Chamber and committees

The Cabinet Secretary and myself have had no discussions with the Scottish Ambulance service since their appointment regarding neonatal transport. The Scottish Ambulance Service and ScotSTAR are members of the Perinatal Sub Group that conducted the Options Appraisal report and continue to be closely involved through that forum in discussions about implementation. The Best Start recommended that a review be undertaken to look at the staffing model for the neonatal transport service and funding was provided by the Scottish Government to the Scottish Ambulance Service to take this forward.

The Scottish Government provides £29m support across a range of Gaelic and Scots organisations, whose activities include the provision of Scots and Gaelic language materials but is not all they do. For Scots, grant funding is provided to the following organisations: Association of Scottish Literary Studies, Scottish Book Trust, Scots Hoose, Scots Radio, Scots Language Centre, Dictionaries of the Scots Language, Yaldi Books and the Doric Board. For Gaelic, grant funding is provided to Storlann, Bòrd na Gidhlig, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Local Authorities, E-sgoil, Tobar an Dualchais, Keep Scotland Beautiful, University of Edinburgh, and MG Alba for Speak Gaelic and Film G.

We will continue to work with the UK Government, the other Devolved Administrations and the Gambling Commission over proposals included in the White Paper, which include further restrictions on advertising of gambling across the UK.

The range of experts that have been involved in the Best Start and the Options Appraisal Process represent the leading expertise on this issue and are fully competent to reach an objective decision. I have no doubt that the process of determining where the final three units should be located was independent and robust, and can see no reason to commission a further review.

Over the summer we have started work to design the Mental Health and Capacity Reform Programme. We intend to publish an initial implementation plan in early 2024. This will include information about the activities that will be taken forward during the first 18 months (from October 2023 - April 2025) to help to achieve the programme aims.

By summer 2024 we will have developed our programme ‘blueprint’ and ‘route-map’ to reform. This will set out in more detail how we will deliver the programme, as well as how we will monitor progress over the longer term.

Health Boards are responsible for planning services to best meet the needs of their patients.

Service planning and design should take place at a local level and be informed by an assessment of the type, and level, of support required by patients who need to access those services.

The Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 provides for rigorous safeguards in respect of individuals’ human rights. Sometimes compulsory treatment needs to be carried out on an emergency basis and consent from a Mental Health Officer (MHO), in addition to authorisation from a medical practitioner, plays an important safeguarding role in these cases.

However, the 2003 Act also recognises that there may be occasions where the urgency of the situation is so great that it would not be practicable for such consultation to take place. In such cases, the practitioner must inform hospital managers who must then inform the Mental Welfare Commission and notify the relevant authority of the reasons why it was impracticable to consult and seek the consent of an MHO.

Whilst we acknowledge that for some of the 60% of cases mentioned the urgency of the case will explain the lack of MHO consent, we also recognise that MHO capacity is a contributing factor. While it is the responsibility of Local Authorities to ensure they have the appropriate levels of MHOs in place, the Scottish Government felt it was necessary to intervene, and since 2019, we have provided additional funding, as well as working with COSLA and other partners to progress a range of actions to improve workforce capacity and MHO training.

In this financial year we have made available an additional £3.71 million to local authorities to build additional MHO capacity. This will help reduce the number of emergency detentions taking place without the additional safeguard of MHO consent.

The Mental Health and Capacity Reform Programme considers how we can update and modernise mental health and capacity legislation to better reflect international human rights standards regarding safeguards. We will continue to work closely with the Mental Welfare Commission on this.

The Scottish Government published Quality Standards for Adult Hearing Rehabilitation Services in 2009 which sets out a standard for the repair being carried out within 2 days of the repair service receiving the hearing aid.

It is for NHS Boards to ensure appropriate provision of a service for the timely repair of hearing aids for patients.

The Women’s Health Plan recognises that it is important all women know about the menopause and have access to consistent information and care when they seek help with menopause symptoms.

The Scottish Government continues to promote the comprehensive menopause resource on the NHS Inform Women’s Health Platform . This resource was launched in October 2021 to ensure women have access to information on menopause, including the signs and symptoms of perimenopause. The resource includes 11 videos including common myths around the menopause, and personal stories. The resource is accessible in five language translations, British Sign Language translation and an Easy Read version of the content.

To raise awareness of the symptoms of menopause – and how to mitigate them – work has recently begun on the development of a menopause public health campaign.

The Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE), in partnership with the Scottish Government, have hosted a series of webinars to raise awareness about the menopause, focussing on menopause myth busting, menopause and the workplace and menopause, sex and relationships. Recordings of the webinars can be accessed online here: Resources - Policy and research (alliance-scotland.org.uk) 

Additionally, to mark World Menopause Day on 18 October 2023, the Scottish Government and the ALLIANCE, hosted a virtual ‘Talk Menopause’ panel discussion with experts in menopause to provide more information on menopause to those who need it.

A review of the expressive arts curriculum as outlined in the Scottish Government’s response to recommendations made by the National Partnership for Culture, is being coordinated by Education Scotland. The review is currently at the planning stage, the aim being that the review will move to examine the role of knowledge in the expressive arts curriculum framework in partnership with educators and stakeholders later this academic year.