Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is working closely with NHS National Services Scotland (NSS), NHS Boards and other partners to manage supply issues relating to certain blood collection tubes.

NSS is continuing to meet supply requirements and all of NHS Scotland services are currently operating as normal. A number of resilience measures have been activated by NSS and they are working in partnership with clinical and laboratory colleagues, suppliers and NHS colleagues across the UK. NSS is reviewing the medium-term supply position closely and is seeking to ensure products remain available.

Guidance about best practice in diagnostic test use was issued on 20 August 2021.

The reasons why the Tesla Model 3 Long Range was chosen were:-

1. The vehicles have capacity to transport up to 4 passengers, with sufficient interior space to allow business to be conducted effectively whilst traveling between engagements.

2. The vehicles are fully electric; ensuring that the Scottish Government continues to honour its commitment to decarbonisation.

3. The vehicles, at the time of purchase, had the highest geographical range in the market sector, offering overall value for money.

Charges for National Qualifications have remained unchanged since 2012-13 despite changes in costs. While charges contribute towards the cost of awarding National Qualifications they do not cover the full costs. In addition, 2020 and 2021 late entry fees have been waived and there have been no charges for appeals. There are therefore no plans to reimburse National Qualifications payments.

For 2021, SQA estimates that the costs of providing certification for national qualifications was £41.7m, while income from local authorities, colleges and independent schools is expected to be £30.5m. The remaining cost is covered by SQA’s grant in aid budget from the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering the Promise, supporting families to stay together in a safe and loving environment, and reducing the amount of children who are taken into care. Fundamentally, Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) is the Scottish Government's approach to supporting children and young people. It supports families and helps to prevent family breakdown by making sure children and young people can receive the right help, at the right time, from the right people. GIRFEC is a strengths-based approach and is underpinned by principles that include working in partnership with families, and providing an early offer of support to improve outcomes for children, young people and families.

The Scottish Government also recognises more needs to be done to transform the system of holistic support that is provided to families. The Programme for Government 2021 commits to investing at least £500 million over the life of this Parliament to create a Whole Family Wellbeing Fund. This will enable the building of universal, holistic support services, available in communities across Scotland, giving families access to the help they need, where and when they need it. Furthermore, our ambition is that from 2030, we will be investing at least 5% of all community-based health and social care spend in preventative whole family support measures that will enable us to continue to Keep The Promise.

In addition, the Scottish Government continues to deliver a range of policies aimed at supporting the specific needs of children, young people and families. For example:

• National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland (published 2 September 2021), which places greater emphasis on prevention and support and working with children and families to reduce the risk of harm.
• Development of a Framework to improve holistic family support for families affected by a loved one's drug or alcohol abuse.
• £120 million through our Recovery and Renewal fund to address the mental health impacts of Covid-19 including a range of actions addressing relationship support.
• Funding to Relationships Scotland, who provide a number of services including family mediation, relationship counselling and “parenting apart” classes.

When disruptions occur CalMac Ferries Ltd will conduct a network wide review to minimise the impact on communities. This includes redeployment of vessels from elsewhere on the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services (CHFS) network, identification of an alternative ferry route when an island (or group of islands), has more than one port, and provision of additional sailings on these alternative routes.

In this instance, it included additional sailings on the Uig – Lochmaddy route allowing onward travel to Lochboisdale, with the MV Clansman redeployed to operate this service. Services on all affected routes resumed normal timetabled sailings from 10 September 2021.

CalMac Customer Operations teams moved impacted traffic from affected sailings, contacting customers advising them of suggested alternative sailing; or if the customer preferred, offer a full refund.

Preparatory work by Transport Scotland for the next Clyde and Hebrides Ferries Services contract has begun but remains at an early stage. We are committed to ensure that views and perspectives of key stakeholders and communities are considered, reflected upon and help shape the detail within the next CHFS contract.

We continue to promote registration so more children can benefit from milk and a healthy snack. We are working in close partnership with COSLA and Local Authorities via an Implementation Group. We will shortly be expanding the remit and membership of this Group to include wider stakeholders and to ensure the scheme is meeting the needs of children and settings as we look ahead to scheme Year 2 and beyond.

In October 2020 the Scottish Government published the Mental Health Transition & Recovery Plan. The plan outlined our priorities for mental health, highlighting the importance of community based mental health and wellbeing support.

In February we announced an additional £120 million for a Recovery & Renewal Fund to ensure the delivery of the commitments set out in the Mental Health Transition & Recovery Plan. The Fund will support the development of an integrated culture of mental wellbeing and prevention within local communities and across Scotland, and promote the capacity and role of third sector organisations to deliver this.

We are committed to improving access to community mental health and wellbeing support. This year we have provided local authorities with an additional £15 Million to fund over 200 new and enhanced supports and services for children and young people. In addition the recently published Scottish Government and Scottish Green Party shared policy programme commits to doubling the budget for community based mental wellbeing services for children and young people to £30 million per annum. Ministers are currently considering options to take this forward and will be informed by the work of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Joint Delivery Board.

The NHS recovery plan published in August also highlighted the importance of community mental health support. The Plan commits to building on the success of our community link worker programme, to ensure the by 2026, every GP Practice will have access to a mental health and wellbeing service, creating 1,000 additional dedicated staff who can help grow community mental health resilience and direct social prescribing.

The Scottish Ministers are committed to ensure the most efficient and best value arrangement to deliver our key lifeline ferry services. An independent review of the current legal structures and governance arrangements around the provision of ferry services is already underway. There is nothing ‘off limits’ to the appointed consultants when addressing the issues within the scope of the review, including the direct award option. The review remains on track and we hope to publish the provisional outcomes of the review around the end of the year.

In March 2021, the Scottish Parliament unanimously passed the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill (the “Bill”), which aims to incorporate the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into Scots law to the maximum extent possible within the powers of the Scottish Parliament. The UK Government challenged the legislative competence of certain provisions of the Bill in a reference to the UK Supreme Court. A hearing was held on 28 and 29 June 2021 and judgment is awaited.

The Scottish Government remains committed to the incorporation of the UNCRC to the maximum extent of the Parliament’s powers and to commencement of the Bill as soon as possible. Whilst the reference means that the Bill cannot receive Royal Assent at this stage, the majority of work in relation to implementation can and is continuing, consistent with the fact that the case is before the UK Supreme Court.

• We are investing in a £4 million programme over three years to help to ensure public services are consistently upholding children’s rights
• The UNCRC Strategic Implementation Board has been meeting monthly since 1 July 2021 to provide strategic vision and oversight of a comprehensive and joined-up implementation programme
• A UNCRC Implementation Guidance Reference Group has been established comprising of key partners, and has been meeting fortnightly since 17 May 2021 to assist Scottish Government in developing non-statutory guidance to assist public authorities and those undertaking functions of a public nature to fulfil the UNCRC
• To support the meaningful and inclusive participation of children and young people in the UNCRC Strategic Implementation Board and wider implementation programme, we are working to establish a consortium of organisations that have strong, trusting relationships with children and young people across Scotland