Chamber and committees

In December 2018 the Minister for Mental Health announced £4 million of funding to expand the CAMHS workforce. NHS Education for Scotland agreed individual workforce development plans with each Board to increase service capacity including elements of education, training, supervision and coaching. The funding was deployed to meet several priority needs (neurodevelopmental, crisis response/unscheduled care, specialist CAMHS, early intervention, and other local pressures). As of 21 February 2020 NHS Boards have recruited 74.5 whole time equivalent multidisciplinary staff with this funding.

The National Concessionary Travel Scheme for Older and Disabled People provides travel concessions on buses. Local authorities have discretion under the Transport Act 1985 to offer local travel concessions on other modes of transport if they wish. The terms and conditions of any local concessions scheme are for individual local authorities to determine.

15 out of 19 (79%) of the social landlords that provide Gypsy/Traveller sites report that they have met the minimum site standards. The following table provides a breakdown by local authority/Registered Social Landlord. The Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) continues to monitor, assess and report on landlords’ achievement of and ongoing compliance with the minimum site standards. SHR is engaging with landlords to ensure that progress is being made on sites that do not currently meet the standards.

Local Transport Note 1/07 Traffic Calming, published by TSO for the Department for Transport and devolved administrations is applicable in Scotland. Scottish Government advice on traffic calming measures can also be found in Designing Streets - A Policy Statement for Scotland, Cycling by Design, and Roads for All Good Practice Guide.

Hedgehogs are listed on schedule 6 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981), which makes it illegal to kill or capture them with certain methods.

One of the principles in Scottish Planning Policy is that the planning system should seek benefits for biodiversity from new development where possible, including the restoration of degraded habitats and the avoidance of further fragmentation or isolation of habitats.

Planning authorities, and all public bodies, have a duty under the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 to further the conservation of biodiversity. This duty must be reflected in development plans and development management decisions.

While there is some evidence of a decline in hedgehog numbers, the available information is not sufficient to suggest that the species is in danger of extinction in Scotland. Steps being taken to halt the decline of hedgehogs in our towns and cities include the promotion of green space and green networks, for example through the Green Infrastructure Strategic Intervention managed by Scottish Natural Heritage.

Professional dog walkers, like dog owners, are subject to a number of laws relating to dog welfare and control. The majority of dog walkers are likely to operate sensibly and responsibly; however, the profession itself is currently unregulated and the Scottish Government recognises that issues may arise. We will consider whether there may be a need to bring dog walkers under tighter regulation in any future plans for companion welfare legislation.

During the development and implementation of the netting system on the Golden Gate Bridge, this perceived method of preventing self-harming on the Forth Road Bridge was reviewed. However, a similar system was not considered to be suitable or effective in the case of the Forth Road Bridge.

There has been no detail from HM Treasury on the extent to which the Stronger Towns Fund and Future High Streets Fund is additional funding on which the Scottish Government would receive a consequential, or the profile of any future funding. Ministers have pressed the UK Government for details on the share of the £3.6 billion announced for towns in England that will flow to the Scottish Government. No decision has yet been made on the use of this funding.

Through our Town Centre Action Plan (TCAP) we are supporting and investing in the regeneration of Scotland’s towns and town centres. This includes the £50 million capital Town Centre Fund for 2019-20 which is enabling local authorities to stimulate a range of investments, encouraging town centres to diversify and flourish.

Through TCAP, we are promoting a Town Centre First Principle to ensure planning and investment supports the regeneration and sustainability of towns and town centres. We have developed tools and resources to support this process including a Town Centre Toolkit and a Place Standard Framework designed to support communities, public, private and third sectors to work together to assess the quality of a place and identify priorities for the future.

We are working with partners such as Scotland’s Towns Partnership to provide information, support and services which contribute to the vibrancy, vitality and viability of our town centres and neighbourhoods, and to support the development of partnerships including Business Improvement Districts.

We are aware that the Mental Welfare Commission is currently undertaking national themed visits of eating disorder services in Scotland. The visits will cover child and adolescent, and adult services in both the NHS and independent facilities. This review is due to be completed in Summer 2020 and we will carefully consider the outputs.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-25806 on 29 October 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx