Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is working to ensure children and young people learn about a variety of substances including alcohol, medicines, drugs, tobacco and solvents as part of Curriculum for Excellence. Our aim is by educating children and young people about substance use and the impact it can have on their life and health, this will prevent them making unhealthy choices. Education alone will not turn the tide of substance use but it is an important strand within a broad range of measures across the community, designed to tackle this issue.

The Scottish Government remains committed to progressing work on protecting children and young people from exposure to alcohol advertising, including commissioning Public Health Scotland to carry out a review of the evidence for restrictions on alcohol marketing. The findings from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Survey (2024) is encouraging as it showed that levels of drunkenness in school-aged children (15 year-olds) in Scotland have steadily declined and are now at their lowest in 32 years.

The Scottish Government is firmly committed to reducing deaths by suicide, whether this is by intentional self-poisoning or any other method.

Our 10 year suicide prevention strategy and action plan - published jointly with CoSLA - aims to tackle the root causes of suicide – and has a clear focus on people at higher risk of suicide, including those affected by substance use.

We are continuing to deliver the National Mission which aims to reduce drug deaths and includes specific work to improve the interaction between mental health and addiction recovery services.

We are also prioritising suicide prevention training for staff working in the substance use sector to increase their confidence and skills in supporting people at risk of suicide.

We recognise that intentional self-poisoning can be a form of self-harm, and in some cases this can increase the risk of suicide. We have provided funding to Penumbra since 2022 to deliver a bespoke Scotland-wide self-harm support service.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

Since 2022, and up to 9 December, there have been 42 recorded drone incidents that resulted in a successful and confirmed recovery of drugs.

Integration Authorities have delegated responsibility in Scotland for providing local alcohol and drug services. This activity is coordinated by Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) and funded by the Scottish Government. In line with the Verity House Agreement, the Integration Authorities and ADPs have a significant amount of autonomy over local decision making.

Pilots of a non-statutory support scheme began in spring 2023, with funding provided for distribution by local services to remove the barrier of transport costs for people with substance dependency, when accessing treatment. These Pathfinders, also covering people with multiple and complex needs, are taking place in 11 locations, with full implementation to support a national practice model expected to be complete in Summer 2025.

As part of their work to support implementation of the MAT standards, the 2023 National Benchmarking Report published by Public Health Scotland (PHS), detailed assessments of how areas are trying to overcome the challenges of rurality. Approaches include: high use of self-referral and telephone, ‘tele-health’ technology such as NEAR ME; wide use of bus passes, taxis, and third sector to take people to appointments. Also offering a choice of venues to be seen at, such as a GP practice, home and community hubs, as well as settings to deliver care when weather disrupts usual access.

A strength in many areas is the utilisation of informal local networks and relationships to respond to urgent presentations, even when no formal arrangements are in place. Many areas now also have formal arrangements with other Health Boards to utilise and share expertise.

The Scottish Government agreed with the recommendations of the Drug Deaths Taskforce in that more choice should be available on the types of Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) offered to individuals where appropriate.

The Scottish Government has no current plans to re-evaluate the amount that an applicant can claim under the Young Patients Family Fund.

The Drug Deaths Taskforce was set up in 2019 to provide evidence-based expert advice on tackling the misuse of drugs. Toxicology results tell us that opiates/opioids were, and still are the main substances implicated in drug deaths in Scotland, with polydrug use being a significant factor.

After January 2021 when the National Mission was launched, the Scottish Government published the MAT standards, and through their continuing implementation, transformational change has taken place in drug treatment services throughout Scotland.

Methadone remains the primary form of medication assisted treatment, as an internationally accepted and evidence-based form of opioid antagonist. In the 12-month period ending 31 March 2024, Opioid Substitution Therapy was prescribed to a minimum of 29,817 people for the treatment of opioid dependence.

The Scottish Government continues to support local areas provide medication assisted treatment.

The Scottish Government also has overall Drug waiting times in terms of accessing services, for which a target was set that 90% of people accessed treatment within 3 weeks.

Since the introduction of the Medication Assisted Treatment Standards in 2021, as reported in the National Benchmarking Report published in July 2024, the waiting times have dropped and show that 75% of people now wait one day or less to access a form of treatment.

Latest full year data on the Young Patients Family Fund (YPFF) is available for financial year 2023-24. In 2023-24 NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde reported that 4007 claims were made.