Chamber and committees

During 2022, we will take forward necessary preparatory work to support the national rollout of the Caledonian System with the aim of making it available to all 32 Scottish local authorities by the end of the parliamentary term.

The size of a local authority, and the domestic abuse offending rates within, play a significant role in any forecasting. The Caledonian System is currently available in 19 local authorities and by expanding its availability across Scotland we will significantly increase the number of men accessing the programme.

The Scottish Government is clear that physical intervention should only ever be used appropriately, as a last resort, to prevent harm and when in the best interests of the child or young person.

The Scottish Government is working with partners, including the Children and Young People’s Commissioner, on new human rights-based non-statutory guidance to minimise the use of restraint in schools. This new guidance will replace existing advice provided within Included, Engaged and Involved Part 2: Preventing and Managing School Exclusions ( Supporting documents - Included, engaged and involved part 2: preventing and managing school exclusions - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) ).

The physical intervention working group began work on the new guidance in January 2020. Progress was affected by group members’ focus on the Covid-19 response. However, work resumed in June 2020 and positive progress has been made since then. Working Group members have now reached agreement that the draft guidance can be put to public consultation. The Scottish Government is currently preparing this consultation.

Details of the membership and notes of the meetings of the physical intervention working group are available on the Scottish Government’s website: Physical Intervention Working Group - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The Scottish government’s principle engagement mechanism with disabled people and the organisations which represent them is through regular meetings with the Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland (MACS), an independent advisory non-departmental public body. Their role is to consider matters about the needs of disabled persons in connection with transport that the committee think are appropriate.

Transport Scotland has consulted and engaged with disabled people’s groups to deliver updated Cycling by Design guidance, Inclusive Design Guidance for Town Centres and Busy Street and more specific work including Free Bikes for Children who cannot afford them and ongoing work on accessible bike hire.

For reference details of the 9 projects are available from the Chief Scientist Office website

Long Covid Call – Chief Scientist Office (scot.nhs.uk)

Six-month progress reports have been received for all 9 projects

A twelve-month progress report has been received for project LTE/20/04

On 31 March 2022 the Chief Scientist Office hosted a virtual symposium where the lead investigators for each of the 9 projects presented the results obtained to date

The Scottish Government is committed to tackling all forms of racism, including antisemitism. We adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism in June 2017. This is the Scottish Government position and it applies to all Ministers. We encourage all bodies to sign up to the IHRA definition of antisemitism.

We are actively engaged in consultation with Jewish students, Jewish community organisations, and stakeholders in higher education as part of our wider approach to tackling antisemitism.

On 23 February 2022, I held a round table discussion on antisemitism in higher education with Jewish students, representatives from the Jewish community, and stakeholders from the higher education sector. The event was organised in response to a letter from the Union of Jewish Students regarding universities and the IHRA definition of antisemitism.

It was an opportunity for students to share their experiences of antisemitism and also to hear from stakeholders about the work they are doing to confront this issue in practice. The discussion was very productive, with all parties agreeing to undertake positive actions to address antisemitism on campus going forward.

As part of the Scottish Government’s 2021-22 Mental Health Recovery and Renewal Fund, we allocated an additional £40 million to NHS Boards to improve Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and to clear waiting list backlogs by March 2023. We are also continuing to work directly with Health Boards with the poorest performance to ensure the 18 week waiting time standard is met.

As set out in the Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan, we are taking a whole systems approach to improving children and young people’s mental health. Alongside investing in acute CAMHS, we are ensuring community services and school counselling are also available in a responsive and timely manner. We are developing responses to young people experiencing crisis and distress, as well as investing in approaches that promote prevention, early intervention and reducing stigma.

To support this approach, an additional £15 million was provided to local authorities in 2021-22, with the same amount being provided again in 2022-23, to deliver locally based mental health and wellbeing support for 5-24 year olds in their communities, providing alternative treatment options focussed on prevention and early intervention. We have also ensured access to counselling support services in all secondary schools.

This package of commitments is designed to ensure the right help is available, in the right place, at the right time. This additional investment will contribute towards delivering our commitment to ensure that, by the end of this Parliament, at least 10% of frontline NHS spend goes towards mental health, with 1% going towards CAMHS.

A £150 cost of living payment is made to households living in a property in valuation bands E, F, G and H only if they were in receipt of a Council Tax Reduction, as defined by the Council Tax Reduction (State Pension Credit) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 and The Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Regulations 2012, as amended.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07562 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 .

As of 31 March 2022, 3,890 properties in Perth and Kinross, and 3,801 properties in Fife, remain eligible for the main voucher worth up to £5,000 through the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme component of the R100 programme.

As of 31 March 2022, the interim voucher portion of the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme is now closed. The main voucher worth up to £5,000 remains open for those who are not planned to benefit from build through R100 contracts or commercial coverage.