Chamber and committees

Long waiting times for treatment are unacceptable and we remain committed to meet the standard that 90% of patients begin treatment within 18 weeks of referral. This is why we have allocated £40 million to NHS Boards to improve CAMHS in the last financial year. £4.25m of that allocation was directly focussed on offering treatment to those already on CAMHS waiting lists, with a view to clearing all backlogs by March 2023. Whilst Boards continue to respond creatively to treat significant numbers of children and young people, their priority is to ensure that emergency and urgent cases are seen, and this has regrettably meant longer waits for some.

Waiting lists are managed locally by individual Health Boards. However, the Scottish Government has issued key principles for Health Boards to shape their policies for managing waiting lists. These set out our expectation that patients on the waiting list, and where appropriate their families, are kept informed of their situation; that those waiting the longest should be contacted first; and that support and personalised, meaningful signposting should also be provided to the patient and their families, with informed consent, to access other services within the children and young people's service network, in cases where families' needs are best met elsewhere.

Additionally, to enhance the support that is available, in the last financial year we provided local authorities with an additional £15 million to fund over 230 new and enhanced community-based mental health supports and services for children and young people. This financial year, we will issue a further £15 million to councils to fund the continuation of these supports.

This funding gives local authorities the flexibility to implement supports on the basis of local priorities and to make services available to children and young people who are awaiting CAMHS treatment or for whom CAMHS is not suitable. Councils have advised us that the community-based supports have started receiving referrals from CAMHS.

The services include mental health support for LGBTQI+ children and young people in Glasgow; family mediation and counselling services in Dundee; online self-directed support and counselling in Aberdeenshire and Bereavement and Loss support in the Scottish Borders. Establishing these services is a significant step forward in supporting the mental health of our children and young people, making sure they receive the help they need when they need it.

Allowances for fuel that are paid to social care workers are a matter for individual employers and are not set by the Scottish Government. We are, however, actively engaged with our partners, including local government, to understand what impact the increase in fuel prices is having across Scotland, and how social care providers can support their staff to ensure they can continue to deliver the invaluable support they provide.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the level and nature of financial investment from China in universities in Scotland as they are autonomous bodies.

Scottish Government officials have travelled on P&O Ferries between Larne and Cairnryan four times since 2019. All four crossings were single journeys.

No single or return crossings were made by Ministers in 2019, 2020 or 2021. The global COVID-19 pandemic throughout 2020 and 2021 resulted in lockdowns that curtailed Ministerial and official travel.

The Scottish Government does not hold any contracts with P&O Ferries.

The National Flood Risk Assessment published by SEPA in 2018 provided Scotland with the knowledge and tools to assess the causes and consequences of river, coastal and surface water flooding, taking into account the effects of climate change. The Assessment considered the potential impacts of flooding on emergency services and healthcare facilities. The information from this Assessment was used to help identify those areas most at risk of significant flooding impacts.

NHS Scotland Chief Executives have made a commitment that all Health Boards will prepare a Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) and Climate Change Adaptation Plan by the end of the 2021-22 financial year. This includes the identification of any sites at risk of flooding both now, and in the future with projected climate change.

https://www.sepa.org.uk/data-visualisation/nfra2018/ .

This information is not held centrally. Teaching the Nation to Code is a computing programming training offer by the IT training company QA Consulting.

The Scottish Government is committed to the establishment of a National Care Service (NCS), and that work is continuing on schedule. We have pledged to bring forward legislation to enable the creation of the NCS by the end of June 2022.

Scottish Ministers are still considering the wealth of information provided through the recent National Care Service consultation. We are committed to ensuring that the design and delivery of the NCS has human rights embedded throughout. We are continuing to engage with the real experts – people with lived experience of the service whether they are people accessing care and support, their families, care workers or providers – and will continue to do so in order to improve future services and make things better for everyone.

We will then be in a position to bring forward the detailed plans for improvement to be undertaken over the course of this Parliament, to end the postcode lottery of care provision ensuring quality, fairness and consistency of provision that meets individuals’ needs, regardless of where they live in Scotland.

I refer the member to the answers to questions S6W-07510 and S6W-07560 on 19 April 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 .

The report has not been shared with the Scottish Government, but children and young people living in this type of accommodation should receive the highest level and quality of care.

Officials have contacted the City of Edinburgh Council to offer support. We are assured that the findings and recommendations of the report are now being taken forward as part of a robust and detailed action plan to improve the quality of care.