Chamber and committees

As part of the Scottish Government’s work to increase provision of Changing Places Toilets, we are aiming to transform attitudes across Scotland so that more organisations, including businesses, are aware of, and understand the importance of, Changing Places Toilet facilities.

The Scottish Government has already introduced Scottish Building Regulations in 2019 requiring the provision of Changing Places Toilets in larger new buildings to which the public have access.

We also published our Changing Places Toilets: Planning Guide and an accompanying easy read in November 2022. This guide, written in collaboration with PAMIS (Promoting A More Inclusive Society), details practical considerations when considering installing a Changing Places Toilet in both existing and new buildings. This helpful toolkit has been designed to improve and encourage Changing Places Toilet provision in the immediate term and ensure that new toilets built following our changes to legislation are appropriate and well considered.

Data around the number of people taking up interim care placements procured using the additional funding offer announced in January 2023 is published weekly on a Thursday at Interim care placement uptake - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The data is currently not available broken down by NHS board.

The Scottish Government expects NHS Boards to provide high quality, person-centred care for all people, including those with postural tachycardia syndrome.

There are a range of treatment options available on the NHS in Scotland, including self-management and a range of medications based on individual circumstances. The recommendation of any particular treatment is a matter for discussion between a patient and their clinician.

Information on local authority spend on their professional learning is not held nationally by the Scottish Government. Local authorities are best placed to advise on their spend in this area.

In 2022, we ran a public consultation on the draft of the new physical intervention in schools guidance Physical intervention in schools: draft guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . The draft human rights-based guidance is clear that restraint and seclusion should only ever be used as a last resort and to prevent a child or young person coming to harm. This position is also clear in existing guidance on the use of physical intervention and seclusion.

The draft guidance includes links to free professional learning resources that are focussed on promoting positive relationships and behaviour to minimise the use of restraint and seclusion. The draft guidance also recommends that the any training in the use of restraint is certified as complying with Restraint Reduction Network (RRN) training standards.

We are carefully considering all consultation responses received and recognise that there are calls for further legislation in this area. A consultation analysis report is currently being prepared. Alongside the publication of the guidance, and in line with our original commitments, we are exploring options to strengthen the legal framework in this area, including placing the guidance on a statutory basis.

The DRS Regulations require that from 2025 at least 90% of scheme articles are to be collected through the scheme, therefore the amount of bottles and cans collected by local authorities is likely to be very low.

Local authorities will have flexibility to decide how to redeem deposits from containers entering the kerbside collection and should contact the scheme administrator, Circularity Scotland, for advice and guidance.

In response to part a)

Public Health Scotland publishes quarterly statistics relating to the number of waiting list removals, by specialty and health board of treatment. These data include all waiting list removals under reasons such as ‘transferred’ and ‘referred back to GP’. The latest statistics are published up to 30 September 2022, and for inpatients and day cases can be found using the link below, under Table 2.4:

https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/17040/ipdc_nov22.xlsx

Similarly, for new outpatients, this information can be found under Table 1.4 using the link below:

https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/16973/newop_nov22.xlsx

In response to part b)

Public Health Scotland publishes monthly statistics relating to the number of cancelled planned operations at health board and hospital level, a summary of which is available the following link:

https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/cancelled-planned-operations/

The latest statistics published cover the period up to 31 December 2022 and the number of planned operations that were cancelled by patients each month from May 2021 onwards can be found within the tab ‘Publication table’ in the link below:

https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/media/17421/2023-02-07-cancellations.xlsx

These statistics are sourced from local theatre systems and only includes cancellations that were cancelled the day before, or on the day the patient was due to be treated. PHS does not collect information on cancellations that occur prior to this.

In response to part c)

Please note that Public Health Scotland does not hold any information on patients who have declined a procedure.

The PAS 2030 standard is a requirement for Warmer Homes Scotland (WHS). Warmworks, the managing agent for WHS, are responsible for ensuring their staff and sub-contractors are adequately trained. However, the Scottish Government also has a Quality Assurance and Audit (QAA) contract for WHS. This contract is managed by Pennington Choices who carry out audits on Warmworks sub-contractors to make sure that they have the appropriate accreditations.

WHS is due to end in 2023, and procurement is currently underway for a successor. The successor will adopt PAS 2035 standards. As the contract has not yet been awarded, the details of how this will be achieved are not yet available. A new QAA contract will also be procured for the successor.

The capacity and capabilities of the retrofit supply chain in Scotland are generally sufficient to meet the needs of our Area Based Schemes (ABS). Local councils have access to a framework of specialist contractors through Scotland Excel. Often these contractors have been PAS compliant for many years with longstanding training and apprenticeship programmes.

Inevitably some ABS individual projects are delayed due to a wide range of factors. The Scottish Government is working with councils and the supply chain to increase local delivery capacity and expand existing capabilities. This will help to reduce the risk and impact of unexpected project delays.

A Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment has been completed for the domestic quality assurance standards of the Scottish Government’s Heat in Buildings programme. It can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/domestic-quality-assurance-heat-buildings-programme-bria/

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the sustainability of local news as a key part of the public interest news sector in Scotland. In 2021, we established the Public Interest Journalism Working Group to consider the long-term sustainability of public interest journalism, including local news, and to recommend ways to ensure its ongoing resilience. We responded to the Group’s recommendations on 24 June 2022. This included a commitment to facilitate a Roundtable event to support the creation of a new Scottish Public Interest Journalism Institute, which was held on 23 November. While it is not for Scottish Government to influence the remit of the Institute, it is likely, in line with the Working Group’s recommendations, that part of its role will be to support local news.

The Scottish Government and public bodies also use local media, including newspaper, to promote initiatives such as public health campaigns.

The Vision for Sustainable Aquaculture is in the final stages of development in advance of publication and the contents will be available for all to consider when it is published. The Vision is intended to describe the long term ambitions that the Scottish Government has for aquaculture, with enhanced emphasis on environmental protection and community benefit. The Vision will be compatible with the planning policies on aquaculture contained in Scotland’s National Marine Plan and National Planning Framework 4.