Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has today published the Verity House Agreement stocktake report. It is available at https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781836019817.

On 14 May 2024 Reach Advocacy wrote to the Scottish Government requesting to become a ‘Nationally Commissioned Advocacy Training Body’. The Scottish Government replied to Reach Advocacy on 28 May 2024 seeking to fully understand the basis on which Reach Advocacy were requesting this.

On 15 October 2024 Reach Advocacy submitted a business proposal to ask for funding from Scottish Government to deliver Reach Advocacy’s ‘Advocacy Practice Award’ and human rights-based training.

This proposal was submitted for consideration to relevant directorates under the responsibility of the Minister for Drugs and Alcohol Policy, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, the Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise, and the Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport.

Scottish Government Officials from each directorate assessed that the request for funding was not the most appropriate means by which the Scottish Government’s current priorities and objectives would be achieved.

On 6 November 2024 a response was issued to Reach Advocacy to inform them of the decision and rationale.

Work is continuing on this consultation. It covers a wide range of areas: the minimum age of marriage and civil partnership; extending simplified divorce and dissolution procedures; qualifying requirements for religious and belief bodies when they solemnise marriage or register civil partnership; a Scottish Law Commission report on cohabitant's rights following separation; and points arising on financial provision when one cohabitant dies.

We are also preparing impact assessments in relation to this consultation. We are planning to issue it within the next few months.

The regulation for the licensing, safety and efficacy of medicines is currently reserved to the UK Government and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Ivabradine is currently licensed in the UK for the symptomatic treatment of chronic stable angina pectoris, and the treatment of chronic heart failure.

The use of ivabradine for the treatment of postural tachycardia syndrome is an off-label indication (where the product licence does not cover the indication for which the medicine is being prescribed). Clinicians can prescribe medicines off-label, in line with local Health Board protocols where they consider there would be significant clinical benefit for an individual.

Decisions on whether to prescribe a medicine are based on an individual’s needs and are a matter for the clinical judgement of the prescribing clinician in consultation with the individual (and where appropriate their parent/s or guardian/s), informed by advice and guidance about the medicine.

While there was support among respondents to our consultation last year, concerns were also expressed about the proportionality and cost of such a scheme and about the capacity of local authorities to absorb and meaningfully enforce additional licensing requirements. We are therefore assessing whether less onerous and more proportionate approaches, such as registration schemes linked to codes of conduct, could deliver similar outcomes to licensing.

The Scottish Government is clear that there is no place for religious or racial intolerance, including Islamophobia, in Scotland’s schools.

Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence aims to develop a society based on social justice, equality and respect, and provides opportunities for pupils to develop their understanding of various forms of discrimination and their intersectional impact, including Islamophobia. The curriculum is clear in saying that responsible citizens must understand different beliefs and cultures, and have respect for others.

Education Scotland provides teachers with a range of resources to help them navigate sensitive or controversial topics, including discrimination on the basis of religious belief, and to help foster good relations. Recently their online Inclusion, Wellbeing and Equalities Professional Learning Framework has been updated to specifically include a Developing Religious Literacy component.

In addition, by taking an intersectional approach, the work of the Scottish Government’s Anti-Racism in Education Programme addresses many of the issues at the heart of Islamophobia. Actions which have been taken forward include:

• Developing a set of Anti-Racist Principles for the curriculum;
• Providing racial literacy professional development, through the award winning Building Racial Literacy Programme;
• Publishing an Anti-Racist Action Guide aimed at empowering local authorities to better support their minority ethnic workforce;
• Developing guidance to address racism and racist incidents in schools, to empower the workforce to recognise and tackle racism and prejudice in all of its forms.

I met with representatives from Young Lives vs Cancer on 25 September 2024 to discuss their campaign.

Under the existing patient travel expenses schemes, financial support for travel to hospital is available for patients and authorised escorts, according to eligibility criteria and medical requirements. The families of patients with cancer aged under 18 who are receiving inpatient care can also already access financial support through the Young Patients Family Fund (YPFF).

Scottish Government has provided funding to Young Lives vs Cancer of £213,600 over two years (2023-2025) through the Children, Young People Families and Adult Learning (CYPFAL) fund. This funding supports the provision of advice on potential welfare benefits as well as direct grants to improve the emotional and mental wellbeing and reduce financial worries of young patients with cancer and their families.

There are no plans to expand the eligibility criteria for the YPFF at this time.

The Scottish Government works closely with local authorities, third sector partners and all other agencies involved in supporting children and young people involved with the criminal justice system. This includes support for parents and carers. This collaborative approach ensures that a broad range of expertise and resources are brought together to address the needs of young people holistically. By partnering with organisations that provide specialised services such as mental health support, family counselling, and education, the Scottish Government ensures that young people receive the targeted interventions they need to prevent reoffending and to successfully reintegrate into society.

This includes organisations such as Cyrenians and Aberlour, which receive funding through the Cashback for Communities programme. Cyrenians’ Keeping Families Together project works across Scotland in partnership with Scotland’s four secure centres, offering mediation, whole family support and conflict resolution workshops. The approach enables young people and families to improve communication, address underlying issues and build stronger, more positive relationship.

Aberlour’s project, Alternative Routes #CashBack, supports young people aged 10-25 and their families most at risk of being involved in antisocial behaviour, offending or reoffending. They use a whole system approach involving the whole family and community, which improves confidence in young people and provides them with opportunities to connect, flourish and achieve at home, school, and in the community.

Includem’s ADAPT project – funded through the Scottish Government’s Whole Family Wellbeing Fund – also focuses on young people who are in conflict or at risk of being in conflict with the law. The project works with young people and their families to help them navigate a way out of a variety of difficult circumstances by diverting them from the criminal behaviour and a resultant trajectory into the criminal justice system.

The Scottish Government also funds the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice (CYCJ), who work closely with a number of organisations providing a range of support services to both children and their parents and carers. This includes local authority practitioners, Police Scotland and third sector organisations such as Action for Children, Includem and Barnardos.

As part of their Promise implementation work, CYCJ is leading a project to engage directly with parents of children in conflict with the law. The aim of this is to develop a network of parents who can participate in the development of policy and practice. In order to reach these parents CYCJ is actively engaging with existing parenting networks such as Parenting Across Scotland and Families Outside.

The Scottish Government also ensure that child victims and their families are offered trauma-informed and person-centred support and advocacy through the Victim-Centred Approach Fund and the development of a Bairns’ Hoose model in Scotland.

The Intensive Support Monitoring and Supervision (ISMS) programme is a key component of Scotland’s youth justice system, aimed at providing an alternative to secure care or custody for young people (typically between the ages of 12 and 18) who are at high risk of reoffending or presenting significant risks to themselves or others. ISMS combines electronic monitoring (such as tagging) with intensive support services, including:

• Structured supervision with regular check-ins and monitoring by social workers or case managers.
• Individualised interventions including tailored programmes focusing on addressing offending behaviour, mental health, substance abuse, or other personal challenges.
• Support with education and employment including assistance in engaging with school, vocational training, or employment to foster personal development and reduce reoffending risks.
• Family support with efforts to involve and support the family in the rehabilitation process.

This programme allows young people involved in offending behaviour to remain in their communities under strict conditions, while receiving the support needed to change their behaviour, rather than being placed in a secure unit or prison. ISMS is considered a more rehabilitative and community-based approach to managing serious offending.

Where a child is placed in secure accommodation, centres will utilise a range of interventions, supports and strategies to meet their needs, ensure their safety is maintained and risk is managed. Throughout a child’s stay in secure care they will be supported to participate in education; interventions identified as part of their Child’s Plan; with required health supports and recreational, leisure and social activities.

In terms of direct financial support, the Scottish Government’s policy towards local authority spending is to allow each local authority the financial freedom to operate independently. As such, the vast majority of local authority funding is provided by means of a block grant. It is then for individual local authorities to manage their own budgets. They allocate the total financial resources available to them, including support for youth work, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.