Chamber and committees

All NHS Boards expressed an interest in recent perinatal and infant mental health funding from the Scottish Government and we are allocating funding of up to £2 million to all territorial Boards for the development of perinatal specialist community services. This is in addition to funding for the North of Scotland boards which we provided in 2019-20.

In terms of infant mental health services, we allocated over £80,000 in 2019/20 to develop a model and pilot infant mental health service in 2 areas (NHS Fife and NHS Lanarkshire) to meet the needs of families experiencing significant adversity. For 2020-21 up to £1 million will be allocated across all territorial NHS Boards to further improve infant mental health provision.

The staffing needs of the different Health Board and regional areas were based on the Perinatal Managed Clinical Network’s (MCN) Delivering Effective Services Report published in March 2019. This sets out an in depth needs assessment and model of staffing for specialist perinatal mental health services. In order to come to these recommendations, the MCN conducted a series of visits to Health Boards, undertook workshops with a variety of stakeholders, including the third sector and conducted an online survey to incorporate the voice of lived experience into their recommendations as well as considering Royal College of Psychiatry standards and other examples of best practice.

In order to support any increased demand for services, we have established perinatal mental health services as a priority area for the roll out of Near Me services, provided dedicated support around Covid-19 to third sector funded organisations, and built Covid-19 responsiveness into the applications for the recently launched Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Third Sector Fund. Mother and Baby units have continued to admit patients throughout the pandemic.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) have issued guidance for pregnant women and for professionals to which Scottish Government has contributed. This covers perinatal mental health considerations during the pandemic.

In addition, advice and support for new parents and pregnant women can be found on Parent Club , including information about supporting mental health of parents, babies, and children. Scottish Government has also provided funding to allow all families across Scotland to access the Solihull Online parenting resource which supports parents to build positive relationships with their babies and children and covers ante-natal and post-natal through to age 18.

As part of our overall investment in perinatal mental health services, in 2019-20 and 2020-21 we invested over £750,000 to increase staffing at the Mother Baby Units in Glasgow and Livingston to improve the experience of care for women in need of intensive support. Work is also ongoing to establish specialist community perinatal and infant mental health teams across Scotland, with the first services in place by the end of this financial year. This is supported by up to £2 million investment.

Funding of up to £1 million per annum was announced earlier this year for the
‎ 2020-23 Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Third Sector Fund, which will support 15 third sector services.

In terms of workforce retention and recruitment, the Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Programme Board is working closely with NHS Education for Scotland to develop a perinatal workforce plan, including training of specialist and universal staff, recruitment and retention of staff - including psychiatrists and development of training materials for practitioners (including in the third sector) working in specialist and universal services.

We are also funding the training of additional psychological therapists to support workforce expansion, including: additional Clinical Associates in Applied Psychology, Cognitive Behavioural Therapists and Clinical Psychologists.

I can confirm that my answer to the Member’s question S5W-31553 remains the same following the new measures announced by the First Minister on 22 September.

Professionals who offer services from a fixed premises – including their own home - can continue to do so provided they follow the relevant guidance and have appropriate safety measures in place.

The Scottish Government commissioned an independent strategic review of legal aid, chaired by Martyn Evans, and whose findings and recommendations were published in 2018. The report concluded that the Scottish legal aid system compares very well internationally, and that its recommendations could move it towards being world leading.

In our response to this review, we committed to publicly consult to identify supported reforms; however, we recognised both the importance of facilitating access to advice and representation for a wide scope of actions and of retaining a demand led Legal Aid Fund.

When we consulted last year, we stated that there was no intention to reduce the wide scope of actions for which legal aid is available. However, legal aid must be sustainable and therefore cannot be universally available, meaning some eligibility criteria will require to be retained. 75% of consultation respondents believed that those who could afford to pay a contribution to their legal advice should continue to do so. At present the vast majority of those applying for initial Advice and Assistance incur no legal costs during the application process. If someone is not eligible for Advice and Assistance then they have to pay privately for any work involved in their solicitor applying for legal aid, whereas if they are eligible then Advice and Assistance can meet that cost.

The analysis of the responses to the consultation reports that the majority of respondents supported a single eligibility assessment at the beginning of the process whilst retaining the ability for more complex calculations when necessary. Many favoured a simplified system of contributions in civil matters for those who can afford to pay, as long as thresholds were set at an appropriate level and took into account individual circumstances. Fairness was key to all respondents.

It is intended that a legal aid reform Bill be introduced in the next Parliamentary session, and the processes and assessment criteria for applications will be examined as part of this.

Individuals who collect friends and family from the airport are not required to self-isolate. This approach is in line with the guidance on how to self-isolate after international travel when there are others in the household. Individuals in a car should follow the appropriate advice such as sharing a vehicle with those from your household or extended household. When this is not possible and an individual shares a car with someone out with their household, they should sit as far apart as possible in the vehicle; maintain good ventilation; wear a face covering; and be aware of shared surfaces such as door handles. This guidance is subject to change and we encourage individuals to check the latest Scottish Government guidance regularly. As always, if an individual develops COVID-19 symptoms they should self-isolate and book a test immediately.

The report of the independent review of the implementation of the additional support for learning legislation was published in June 2020. The review, Chaired by Angela Morgan, highlights a number of recommendations for the improvement of educational provision for children and young people with additional support needs. We, alongside partners in the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, have committed to carefully considering the report’s findings and will publish a joint response in the Autumn of 2020.

This partnership work will allow us to continue to improve the support that is available to meet the educational needs of every individual child and young person, including those with visual impairments.

There are no plans to undertake a further review at this stage.

The Minister for Children and Young People and I wrote to Health and Social Care Partnerships, Chief Social Work Officers, care providers and others on 3 August 2020 advising that, pending more specific guidance, residential respite services can reopen subject to being adapted and risk assessed in line with existing guidance; and in agreement with local Health Protection teams and the Care Inspectorate. The letter is published on the Scottish Government website at:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-letter-to-health-and-social-care-partnerships/

The Minister for Children and Young People and I wrote again on 23 September 2020 to confirm the guidance to enable safe reopening of stand-alone residential respite for adults and children. The letter is published on the Scottish Government website at:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-residential-respite-services---letter-from-the-cabinet-secretary-for-health-and-sport-and-the-minister-for-children-and-young-people-2/ .

The Scottish Government introduced the Spaces for People programme to quickly deliver temporary infrastructure changes as a response to the Covid-19 emergency. Local authorities are responsible for delivery of all aspects of these changes.

The Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland (SCOTS) hold regular themed video conferences with local authorities to discuss progress and share best practice on engagement and other matters as they roll out their Spaces for People schemes.

Transport Scotland will monitor the overall Spaces for People programme together with Sustrans, COSLA and SCOTS to support continuous improvement across future schemes.

The Scottish Government introduced the Spaces for People programme with the key aim to protect public health during the Covid-19 emergency.

A national monitoring and evaluation framework for Spaces for People has been developed by Sustrans Scotland in partnership with the Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland. This framework sets out the evaluation criteria and will form the basis of full programme evaluation.

Sustrans Scotland, who administer the Spaces for People programme, is providing guidance on monitoring as part of a package of support offered to local authorities and public bodies for individual projects.