Chamber and committees

Tackling alcohol related harm remains a priority for Scottish Government, and we are treating our policies to reduce alcohol and drug deaths as twin public health issues in Scotland.

We are working to ensure that people who experience harms as a result of alcohol use receive the same quality of care and support as people who experience harms as a result of drug use. We work closely with Alcohol and Drugs Partnerships and regularly monitor services through the annual ADP survey. The most recent one, reflecting activity for 2023-24, was published on 12 November 2024 and notes the following on data surveillance.

Almost all ADP areas reported having specific groups or structures in place at ADP level to inform surveillance and monitoring of drug harms or deaths. All but two (93%) of ADPs reported having a drug death review group and 77% reported having a drug trend monitoring group or early warning system.

Fewer ADPs reported groups relating to alcohol, with a quarter (27%) reporting having an alcohol death review group and 30% reporting having an alcohol harms group.

A third of ADPs reported having other structures in place for informing surveillance, which included multi-agency groups working on drug death prevention and action plan groups, wider public health monitoring which included drug and alcohol harms and sudden death groups whose remits include both drug death reviews and suicides reviews. Several ADPs indicated that alcohol harm and death review groups are currently in development.

It is our expectation that future Alcohol and Drug Partnership (ADP) funding letters will ask ADPs to undertake local alcohol death review. This message will also be reinforced in our National Specification for treatment of drug and alcohol misuse in Scotland, which is currently in development and will build on the recommendations of the forthcoming UK Clinical Guidelines for Alcohol Treatment.

The Scottish Government invested £2.2 million in 2015-2016 in the Specialist Nursing and Care Fund, £700,000 of which was specifically allocated to specialist Motor Neurone Disease (MND) nursing care following a successful campaign from Gordon Aikman and his 'Fightback Challenge'. This was mainstreamed to Territorial NHS Boards in 2017 while taking account of NHS pay awards. This funding has more than doubled nationally the number of Motor Neurone Disease Clinical Nurse Specialists employed within the NHS.

The Scottish Government has provided an additional £101,000 to MND Scotland since 2014, specifically in relation to the care of those with MND, and excluding any research costs.

The Scottish Government continues to face the most challenging financial situation since devolution, as a result of unprecedented economic pressures following the pandemic and the cost of living crisis. Despite the financial constraints, the Scottish Government continues to focus on building a more inclusive Scotland for all, including investing in MND services and support that will help our communities during these difficult times.

The new Scottish Budget will be presented to Parliament on Wednesday 4 December 2024. This will detail Scottish Ministers' spend proposals for the year ahead. Funding for future years will be subject to the Scottish budget process, however the Scottish Government remains committed to supporting MND services across Scotland.

Across Scotland, safety cameras are deployed through the Scottish Safety Camera Programme primarily where they have the greatest potential to reduce injury collisions and where there is evidence of both collisions and speeding. This is in accordance with criteria contained in the Scottish Safety Camera Programme Handbook. This can be viewed at: https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/scottish-safety-camera-programme-handbook/.

An annual site prioritisation process is undertaken each year to determine new safety camera sites across our road network and to maximise the casualty reduction potential of the Programme. This national exercise acts to ensure the right camera technology is in the right place at the right time. It involves a range of partners including the three regional safety camera units, all thirty-three road authorities and Police Scotland, and acts to identify potential new camera sites which meet the minimum criteria, while at the same time assessing the performance of existing enforcement strategies.

In 2019, the site at Cumbernauld Road, Riddrie was assessed to have good speed compliance and no evidence of injury collisions with speed as a causation. A decision was taken to make this site dormant through the process set out within the Handbook. This process allows for a thorough assessment of improvements in driver behaviour over a 3 year period. In 2022, a further assessment confirmed that there had been a sustained improvement in driver behaviours during the three year dormancy period and the decision was taken to remove the site from prioritised enforcement.

As part of the annual site selection process, if this location was identified again as meeting minimum site selection criteria to redeploy, this site would be considered for reinstatement.

The Scottish Government intends to update the School Premises (General Requirements and Standards) (Scotland) Regulations 1967.

Given the previous consultation exercise took place in 2017-18, we must now consider the updated context that the regulations will exist in.

We are now taking this work forward and will re-consult on the Regulations in due course.

The Case for Investment for Clyde Metro is being led by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT), supported by Glasgow City Council, with Transport Scotland providing a project assurance and support role.

This key stage of the development process, which will include consideration of access improvement to Glasgow Airport, will inform decisions around network selection, phasing and implementation. This work is already underway and progressing in earnest with completion currently anticipated by early 2027.

Further details on the progress of the Case for Investment stages can be obtained by contacting SPT directly at [email protected].

Carer Support Payment is replacing Carer’s Allowance in Scotland. Ahead of delivering the benefit we engaged extensively with carers and support organisations to consider how our benefit could work better, and we know the earnings limit is an area where people would like to see change.

Carer Support Payment largely mirrors Carer’s Allowance rules on earnings to protect a safe and secure transfer for people in Scotland already getting Carer’s Allowance. We have already improved how these rules are applied, for example with better ways of averaging earnings, reducing the impact of the ‘cliff edge’ for many carers.

We have also considered further changes which could be made once the transfer of benefits from Carer’s Allowance is complete. Our analysis found that an earnings taper to address the cliff edge earnings limit would add significant complexity for carers, operationally, and in terms of interactions with wider support. However we took feedback in our 2022 public consultation on two proposals which would help address this issue – an increase to the earnings threshold, with a link to 16 hours at a specific rate, such as Real Living Wage, and a proposal for a run on of support where carers earn over the limit so that they don’t lose all support immediately.

Discussions regarding the 2025-26 budget remain ongoing, and as such we are unable to provide any details regarding the Place Based Investment Programme (PBIP) or other regeneration capital funding programmes for 2025-26.

The Finance Secretary wrote to the Treasury on 31 October seeking urgent clarification on the increase to employer national insurance contributions.

We are clear that this change must be fully funded so that there is no impact on our frontline services. Clarity must be provided before we set our budget in just a few weeks’ time. We also need clarity on whether funding will cover the full extent of organisations delivering public services.

We will continue to work with the hospice sector to consider opportunities to deliver pay parity with Agenda for Change for independent hospices.

The regulation for the licensing, safety and efficacy of medicines is currently reserved to the UK Government and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Ivabradine is currently licensed in the UK for the symptomatic treatment of chronic stable angina pectoris, and the treatment of chronic heart failure.

The use of ivabradine for the treatment of postural tachycardia syndrome is an off-label indication (where the product licence does not cover the indication for which the medicine is being prescribed). Clinicians can prescribe medicines off-label, in line with local Health Board protocols where they consider there would be significant clinical benefit for an individual.

Decisions on whether to prescribe a medicine are based on an individual’s needs and are a matter for the clinical judgement of the prescribing clinician in consultation with the individual (and where appropriate their parent/s or guardian/s), informed by advice and guidance about the medicine.