- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 15 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made towards delivering the Bute House Agreement commitment to embed the NHS Education Scotland mental health knowledge and skills framework to support the training of all staff working with children and young people.
Answer
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.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 28 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 15 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding has been allocated to its Health Inequalities Unit from 2020 to 2023, broken down by financial year.
Answer
The following table shows Scottish Government staffing costs for Health Inequalities (HI) policy functions from 2020 to 2023, and the total over this period.
| April 2020-March 2021 | April 2021-March 2022 | April 2022-March 2023 | Total (April 2020-March 2023) |
Total | £418,000 | £866,000 | £900,000 | £2,184,000 |
Health Inequalities policy functions include specific work in relation to socioeconomic determinants of health and inequalities experienced by particular groups. However, all of the work of the Population Health Directorate seeks to reduce health inequalities, as does wider work taken forward within other Health Directorates, e.g. Primary Care and Mental Health, and the wider Scottish Government, e.g. Tackling Child Poverty and Social Justice.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 15 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what progress it has made towards delivering the Bute House Agreement commitment to develop a long-term mental health workforce plan.
Answer
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.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 12 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how the additional £15 million funding for the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund will be allocated, and when it expects to have reached a final decision on which community organisations will be awarded grants from the fund.
Answer
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.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 11 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider the redevelopment of the Institute of Neurological Sciences in Glasgow as an opportunity to establish a Centre of Excellence for brain tumour research in Scotland.
Answer
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.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 11 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to establish a Centre of Excellence for brain tumour research in Scotland, in line with the existing network of four such centres in England.
Answer
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.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 10 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that the Edinburgh-headquartered, FTSE 250-listed company, Capricorn Energy, may reduce its UK workforce by 75% to approximately 40 staff, which would involve 120 redundancies.
Answer
In the unfortunate event of any employees facing redundancy, the Scottish Government will always offer and provide support through our initiative for responding to redundancy situations, Partnership Action for Continuing Employment, PACE.
Through providing skills development and employability support, PACE aims to minimise the time individuals affected by redundancy are out of work. In this instance Capricorn Energy have confirmed that they are providing bespoke support to all affected employees and will not be accessing the services provided by PACE.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to support local authorities to promote and deliver the Scottish Welfare Fund in order to support low-income families, as recommended in the Poverty Alliance report, “It’s hard work being poor” Women’s Experiences of the Cost-of-Living Crisis in Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Government sets Statutory Guidance for the Scottish Welfare Fund, outlining the responsibilities for Local Authorities in their administration of the Fund and making clear guidance available on how to apply for a grant. Local Authorities are required to ensure that other services which have contact with people in crisis have up to date information about the Fund, including promotional posters and leaflets. At a national level, the Scottish Government continues to signpost the Scottish Welfare Fund, including through our cost-of-living campaign website.
The Independent Review into the Scottish Welfare Fund was published on 24 March 2023. As set out in answer S6W-16168 on 24 March 2023, the Scottish Government is working to publish an Action Plan by the end of Spring 2023. The Action Plan will set out policy improvements that the Scottish Government will deliver with Local Authorities and wider stakeholders, including on improving clarity and consistency of communication and promotion.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 9 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has allocated to mental health services, as a percentage of frontline spend, this parliamentary session, broken down by financial year.
Answer
Net mental health expenditure is published on the Public Health Scotland website Scottish health service costs under data files mental health expenditure Excel workbook . This information is available for financial years 2011-12 to 2021-22 for each NHS Board in Scotland, split by various types of expenditure including Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), adult mental health services, and older adult mental health services. Please note that expenditure data is collected by broad specialties and therefore categories may include multiple ‘services’.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 9 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) regarding financial support to permanently extend the daily operating hours of the Glasgow Subway once the full modernisation programme has been completed, including the installation of Platform Screen Doors (PSDs) in all Subway stations to enable unattended train operation (UTO).
Answer
Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) is the owner and operator of Glasgow Subway and they are responsible for decisions and funding for subway operations.
The Scottish Government is providing up to £246 million to SPT, towards the estimated total project cost of £287.5 million for the Subway modernisation programme, which includes: a smartcard ticketing system; new rolling stock and signalling; refurbished stations with improved accessibility.
Operation times are a decision for SPT and this is not a matter they have raised with the Scottish Government.