Chamber and committees

The NHS Recovery Plan 2021-2026 refers to the support for CAMHS included in the £120m Mental Health Recovery and Renewal Fund. In total, £34m of the Fund was invested in 2021/22 to improve access to and quality of CAMHS services.

This fund was superseded in 2022-23 by the Mental Health Outcomes Framework, which bundled funding to Boards for improvements to CAMHS, psychological therapies, eating disorder care, primary care and children and young people’s neurodevelopmental services, as well as ongoing innovation and service reform.

The intention behind bundling was to allow Boards flexibility to align spending to local priorities, based on this it is not possible to separate out the specific CAMHS funding provided to each Board from 2022-23 onwards. We have allocated £48.6 million of supplementary funding to Boards so far this year via the Mental Health Outcomes Framework. This is in addition to £36.7 million allocated to Health Boards via the Outcomes Framework in 2022-23; and to the total package of core funding that Health Boards receive.

So far 13 out of 14 CAMHS services have effectively eliminated their long wait lists (where 3% or fewer of all waits are over 1 year). Full data information on for each Board on CAMHS patients starting treatment is publicly available via Public Health Scotland: PHS CAMHS Waiting Times .

Child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) workforce data is publicly available in NHS Education for Scotland (NES) Turas Data Intelligence at: NHS Scotland Workforce Data .

This also provides data on staff joining and leaving rates by each Health Board.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S6W-25599 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 .

Scottish Government Ministers and officials are aware of the current challenges faced by NHS Tayside in meeting waiting time standards set out for child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).

NHS Tayside are receiving additional support which includes providing access to professional specialist advice, making sure that they have robust improvement plans place and are continually monitoring their implementation. Regular and structured engagement with NHS Tayside at both Ministerial and official level is continuing. This is in addition to requesting formal quarterly written updates.

In addition all Boards have been asked to submit trajectories setting out a timeline for clearing long waits. These will be updated annually and used to inform further targeted improvement work to ensure all Boards meet CAMHS waiting times standards.

The Scottish Government does not hold information specifically on the number of car thefts. Information on the number of thefts of a motor vehicle is provided below, but it is not possible to break that down by type of motor vehicle.

In terms of a perpetrator breaking into a home to take keys, it should be noted that this is recorded as a crime of housebreaking and not as a theft of a motor vehicle. The data held by the Scottish Government does not include information on what was stolen during any recorded crime of housebreaking.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the use of so-called cloning equipment to steal a car without the keys.

Crimes of theft of a motor vehicle, Scotland, year ending December 2021 to year ending December 2023

It is well established that some occupations are restricted by capacity and age due to the physical demands of those roles, making it untenable to expect them to be carried out until the State Pension Age. This was recognised by the Public Service Pensions Act 2013 which set a pension age of 60 for firefighters, police officers and the armed forces.

Prison officers do not have a dedicated pension scheme as they are members of the Civil Service pension scheme, which is a reserved matter for the UK Government. We recognise that prison officers carry out frontline operational duties, including control and restraint, until the State Pension Age, which is due to rise to age 68. This can be particularly challenging and carries with it significant stresses and strains. We have previously raised the concerns around physical demands of prison officers role with the UK Government.

Scottish Prison Service do not assess age to determine whether a prison officer is capable of carrying out their duties but recognises that front line staff work in a very challenging environment. SPS has arrangements in place to support staff who may no longer be able to fulfil the physical demands of their role and these cases are managed in accordance with the circumstances of each individual.

It is well established that some occupations are restricted by capacity and age due to the physical demands of those roles, making it untenable to expect them to be carried out until the State Pension Age. This was recognised by the Public Service Pensions Act 2013 which set a pension age of 60 for firefighters, police officers and the armed forces.

Prison officers do not have a dedicated pension scheme as they are members of the Civil Service pension scheme, which is a reserved matter for the UK Government. The Scottish Government has raised concerns with the UK government regarding the requirement for prison officers to carry out frontline operational duties including control and restraint until the age of 68. We have always accepted that some jobs are restricted by capacity and age, and need to be viewed and treated as such.

The Scottish Government and SPS both duly recognise that prison officers work in a very challenging environment and are committed to a person centred approach to all employees and their circumstances.

It is vital to the Scottish Government that children and young people receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time. Not all children and young people need specialist services like CAMHS, and many will find more suitable support in their local community. This is why we have provided local authorities with over £50 million since 2020 to fund community-based mental health and wellbeing supports and services for children, young people and their families.

The services are focused on prevention and early intervention, and include supports for positive mental health and wellbeing as well as emotional distress. Where appropriate, these services offer an alternative to CAMHS by providing support for emotional distress delivered in a community setting. Local authorities can also make support available to children and young people who are awaiting CAMHS treatment.

Community supports and services are available in every local authority area, with more than 300 now in place across Scotland. Local authorities report that over 58,000 children, young people and their family members used the supports and services in the first half of 2023 alone.

We will be providing local authorities with a further £15 million in 2024-25 to continue to deliver these supports and services. We have also ensured access to counselling services in all secondary schools, and continue to give local authorities £16 million per year to fund this.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-24499 on‎ 23 January 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 .

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that Israeli military planes have used Glasgow Prestwick Airport during the ongoing conflict in Israel and Palestine, whether it received any prior notification that this would happen. Glasgow Prestwick Airport operates on a commercial basis and at arm’s length from the Scottish Government.

Operational decisions regarding the day-to-day running of the airport, are a matter for the management of Glasgow Prestwick Airport. Scottish Government did not receive any prior notification.