Chamber and committees

Claims of bullying behaviour by civil servants are untrue. All members of the National Advisory Committee for Chronic Pain (NACCP) are free to make whatever contribution they wish to discussions.

All committee members are required to abide by the behaviours set out in the Terms of Reference, including the values of respect and mutual collaboration to agree recommendations to help improve care for people with chronic pain. If these behaviours and values were not met, this would be taken very seriously and addressed.

As at December 2021 four representatives of the Chronic Pain Patient Reference Group attending the NACCP had written to officials to resign their positions. Two resignations took place in June 2021, with one in each of October and November 2021. It would not be appropriate to divulge the specific reasons cited by each individual, however I am clear that officials acted on the relevant feedback provided.

For example, as a result we are currently reviewing existing stakeholder engagement processes and structures around our work on chronic pain, including the role of the NACCP. The outcome of this work is intended to ensure meaningful engagement to support the future delivery and implementation of the Framework for Pain Management Service Delivery following completion of the current public consultation.

a) Since 2019 the Scottish Government has increased legal aid fees by 8% with a further 5% committed to in early 2022. This is a total rise of 13% set against a backdrop of difficult public finances and compares well to public sector pay increases. The 5% plus 5% increases are part of an over £20m package of support for legal aid providers, in the context of the COVID pandemic. This included a £9m grant fund, payments for which were completed in September 2021 and £1m for legal aid trainees over this and next year.

The legal aid Fund is demand-led and is not cash limited. The report of the Independent Review of Legal Aid, published in 2018, found that Scotland’s legal aid system benchmarked well against other countries. The report set a long-term vision for reform. The Scottish Government has committed to bring forward reforms, including a Legal Aid Reform Bill, during this parliament.

b) With reference to pay comparisons, legal aid providers are private firms. Salaries and terms and conditions are a matter for each business. However, we are committed to the future sustainability of the legal aid system. We continue to be open to discussion and to consider evidence of gaps in the workforce and supporting diversity in the profession. The levers to assist with recruitment which the Scottish Government has undertaken includes £1m of funding over this year and next to support the costs of employing trainee solicitors.

The Scottish Government did not receive advance notice of the Home Office decision to accommodate asylum seekers in hotels in Scotland. I wrote to the Home Secretary on 21 October to raise concerns about the lack of advance engagement on this matter and on the suitability of using hotels to accommodate people seeking asylum. Officials have subsequently had engagement with Home Office officials on this issue.

Scottish Government and COSLA have regular discussions about a range of asylum matters including the use of hotels.

Police Scotland collate missing persons statistics and have provided information from the legacy National Missing Person Database and the current National Missing Person Application which is used to record data on missing people.

Prior to 2016 missing persons incidents recorded by the Police Scotland were recorded and broken down by police divisional areas not by individual local authorities. From 2016 Police Scotland has been recording and reporting both missing persons incidents and missing persons episodes.

A missing person incident is an instance where Police Scotland receive a call reporting a missing person and the incident is logged on the command and control system (STORM). A missing person episode is when someone is reported missing to Police Scotland and a police investigation is then initiated and recorded.

Therefore, depending on the circumstances, a missing person incident may or may not become a missing person episode, such as when someone is reported missing and found quickly without the need for a full investigation.

The information the member has asked for can be broken down as follows:

Missing Person Incidents recorded in each police division from 2010.

The requested information on how many people were diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), broken down by NHS board is not held centrally.

The Scottish Multiple Sclerosis Register provides information on new diagnoses of MS. The latest publication of the register shows 450 new patients with a confirmed diagnosis of MS were added to the MS Register in 2020.

According to Rape Crisis Scotland, as of October 2020 and December 2021 waiting list times for each centre were as follows:

The number of households in each local authority that are experiencing fuel poverty is published annually in the Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) local authority tables.

The latest published set of tables for 2017-2019 is available at:

Scottish House Condition Survey: Local Authority Analysis 2017-2019 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Local Authority figures are based on a 3-year pooled sample to allow sufficient sample sizes to produce results on each local authority. The figures in the table show number of fuel poor households, and the fuel poverty rate, based on the last 10 years for South Lanarkshire, North Lanarkshire, and Falkirk.

The First Minister has not visited any care homes during the COVID-19 pandemic to listen to the views of residents, but has closely monitored the situation in care homes throughout, discussing developments frequently with officials and Ministers.

The Scottish Government have not made contact with the Australian Government for advice regarding an apology for historical adoption practices.

This five-fold increase refers only to primary pupils and the proportion of pupils absent for over 50% of the time remains very small at 1% of all primary pupils. The wider context is that in 2020-21 over 41% of pupils had attendance rates over 95%. It should be further noted that 2020-21 daily management information are not directly comparable to the 2018-19 National Statistics due to differences in collection methods, quality assurance undertaken and COVID-19 related school closures in 2020-21.

To ensure schools and local authorities are able to best support pupils’ education the Government has committed almost £500m funding during 2020-21 and 2021-22 to support education recovery, and we continue to prioritise support for children and young people in the continued navigation of the pandemic. We are investing £260m to recruit additional teachers, including £20m for tutoring and mentoring to help children and families, along with £90 million to support local authorities in implementing protection measures to ensure schools are safe, open and welcoming.

We also delivered £25m in 2020-21 for over 72,000 devices and more than 14,000 connectivity packages have been distributed to learners across Scotland and we remain committed to ensuring every child has access to a device and connectivity by the end of this Parliament.

Furthermore, record investment of £215 million in the Scottish Attainment Challenge this year, including a £20 million Pupil Equity Funding premium, is providing additional support for children and young people who need it most.

With the support of £1 billion over this parliamentary term, the refreshed Scottish Attainment Challenge programme will support continued empowerment of school leaders through Pupil Equity Funding and a clearer and funded strategic role for all 32 local authorities. This will enable local authorities and schools to implement local, evidence based approaches to supporting children and young people impacted by poverty.