Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has provided record-breaking levels of investment, including our £120 million Mental Health Recovery & Renewal Fund. As part of that work, we have made an additional £40 million available to improve Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), with £4.25 million of that specifically dedicated to clearing waiting list backlogs by March 2023.

NHS Boards have submitted local improvement plans, setting out how they will meet the standard and eliminate long waits by end March 2023. In February 2020, the Scottish Government published a National CAMHS Service Specification, which included nationally agreed referral criteria and we are closely monitoring the implementation over the coming months, including, reviewing the numbers of referrals received by Boards, the numbers accepted for treatment on a regular basis and the numbers receiving personalised and meaningful signposting to other services.

The National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care in Scotland, published on 11 March 2022, sets out a new framework to shape Scotland’s health and social care workforce over the next decade. It places training, wellbeing, job satisfaction and the principles of Fair Work at its heart. The Strategy, which was co-produced with COSLA, identifies the five key areas which will support the creation of a sustainable, skilled workforce as the sector rebuilds from the pandemic. Creating the right conditions for vacancies to be filled encompasses a much broader range of issues than pay, although ensuring that pay remains fair and competitive will always be an important part of any recruitment and retention strategy.

Scotland is not participating in the NHS Pay Review Body process for 2022-23.

Work to progress early milestones set out within Housing to 2040 for improving the quality of all homes is currently underway. We intend to consult on proposals for a new Housing Standard later this year, and plan to launch a formal consultation on proposals for updating the Housing for Varying Needs design guide later this spring. Work on the review of the adaptations system is also underway and is expected to conclude later in the current financial year, with work to develop a joint housing, health and social care accountability and outcomes framework scheduled to start later this year.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07532 on 19 April 2022. 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

Our draft National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) was laid in the Scottish Parliament on 10 November, and at the same time published for consultation which closed on 31 March 2022. The draft NPF4 set out how our approach to planning and development will achieve a net zero, sustainable Scotland by 2045 and proposed a new policy which will ensure significant weight be given to the Global Climate Emergency in planning decisions. It also includes green energy policies which support renewable energy development other than in National Parks and National Scenic Areas, subject to an assessment of their impacts on a case by case basis. The draft NPF4 also proposes to designate a national development which would establish the need for a large increase in renewable energy generation and substantial reinforcement and expansion of grid infrastructure throughout Scotland.

We are pleased with the very wide interest shown in NPF4 from across society, befitting a document of its importance to our future. The Scottish Government is now taking some time to carefully consider the broad range of views shared with us before finalising NPF4 for Scottish Parliament approval.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Currently the best source of estimated long COVID prevalence data for Scotland is the monthly Office for National Statistics (ONS) reporting on ‘Estimates of the prevalence of self-reported long COVID and associated activity limitation, using UK Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey data’. ( Prevalence of ongoing symptoms following coronavirus (COVID-19) infection in the UK - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) ) The latest publication in this series was published on 7 April 2022 (referring to the four-week period ending 5 March 2022). It showed that:

• An estimated 132,000 people in the private residential population in Scotland (2.51%) reported experiencing long COVID of any duration (see accompanying uncertainty estimates in the following table).
• An estimated 92,000 people in the private residential population in Scotland (1.75%) first had (or suspected they had) COVID-19 at least 12 weeks previously .
• An estimated 59,000 people in the private residential population in Scotland (1.12%) first had (or suspected they had) COVID-19 at least 12 months previously .

The Scottish Government welcomes the EU Mission to deliver 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030, and in ensuring that these cities act as hubs to enable all European cities to follow suit by 2050. We recognise that involvement in such a Mission presents a real opportunity to better mobilise delivery partners to create an effective network for sharing valuable learning on the transition cities will make to net zero. Should Edinburgh or Glasgow participate in this Mission, the Scottish Government will work with key stakeholders - particularly the European Commission, local authorities, and our partners in the Scottish Cities Alliance - to enable all of our seven cities to benefit from Scotland’s involvement in this hugely important Mission.

71% of people in Scotland live in urban areas, many of which live and work in cities or surrounding areas. Like other parts of Europe, remote rural areas in Scotland are facing depopulation while larger city populations are increasing. This trend is expected to continue for some time, creating the risk that our cities produce emissions at rapidly exponential rates. In response, many cities in Scotland have set ambitious net zero targets and are developing robust plans to deliver them. Nonetheless, it is still vital that the Scottish Government works in partnership with cities and plays an enabling role in making the most of opportunities for net zero, and supports cities in developing investment propositions which unlock private capital for net zero. The EU’s Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission seeks to support just that, and so we look forward to learning which cities have been selected to join the Mission.

In the period from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021, 379 men were required to attend the Caledonian System as part of a Community Payback Order (CPO). In total, 1100 men were provided with the opportunity to access the programme in this period.

Prior to 2016 uptake of the Men's Programme is difficult to quantify precisely, because of limitations in the monitoring data. However, from the data available, the Caledonian System Evaluation in 2016 found that at least 941 men had started the Men’s Programme and 598 women had taken up the offer of support from the Women’s Service since September 2010.

Since the introduction of a new dataset from 1 May 2018, 1386 men have been required to attend the Caledonian System as part of a CPO. During this same period, 1934 women were also contacted, and offered the opportunity to contribute to the assessment process and have been offered safety planning.