Chamber and committees

The figure of 27% quoted only represents the first quarter of Year 3, from April to June 2020.

In the most recent quarter (July – September 2020) there was a large increase in the proportion of unknown equalities monitoring data gathered by FSS Service Providers, therefore it is not possible to report on the change in the proportion of disabled people during this time.

We recognise the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Fair Start Scotland where people with health concerns or disabilities have become less inclined to engage with services during this time. This has also had an impact on collection of the equalities monitoring data.

While there has been a drop in the overall percentage of people with disabilities joining the service, the proportion (27%) remains broadly in line with the Scottish unemployed population as a whole, 30% of whom report having a disability. ( Source: ONS, Annual Population Survey, Jan-Dec 2019).

As part of our continuous improvement activities with FSS Service Providers over the coming year, we aim to extend the reach of the service to disabled people, ethnic minorities and other groups as suggested by our evaluation feedback and performance data.

The Scottish Government remains committed to at least halving the disability employment gap in Scotland by 2038, and statistics show that there has been a steady growth in employment rates for disable people in between 2014 and 2019 from 41.5% to 49% (Source: ONS, Annual Population Survey, Jan-Dec data).

General practice has continued to provide services to patients throughout the pandemic, albeit with unavoidable restrictions to accommodate necessary infection prevention and control.

Patients with complex needs continue to receive the support of GP practices which are working hard to prioritise those at high clinical risk both through remote consultations and, where appropriate, face to face appointments including where patients have difficulties with remote access.

Where MSPs have specific concerns on behalf of their constituents on the availability of services from an independent contractor to the NHS, the relevant NHS Board should be able to assist in the first instance.

The Scottish Government is consulting on the future arrangements for early medical abortion at home to allow abortion providers and other health professionals, the general public and in particular women who have experience of abortion services the opportunity to comment and submit evidence. Scottish Government officials have asked NHS Boards to make women receiving abortion treatment aware of the consultation where appropriate so that they can respond to it if they wish.

Data on this can be found on the Public Health Scotland website at https://scotland.shinyapps.io/phs-covid-wider-impact/ .

This information would be held by NHS Boards.

The Scottish Government met the British Pregnancy Advisory Service once in 2016 and once in 2019, but is not aware of other scheduled meetings between the Scottish Government and BPAS over the past five years. Officials occasionally correspond by telephone or email with BPAS staff. However there is no record of the number of these communications over the last five years.

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with all sectors involved in care and management of the deceased to identify potential problems and to minimise disruption and delays which could affect the ongoing provision of funeral services over the Christmas and New Year weekends.

The Lord Advocate is constitutionally responsible for the investigation of sudden, unexpected and unexplained deaths in Scotland. That is a function which he exercises independently of any other person, and one that is undertaken on his behalf by procurators fiscal employed within the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS). It is accordingly not for the Scottish Government to give advice to procurators fiscal. COPFS is satisfied that appropriate arrangements are in place for the forthcoming holiday period to ensure that deaths reported to the procurator fiscal during this time will be considered as expeditiously as possible in order to minimise the impact of reporting on nearest relatives and funeral arrangements that are to be made.

The Scottish Government has not advised GPs to extend their opening hours and availability over the Christmas and New Year period. The normal festive contingencies will be in place with surgeries closed 25 and 28 December and 1 and 4 January. This is the normal period of closure.

It is for burial and cremation authorities to decide when their facilities will be open over the festive period. The Scottish Government and the Inspector of Cremation are working with burial and cremation authorities, funeral director representatives and Regional Resilience Partnerships to ensure the sector has the information it requires to plan appropriately for the festive period. The Scottish Government will continue to work with the sector throughout the festive period to monitor the impact on availability of funerals, as has been the case since the beginning of the pandemic.

The opening hours and configuration of local registrar services remains the responsibility of local authorities. Opening times of registrar offices and availability to register a death remotely are being arranged locally for the festive period, while existing provision for out of hours registration continues to be in place in each local authority area.

NHS Boards have not indicated to the Scottish Government that women have raised any concerns about this. NHS Boards can provide women with advice on options for sensitive disposal of fetal remains if requested.

NHS Boards offer counselling services for women both pre- and post-abortion. Preliminary data from NHS Lothian indicates no change in calls to their dedicated abortion service helpline.”

NHS staff always ensure they speak to a patient on their own, at least for part of the appointment, and this still applies in the case of appointments by telephone or video call. This aims to make sure every patient has the space to raise any concerns freely if they are feeling coerced in any way (either to have an abortion or not to have an abortion).