young people experience streamlined pathways and get the right support at the right time.

NHS Education for Scotland expect this module to be ready for publishing on their website and available to members by June 2024. Updates will be detailed in their newsletter to Practice Based Small Group Learning (PBSGL) members.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-25449 on 4 March 2024. 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 and its partners on the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce - which includes Police Scotland and the National Crime Agency - oversee work to address the threats highlighted in the Scottish Multi-Agency Strategic Threat Assessment.

Decisions around the detection and disruption of drug supply are an operational matter for the relevant law enforcement agencies. I thank those bodies for the vital work they do to take drugs off our streets and dismantle organised crime groups.

While the law enforcement response to drug trafficking is essential, it is also crucial that we tackle the market for drugs. This Government's position is that tackling the drugs emergency requires a concerted public health approach to improve and save lives.