Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is working closely with the local team at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) to support improvements.

Whilst performance at the QEUH over the summer months (June and July) improved to over 90%, performance against the four hour A&E target over the last few weeks has dipped. There have been a number of issues impacting on performance at the QEUH including the level of attendances; with the exception of May 2017, August saw the highest level of attendances since the hospital opened in 2015. This high level of attendances has been consistent throughout September - despite this no patients have been delayed over twelve hours.

Scottish Government officials are in regular contact with the senior Executive Team at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and have had a number of discussions around actions in place to support improved performance. The national team are on site working with the local team to strengthen the principles of the six essential actions to improve unscheduled care and support the continued specific actions that have been put in place, which include:

• Opening additional capacity;

• Additional staffing in place in the A&E department at peak times;

• Focused approach to maximising appropriate daily discharges to create capacity throughout the day;

• Golden hour on all medical wards to support early discharges.

The Scottish Government will continue to work and monitor these improvements with the Board over the coming weeks.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-11553 on 24 October 2017. 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

In addition, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (GG&C) have drafted winter plans for all sites including the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) to ensure that site is equipped to meet the increased demand. The final GG&C winter plans will be available at the end of October, which include the QEUH site plan in preparation for the upcoming winter period.

Additionally, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde will receive over £1.1 million from Scottish Governments £5 million investment to support winter resilience.

While powers in respect of regulation of the industry and fiscal policy of insurance providers are reserved to the Westminster Parliament and UK Ministers, the Scottish Government is working to build a sustainable future for the financial services sector in Scotland, including the commercial insurance industry.

The sector, taking general insurance, life and pensions together, employs in the region of 22,500 employees across Scotland and our development agencies Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Development International are engaging with the insurance sector and key professional bodies to support development of the sector across Scotland, building on our established reputation in the industry. We are working with existing investors and potential new investors to identify investment opportunities and scope for public sector support and to take account of industry concerns regarding the impact of Brexit on their ability to service customers across Europe. The insurance sector, and its needs, are also represented on the Financial Services Advisory Board (FiSAB) which is co-chaired by the First Minister and Jim Pettigrew, chair of Scottish Financial Enterprise

The Scottish Government believes that there is no place for anti-Semitism in Scotland, and we are committed to tackling all forms of prejudice and hate. We are not complacent, and whilst recorded cases of hate crime against Judaism remain low, we recognise we have more to do to ensure that everyone – including Scotland’s Jewish communities – are able to live their lives freely and in peace. We have frequent engagement with the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities and will continue to have such engagement.

The responsibility for the police estate sits with the Scottish Police Authority.

At its meeting on 28 September 2017, the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) approved a proposal for Police Scotland to formally engage with local communities, partners and stakeholders in respect of 53 empty - or soon to be empty - premises which they propose are no longer required to provide policing services.

The 58 locations identified by Police Scotland, through an FOI release, in November 2016 were to be subject to consultation and a range of outcomes were anticipated. Formal consultation on the disposal of 18 of these locations will be undertaken as part of the forthcoming exercise. Consultations have already been undertaken on a further six locations, with disposal agreed by the SPA. The remaining 34 locations are not being considered for disposal.

The Scottish Government continues to work closely both with its public agencies and with the Scottish Tourism Alliance to ensure that the tourism industry remains a key growth sector for the Scottish economy and maximises opportunities both in UK and overseas markets. As an example of our commitment to encourage domestic tourism, VisitScotland undertakes award winning marketing campaigns to encourage people across the UK to visit Scotland and to extend the traditional tourism season across the year.

It should be noted that the 2016 statistics up to the first quarter include Easter, which is an important holiday in terms of overnight stays. Easter Sunday fell in March in 2016, but in 2017 will appear in the second quarter statistics as Easter Sunday was on 16 April.

To ensure a consistent statistical approach, the Scottish Government monitors visit numbers over a twelve month period. When compared to the same period the year before, for the twelve months to the end of March 2017, a 10% decrease in domestic overnight visits to Scotland and 3% increase in international overnights visits was recorded.

There have been no Scottish Government Ministerial or official meetings with the Scottish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign since May 2016.

The Parenting Strategy contains over 80 commitments, developed in conjunction with a number of delivery partners, and underpins our ambition to make Scotland the best place to grow up.

All commitments, with the exception of one have been delivered. The outstanding commitment is to develop comprehensive, practical advice on different approaches to assist parents in managing their children's behaviour. The Scottish Government will consider how best to deliver that commitment in the context of the proposals by John Finnie MSP to bring forward a Bill on equal protection for children.”

Families of children and young people who offend often have similar needs to those with welfare concerns. A range of intensive programmes are available, and local partners make decisions on what is most appropriate to meet the needs of children and families in their communities.

Work in this area complements our approach to getting it right for children and young people, including support through community justice and youth justice. The suite of guidance published in relation to youth justice’s Whole System Approach highlights the importance of families being included when services carry out work with children and young people who offend.

At the national level, the Scottish Government awarded £14m in 2016-17 to 118 organisations supporting children, families and communities across Scotland. This support is channelled through the Children, Young People, Families, Early Intervention (CYPFEIF) and Adult Learning and Empowering Communities (ALEC) Fund. The CYPFEIF aspect of the Fund aims to improve outcomes for children, young people and their families - one of its key components is to improve parenting capacity and family support.

One of the organisations benefitting from this funding is Families Outside, who have been allocated £135,000 per year to run their Scottish-based helpline. The helpline provides information and signposting to support networks for families of all prisoners, including those in the youth justice system. The Scottish Government also funds the HMYOI Polmont Family Help Hub and Bus.This facility provides access to support and information for families visiting those in YOI.

Other programmes include Teen Triple P (a positive parenting programme which is suitable for parents, step parents, grandparents and carers of pre-teens and teenagers), Multi Systemic Therapy (an intensive family and community based intervention for children and young people who are at risk of care or custody due to their offending or due to extreme behavioural problems) and Functional Family Therapy (a short term intervention, using a therapeutic approach with children, young people and their family where there is a high level of conflict and problematic behaviours).

There are also services offering mediation between children, young people and their parents/carers. Some local authorities also have Family Group Decision Making Teams, which can be a helpful forum to support all members of the family to have a voice and shared plan on how best to improve their situation.

Evidence is growing that children involved in a pattern of offending, or who are involved in more serious offences, are almost always our most vulnerable, victimised and traumatised young people. If we are to address their offending behaviour and promote desistance, we must respond to those underlying issues.

Our youth justice strategy is founded on a shared vision of what needs to happen through prevention, diversion and managing and supporting children and young people to change their behaviour and improve their life chances. This includes specific work with partners to advance the Whole System Approach and in relation to 16 and 17 year olds in custody.

The Scottish approach to youth offending has helped achieve substantial reductions in youth crime and brought real results for victims, communities and young people. The overall decline in reconviction rates is largely driven by reductions in youth offending.

An updated version of What Works to Reduce Re-offending: A Summary of the Evidence was published in 2015. The analysis mainly focusses on adult and criminal justice however, it does highlight the specific needs of children and young people who offend.

A key priority is to improve life chances for children and young people involved in offending. That is not to excuse or minimise offending. Dealing with it and supporting young people to move on is the best way of reducing reoffending and minimising the number of future victims.

As part of a preventative, child-centred approach to improving wellbeing and life chances, a particular focus is needed on education, employability and health issues. The quality of relationships young people experience is a key factor in building on their strengths as well as helping to manage risks. It is important for Scotland to recognise the strengths and potential of our young people rather than focusing solely on their problems.