Chamber and committees

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service will give careful consideration to any reports of alleged criminal conduct which are submitted by the police, or any specialist reporting agency.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service has no policy whereby it will not accept offences reported to by the police, or any specialist reporting agency.

The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting all Boards to meet the standard that 90% of patients start treatment within 18 weeks of referral. We continue to provide targeted, tailored support towards those Boards with the longest waits and poorest performance.

We have allocated £48.6 million of supplementary funding to Boards this year via the Mental Health Outcomes Framework to improve the quality and delivery of mental health services for all. This is in addition to £36.7 million allocated to Health Boards via the Outcomes Framework in 2022-23; and to the total package of core funding that Health Boards receive.

Within the Outcomes Framework funding for this year, Boards are expected to: build capacity within psychological therapy services to deliver the standard and reduce backlogs; improve quality and access in response to local need; and implement the forthcoming national specification for psychological therapies.

The Scottish Government remains committed to implementing NHS dental payment reform on 1 November 2023 which will retain independent dental practices as the mainstay of NHS provision. Payment reform will also continue to comprise fee-per-item, capitation and allowance payments within a blended model.

In bringing forward payment reform, Scottish Government is seeking to address how best to maximise patient care and access to NHS dental services within a challenging financial position, and ensure value-for-money to the public sector. It is our view this can only be done by maintaining the blended system of payment, and our engagement with the sector during the development of reform has shown that dentists prefer being able to determine their own income and workload through the fee-per-item model.

The Scottish Government is currently responding to the committee’s letter in full, and this response will be published in due course.

The most recent CAMHS statistics show that the number of patients starting treatment within 18 weeks of referral did in fact increase in quarter ending June 2023, and in comparison with the same quarter the previous year.

3,760 children and young people (CYP) started treatment within 18 weeks of referral during the quarter ending June 2023, a 3.0% increase from the previous quarter (3,652) and a 5.7% increase from the same quarter in the previous year (3,557).

This is the second highest number of patients starting treatment within 18 weeks of referral for any quarter since 2019 . While the number of patients being seen is increasing, this is not yet reflected in performance against the standard as Boards also continue to work to treat those who have had longer waits.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-20714 on 19 September 2023. 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

Our ambitious work on suicide prevention is underpinned by a significant funding commitment of £2.5 million in 2023-24. This includes funding of approximately £1.9 million specifically focused on the delivery and implementation of the Creating Hope Together Action Plan and ongoing research to inform future suicide prevention activity and targeted support. Funding of approximately £600,000 has been allocated to taking forward priority programmes initiated under the previous plan including our bereavement support service pilot and the improvement of suicidal crisis responses.

The £2.5 million ring-fenced for suicide prevention is part of the core mental health budget. However, other elements of the mental health budget also support suicide prevention work. For example, our £15 million per annum Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults supported nearly 300 suicide prevention projects in 2022-23. Likewise, wider Scottish Government spending contributes to tackling the inequalities which can contribute to suicide.

The Scottish Government, through our National Delivery Lead, will be tracking national spend against the annual delivery plan and £2.5 million budget. We will not be tracking local spend. It is for local authorities and NHS teams to agree local action plans which meet local needs and agree resources to support these. As at the national level, there is recognition that suicide prevention involves a broad range of services and budgets including housing, money advice, alcohol and drug services, and it is therefore not possible to determine the full funding picture. We will however be actively working with our local partners, including NHS Boards and local authorities, to identify opportunities to co-ordinate action and share practice and learning so that our collective plans and resources work to prevent suicide.

There have been 91 NHS buildings surveyed under the RAAC survey programme (as at 19th September 2023).

The list of buildings to be surveyed was included in the answer to question S6W-19366 on 21 July 2023. NHS Scotland Assure published the list of buildings to be surveyed on the 15th September 2023: RAAC -List of Properties v1 Jul 23 (nhs.scot) . In response to part (b) of the Question; there have, as of the 19th September 2023, been 14 properties confirmed to contain RAAC, these will also be published in due course. 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 .

The schedule NHS Scotland buildings included in the on-site phase of the survey programme was submitted as part of the answer to question S6W-19366 on 21 July 2023 and was published on the NHS Scotland Assure website on the 15th September 2023: RAAC -List of Properties v1 Jul 23 (nhs.scot) . 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 .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-20714 on 19 September 2023. 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