Chamber and committees

Glasgow School of Art is an autonomous Higher Education Institution, and as such has responsibility for its own strategic and operational decision making, including those related to the restoration of the Mackintosh Building.

The Scottish Funding Council continue to engage regularly with the Glasgow School of Art at Senior Management and Board level on a range of issues including institutional governance and staff and student wellbeing.

A key milestone, however, is the outcome of the fire investigation. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service anticipate that they will be in a position to publish the fire investigation report by the end of November 2021.

The success of our vaccination programme means we that from 19 July 2021 we started to change restrictions that apply to fully vaccinated travellers from Amber list. Initially this was applied to UK residents who have been vaccinated by the NHS, departure test before travel to the UK, and the day 2 PCR test once here, for detection and genomic sequencing.

From 2 August, fully-vaccinated passengers arriving from amber list countries in EU member states*, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries, microstates of Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City, and the USA do not have to quarantine or take a day 8 test upon arrival in Scotland.

They have to carry with them a form of certification to provide details of their vaccine status. For US arrivals, this proof is a CDC card showing you are fully vaccinated, along with proof of residence in the US. All arrivals from Europe must show a record of vaccination through the European Digital COVID Certificate.

Amber arrivals who have been fully vaccinated must take a pre-departure test before arrival into Scotland, alongside a PCR test on or before day 2 after arrival.

Police Scotland have advised that there are currently 256 body worn cameras in use within North East Division and 5 body worn cameras in use within Fife Division. These are in daily use and managed in accordance with Data Protection impact assessments.

In addition, Police Scotland have access to 50 body worn cameras available from legacy force areas, including the Football Policing Unit.

Police Scotland have confirmed that they are proceeding with the development and introduction of additional body worn cameras for armed policing officers in advance of the Climate Change conference COP26 in November 2021.

Challenging behaviour is often the result of extreme frustrations in communication and Scottish Government recognises the challenges this brings for everyone. Scottish Government, together with the Scottish Commission for People with a Learning Disability, established the Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) Community of Practice to embed the principles of PBS nationally and locally.

Alongside this, Scottish Government funded the Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) Postgraduate Certificate which is currently being delivered to a range of practitioners across Scotland to improve specialist skills locally, for the benefit of individuals and families.

Parallel to this is the work of the Scottish Network for Reduction of Restrictive Practices (SNRRP) in recognition of the fact that the use of restrictive practices with people who have been identified as vulnerable in Scotland, including children, adults, and older adults is a significant concern. The aim of the SNRRP is to eliminate the misuse of restrictive practices in Scotland and to ensure that where these are used, they are done so safely, with respect for people’s human rights, and in a culture of openness and transparency. The network also exists to promote the use of positive alternative approaches to the use of restrictive practices.

The Scottish Government is undertaking a range of action to support local authorities to promote positive relationships and behaviour in schools. This includes investment in various violence reduction preventative approaches with young people across Scotland, which take place locally through schools or the local community, curricular learning on positive relationships and support for a whole school approach to promoting positive relationships and behaviour.

Since 2011 the Scottish Government and COSLA have been jointly responsible for the national Scottish Strategy for Autism to ensure people live healthier lives, enjoy choice and control over the services they use, and are supported to be independent and active citizens.

In March 2021, Scottish Government and COSLA jointly published the “Towards Transformation” plan which reiterates our commitment to collaborate with delivery partners (including local authorities, the third sector and autistic led organisations) to reduce the inequalities experienced by autistic people.

The Scottish Government and COSLA are working with stakeholders, including HSCPs, Local Authorities, and people with lived experience on a new leadership structure to tackle the issues that people with learning disabilities and autistic people face. This new structure has lived experience at its heart.

Officials also regularly attend the Social Work Scotland Learning Disability and Autism sub group to engage with local learning disability and autism leads to share learning related to the Learning Disability and Autism strategies and to hear about local work.

The Evaluation of the Scottish Strategy for Autism has been completed. The report is being finalised and is expected to be published soon.

The issue of body-worn cameras is a policy and operational decision for Police Scotland, acting under the oversight of the Scottish Police Authority. However, as part of our budget allocation for policing this year, we have provided one-off funding of £500,000 to support their use by armed officers.

Police Scotland are currently running a public consultation on a wider roll-out body-worn video across the service which will assist them in protecting the public, their officers and staff and provide best evidence at court.

This consultation launched on the 1 June and is due to close on 31 August 2021. The results will help inform protocols, a code of practice and training to ensure that cameras are used in appropriate and proportionate way .

The Scottish Government has committed to a review of the Victim Notification Scheme and work in relation to this is being taken forward.

The minutes from the meeting of the Victims Taskforce on 10 March 2021 where this matter was discussed can be accessed here: Victims Taskforce papers: March 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Data from Public Health Scotland shows the number of (a) children and (b) adults presenting with self-harming issues within Scottish NHS acute hospitals in each year from 2007 to 2020, broken down by calendar year of admission (inpatient data only). Figures for 2021 cannot be provided at this time.

Notes :

• The recording of data does not allow for a breakdown between NHS boards.
• There are some quality issues with this data set due to the recording of self-harm in Acute inpatient settings.
• Figures on self-harm presentations in Accident & Emergency departments, psychiatric inpatient hospitals and outpatients settings cannot be published at this time, due to data quality issues.
• Many people with self-harm related injuries are not treated as Acute inpatients, or do not present to NHS hospitals. Therefore, the data provided will likely be an undercount of self-harm related injuries in the period 2007-2020

The Scottish Government is actively working with partners to develop Scotland’s approach to self-harm; a commitment in the Mental Health Transition & Recovery Plan. We recognise self harm behaviour is complex and often reflects underlying emotional distress. We commissioned Samaritans Scotland to undertake research in 2020 which resulted in the publication of ‘Hidden too long: uncovering self-harm in Scotland’ ( https://media.samaritans.org/documents/HiddenTooLong_uncoveringself-harminScotland.pdf ). Building on that research, our engagement with partners and people with lived experience will allow us to better understand the prevalence and nature of self-harm (and associated data requirements). Crucially, it will inform our approach to ensuring compassionate responses which effectively support individuals and families.

The Scottish Government notes the recent calls for the International Criminal Court to recognise the destruction of nature, “ecocide”, as an international crime.

We are committed to maintaining high environmental standards and have put in place arrangements to establish Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS) as the new governance body which has the ability to keep under review the implementation of international obligations relating to environmental protection legislation and advise the Government accordingly.