Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is maintaining concessionary travel reimbursement and Bus Service Operator Grant payments at pre COVID-19 levels where we would normally spend over £260 million.

Since 22 June we have also provided additional financial support for bus services in Scotland and on 14 October I announced that this has been extended until 17 January 2021. This funding of up to £162.3 million over 30 weeks fills the gap between additional costs of operating services due to COVID-19 and severely reduced ticket income due to reduced demand and capacity constraints as a result of social distancing requirements on board buses.

Further details on funding to support bus services are available on the Transport Scotland website: https://www.transport.gov.scot/public-transport/buses/covid-19-support-grant/

Since 22 June the Scottish Government has committed up to £162.3 million in additional funding to support bus operators increase and maintain bus services. This funding fills the gap between additional costs of operating services due to COVID-19 and severely reduced ticket income due to reduced demand and capacity constraints.

This financial support is provided up to 17 January 2021 when we will review whether further funding is required.

The Scottish Government is also maintaining concessionary travel reimbursement and Bus Service Operator Grant payments at pre COVID-19 levels where we would normally spend over £260 million.

The Scottish Government recognise all sectors will be finding this a challenging time, particularly third sector organisations and charities. We are engaging with CLD providers in colleges, local authorities and third sector organisations who are supporting vulnerable learners to understand the financial impact of COVID on their work. Prioritising the most vulnerable communities will be essential in order to ensure existing poverty gaps are not exacerbated and Scotland’s ambitions for Inclusive Economic Growth and a fairer society are maintained. We have taken a number of actions to support the CLD sector, financially, during this time. For example, Ministers have taken the decision to further extend the Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention & Adult Learning and Empowering Communities (CYPFEI & ALEC) fund to 31 March 2022. These funds support a variety of youth work organisations across Scotland. In addition, the government have adapted existing funding for the National Voluntary Youth Work Organisations Support Fund to be used flexibly to help third youth work sector organisations during the pandemic. The Scottish Government also made available an additional £350 million to councils, charities, businesses and community groups. We are pleased to note that hundreds of youth work sector organisations have been able to benefit through these measures.

The Scottish Government recognises the adaptability, agility and innovation the youth work sector has shown by continuing to meet the needs of young people in these challenging times. Throughout the pandemic, Community Learning and Development services and organisations rose to the challenge, providing remote learning and mental health support to children and young people – and their families. We are investing £3m in youth work to support young people most disproportionately affected by the pandemic. This investment will allow services to build on this contribution by providing interventions to support education recovery, based on an assessment of local and individual needs. This £3m investment brings the Scottish Government’s total investment in youth work in 2020/21 to, at least, £12.5m – an increase of 30% compared to 2019-2020.

We are aware mental health is a particular concern right now and it will be more so as we come out of this crisis. Our recently published Transition and Recovery Plan, ‘Mental Health - Scotland's Transition and Recovery’, sets out a number of actions to progress improvement on access to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) including the implementation of our CAMHS Service Specification and the restarting of our improvement programme of work. In the Plan we have also committed to developing a population health response to the issues affecting the mental health and wellbeing of children, young people and their families. This includes continuing to develop mental health and wellbeing support in education and schools, and a response to support children, young people and families experiencing heightened distress.

During the Covid-19 pandemic we also have continued to invest in a range of measures to support children and young people’s mental health. This includes providing enhanced digital resources on mental health and wellbeing available via Young Scot’s website and social media, and the introduction of a new Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Services for 5-24 year olds.

Demand for testing will fluctuate for a range of reasons. With winter pressures on the testing system in mind, we have been taking forward plans to expand existing capacity by:

• Deploying additional mobile testing units
• Increasing the number of tests that can be carried out at regional testing centres
• Utilising additional NHS testing capacity, for example by activating additional drive-through facilities
• Establishing 22 new walk-through centres across Scotland

Sites in St Andrews, Glasgow city centre, west Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, West Dunbartonshire and Stirling have started testing. Sites in Dundee, west Edinburgh, Inverness and Inverclyde are now open. We are engaging closely with universities, health boards and local authorities to deliver these local test sites.

This means 11 sites are scheduled to open by the end of October. We have committed to delivering a further 11 sites by winter, with a total of at least 22, and are working with our partners to identify further site locations.

In addition to this, we have in place contingency plans to provide further capacity to cope with surges in demand.

On 17 August we published our updated Testing Strategy. This makes clear that our overall priority at this stage of the management of the disease is rapid identification and testing of people with symptoms. It is important for members of the public to understand when they should book a test: NHS Inform has clear advice about this, including a self-help guide. People should only book a test, either for themselves or for a family member, if they have been contacted and asked to do so by the Test and Protect team, or have one of the COVID symptoms: a new persistent cough, a fever, or a loss of or change in their sense of taste or smell.

However, as the First Minister set out in parliament last week, in light of increasing prevalence of COVID-19 in the community we are conducting a further review of our testing strategy, and the clinical paper to support this was published today.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on community support available to people recovering from COVID-19 within each NHS board.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of a consistent approach being taken forward in the community to support people recovering from COVID-19 across Scotland. That is why in the Framework for Supporting People through Recovery and Rehabilitation during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic includes a priority “to work closely with partner agencies to ensure a joined-up infrastructure of care supports rehabilitation approaches and is predicated on bolstering community care through the promotion of the hubs, which have been established in response to coronavirus (COVID-19)”.

The Framework can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/framework-supporting-people-through-recovery-rehabilitation-during-covid-19-pandemic/ .

The Scottish Government has confirmed additional funding of £1.1 billion to support the health and social care sector in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This follows our detailed review of financial implications for each NHS Board and Integration Authority, and ensures that frontline health and care services continue to receive the level of support required. Further detail on funding for each NHS Board area is set out in response to question S5W-32107 on 29 September 2020.

I also refer the member to the answer to question S5W-32232 on 23 October 2020. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-32231 on  23 October 2020. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx