Chamber and committees

As referred to in response to PQs S6W-08593 and S6W-08594 on 1 June 2022, we were pleased to receive the report and recommendations from the National Partnership for Culture on 28 February 2022. Scottish Government officials are working together across portfolios to review the recommendations. Our response to the National Partnership for Culture recommendations will be published shortly.

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

Each financial year, NHS Boards are typically required to deliver a level of efficiency savings to deliver financial balance. Efficiency savings are how health boards ensure they are making the best possible use of public money and every penny of efficiency savings stays with the health boards.

We are working closely with all NHS Boards to address financial pressures facing the system, whilst ensuring that patient safety and Covid recovery remain the priority.

The Scottish Government has a long standing commitment of improving Fair Work across Scotland. We are actively working with our partners in Local Government, COSLA, Trade Unions and the third and independent sectors to support and encourage Effective Voice within the Adult Social Care Sector. This includes ways we can support people to access Trade Union membership through an improved awareness and access of Trade Unions. It is the responsibility of Trade Unions to build their membership through their usual channels, and we are supportive of the efforts which Trade Unions are undertaking to do this’

Furthermore, we continue to support the Fair Work and Trade Union Modernisation Fund, committing to support unions in embedding the Fair Work Framework in Scotland’s workplaces. This funding has enabled unions to work proactively, and to build upon ongoing efforts, to tackle precarious work, and organising for Fair Work in less unionised sectors.

For 2021-22 and 2022-23, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-08999 on 20 June 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

Future year’s planned expenditure will be determined and set out in each year’s Scottish Budget.

The information requested relating to non-Mother and Baby Unit adult mental health inpatient admissions during the pregnancy or the postnatal period is not held centrally. However, the Scottish Government Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Programme Board is looking at this question as part of the work following the Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) Inpatient Provision Consultation which closed on 31 May 2022.

COSLA leaders and Ministers have now agreed the funding package to support the development of Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies (LHEES) for the 2022-23 financial year. This funding package will be treated as a redetermination of the General Revenue Grant and paid in the last 2 weeks of March 2023. This funding could be used to cover internal resourcing and/or procurement of external technical services. Scottish Government officials have already communicated the agreement of the funding to local authorities and will also provide further guarantees and details via COSLA's official channels in due course .

The Scottish Government recognises that seal predation is one of a number of pressures affecting wild Atlantic salmon in rivers, which is why it commissioned work in partnership with Crown Estate Scotland to review measures that have been adopted globally and which could assist in developing non-lethal strategies to address seal predation on salmon in Scottish rivers.

The report ( Review of non-lethal seal control options to limit seal predation on salmonids in rivers and at finfish farms | Marine Scotland Data Publications ) which was published in March 2021 recognises that there is no single effective solution to address the problem given the nature of rivers and predation, but that there are a range of measures that have been shown to have some success or have the potential to reduce predation. The Scottish Government therefore continues to work with the sector, stakeholders and the scientific community to explore practical ways to address interactions between salmon and seals in rivers, building on the recommendation of the report.

Furthermore, the Sea Mammal Research Unit, at the University of St Andrews has provided significant advice and support to the River Dee in recent years in relation to quantifying seal presence in the river and exploring possible solutions for minimising interactions.

The information requested on Health Board admissions to Mother and Baby Units is not held centrally. However, Mother and Baby Units in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Lothian may have this data available through local data systems. Both Mother and Baby Units also participate in the Clinical Audit System referenced in S6W-08970 on 20 June 2022 which supports Mother and Baby Units in further developing and improving the provision they offer.

Additionally, the Scottish Government Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Programme Board is looking at this question as part of the work following the Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) Inpatient Provision Consultation which closed on 31 May 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

Since it was established in April 2020, there have been 88 successful claims to the Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) Family Fund. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Lothian do not hold comprehensive information about a claimant’s home Board. Since April 2020:

? 32 families made a claim to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde MBU, with an average amount claimed of £303.

? 56 families made a claim to the NHS Lothian MBU, with an average claim of £250.

There is currently specialist perinatal mental health provision in every mainland Health Board. We are working intensively with Boards to build their provision to the levels outlined in Delivering Effective Services . As of May 2022, there were 12 Health Boards with specialist community perinatal mental health teams, eight of which were fully established. These are: Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, Fife, Forth Valley, Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lanarkshire, Lothian and Tayside.

We are working closely with other Boards to ensure that services will be fully established by March 2023. This includes island Boards where regional working as well as Board level provision is a key priority area.