Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government expects all NHS Boards in Scotland to adhere to current guidelines and follow best practice when providing psychosocial care for people with chronic kidney disease.

We published our new Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy on 29 June 2023. The Strategy sets out a long-term vision, and a set of outcomes, for the mental health and wellbeing of the population. We will subsequently publish a Delivery Plan in the Autumn to set out the work we will do over the coming years to make progress towards those outcomes and set out how we will measure that progress.

This will include consideration on how the Strategy will set ambitions and actions to support people living with long term conditions like chronic kidney disease. One of our key outcomes for the Strategy is to ensure people with mental health conditions, including those with co-existing health conditions, experience improved quality and length of life, free from stigma and discrimination

In order to achieve this, we will work with partners to develop actions that will see improved provision of services and support to people with long-term physical health conditions for their mental health and wellbeing.

The legal obligation to provide public library services within Scotland lies with the local authorities, who have a statutory duty to secure the provision of adequate library facilities for all people resident in their area, taking into account local needs.

The Scottish Government supports the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC), who provides leadership and advice to Scottish Ministers, local authorities, and the wider libraries sector, with annual funding of £665,000. This includes £450,000 for the Public Library Improvement Fund (PLIF) and is on top of the Scottish Government’s general revenue funding to local authorities.

Examples of PLIF support in rural communities includes Digi Bytes and Takeaways in Moray, which is enabling Moray Libraries to support families during the current cost-of-living crisis and encouraging children and parents to engage with STEM in the early years; and Sensory Exploration in Orkney, in which a mobile interactive floor projector allows for sensory sessions to take place with a variety of age-groups. The project aims to enhance the library’s digital offering and widen access to a technology designed to improve the mental and physical wellbeing of those interacting with it.

Our latest figures show that a total of 3,047 vouchers have been paid out at an average cost of £1,858.99 per voucher. This consists of 1,079 interim vouchers at an average of £389.24 per voucher, and 1,968 main vouchers at an average of £2,884.81 per voucher.

Our website at www.scotlandsuperfast.com is the main means of publicising the R100 programme, of which the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (SBVS) is a key component. In addition, we publicise the R100 SBVS via the press, social media, and through continued stakeholder engagement activity across Scotland. We remain actively engaged with all 32 Local Authorities – including through a series of quarterly meetings with a network of Single Points of Contact – to ensure they are fully aware of any developments around the R100 SBVS, as well as other elements of the wider R100 programme. We also provide registered suppliers with a suite of SBVS promotional tools that they can use to conduct their own promotion of the scheme.

As of 1 August 2023, a total of 286 businesses have had connections delivered through utilisation of R100 SBVS vouchers, with a further 32 businesses in the pipeline.

We have commissioned NHS Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) to undertake a review of the increase in neonatal mortality across Scotland in‎ 2021-22. The review will consider the systems, processes and governance for the delivery of neonatal care which are relevant to the review scope. The HIS report will be published later this year.

The Best Start, published in January 2017, outlined a new model of neonatal service provision which emphasises parents as key partners in caring for their baby; aims to keep mothers and babies together as much as possible, with services designed around them; and suggests care for the smallest and sickest babies is consolidated to deliver the best possible outcomes.

We currently have 15 Neonatal Units in Scotland, each providing care for babies in their area. The new model of neonatal care will focus on the most preterm and sickest babies who will receive specialist complex care in fewer centres. Evidence tells us long term health outcomes will improve for those babies if cared for in higher volume units.

To aid with implementation we will work with regional chief executives and strategic planning leads to undertake modelling and capacity work to help develop local implementation plans.

We are committed to delivering a National Care Service (NCS) to improve quality, fairness and consistency of provision that meets individuals’ needs. The NCS will have equality, dignity and human rights at its heart and will empower people across Scotland to make the choices that are right for them.

In the current system an individual can defer payment of part of their contribution to care home fees to avoid the need to sell their homes up front to meet these costs, this is a legal agreement between the individual and the council. Within the current system there are also provisions in place in the form of set capital levels to ensure an individual is not be charged more than the assessed level of resource they have.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-20292 on 14 August 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/questions-and-answers .

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested. There are an estimated 47,000 listed buildings in Scotland. If listed building consent is required for building alterations associated with energy improvements, this is done through local planning authorities.

I welcome the publication of this report and the solutions to the issues that the sector is facing.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with the culture sector to identify barriers to immediate and long-term recovery and will continue to do everything within our powers and resources to help those most affected by current economic challenges.

The Scottish Government will discuss the recommendations contained within this report with Creative Scotland and also the trade unions.