Chamber and committees

As confirmed by Forth Crossing Bridge Constructor’s (FCBC) and Transport Scotland at the Forth Replacement Crossing Project Technical Briefing you attended on Friday 10 June 2016, Forth Crossing Bridge Constructor’s and Transport Scotland have robust risk registers for the Forth Replacement Crossing Project which are reviewed internally by each organisation on a regular basis and together with other information, these form the basis of reporting to ministers. Ministers receive fortnightly updates on projects which provide details on construction progress, progress against programme and budget position.

The revised Forth Crossing Bridge Constructor’s programme I referred to on 8 June 2016 is held by Forth Crossing Bridge Constructor’s. The Forth Crossing Bridge Constructor’s programme will not be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) because disclosure of this particular information would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the commercial management of an on-going contract between Scottish Ministers and Forth Crossing Bridge Constructors.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The Scottish Government has no current plans to change the legislation in this area.

In relation to flatted properties, section 17 of the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004 gives homeowners reasonable access for maintenance and other purposes through the property of other owners. Section 17 is available at:- http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2004/11/contents

There is no equivalent legislation for non-flatted properties. In some cases title deeds, servitude rights over neighbouring land or the common law may provide the necessary access rights. Access to neighbouring land might also be permitted by way of a private arrangement between individuals. Where parties are in dispute, mediation can sometimes provide assistance. However, if the member has evidence that a change in the law would be helpful, I would be happy to consider the issue further.

A property owner who does not have access rights written into their title deeds, and those of their neighbour(s), to carry out repairs could seek to obtain the consent of their neighbour(s) to obtain such rights. A solicitor could provide advice and arrange for any necessary agreements to be drawn up. Once the documents were agreed, the changes could be registered in the property registers held by registers of Scotland.

Children and young people referred to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) will generally be treated in the community. There may be times when it is necessary to admit them to hospital for specialist mental health treatment; should this be the case they would be admitted to one of the three regional CAMHS inpatient units, or the national unit for under 12s.

Requests may come from outwith the region because, while the three units work on a regional basis, each unit will also consider requests from the other regions. Children and young people may initially be admitted to one unit and then transferred to another; they may also be admitted to a non-NHS facility or a non-specialist NHS facility and then transfer to Dudhope, or be discharged to the community, or complete their treatment in that facility. Reasons for this may include bed availability, a clinical decision, or the preference of a young person and their family.

Over the period May 2015 to May 2016, there were 21 occasions when a young person could not be admitted to Dudhope young persons unit (YPU) due to the unavailability of a bed. On two occasions the request was for a bed for a young person who resided outside the north of Scotland region, whilst the remaining 19 occasions were requests to admit young people residing in the north of Scotland region.

The reason for beds being unavailable is either due to the unit being at full capacity (no physical beds available) or high patient dependency, making it clinically unsafe to admit any further patients.

Table 1 shows where patients were admitted to on the 19 occasions when a bed was not available at Dudhope young persons unit.

Table 1 – North of Scotland admissions to other YPU or adult facilities (May 2015 – May 2016)

NB. NHS Tayside are unable to advise what happened on the two occasions that a bed was requested from outwith the north of Scotland region.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) provides advice to NHS boards in Scotland about the status of newly licensed medicines and new formulations and indications of established products following submissions from pharmaceutical companies. A manufacturer would need to obtain a marketing authorisation (product licence) for this treatment and make a submission to SMC. The sexual health and blood borne virus clinical leads network have established a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) short life working group to consider a range of issues associated with PrEP in the current context.

The Scottish Government is aware that pre-exposure prophylaxis has been approved for treatment in France, Australia and the United States of America.

Children and young people referred to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) will be generally treated in the community. There may however be times when it is necessary to admit them to hospital for specialist treatment. Should this be the case they would be admitted to one of the three regional CAMHS inpatient units.

It is important that beds are available when required. In order to provide support this, a decision was taken by the north of Scotland NHS boards to build a new 12 bed unit in Dundee (Dudhope House) to replace the current 6 bed unit. This has increased the national bed base from 42 to 48 beds and improve the quality of the estate.

Dudhope House in Dundee followed an extensive consultation which considered the merits of basing a unit in Aberdeen, Inverness and the current facility in Dundee.

However we can confirm that the total Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services workforce is at a record level, having risen by 1.3% since March 2015. There are now 993.5 whole time equivalent posts across the sector, an increase of 29.9% since 2009. The number of clinical staff working in psychological therapies has increased by 1.1 per cent on last year, with 1,079.2 whole time equivalent posts across Scotland.

The Scottish Government is fully committed to providing the people of Scotland with the NHS services which meet their needs and maintain high standards of care.