Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is working closely with NHS Boards during the pandemic to monitor the impact of Covid-19 on demand and capacity. We wrote to NHS Boards on 14 May highlighting mental health as a clinical priority and asking them to set out plans for reinstating services and to work with partners to estimate the anticipated rise in mental health need in the population and their response. These plans will allow us to understand where Boards are now and what they need to do to address the mental health needs of their population as we move into the next phase.

Although clinical advice and available scientific evidence suggests that it is too early to predict the long-term mental health impacts of Covid-19, in anticipation of increased demand for mental health support, the Scottish Government has invested heavily in services, including more than £1 million to expand the Distress Brief Intervention (DBI) programme to help people in distress and £3.8 million to increase the capacity of NHS 24’s telephone and online services and extend digital therapies available through the NHS.

The Business Support Grant Scheme is administered by local authorities, and they aim to make payment within 10 working days from receipt of a fully completed application and once all information and evidence in support of an application has been verified. Applications can be subject to delay if incomplete or incorrect details are supplied.

The Scottish Government’s £50 million Wellbeing Fund is supporting third sector organisations that have expanded their work to provide vital assistance for communities at risk in the face of Covid-19. Among the 558 organisations recently offered funding in the first application round for Wellbeing Fund support are 344 for which applicants identified “Mental Health and Wellbeing” as the primary area of focus and which collectively received £8.07 million. Provisional results from the second application round show that 392 applications have been approved for funding, with a total value of £7,592,000. More detailed breakdown information about these (including how many focus on mental health and wellbeing) will become available shortly.

On 12 May we extended eligibility for the Small Business Grant Fund (£10,000) to include non-domestic properties in receipt of any Charitable or Sports Rates Relief, and eligible for Small Business Bonus Scheme who also meet the qualifying criteria.

Through the Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention & Adult Learning and Empowering Communities Fund, the Scottish Government is continuing to contribute to the core costs of Third Sector organisations which support the emotional wellbeing of children, young people and families.

In addition to a number of third sector partners funded to help deliver our vision for improved mental health and wellbeing in Scotland, we have announced additional support this year to the following third sector organisations responding directly to the increased demand resulting from the Covid-19 crisis:

• As part of the £1 million to expand and develop the Distress Brief Intervention programme into a nationwide response to people in distress associated with Covid-19, support to third sector bodies including the Scottish Association for Mental Health, Penumbra and Support in Mind Scotland as key partners will be over £800,000.
• We announced a £1 million package for children, young people and families on 1 May which includes:

- £768,000 for a relationships helpline to be delivered by The Spark counselling service

- £105,000 to support Young Scot to develop enhanced digital content and resources on mental health

- £205,000 to support 47,000 autistic people across Scotland. This consists of funding to increase capacity at the Scottish Autism Helpline, and help for the National Autistic Society to keep people in touch online during lockdown.

The Scottish Government does not hold estimates on the number of people that will be affected by mental health concerns as a result of domestic abuse during the COVID-19 crisis. However, we understand from regular discussions with key stakeholders that the mental health impact of lockdown continues to be a significant concern for organisations who support victims.

A Mental Health Research Advisory Group has also been established and will follow research developments closely to understand the medium and long term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health.

Backed by £1.5 million of Scottish Government funding, support services have made changes to ensure they can still be accessed and are there to help people. National helplines are fully operational and also now with text and web chat functions.

Scottish Government published Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance on domestic abuse which makes it clear that rules on staying at home do not prevent anyone from leaving their home to escape or keep themselves safe from domestic abuse.

We are also continuing to provide wider mental health support in Scotland through this time. The Scottish Government has provided funding to increase the capacity of NHS 24’s mental health services and digital therapies. These services will continue to be available throughout the COVID-19 pandemic for anyone who needs it.

Investment of more than £1 million has also been provided to roll out the Distress Brief Intervention programme on a national basis. The programme gives people over the age of 16, who are in emotional distress, the opportunity to speak to specially trained staff.

We do not hold information as to which individuals attended the match.

I am working closely with partners across the health and social care sector, including NHS Boards, Health and Social Care Partnerships and local employers, to ensure mental health and wellbeing support is in place for the workforce.

A range of support services has been established at local level, including staff wellbeing ‘hubs’, common rooms and rest areas, helplines and listening services, links with Occupational Health and Chaplaincy services, peer support, leadership development and coaching initiatives, mental health guidance and digital offerings. We have encouraged the sharing of services across health and social care to ensure as many people as possible can benefit from these.

On 11 th May, we launched the National Wellbeing Hub for health and social care workers (www.promis.scot). The Hub signposts staff, unpaid carers, volunteers and their families to relevant services, and provides a range of self-care and wellbeing resources designed to support the workforce as they respond to the impact of Covid-19. The Hub is part of a programme of activity at the national level which includes the allocation of a further £3.8 million to begin to increase the capacity of NHS 24’s Mental Health Hub and Breathing Space service, alongside increased access to digital therapies.

Based on evidence and experiences here and internationally, we will continue to explore how best to respond to those who need more specialist mental health support and care over the coming months.

Unfortunately, I am unable to provide this data at this time.

In response to part a) Information on deaths by suicide are published yearly by National Records Scotland (NRS), usually in June for the previous calendar year. The report for 2019 has been delayed as NRS has not received some of the information it relies on to categorise these deaths. It is not possible to produce reliable statistics without this information. In relation to deaths by suicide in 2020, usually this data would not be available as official statistics until June 2021. However, officials are looking at ways to extract reliable data from other sources quicker to inform local and national suicide prevention in Scotland.

In response to part b) the term attempted suicide is not used when collating data as self harming behaviour can have a range of purposes and intents. A table presenting the number of patients admitted to acute and psychiatric hospitals in Scotland with a diagnosis of self-harm in the period 2007 – 2019 (up to and including September 2019), broken down by hospital and year of admission has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 61455).

The impacts of COVID-19 on Scottish Water are being closely monitored. As set out in its budget the Scottish Government will lend Scottish Water £215 million during 2020-21. Scottish Water has made no request for additional borrowing in light of the pandemic.

The use of contact tracing in a pandemic situation is addressed in the UK Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Strategy 2011:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/
system/uploads/attachment_data/file/213717/dh_131040.pdf

The Scottish Ambulance Service has received additional funding of £9.8 million so far to support prioritisation of the Board’s response to Covid-19 and to meet initial costs incurred.

The Scottish Government will continue its close engagement with all NHS Boards to ensure that they have the resources needed throughout this pandemic and to ensure that patient safety remains the top priority.