Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-03574 on
‎ 25 October 2021. 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
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Scottish Government is a key partner in Save a Life for Scotland (SALFS). The partnership published an updated Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) strategy in March 2021, which seeks to increase the percentage of OHCAs which have a defibrillator applied before the arrival of ambulance service from 8% to 20%.

Achieving this is not only about increasing the number of defibrillators in public places, but also about ensuring that defibrillators already in the community are publicly accessible, are registered with the Scottish Ambulance Service so they can be directed to in instances of OHCA, and that people feel empowered to use them. The OHCA strategy identifies a number of actions to take in order to achieve these goals.

We also recognise that it is important to support evidence based placement of defibrillators in areas where OHCAs are most likely to occur. To this end, the Resuscitation Research Group, Edinburgh University is piloting a data-led approach to the placement of defibrillators in Scotland, called SCOT-PAD. The Scottish Government funded the initial modelling analysis in 2018 and are fully supportive of the group’s work.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving the population of Scotland’s mental health and wellbeing; ensuring everyone receives the best possible care and treatment from our health and care services. Delivering service improvement can only be achieved with the right workforce capacity and capability.

This is why we have committed to develop a long-term Mental Health Workforce Plan in the first half of this Parliament and will ensure that by 2026, 10% of frontline NHS budget is invested in mental health, with 1% directed specifically to children and young people.

Since May 2021 we have committed £27.23 million to support NHS Boards to implement the National Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Service Specification. Through this funding, NHS Boards have started to recruit additional staff to implement the Specification and to build professional capacity to support children and young people with neurodevelopmental support needs.

In addition to this work we continue to support our local authority partners providing £16 million in funding to ensure that every secondary school in Scotland has access to counselling services. Since the beginning of the 2019/20 academic year we have also invested more than £7 million to support our commitment to introduce more than 80 additional counsellors in colleges and universities with over two thirds of these now in place.

Since October 2020, we have also allocated £30 million of additional funding to local authorities to deliver locally based mental health and wellbeing support for 5-24 year olds in their communities. This includes £18.75 million to fund new and enhanced community mental health and wellbeing services for 5-24 year olds with a focus on prevention, early intervention and the treatment of distress. The remaining £11.25m was made available to support children and young people’s mental health and emotional wellbeing issues that have arisen as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

As you know, our Mental Health Transition & Recovery Plan, which sets out over 100 actions in response to the mental health effects of the pandemic, is supported by a £120 million Recovery and Renewal fund.

This year, around £40 million has been allocated to NHS Boards to improve the mental health care that children and young people receive through Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and also includes funding for NHS Boards to build professional capacity to support children and young people with neurodevelopmental support needs.

Since October 2020, we have also allocated £30 million of additional funding to local authorities to deliver locally based mental health and wellbeing support for 5-24 year olds in their communities. This includes £18.75 million to fund new and enhanced community mental health and wellbeing services for 5-24 year olds with a focus on prevention, early intervention and the treatment of distress. The remaining £11.25 million was made available to support children and young people’s mental health and emotional wellbeing issues that have arisen as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In addition, we continue to prioritise support for children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing in schools, including developing and delivering new mental health training and learning resources, and £16 million per annum in funding to ensure that every secondary school has access to counselling services.

A response to question S6W-02293 was issued on 4th October 2021.

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 Scottish Government, in partnership with Zero Waste Scotland, SEPA and Circularity Scotland Ltd, are engaging with businesses to address their queries and concerns regarding Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme. SEPA is also in the process of developing guidance for producers, retailers and return point operators to help them meet their obligations under The Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations.

We have met with a range of private rented sector representatives, including those representing tenants and landlords, and we will continue to do so as we progress work on implementing an effective national system of rent controls. Our aim is to ensure quality, affordability and fairness for everyone who rents a home, whilst carefully examining potential unintended consequences. This continued engagement will help develop the policy, which will form part of a public consultation on a new draft Rented Sector Strategy at the end of this year – and providing an opportunity to gather a wide range of views and interests. Upon consideration of the consultation responses, a final Rented Sector Strategy will be published later in 2022 and deliver a key commitment, set out in Housing to 2040 , Scotland’s long term vision for housing.

The Scottish Government’s position is expressed in the joint statement from the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care and the BMA, published on 5 October.

For many years now, in person face-to-face appointments form part of a hybrid model of options that are offered to patients including video consultations, telephone consultations and in person face-to-face appointments. The pandemic changed the balance between these appointment types. We are clear that our expectation is that face to face appointments will increase, however we also recognise that for a number of patients they will wish to continue with telephone or video consultations. Changes to physical distancing guidance will assist practices to safely increase more face to face appointments.

Importantly the type of appointment offered should be agreed through shared decision making, balancing patient choice and autonomy, and practice circumstances/capacity and clinical judgement.

We are continuing to make good progress towards delivery of Scottish Carer’s Assistance. We are currently undertaking joint feasibility work with the Department for Work and Pensions on the complex interactions Carer’s Allowance has, and Scottish Carer’s Assistance will have, with benefits such as Income Support and Universal Credit which will remain reserved. This will give us a better understanding of what can be delivered and when so that we can confirm our new delivery timetable for Scottish Carer’s Assistance.

Our aim is to begin building Scottish Carer’s Assistance next year, and we anticipate that it will take a minimum of 18 months, given the complex links with reserved systems. We plan to consult on proposals for the future of Scottish Carer’s Assistance this winter.

I can confirm that a fee award increase for General Ophthalmic Services eye examinations is under active consideration.