Chamber and committees

A sub-group of the National Infertility Group has been working on developing guidelines and pathways, including patient access criteria, for fertility preservation and storage for medical reasons. This work is ongoing and the group expects to report to the National Infertility Group over the summer to consider next steps.

Around 1 in 4 people are likely to be affected by mental illness at some point in their lives. Most people who use mental health services receive treatment do so without being subject to an order or certificate under the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003. Mental health law in Scotland is based on rights and principles and offers patients significant safeguards where compulsory treatment is necessary.

Data collected by the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland pertains to those who are receiving care and treatment subject to orders under the 2003 Act. Even where someone is subject to an order under mental health legislation, they may still give their consent to treatment.

The Scottish Government commissioned a Review of Screening in 2017 to examine the management and overall delivery of the six national screening programmes in Scotland to improve resilience, effectiveness and efficiency, and to ensure that screening services are ready to address future priorities and challenges.

The Review recognises the scale and complexity of the challenges around national screening programmes, and made a total of 23 recommendations. Ministers have accepted the Review in full and work is underway to develop an implementation plan for these recommendations.

The review report will be available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) reference 60693.

The following table highlights data from Higher Education Statistics Agency HESA records, from the Scottish Funding Council, showing Scotland-domiciled people who have entered pre-registration nursing and midwifery training since 2016-17.

The Health and Social Care Standards set out the quality of care we can expect to receive and reflect the way that everyone should expect to be treated. The Standards are designed to be flexible and to be considered alongside any review of legislation and best practice without the need for further amendment. We therefore have no plans to amend the Standards.

If a person's independence, control and choice are restricted the Standards make clear that this should be kept to a minimum, carried out sensitively, and comply with relevant legislation and current best practice. Relevant legislation for the use of chemical restraint makes clear that consent is required where an individual has capacity. Where an individual does not have capacity, the use of chemical restraint must only be applied in exceptional circumstances to the benefit of the individual.

I refer to member to the answer to question S5W-23287 on 20 May 2019 and announced the appointment of John Scott QC as Chair of this independent review. 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 .

This information is not collected or held centrally.

In February 2014, following concerns around the use of confidentiality clauses in settlement agreements, Scottish Ministers announced the expectation of a presumption against the use of any confidentiality clauses in NHS Scotland settlement agreements, unless there were clear and transparent reasons for inclusion. Any confidentiality clause which seeks to prevent an individual from raising a protected whistleblowing disclosure is illegal, under the Public Interest Disclosure Act (PIDA) 1998, and would make any agreement unenforceable.

From 2014, NHS Boards have been required to provide settlement agreement information for a Report to the Public Audit Committee. This material is only compiled in summary form, at national level, not by individual Health Boards. From this data, we can ascertain that the number of confidentiality clauses, or non-disclosure agreements, employed in NHS Board settlement agreements has been falling since 2014.

Pre-2014 Position:

Information on the pre-2014 position is not gathered centrally. However, from records available between 2007-08 and 2013-14, 315 settlement agreements containing confidentiality clauses were agreed. This information is at national not health board level, and is given in the following table:

The Scottish Government is aware that the announcement made by Four Seasons Healthcare Group may be unsettling for residents, families and employees at Four Seasons homes. We understand the announcement is part of a continuing process in the company’s financial restructuring, and that the care homes will continue to deliver care as normal by existing management/care teams. We have been assured that the group’s key priority remains to provide quality care.

The Scottish Government has been closely monitoring the situation with the Care Inspectorate and COSLA. The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport and Cllr Currie from COSLA will be meeting with Four Seasons representatives on 28 May to seek reassurances from Four Seasons of their commitment to finding the best possible solution for employees and services users. An initial meeting of the national planning group hosted by COSLA involving Four Seasons, Health and Social Care Partnerships, the Care Inspectorate and Scottish Government, took place on 13 May. A follow-up meeting of this group involving a wider number of stakeholders including the unions is planned for 28 May.

The Care Inspectorate will continue to monitor the services and quality of care at all Four Seasons homes in Scotland to ensure everyone who relies on their services continues to experience care which meets their needs, rights and choices.

The Scottish Government defends existing human rights safeguards and is taking action to secure the progressive implementation of all human rights. We strongly support the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) as a fundamental instrument to protect and promote human rights, both in Scotland and throughout the Council of Europe.

As a High Contracting Party to the Convention, the United Kingdom has undertaken to abide by the final judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in any case to which it is a party. That obligation is binding in international law.

The Court fulfils an important function as part of the ECHR system. Many of today’s challenges could not have been foreseen by those who framed the Convention, and the rights it contains must be constantly applied to novel situations as society and technology develop. Citizens are able to petition the Court when they feel that their rights have been breached, and the Court provides detailed rulings on the meaning of the Convention rights.

The vast majority of people who access mental health care and treatment do so on a voluntarily basis. Very few people are ever treated against their will; when they are, it is because it is necessary to protect them or to protect other people.

While it will be for the Chair to determine how the review is best taken forward, we have been clear that the principal aim of the review of the Mental Health Act is to improve the rights and protections of people with a mental disorder and remove barriers to those caring for their health and welfare.

The review will take a human rights approach and will be stakeholder-driven and evidence-led. How the evidence is gathered will again be a matter for the Chair; however, we would expect this comprehensive review to have examined and analysed relevant literature before considering its final recommendations. It is also crucial that people have an opportunity to make their views known, particularly those with lived experience.