Chamber and committees

We have made significant investment to introduce more than 80 extra counsellors across institutions and have committed funding to maintain support through to the end of this academic year.

No decision has yet been taken with regard to funding beyond the current academic year.

I understand, from recent communication with Liberty Steel UK, that the Clydebridge Steelworks site in Cambuslang is not currently operational. The future of the site is an operational matter for Liberty Steel and I further understand that a number of options for the future of the site are being considered.

There are currently no staff employed at the Clydebridge site. Staff from Liberty Steel’s other Scottish facility, Liberty Steel Dalzell in Motherwell, are able to attend the site to attend to any necessary operational matters if required.

Liberty Steel have been working closely with Police Scotland and Securitas to ensure appropriate measures are in place to minimise intrusion and further damage to the Clydebridge site. There are significant security measures in place which are linked up to Securitas offices and security staff at Liberty Steel Dalzell. The Clydebridge facility itself is fully secure and further work has been carried out in reinforcing existing secure entrance points. Mobile security inspections are also being undertaken.

I note that the Heritage Railways and Tramways (Voluntary Work) Bill is going through the UK Parliamentary process. Railway Safety legislation is reserved to the UK Parliament, and would be expected to apply in Scotland.

The Scottish Government considers it sensible to permit young people to volunteer on heritage railways and tramways with appropriate safety and protection arrangements.

The mental health and wellbeing of children and young people is an absolute priority for the Scottish Government and we continue to prioritise support for mental health and wellbeing in schools.

We support our local authority partners with £16 million in funding to ensure that every secondary school has access to counselling services to support delivery of the commitment. We also published a Whole School Approach Framework and a professional learning resource to assist school staff in supporting children and young people’s mental health in schools.

To help raise awareness of mental health and wellbeing, we currently support NUS Think Positive which sign-posts help for students, where colleges and universities can share good practice and where, through Student Mental Health Agreements, students’ associations and institutions collaborate on institutional mental health practices.

We will also be producing a Student Mental Health Plan which, by linking to our Suicide Prevention Strategy and the forthcoming Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy, which will assist in bringing all aspects of mental health to the fore.

The Scottish Government continues to invest in a range of mental health and wellbeing training and education materials to support all staff working with children and young people.

This includes the NHS Education Scotland (NES) Children and Young People's Mental Health and Wellbeing Knowledge and Skills Framework , published in 2021 and available to the entire children and families workforce through the Turas learn platform. The knowledge and skills framework is accompanied by a Digital Learning Map, which has been available since December 2022. This enables staff to access high quality training resources and plan their learning journeys; whilst assisting leaders in the development of learning and development pathways for staff groups.

Through the Scottish Government/COSLA Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Joint Delivery Board, NES worked with a range of stakeholder groups to identify ways to encourage wider use of the Knowledge and Skills Framework and Digital Learning Map. This work led to the development of new resources and improvements such as a training checklist, a ‘One Good Adult’ job description and an evaluation toolkit to make it easier for all professionals to make best use of the Framework and Learning Map.

In addition, in June 2021, Scottish Government launched a new professional learning resource available to all school staff as part of our Mental Health and Wellbeing: Whole School Approach Framework. This new resource, developed by the Mental Health in Schools Working Group, will help to ensure all school staff can recognise the range of mental health and wellbeing concerns that young people may experience and work effectively to support them.

The following table shows Scottish Government staffing costs for Health Inequalities (HI) policy functions from 2020 to 2023, and the total over this period.

A programme of stakeholder engagement has taken place to develop our strategic approach to workforce planning for mental health and wellbeing. Our strategic approach, which will align with the Health and Social Care: National Workforce Strategy published March 2022, will be included within the forthcoming Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

We continue to work closely with stakeholders to develop the Mental Health and Wellbeing Workforce Action Plan which will accompany the Strategy's delivery plan, with the intention of publishing in Autumn 2023.

The Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults is distributed through by Third Sector Interfaces (TSI) across all regions of Scotland, who deliver the Fund locally to grassroots community organisations, in partnership with others including Health and Social Care Partnerships, local councils and people with lived experience. This ensures that the Fund, is able to respond to local needs and circumstances, whilst adhering to national guidance. This will continue to be the case in 2023-24.

The share of the fund that each TSI receives is calculated by using the National Resource Allocation Formula (NRAC) to ensure a fair distribution of the fund.

Timing of local fund processes including award decisions will vary across regions, with each TSI led partnership agreeing their own process and timetable. Information on how to apply for this year’s funding will be accessible in due course on the TSI Scotland website . All TSIs will have distributed funding no later than 31 March 2024.

The Scottish Government meet weekly with the team at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to discuss their capital investment plans, including redevelopment of the Institute of Neurological Sciences in Glasgow. The Scottish Government would be happy to discuss with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde any plans they have to establish a Centre of Excellence for Brain Tumour Research in Scotland.

The Charity Brain Tumour Research currently funds five Centres of Excellence for Brain Tumour Research (at the Institute for Cancer Research in Surrey, the University of Plymouth, Queen Mary University London, Imperial College London, and the University of Portsmouth).

Centres of Excellence | Brain Tumour Research

Brain Tumour Research has a UK-wide remit and Scottish Institutions are eligible to apply for Centre of Excellence status.

Centre of Excellence designation is awarded by Brain Tumour Research based on a process of independent expert review. This process is not a matter for the Scottish Government.