Chamber and committees

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) does not recommend manual ear syringing.

As residential rehabilitation is a cross-cutting intervention for both alcohol and drug use, the answer provided to one of the member’s proceeding questions (ref. S6W-31156 on 21 November 2024), specific to alcohol use is also applicable to this question about drug use.

The Scottish Government has been working with Alcohol and Drug Partnerships to aid the development of clear pathways into through and out of residential rehabilitation, and has commissioned the establishment of residential rehabilitation pathway development clusters by Healthcare Improvement Scotland which has resulted in 29/30 ADPs publishing their pathway. This will facilitate an increase in publicly funded placements across the country, and support utilisation of new and renovated facilities.

We also announced the completion of a national online service directory in August which provides a nationwide list of residential rehabilitation providers for the first time, empowering individuals and their loved ones to learn about and access quality residential rehabilitation and identify the best service to support them.

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

Work is progressing on finalising the baseline report after which it will be presented to Ministers and thereafter published. While its important that this work progresses, it is also important that the report is considered, robust and accurate. I will report back to the Parliament as timescales become available.

The 2024 Higher History review is an operational matter for the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) in its independent role as an examination body. The Scottish Government accepts the findings of the review.

Richard Harry, Executive Director of Qualifications and Assessment at the Welsh Joint Education Committee (WJEC), Wales’ largest awarding body, independently peer reviewed the report and agreed that its conclusions and recommendations are supported by evidence.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30903 on 11 November 2024. 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

HMP Inverness has a total of 73 cells and a design capacity of 93. As of 12 November, the establishment held 116 prisoners.

SPS are unable to quantify the number of cells that typically accommodate more than one person in our care, due to the many variables that accompany our complex population, however as of the aforementioned date, the establishment had a single cell occupancy rate of 33%

The purpose of the National Specification is to provide clarity on the range of substance use support services which should be available in local areas as the first phase in developing National Standards and regulations. The specification will take into account the outcomes of the current Public Health Scotland review into the reduction of referrals to Tier 3 and Trier 4 services to ensure that all services, including Tier 1 and Tier 2, are included in suggested improvements. This will help local services to set out future strategic plans to deliver on their commitment to reduce alcohol and drug deaths and associated harms and to improve the lives of those impacted by alcohol and drugs. This will support people in being aware of the services that are available to them whether structured on more informal, such awareness is important in empowering people to make informed choices about their needs. Throughout the national specification there is emphasis on the need to provide person centred care for each individual to supporting meeting individual needs.

The national specification is the first stage of developing national standards and regulations for substance use services. The specification will outline the types of services which should be made available within all local areas. The second phase will be the development of standards which services will be expected to meet and the third phase will be the development of regulations on the basis of which services will be inspected. It is hoped that the regulations will be published by 2028. The completion of all three phases will support clarity and accountability on service providers as recommended within the Audit Scotland report.

Data on economic inactivity and its causes is collected for Scotland by the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) Labour Force Survey (LFS) and Annual Population Survey (APS).

The Scottish Government publishes its own analysis on economic inactivity in Scotland based on the ONS LFS and APS data. The most recent publication including this data is the Labour Market Trends: November 2024 publication. This can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/labour-market-trends-november-2024/

The Scottish Government also recently published an evidence review on Economic Inactivity in Scotland: Supporting those with longer-term health conditions and disabilities to remain economically active. The report can be found here: Economic inactivity in Scotland: supporting those with longer-term health conditions and disabilities to remain economically active - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government are working with Welsh and Northern Irish Governments and our colleagues in ONS to better understand and to guide improvements in the collection of this data.

No One Left Behind, our shared approach with Local Government to delivering devolved employability services, has a key role to play in meeting our commitment to halving the Disability Employment Gap by 2038. Whilst we have seen positive progress to date in the number of people with learning disabilities accessing support, we are committed to going further. That is why our Programme for Government sets out that we will have Specialist Employability Support in place across all 32 local authority areas by Summer of 2025.

Additionally, as outlined in the refreshed Fair Work Action Plan, we are working with partners to develop a central resource hub for employers. Feedback from surveys of a range of employers and engagement with key stakeholders is being used to inform the design of the resource in an accessible way to help ensure that organisations of all sizes and sectors across Scotland can access advice and support to better implement Fair Work.