Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has published 198 Easy Read documents on the gov.scot website since January 2022. The list of the policy papers that have been published with an associated easy read version is available on the Scottish Government website at https://www.gov.scot/publications.

The new Palliative Care Strategy aims to ensure that everyone in Scotland, regardless of location, receives well-coordinated, timely and high-quality palliative care, care around death and bereavement support based on their needs and preferences, including support for families and carers.

We are aware of the importance of ensuring that the Strategy takes account of the differing needs of people living in rural and island areas, and of the particular challenges in these areas. Work is currently being undertaken to understand the lived experiences of users of palliative care services in rural and island settings. We have also asked our working groups, who are feeding into the Strategy, to give particular consideration to the impact that any actions they are recommending may have on rural and island areas.

The vast majority of spending on mental health is delivered through NHS board budgets – and this is not directly affected by the Path to Balance reprioritisation. Between the Scottish Government and NHS boards we expect spending on Mental Health to be well in excess of £1.3 billion in financial year 2023-24.

The 2023-24 direct mental health budget of £260.3 million is still more than double the 2020-21 mental health budget of £117.1 million and will support delivery of the new ten-year Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy and recently published delivery plan. The Delivery Plan has been produced with affordability and deliverability within that financial envelope as a primary consideration.

The budget for the ‘Brush Up’ campaign to increase awareness of NHS dentistry reforms was £250,000.

Scottish Government officials were notified about this matter by the Scottish Police Authority on the 1st November 2023. This was for information only as the governance and scrutiny of Police Scotland is for the Authority and not Ministers. No engagement with Police Scotland was required.

The Chair of the Authority has discussed this with the Chief Constable, who has apologised, and the SPA now considers the matter closed.

With regard to the assistance being provided to Police Scotland by Durham Constabulary, while this is an operational matter for the Chief Constable, it is good practice for police organisations to share their knowledge and experience. Police Scotland routinely collaborates and works in partnership with police forces across the UK, and beyond.

As part of the annual Homelessness in Scotland publication, the Scottish Government releases national statistics on the number of households assessed as homeless or threatened with homelessness by former armed forces status. Table T22 in the main tables, in the supporting documents of the most recent publication, provides data from 2018-19 to 2022-23. These statistics are available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/homelessness-in-scotland-2022-23/

Additional statistics about veteran homelessness in Scotland, including the number of homelessness applications by former armed forces status, is available here:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/homelessness-in-scotland-veteran-homelessness/

Note, these figures have been rounded to the nearest 5 for disclosure control purposes and totals may not sum due to rounding.

The Scottish Government does not hold individual information on NHS patients de-registered. NHS Boards make arrangements with independent contractors and dental bodies corporate to provide NHS dental services. A practice will notify the respective NHS Board when de-registering a patient.

Official statistics published by Public Health Scotland, point to an improving picture since the lifting of the most significant pandemic restrictions on the dental sector: Dental statistics - NHS registration and participation 24 January 2023 - Dental statistics - registration and participation - Publications - Public Health Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23358 on 11 December 2023. 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

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23310 on 11 December 2023. 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

Our suicide prevention strategy Creating Hope Together, and our new Mental Health and Wellbeing Workforce Action Plan - both of which are joint publications with COSLA - have a strong and consistent focus on training across our workforce and our communities to enable people to better understand and support people affected by suicide.