Chamber and committees

We know that people with Musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions report for support in high volume, in Scotland one in four GP contacts are related to MSK conditions; MSK is the 2nd biggest health issue for patients in receipt of incapacity benefit; MSK AHP services deal with 400,000+ referrals per annum; and orthopaedic services receive over 200,000 referrals per annum of whom approximately 55,000 have a planned surgical procedure.

We are working closely with Arthritis Research UK around the prevalence and impact of MSK conditions and also, in recognition of the significant impact of MSK conditions, we have a national programme of work that is looking specifically at quality improvements in a number of areas, self referral to enhanced self care and rehabilitation services (now available across all NHS Boards in Scotland); improving access to the right professional and the right advice first time through nationally agreed end to end integrated pathways (involving physiotherapists, podiatrists and surgeons); working towards a target of 90% of MSK patients being seen within 4 weeks (currently being met for 52% of patients); and improving early intervention to avoid chronicity; reduce the need for specialist orthopaedic referrals where conservative treatment is more likely to benefit the patient than surgical intervention; and facilitating people to continue normal activities and stay in or return to work where appropriate.

Awareness raising continues to take place both locally and nationally. NHS Inform is being used as a single point of contact for patient information with the MSK App now having been downloaded over 56,000 times and the NHS Inform MSK pages having reached 1 million views in June 2016.

The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The Scottish Government has regular engagement with the Commissioner and his officials. The Commissioner submitted a detailed response to the consultation on the proposal for a Children and Young People Bill, introduced to Parliament in February 2013. Regarding the sharing of children's confidential information, the Commissioner met with officials responsible for Part 4 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 during its development and discussed his views on the provisions in Part 4, and in particular the information sharing duties within sections 26 and 27 of the Act. The Deputy First Minister has recently spoken with the Commissioner about the information sharing duties in the Act as part of his engagement following the Supreme Court judgment on the Named Person judicial review. The Scottish Government remains open to advice from the Commissioner's Office around children's understanding of confidentiality. Currently I am not aware of any official discussions around this matter.

The deployment of tasers is an operational matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland. The specific make and model available must be approved by the Home Secretary.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.

This government have committed to include guidance on the use of restraint (for all children, including children with complex additional support needs), in the context of de-escalation as part of early intervention approaches in our refreshed guidance ‘Included, Engaged and Involved Part two: A Positive Approach to Preventing and Managing School Exclusions’.

This refreshed guidance will be published 2016-17.

In addition, ‘Holding Safely’ (updated 2013) Scottish Government guidance on the use of restraint in residential settings (which is applicable in schools and other establishments) is available.

A final date has not yet been set for the publication of the consumer and competition principles and policy statement. However, work is progressing towards publication in November, as set out in the Programme for Government.

The Scottish Government held a Family Justice Modernisation Strategy summit on 17 March 2016. The outcomes of that summit will be published shortly. The Scottish Government is still considering how best to take the Strategy forward, and an announcement will be made in due course. A key part of the Strategy is about the voice of the child being heard in family cases. The Family Law Committee of the Scottish Civil Justice Council, which advises on court rules and procedures, is already taking forward work on the voice of the child in family actions, following a policy paper prepared by the Scottish Government. The Committee is also in the process of commissioning research on case management to inform its work. More details of the work of the Committee can be found on the Scottish Civil Justice Council's website.

We anticipate that the Scottish Consumer Taskforce will commence its work early in 2017. Further detail will be included in the consumer and competition principles and policy statement, due to be published in November 2016.

We have committed to incorporating guidance on restraint in school settings in our refreshed guidance ‘Included, Engaged and Involved Part two: A Positive Approach to Preventing and Managing School Exclusions’. It will be clear that any incident where a decision is made to physically restrain a child or young person must be recorded and monitored. Details on how this should be undertaken should be included in a local authority’s policy on de-escalation, physical intervention and restraint.

The recording and monitoring of such incidents will help local authorities to monitor the effectiveness of their policy and practice and enable them to review and improve, where appropriate, their policy and also help identify professional learning needs.

This refreshed guidance will be published 2016-17. It will be clear that the use of physical intervention and physical restraint should be seen within the context of early intervention, positive relationships and behaviour and used only as a last resort, in line with the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child recommendations.

In other non-school settings further work has been done and is being undertaken in relation to restraint:

Scottish Government Guidance ‘Holding Safely’ on the use of restraint in residential settings (which is applicable in schools and other establishments) was updated in 2013.

Scottish Government has asked the Care Inspectorate to gather information regarding restraint practice in secure care during 2016-17 to inform improvement.

Scottish Government also published additional guidance for child protection for disabled children (2014). This applies to all settings, and states that inappropriate restraint, sanctions, humiliation, intimidation, verbal abuse, and having needs ignored; depending on the circumstances, may also be criminal offences, acts of gross misconduct and reportable to Police Scotland and relevant professional regulatory bodies.