Chamber and committees

The programme review board met six times. On 15 June the minutes of the last five meetings of the Programme Review Board were published in response to a FOI request: https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202000035695

The minutes of the first meeting of the programme review board will be proactively released in due course.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-30803 on 5 August 2020. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Testing is available for everyone in Scotland who has symptoms consistent with COVID-19.

The Scottish Government have been working with Oil and Gas UK to understand their concerns and support their safe operation. In addition, Public Health Scotland have been working closely with Oil and Gas UK to provide expert public health advice in relation to offshore installations, and they have produced specific guidance on preventing and managing cases of COVID-19 on offshore installations.

At the current time, Public Health Scotland do not recommend that the Scottish Government supports testing of asymptotic workers prior to travel offshore. There are limitations of testing in the context of a disease with a 14 day incubation period, because it would not remove the risk of people incubating the disease becoming symptomatic while offshore.

In June 2020 the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport and the CoSLA Spokesperson for Health and Social Care established a short life working group (SLWG) to address the issue of long term delayed discharge for people with complex care needs as a result of their learning disability or complex and enduring mental health condition. Due to the need for rapid advice, the role, remit and membership of the SLWG was jointly agreed between Scottish Government and CoSLA.

The group is split into two work streams one exploring options for future funding for this group of clients with very complex needs. Membership of this group is limited to finance and procurement experts.

The second work stream was asked to identify and describe the processes required to avoid inappropriate admission to hospital, and to support the discharge from hospital of people with learning disabilities or enduring mental health difficulties, who are currently ready for discharge, but whose discharge is delayed. Membership of this work stream is much wider and has evolved to include experts on the issues discussed. Membership currently includes; social care providers, hospital and community based clinicians, specialist nurses, the Scottish Commission for Learning Disabilities, Social Work Scotland, Housing Specialists, a carer, Health and Social Care Partnership commissioners.

For further information on the progress of the recommendations of the Coming Home report, I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-30746 on 4 August 2020. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The Scottish Government has made it clear that people with learning disabilities and autism must be able to live independent in the community of their choosing. It is inappropriate for anyone with a learning disability and/or autism to remain in hospital when they are clinically appropriate to discharge.

In June 2020 the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport and the CoSLA Spokesperson for Health and Social Care established a short life working group to address the issue of long term delayed discharge for people with complex care needs as a result of their learning disability or complex and enduring mental health condition. The group is split into two work streams: one exploring options for future funding for this group of clients with very complex needs. The second work stream identifies and describes the processes required to avoid inappropriate admission to hospital, and supports the discharge from hospital of people with learning disabilities or enduring mental health difficulties, who are currently ready for discharge, but whose discharge is delayed.

The working group is due to report its findings in the autumn.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving the lives of people with learning disabilities, their families and carers and continues to work closely with Dr Anne MacDonald on taking forward the recommendations of her Report Coming Home: A Report on Out-of-Area Placements and Delayed Discharge for People with Learning Disabilities and Complex Needs.

In June 2019 the Minister for Mental Health wrote to Health and Social Care Partnerships seeking progress reports on what actions they had taken on the recommendations of the Coming Home report. The responses indicated that a number of the HSCPs have made some progress in commissioning new services in order to meet the support needs of people with learning disabilities and complex needs. There have also been improvements in crisis and risk management.

In December 2019 a workshop for Commissioners and Providers from 13 Health and Social Care Partnerships was held in Edinburgh, to look for solutions for those with complex needs. Plans to roll out regional workshops have been postponed due to the Coronavirus.

In June 2020 the Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) Community of Practice was launched which was one of the recommendations of the Coming Home report. It was the first of a of a series of webinars happening throughout the year. Over 400 people attended the launch.

A Postgraduate Certificate in PBS is currently being delivered to a cohort of 20 students. These are Learning Disability nurses, Speech & Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists, and Social Workers. In addition to the Postgraduate Certificate, work is also ongoing in developing a Masters-level qualification.

The Permanent Secretary to the Scottish Government has corresponded with the Convener of the Harassment Committee on this matter on 17 and 24 July 2020. That correspondence has been published by the Committee and is available at:

https://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/CurrentCommittees/111212.aspx

We have reviewed and will strengthen our processes around the scrutiny of further document releases for the Committee.

KPMG are not being paid to report on the completion of vessels 801 and 802 at Ferguson Marine.

The Ferguson Marine senior management team:-

• Programme Director
• Head of Planning
• Head of Business Improvement
• Chief Financial Officer
• Head of Procurement
• Head of Engineering
• Human Resources Director

All appointments were made at market rate in line with the skillset required. Commercial sensitivities prevent the disclosure of salaries scales.

Further to the answer to S5W-29020 on 21 May 2020, S5W-29558 on 9 June 2020 and S5W-30494 on 9 July 2020 Tim Hair, Turnaround Director of Ferguson Marine (Port Glasgow) Limited has been asked to provide an updated report on cost and programme, which will include completion dates, for vessels 801 and 802 to reflect the impact of COVID 19.

As an open and transparent government we will keep Parliament updated and proactively release the report thereafter.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx