Chamber and committees

Consenting of GreenVolt, one of the largest floating offshore wind farms in Europe, is a significant milestone which will secure Scotland’s place at the forefront of floating wind technology.

Green Volt’s recently published Supply Chain Development Statement Outlook indicates that the project is estimated to create over 2800 direct jobs during construction and around 100 jobs during the operational phase.

An estimate for wind turbine manufacturing jobs cannot currently be provided. However, Green Volt has committed to spend £350 million in Scotland in the manufacturing phase.

As Scotland’s renewable energy industry continues to grow and thrive we will continue to see new and increased opportunities for job creation across Scotland. We are determined to maximise the economic benefits from offshore wind projects in Scottish waters, which will support the creation of new sustainable jobs across the country.

We are taking forward a number of steps to address issues around vacancy levels for psychiatry posts.

Through the Psychiatry Working Group we are actively looking at how we can better support the recruitment and retention of psychiatrists in NHS Scotland.

We also continue to work with NHS Education for Scotland and The Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland to encourage medical students to consider a long-term career as a psychiatrist. This work includes the ‘Choose Psychiatry’ campaign, undergraduate taster sessions and improved psychiatric placements at Foundation level. 10 additional Core Psychiatry posts were created in 2022, followed by another 15 in April 2023. As part of this year’s expansion we will be adding a further 12, along with 2 extra run-through training posts in both Intellectual Disability and Child & Adult Psychiatry (16 posts in total).

Recruitment into Core Psychiatry has improved drastically in recent years. With the exception of one unfilled post in 2020, 100% of entry level posts have now filled for the fourth consecutive year (up from 63% in 2018).

The most recent publication of Mental Health Workforce data (5 March 2024) shows that under this Government and since 2007, the number of Psychiatrist Consultants across All Specialities in NHS Scotland has increased by 16.7% to 527.0 whole time equivalent posts.

The Scottish Government acknowledges that there is the need for better access to NHS diagnostic assessment and support for people who may have ADHD, and that private assessments can lead to issues with accessing pharmaceutical interventions. We expect, however, local support for people with ADHD to not be diagnosis dependent, but rather be based on needs.

NAIT published guidance on Prescribing ADHD medication to adults following private sector diagnosis in Scotland in April 2022. The guidance was drafted in consultation with practising Psychiatrists, the Royal Colleges of Psychiatry and General Practice and individuals with ADHD.

NAIT’s guidance highlighted, for a Shared Care Agreement to work properly everyone involved must communicate effectively. A Shared Care Agreement is an agreement between a patient, their GP and a specialist service, which can include a private diagnosis service. Recommendations from specialists for ongoing prescribing on the NHS need to be made at an NHS consultation with an NHS specialist.

The Scottish Government is taking forward proposals for a proposed Learning Disabilities, Autism and Neurodivergence bill to help better protect the rights of people with learning disabilities and neurodivergent people, including people with ADHD. The consultation ran from 21 December 2023 to 21 April 2024 and we are currently analysing the responses we received.

Each application and subsequent loan offer made under the fund will depend on the individual circumstances of the applicant and nature of the particular build, however the typical period for repaying loans made under the Self Build Loan Fund is 12 months. It is intended to be short-term bridging loan funding which helps self-builders with development costs allowing them to complete their home.

The Self Build Loan Fund (“the Fund”) is a demand led and flexible fund available across all of Scotland. Recognising that self-build is an important option particularly for those in rural areas to provide a home that meets their needs, the fund offers support to self-builders who are unable to access traditional finance. The Fund was established in September 2018 following the success of a pilot in the Highland area and strong interest from outside this area.

The Fund was extended in November 2022 for up to 5 years and we will continue to monitor its implementation.

I refer the member to the answers to questions S6W-24548 on 30 January 2024 and S6W-23003 on 4 December 2023. Please note that in S6W-24548 we advised the next statistical publication would be April 2024, however I wrote to Parliament with an update on 22 April 2024 – https://www.parliament.scot/-/media/files/committees/local-gov/correspondence/2024/letterfromministerstl.pdf .

Operational guidance regarding the provision of food is provided to Boards from Health Facilities Scotland (a division of National Services Scotland). Boards carry out quality assurance activity of their catering services through several mechanisms. Patient Experience Surveys are used in all boards, through a variety of methods, and include questions on national measures of quality (which are reported annually to Health Facilities Scotland), alongside additional questions included by the board. Mealtime observations, where the ward service is observed and measured against several topic areas, are used to help to identify areas for improvement. However, some boards do not currently carry out these types of audits. All feedback should be reviewed by the service and used to measure the quality of the service from the patient’s perspective, helping to identify areas for improvement.

Patient Feedback should be considered at several forums, including at the board’s Strategic Hydration and Nutritional Care Group or Food, Fluid and Nutrition Group meetings.

Where patients have complaints, Boards are encouraged to utilise the NHS Complaints Handling Procedure. Where suitable, Boards are encouraged to resolve straightforward complaints at the earliest opportunity, however where this is not possible complaints can be escalated to an investigation stage.

Road closures on the local road network are the responsibility of the local authority in that area. They have a duty under the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 to manage and maintain local roads in their area and duties under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 to secure expeditious, convenient and safe movement of traffic.

Local businesses can provide views as part of the planning application process, including comments on transport and traffic considerations and their impacts. If an application is approved, where appropriate, a condition of consent can require a finalised traffic management plan to be approved with the local planning authority and, where required, in consultation with other relevant bodies (such as Transport Scotland).

Other conditions may be imposed requiring developers to set up a community liaison group to assist with the provision of mitigation measures etc. It can be the case that the development is not permitted to commence construction until this group is established and the terms of engagement are signed off by the planning authority.

Within NHSScotland, professional registration ensures that health practitioners are practising safely. Evidence of registration with a statutory regulatory body must be verified before placement, including confirmation of a medical licence. Health Boards must directly contact regulatory bodies to ensure ongoing registration and inquire about any restrictions or ongoing investigations related to fitness to practise.

Within NHSScotland, the duty to maintain registration rests with the healthcare professional. Health Boards must ensure that mechanisms are in place to check the ongoing registration of staff and thereby prevent the risk of staff whose registration has lapsed, been lost or suspended continuing to practise in a role which requires such professional registration.