Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not collect data on CAMHS appointment costs across NHS boards centrally.

Every presentation to CAMHS is treated differently depending on the individual needs of the young person. It may involve a multidisciplinary response involving a range of specialists. Therefore the cost per appointment will vary depending on the range of professionals involved and the needs of the child or young person.

The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) NHS Scotland national service specification outlines provisions young people and their families can expect from the NHS.

Open general export licences (OGELs) are reserved to the UK Government. The Scottish Government does not hold data or information on OGELs.

In a wider context, the First Minister has recently asked the Prime Minister for a ban on licencing of arms exports from the UK to Israel, which would also extend to any relevant products currently manufactured in Scotland.

The UK Government publishes statistics on strategic export licences at: Strategic export controls: licensing data annual reports - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) However, these data sets do not identify where the licenced items are produced.

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.

The Scottish Government does not collect data on how much a psychological therapies appointment costs the NHS.

Every presentation for psychological treatment represents a unique individual with their own specific needs. Treatment can often involve working with multidisciplinary professions as needed, meaning it is not possible to provide a cost per appointment.

The range of this psychological treatment is described in detail in the Scottish Psychological Therapies Matrix and how this treatment should be delivered is set out in the National Specification for Psychological Therapies and Interventions.

The Scottish Government welcomes the model of early intervention being piloted as part of the Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity (ECHC) ‘No Time To Wait’ project. We will continue to engage with ECHC as the ‘No Time To Wait’ pilot continues and look forward to learning more from the evaluation of the model in due course.

We recognise the important role third sector organisations, such as ECHC, play in supporting and improving children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing. That is why we fund a variety of organisations and services with a focus on prevention and early intervention to ensure all of Scotland’s children, young people and families receive the right care and support, at the right time, in settings which best meets their needs. In this financial year (23-24) we have invested a further £15 million into community mental health services for children, young people and families through our local authority framework to achieve this aim.

Statistics on Scotland's public sector finances are published in the Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) publication; however, statistics for Scottish public sector net debt are not available. The latest GERS publication is available at: Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland 2022-23 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Figures on UK public sector net debt are published by the Office of National Statistics. In January 2024 the UK's public sector net debt was 96.5% of GDP.

In February 2021 Brookfield Multiplex advised NHSGGC that they had concerns regarding the suitability of the wall linings installed in the atrium of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. Intrusive surveys were immediately commissioned by NHSGGC that confirmed the installation of ACM polyethylene products which do not comply with current Building Control standards. It is the boards position that the wall linings installed did not meet the contract requirements and this is the subject of an ongoing legal action.

NHSGGC followed a Fire Risk Assessment process immediately after being notified of the concerns with the wall linings in the atrium. This process identified mitigation measures that were implemented from February 2021 to manage any potential fire risk generated by the presence of unsuitable wall linings.

A Full Business Case for replacement of the internal wall linings was approved in November 2022 with the works commencing in the same month and will be fully complete in 2027.

The overall cost of the project, as stated in the Full Business Case, to replace the internal wall linings is £32.7m in the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. This project is currently on site and is expected to run until 2027.

The Scottish Government is aware of the former railway route to Greenock Princes Pier. However, in the absence of any clearly expressed demand for this link from freight customers, the Scottish Government has no current plans to assess the feasibility of reopening the Greenock and Ayrshire Railway to the former Greenock Princes Pier railway station as a direct rail freight link to Greenock Ocean Terminal.

The East Kilbride project is delivering an electrified railway to provide more reliable and emission free services, and also a number of significant station improvements.

ScotRail keeps services under continual review to ensure the service levels reflect the changing passenger requirements, which is an operational matter for ScotRail. The member may wish to contact ScotRail directly.