Chamber and committees

Those aged between 18 – 25 years old continue to have access to the Patient Travel Expenses Scheme or the Highlands and Islands Travel Scheme, both of which provide eligible claimants with support to meet travel costs associated with outpatient appointments.

Further to this, the introduction of the Improving the Cancer Journey scheme provides all adults diagnosed with cancer with the opportunity to be referred to a link officer under the joint partnership. The link officer will complete a Holistic Needs Assessment and will generate a care plan to meet the needs identified. This programme is the first of its kind in the UK. It looks to ensure that every cancer patient who can access emotional, financial and practical support. Local community assets can at this stage be identified and utilised to support the service user in meeting their needs.

The works to resurface the A9 around the A822/A923 junction at Dunkeld were completed in late 2021, including changes to road markings to prohibit overtaking through the junction. Illuminated road studs were also installed as part of these works to provide better definition of the junctions during darkness. Solar powered illuminated bollards were also installed at five junctions between the B867 and Dalguise.

In advance of future dualling works Transport Scotland is currently considering further short-term improvements for the A9 between Perth and Inverness, which includes the Birnam and Dunkeld junctions. Officials met with community representatives from the area on 31 October to discuss road safety performance and the scope for short term improvements.

The Remote and Rural General Practice Working Group was created in 2018 to support the implementation of the GP Contract in remote and rural areas. It met between 2018 and 2022. In 2020, the Group put forward recommendations to Ministers which are contained within its Shaping the Future Together Report. The Group last met on the 9 th June 2022 and agreed to bring the Group to an end.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting and developing rural general practice and primary care. In terms of planned developments, The Scottish Government is working to develop a Remote and Rural workforce recruitment strategy by the end of 2024. This will support employers to ensure that the Health and Social Care needs of people who live in remote and rural communities are met. In addition, The Scottish Government’s Programme for Government 2021-22 included a commitment to create a centre of excellence for rural and remote medicine and social care, with scoping work starting in 2021-22. The Scottish Government has been working closely with NHS Education Scotland (NES) over recent months to carry out extensive scoping and consultation with stakeholders. NES has submitted a business case for the Centre. The Scottish Government is evaluating the business case and considering next steps.

We are already taking forward a range of initiatives to support recruitment and retention of workforce in rural General Practice. The Golden Hello scheme offers a one-off bursary of £10,000 to every GP taking up an eligible post in a remote and rural area. Furthermore, ScotGEM is a four-year graduate-entry medical degree which began in 2018, with a focus on rural medicine and healthcare improvement, supporting graduates to choose careers in general practice. The Scottish Government is also supporting an initiative by the four rural boards in the north of Scotland, NHS Shetland, NHS Orkney, NHS Highland and NHS Western Isles who have piloted an innovative recruitment campaign called Rediscover The Joy (RTJ). RTJ aims to recruit experienced GPs to provide support for remote and rural practices.

The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting all survivors of childhood abuse. We are currently considering the evidence, findings and recommendations which have come out of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in England and Wales, and will do the same for the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry when it reports the outcome of its investigations in due course. The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry continues to investigate the abuse of children in care in Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-11301 answered on 21 October 2022. 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 .

Through the Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Supports and Services Framework, we are providing local authorities with £15 million per annum to fund community-based mental health supports for children, young people, their families and their carers. North Ayrshire Council’s share of this year’s funding is £360,000 and Inverclyde Council’s is £192,000.

In North Ayrshire, the following supports and services for children and young people are delivered through the funding:

• Family-Centred Wellbeing Service: A multi-agency, strengths-focussed, community-based assessment and support service for families with children aged 5-12.
• Aberlour Sustain Service: Offers support to families with children aged 5-12 experiencing a range of challenges, including poverty, isolation, mental health and wellbeing issues, self-esteem, and anxiety.
• Crisis Counselling: Works with children and young people aged 5-24 who need very specific response methods to permit them to relate their emotional and mental health difficulties in age-specific ways and enable them to develop coping strategies and support them through challenging situations.
• Therapeutic Services For Care-Experienced Children And Young People: Play therapy, music therapy, dance therapy and art therapy for children and young people aged 5-26. These approaches have proved successful in addressing significant trauma and have enabled young people to develop coping strategies, self-regulate and develop sustainable skills.
• Mental Health And Wellbeing Project Delivery Officers: ‘Your Resilience’ sessions for multiple youth groups and positive mental wellbeing sessions alongside youth workers, via the mobile youth centre, ensuring young people who are geographically isolated have access to supports and services.
• Penumbra Self-Harm Project: Supports primary schools to continue to embed the ‘My Body My Way’ resource, runs parent support groups and workshops on how to deal with self-harm, and provides therapeutic support for children and young people displaying self-harming behaviours. For those aged 10-24.
• Bespoke Mental Health And Wellbeing: Delivering bespoke co-produced intervention with families who are currently under either voluntary or statutory measures with social work or the children and families team.

In Inverclyde, the following supports and services for children and young people are delivered through the funding:

• Inverclyde Emotional Wellbeing Triage Team: An inter-agency team of children and young people’s mental health services. Children, young people and families only tell their story once as the referral is handled by professionals on their behalf.
• Action For Children Wellbeing Service: This is a preventative mental health service aimed at P7 pupils at risk of non-attendance due to anxiety-based issues through transition to secondary education.
• Barnardo’s Wellbeing Support Worker Service: This service works with children and young people with additional support needs and their families to build parental capacity in response to the child’s developmental, social, and emotional needs.
• Cygnets Programme: This programme is aimed at parents and carers who are supporting children and young people experiencing difficulties due to autism spectrum condition.
• Children And Young People’s Participation Service: Workshops are being piloted in education establishments to gain the views of children and young people who have completed or are undergoing work with mental health and wellbeing services.

It is not possible for us to break down the amount spent on each of the above supports and services as local authorities are not required to provide us with this information under the terms of the grant.

In the first year of the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults in 2021-2022, we funded 38 projects supporting adults living in North Ayrshire and 20 projects supporting adults living in Inverclyde.

In North Ayrshire these were:

The Scottish Government does not hold all data on the current average waiting time for a care home place, therefore no assessment can be made.

The UK PII Scheme started on 26 of September 2022 and covers the whole of the UK.

Scotland’s Redress Scheme is committed to providing a swifter and less adversarial option than court action for survivors of abuse in care. We are aware that, for some applicants, the process is taking longer than they have expected, and officials are working to ensure opportunities for improving the service are identified and acted upon.

Recent improvements include the recruitment of additional case workers. There are currently 17 case workers in post, and by the middle of November 2022 this will rise to 23.

It is not possible to give an average or target time from receipt of an application through to issuing of a redress payment and apology. Applications progress at differing rates depending on how complete they are when submitted, the availability of information, evidence and records, and the extent of verification checks required. Priority is given to applicants with a terminal illness and those over 68 years of age.

On 26 October 2022 16 case workers were employed, working to 15.4 full time equivalent (FTE).

From the 14 November 2022, 23 case workers are expected to be in post, with a FTE of 22.2.