Chamber and committees

There are currently no plans to develop a UK-wide Strategy on fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). However, Scottish Government officials have made contact with Wales and Northern Ireland, and have met with counterparts in England regarding FASD policy We are also linking into international work and evidence in relation to FASD. We will continue to engage, and share learning and approaches.

The Scottish Government has funded Adoption UK (Scotland) to establish an FASD Hub in Scotland with the aim of providing support, training and advice to families, carers and professionals supporting children affected by FASD. This is the first of its kind within the UK. We also support a research, evidence and training base - the FAAST team at Edinburgh University.

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) total net expenditure and the percentage of total net NHS Board expenditure spent on CAMHS is published on Public Health Scotland’s website Scottish health service costs under data files mental health expenditure Excel workbook in table 1.

This information is available for financial years 2011-12 to 2021-22 for each NHS Board in Scotland. Please note, figures presented for years 2011-12 to 2018-19 may differ from those included in the original response to question S5W-26493 on 11 February 2021 due to NHS Boards updating their expenditure figures post-publication.

The other part of this request relates to the percentage of total net NHS Board mental health expenditure spent on CAMHS – this information is presented in the following table for financial years 2019-20 to 2021-22 for each NHS Board in Scotland.

Table: Percentage of total net NHS Board mental health expenditure spent on CAMHS in financial years 2019/-0 to 2021-22.

Social Security Scotland does not routinely produce information on households claiming social security benefits.

Information on the characteristics of applicants, including gender, is published as part of Official Statistics publications on Social Security Scotland client diversity and equalities analysis.

These statistics were most recently published in September 2021 and are available at: https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/reporting/publications/social-security-scotland-client-diversity-and-equalities-analysis-to-may-2021 .

There is currently work being undertaken to produce an update to this publication, which will be published by the end of summer 2023. This will cover the period from June 2021 to October 2022.

The Scottish Government eligibility criteria prevent SMEs that are more than 25% owned or have more than a 25% stake in another business to access funding through the SME Loan. This is to protect public finance, make certain that the economic benefit from investment is realised by the intended party and ensure that there is a clear route for loan repayments to be made.

Although some businesses have expressed their disappointment at not being able to access funding we consider that this protection is necessary and proportionate. Advisors will ask about the current ownership structure of businesses in order to assess their eligibility for the SME loan scheme. However, Business Energy Scotland do not provide advice to businesses about ownership or their organisational structure.

The Scottish Government works closely with key stakeholders to assess all factors that impact recruitment and retention for third sector providers in the adult social care sector.

The Scottish Government recognises the effect that wider pay settlements may have and that is why a further £100 million is being provided to Local Government to ensure a £10.90 per hour minimum wage for adult social care workers in commissioned services from April 2023. This includes workers in third sector providers and takes Scottish Government recurring funding for adult social care pay in commissioned services to £0.6 billion per year. It is worth noting that the £10.90 per hour rate is the minimum rate of pay for these workers and many providers choose to pay more than these minimums. The Scottish Government will continue to engage with third sector social care providers to understand how this funding is contributing toward supporting recruitment and retention.

We know that it is vital that we continue to support work to build capacity in primary care settings to respond to eating disorder presentations given the increasing demand, complexity of presentations and impact on secondary care services.

We continue to build on the investment we have already made by including outcomes to improve eating disorder services and Mental Health in Primary Care in our Mental Health Outcomes Framework investment in 2022-23, which gives NHS Boards and Integration Authorities flexibility to improve existing pathways.

Through the funding allocated to Beat in 2022-23, we have also introduced Beyond the Symptoms Training for GPs and Healthcare professionals training to support them to identify when a patient has an eating disorder, and to confidently intervene early.

In addition, we are currently developing Eating Disorder Quality Standards which are due to be consulted on in Spring 2023. The Standards cover areas such as service structure and governance arrangements, and aim to improve the care and treatment that people receive from primary care services.

Lastly, we are currently taking forward planning to establish a National Eating Disorder Network in 2023. Included within the Network’s remit will be to further develop specialist eating disorder services and to improve the links between primary and secondary services.

The National Concessionary Travel Schemes are delivered on both Young Scot-branded and non-Young Scot-branded National Entitlement Cards (NEC).

Children aged 5-11 are able to access the Young Persons Free Bus Travel Scheme (YPTS) using a photoless NEC. Young people aged 11-21 can choose to access the YPTS with either a Young Scot NEC or non-Young Scot branded photo NEC. Information on the types of NECs available to access YPTS is available at freebus.scot .

Young people in the National Concessionary Travel Scheme for Disabled Persons aged 11-25 can choose to access the scheme through either a Young-Scot branded or non-branded NEC.

Non-concessionary travel benefits of the Young Scot NEC are the responsibility of Young Scot who determine the age at which this is available.

The Scottish Government receives quarterly financial reporting from IJBs which includes information on IJB reserves. The reports consolidate information already in the public domain as published by individual IJBs, and are published on the Scottish Government website. This exercise began in 2018 and no data collection was performed by the Scottish Government in respect of IJB reserves prior to this.

The reserve figures taken from the IJB reports provided have been collated in the following table. Any information regarding IJB reserves prior to 2018/19, and any additional information related to IJB reserves can be found in the IJB annual accounts published by individual IJBs.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who will reply in writing within 20 days

Patient care and service delivery are the statutory responsibility of local healthcare providers. NHS Boards are responsible for working with their partners to plan and provide health services which meet the needs of their populations. Use of the independent sector has been an option open to all Health Boards to help address short-term capacity issues and is an operational decision for them.

However, through Scottish Government investment, we continue to engage and support Boards to build their workforce and implement the National CAMHS Service Specification. The Scottish Government allocated around £40 million to improve CAMHS and Neurodevelopmental services for children and young people in 2021-22, and has invested £46 million in 2022-23 via the Mental Health Outcomes Framework to improve the quality and delivery of mental health and psychological services for all. The priorities for the funding this financial year have been to continue delivering improvements in CAMHS, psychological therapies, eating disorders and neurodevelopmental services for children and young people, as well as ongoing innovation and service reform.

As a result of our investment over recent years, CAMHS staffing has increased significantly. NHS Education for Scotland (NES) publishes quarterly statistics on the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) workforce. The publication on 6 December 2022 showed, as of September 2022, the CAMHS community staff Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) was 1259 compared to 900.3 WTE in March 2021, when significant investment in CAMHS was made. This represents a 39.8% increase.