Chamber and committees

We are committed to delivering a National Care Service (NCS) to improve quality, fairness and consistency of provision that meets individuals’ needs. The NCS will have equality, dignity and human rights at its heart and will empower people across Scotland to make the choices that are right for them.

In the current system an individual can defer payment of part of their contribution to care home fees to avoid the need to sell their homes up front to meet these costs, this is a legal agreement between the individual and the council. Within the current system there are also provisions in place in the form of set capital levels to ensure an individual is not be charged more than the assessed level of resource they have.

The Best Start, published in January 2017, outlined a new model of neonatal service provision which emphasises parents as key partners in caring for their baby; aims to keep mothers and babies together as much as possible, with services designed around them; and suggests care for the smallest and sickest babies is consolidated to deliver the best possible outcomes.

We currently have 15 Neonatal Units in Scotland, each providing care for babies in their area. The new model of neonatal care will focus on the most preterm and sickest babies who will receive specialist complex care in fewer centres. Evidence tells us long term health outcomes will improve for those babies if cared for in higher volume units.

To aid with implementation we will work with regional chief executives and strategic planning leads to undertake modelling and capacity work to help develop local implementation plans.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-20292 on 14 August 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/questions-and-answers .

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested. There are an estimated 47,000 listed buildings in Scotland. If listed building consent is required for building alterations associated with energy improvements, this is done through local planning authorities.

The Scottish Government expects all NHS Boards in Scotland to adhere to current guidelines and follow best practice when providing psychosocial care for people with chronic kidney disease.

We published our new Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy on 29 June 2023. The Strategy sets out a long-term vision, and a set of outcomes, for the mental health and wellbeing of the population. We will subsequently publish a Delivery Plan in the Autumn to set out the work we will do over the coming years to make progress towards those outcomes and set out how we will measure that progress.

This will include consideration on how the Strategy will set ambitions and actions to support people living with long term conditions like chronic kidney disease. One of our key outcomes for the Strategy is to ensure people with mental health conditions, including those with co-existing health conditions, experience improved quality and length of life, free from stigma and discrimination

In order to achieve this, we will work with partners to develop actions that will see improved provision of services and support to people with long-term physical health conditions for their mental health and wellbeing.

The Scottish Government and CoSLA are jointly responsible for delivering the Creating Hope Together action plan 2022-2025 . We have appointed a new National Delivery Lead to work with Strategic Outcome Lead partners to drive forward delivery of the action plan; this includes ensuring the successful delivery of year one priorities to help achieve our vision of reducing suicide deaths.

Our previous suicide prevention action plan, Every Life Matters , created a suite of resources, learning, partnerships, and engagement forums, which has created strong foundations for delivering the new priorities. Specifically, we have ongoing work to build on in the following areas: United to Prevent Suicide social movement; Time, Space and Compassion approach to suicidal crisis; focused campaigns aimed at children and young people; tailored suicide prevention learning resources; suicide bereavement support services; and, reviews of suicide deaths.

Early development work has also started to support delivery of new priorities, including: creating peer support groups; improving safety at locations of concern; understanding help-seeking behaviour amongst people who may be suicidal; and, working in settings where there is a higher risk of suicide. We have already made progress in delivering the whole of Government and society approach to suicide prevention, which underpins our new strategy and action plan. For example, we have embedded suicide safety as part of the National Planning Framework 4 so that it can be actively considered in the preparation of local development plans and as part of new development proposals.

Finally, our new innovative delivery model, Suicide Prevention Scotland , creates a strengthened suicide prevention community for Scotland. This brings together valuable insights from our Academic Advisory Group, Lived Experience Panel and Youth Advisory Group, alongside the experience of national, local and sectoral partners who are working to prevent suicide. We will also bring in partners with particular skills and expertise as required. This delivery model harnesses our collective knowledge, expertise and resources allowing us to design and deliver our priorities in a way that is relevant and impactful across Scotland’s communities.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-20183 on 14 August 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Scottish Government does not hold information on the numbers of children who are home educated in Scotland.

This is an operational matter for ScotRail and Stena Line. ScotRail advises that it regularly meets with Stena Line to review potential service changes and ensure tickets are available on rail retail systems and Stena Line expands the service if demand dictates. Details of these tickets can be found via Rail & Sail to Ireland | Stena Line , which also provides contact details for Stena Line for further information.

The operation and maintenance of these water towers is a matter for Scottish Water and, as such, I have asked them to contact you directly. One of the water towers, Cranhill, is no longer in use for water supply purposes and Scottish Water has advised that they intend to engage locally, as well as with relevant stakeholders, to identify potential future options for this water tower.