Chamber and committees

Through the Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Fund And Small Grants Fund, we provide funding for both father specific and whole family work. From 2021 to March 2023, we have provided over £1 million to groups including Home-Start Glasgow North and North Lanarkshire, Quarriers, CrossReach, Sure Start Midlothian, Dads Rock and Fathers Network Scotland. This includes funding for peer support groups for new fathers, which can provide a valuable source of support.

We have also committed to working with Fathers Network Scotland to better understand the evidence around mental health within the perinatal period for fathers and partners.

The former Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care met with Crohn’s & Colitis UK on 1 March 2023.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring those living with Crohn’s or Colitis are able to access the best possible care and support and that they benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.

Whilst the Scottish Government has not signed the campaign pledges, we continue to support the Crohn’s & Colitis UK campaign for earlier diagnosis. In March 2023 we launched an awareness campaign to help increase awareness of Crohn’s and Colitis symptoms and signpost to reliable information so people feel empowered to seek help from a medical professional when needed. We engaged with Crohn’s & Colitis UK to ensure the campaign was complementary to their own.

We will continue to improve services for people with the condition through the Modernising Patient Pathways Programme (MPPP). MPPP has a specific workstream continuing to promote improvements in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) care for patients across Scotland in partnership with third sector and people with lived experience. Scotland’s national IBD Steering Group has identified priority areas for work over the next two years. This includes consideration of referral pathways and models of IBD care to drive a more standardised and equitable service across Scotland.

To specifically support scope based diagnostics, such as endoscopy, we have published an Endoscopy and Urology Diagnostic Recovery and Renewal plan backed by £70m. The plan focuses on key areas such as: Balancing Demand and Capacity; Workforce Training and Development; Infrastructure; and Innovation and Redesign. While endoscopy capacity remains challenged, patients referred on our most urgent pathways continue to be prioritised for scope-based diagnostic tests.

The Scottish Government spent £20,837 on the recent awareness campaign on Crohn’s and Colitis.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. This is a matter for Health Boards locally.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all people living with lower gastrointestinal symptoms in Scotland are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.

We have funded the Modernising Patient Pathways Programme (MPPP) which has a specific workstream continuing to promote improvements in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) care for patients across Scotland in partnership with third sector and people with lived experience. Scotland’s national IBD Steering Group has identified priority areas for work over the next two years. This includes consideration of referral pathways and models of IBD care to drive a more standardised and equitable service across Scotland. Work on the pathways started last month and should be completed next year.

The level of financial penalties incurred by CalMac Ferries Ltd since October 2021 is detailed in the following table:

The Scottish Government has worked alongside Inspiring Scotland, Evaluation Support Scotland and third sector partners to co-produce an Evaluation Toolkit for perinatal peer support, which was published on 1 March 2023.

The Scottish Government also worked with Scottish Recovery Network to develop a Perinatal Peer Support Resource, which launched on 20 April 2023 and can be found at the following link - Let's do Peer Support: Bump, Birth & Beyond - Scottish Recovery Network . The resource includes guidance plus links to good practice and specialised training from more established organisations, should peer support workers or volunteers feel they need further information and guidance.

Whilst the management of the prison estate – including privately operated HMP Addiewell - is an operational matter for the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), I take very seriously the significant issues highlighted in the Inspectorate’s report.

It is clearly unacceptable that anyone in custody in Scotland should feel unsafe.

I have a meeting later this month with both the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) and Sodexo Justice Services to discuss His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland’s (HMIPS) inspection findings for HMP Addiewell.

SPS and Sodexo Justice Services are engaging at the highest possible levels to ensure HMP Addiewell is a safe and secure prison and are committed to addressing the concerns raised in the HMIPS report.

Safety is an absolute priority and plans and actions are being scrutinised to ensure necessary improvements and changes are delivered. Abuse, threating behaviour, bullying and violence by prison staff will not be tolerated and any complaint of criminality is automatically referred to Police Scotland.

The Scottish Government Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Fund provides £80,000 per year to support Amma Birth Companions which provides trauma-informed emotional and practical support to vulnerable women who would otherwise experience birth without a partner or who are likely to face significant barriers to accessing perinatal care. The individuals they support are mostly refugees, asylum seekers and people living in poverty. Amma's service include birth and postnatal companionship, antenatal classes and peer support activities and aims to support the wellbeing and life chances of both mothers and fathers.

Remote and rural services face challenges due to how geographically isolated some of the communities are throughout Scotland. The Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Fund therefore also supports multiple organisations across rural Scotland to provide services to remote areas, these services include Action for Children services in the Western Isles, Home Start Caithness, South Lanarkshire and many more. They provide non-clinical, community based parenting and peer support services which help women and families affected by, or at risk of, perinatal mental health difficulties.