Chamber and committees

In 2021-22, total funding of £1.1 million has been provided to Care & Repair (C&R). This was, in addition to the £1 million allocated to Scottish Fire & Rescue Service (SFRS) for its Home Fire Safety Visit programme to install interlinked fire alarms in the homes of those at highest risk.

Our funding for Care and Repair has enabled them to fit interlinked fire alarms to 2,421 households, with a further 1,466 households still to be completed. C&R average costs for a supply and fit of the battery operated fire alarms for a typical 3 bedroom home was £300.

The Scottish Government funding was for battery-powered alarms, which do not require alarms to be connected to the mains electricity supply by a qualified electrician.

The Scottish Government is committed to tackling all forms of antisocial behaviour and recognises that this can blight people’s lives. Our national strategy is based on prevention, early intervention and diversionary activities. We recognise that no single approach will tackle all antisocial behaviour. That is why we support a suite of activities which includes Antisocial Behaviour Orders and Fixed Penalty Notices.

There is no Scottish legislation equivalent to Section 59 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 that conveys specific power to local authorities to make public spaces protection orders to help address any noisy behaviour in public spaces.

However, the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004, supported by Scottish Government guidance, helps ensure that local authorities and Police Scotland have a robust range of powers and tools allowing them to proportionately address such issues as they arise in their areas and provides a wide range of measures for dealing with all forms of antisocial behaviour.

There are 91 locations providing A&E services across Scotland. Of these, 30 are classed as Emergency Departments - larger A&E services that typically provide a 24 hour consultant led service.

The requested data on the number of mental health workers in A&E departments is not centrally collected. Data such as the number of staff in post or vacancies is collected for specific mental health professional groups in the NHS, but cannot be broken down by settings such as A&E.

Under Action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-27, an additional 179.2 whole time equivalent mental health posts have been created in A&E departments.

There are 15 prisons located throughout Scotland, 2 of which are managed privately.

Responsibility for providing prison healthcare was transferred from Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to NHS in 2011, and as such the Scottish Government does not hold data on the mental health workforce.

Data such as the number of staff in post or vacancies is collected on specific job roles but not within specific settings such as prisons.

While the Scottish Government provides funding for recruitment under Action 15, workforce and service planning is conducted by Integration Authorities according to the needs of their populations.

Under Action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-27, 54.4 whole time equivalent (WTE) mental health posts have been recruited to in our prisons.

The Scottish Government has recently announced a new set of ambitious targets to eliminate long waits, with an initial focus on long waits over two years for new outpatients by August 2022 and for inpatients and day case procedures by September 2022.

We have recently stepped down the Clinical Prioritisation Framework that was in place since November 2020 to help Boards prioritise waiting lists throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

This move is a return to pre-pandemic approach of treating patients on an urgent and routine basis, giving Health Boards and clinicians full flexibility to manage waiting lists with a focus on eliminating long waits, as well as continuing to treat the most clinically urgent patients.

On 24 June it was confirmed that all Temporary Covid Policies (including Special Leave) will be removed ( https://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/dl/DL(2022)21.pdf) and that from 1 September 2022, NHS Scotland colleagues who are absent due to COVID-19 will revert to contractual sick leave entitlement (Section 14 – Sickness Absence https://www.msg.scot.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/AfC-Handbook-Master-Scottish-Copy-2021-Revamp.pdf ).

All NHS colleagues benefit from the Once for Scotland Attendance Policy ( https://workforce.nhs.scot/policies/attendance-policy-overview/attendance-policy/ ) which aims to encourage attendance and support employees, where health issues impact on their ability to be at work.

At present, support for people with Long COVID in Scotland is underpinned by the full range of NHS services, including local primary care teams, community based rehabilitation services and referrals for secondary care investigation where needed.

To ensure care continues to be resourced and delivered across Scotland in the most appropriate way, we are investing an initial £3 million from our Long COVID Support Fund over this financial year to support NHS Boards and key partners to take forward a range of projects to improve care and support for people with Long COVID.

This will provide resource to enable Boards to design models of care tailored to the specific needs of their local populations, which may involve strengthening the co-ordination of existing services, or establishing dedicated services where appropriate.

Police Scotland currently have 69 police station custody suites. However, the Police Scotland custody estate is flexible and the number of custody centres open at any one time may change depending on demand.

The NHS assumed legal responsibility to provide healthcare, including mental healthcare, to persons in police custody in 2014. As such, the Scottish Government does not hold data on the mental health workforce in police custody suites. However, mental health assessments are available to all arrested persons in police custody and are provided either in person in custody, in person at a local hospital, by telephone or facilitated via NHS Near Me video consultation.

Under Action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-2027, an additional 35.6 whole time equivalent mental health posts have been recruited to police station custody suites.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09757 on 2 August 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Scottish Government is opposed to the use of mosquito anti-loitering devices and does not believe the use of these devices is consistent with our approach to tackling antisocial behaviour which seeks to promote strong and supportive communities where the rights of individuals are recognised and respected.

We believe the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 currently provides sufficient measures to help police and local authorities deal with antisocial behaviour wherever it arises.

We take young people’s complaints and safeguarding of their rights seriously and understand the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland’s concerns on the use of mosquito devices and young people’s rights and have taken action which is within our current powers to minimise the impact that these devices have on children and young people. This has included contacting the main public sector bodies to discourage the use of these devices on their estates. Use of these devices appears to be very limited in Scotland. We understand that none of the main public sector bodies use them on their sites and, last year, Police Scotland advised that they were not aware of them being used in any premises across the country.

We have additionally lobbied the UK Government to take action on these devices – but there appears to be no current UK action planned to regulate, license or otherwise prevent the sale of anti-loitering devices.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09757 on 2 August 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers