Chamber and committees

We know that the COVID-19 pandemic will have, and has had, had a substantial impact on the population. In November 2020, we published an evidence summary of the impact COVID-19 has had on children, young people and families. This includes the mental and physical health impacts.

We have invested significantly in additional mental health support, including‎ £1.1 billion for NHS Boards and Integration Authorities to meet the costs of responding to the pandemic. Funding for additional mental health costs is included with the £1.1 billion allocation, and we expect that to be used to meet those pressures. In addition to this funding, in November we announced a further‎ £15 million to respond to children and young people’s mental health issues, building on our previous investment and commitments. Of this, £11.25 million will be for services in response to the pandemic. The remaining £3.75 million will fund new and enhanced community mental health and wellbeing services for 5-24 year olds.

We continue to prioritise support for children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing in schools and education through actions such as the Mental Health in Schools Working Group and the counselling in schools commitment.

We also continue to invest in a range of measures to support children, young people and families mental and physical health. This includes providing advice, support and signposting on Aye Feel , Parent Club and Clear Your Head .

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) continue to support children and young people in need of specialist mental health support, although there will be adjustments in how that is delivered to accommodate coronavirus restrictions. Throughout the pandemic, CAMHS staff have been using Near Me and are one of the largest health service users in Scotland. Near Me allows CAMHS to continue providing services for the most vulnerable children, young people and families, while reducing the need for travel and the risks of infection.

We have also provided an additional £15 million to local authorities to respond to children and young people’s mental health needs, with a focus on those brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the £15 million, £11.25 million will be for services in response to the pandemic and the remaining £3.75 million is funding new and enhanced community mental health and wellbeing services for 5-24 year olds. These new services will have a focus on prevention, early intervention and the treatment of distress.

We continue to prioritise support for children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing in schools and education through actions such as the Mental Health in Schools Working Group which is developing and delivering new mental health training and learning resources, and the counselling in schools commitment.

In addition, Educational Psychologists who work in local authorities are providing support, guidance and resources through authority websites, telephone and virtual consultations to support vulnerable children, young people and their families.

Furthermore, we continue to invest in a range of measures to support children and young people’s mental health. This includes providing enhanced digital resources on mental health and wellbeing available via Young Scot’s website and social media, and over £1 million to roll out the Distress Brief Intervention (DBI) programme on a national basis to those over the age of 16.

As part of the wider Managing Our Waste national campaign, we partnered with Zero Waste Scotland to create communication material encouraging the use of reusable face coverings and appropriate disposal of disposable face coverings and gloves. This includes information on how to make reusable face coverings and how to clean them.

As part of its wider COVID-19 related communication strategy, Scottish Government has created tools, including a video , on how to make your own face covering. Our Coronavirus (COVID-19): public use of face coverings guidance includes information on how to care for reusable face coverings.

As outlined in the answer to S5W-34910 on 12 February 2021, as part of the wider Managing Our Waste national communication campaign we have partnered with Zero Waste Scotland to encourage the appropriate disposal of disposable face coverings and gloves.

We are absolutely clear in our messaging, littering of any kind is unacceptable and there is no excuse for this behaviour.

We continue to discuss ongoing and future communications in relation to face coverings, and wider littering challenges, through our COVID-19 waste sector forum, including with Zero Waste Scotland, COSLA, local authorities and SEPA.

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

Scottish Government’s Coronavirus (COVID-19): public use of face coverings guidance includes information on the appropriate disposal of face coverings. Additionally, messaging on correct disposal of face coverings is available on the Zero Waste Scotland website as part of the wider Managing our Waste campaign.

We recognise that Covid-19 has impacted the amount of waste created in Scotland, and disposable face coverings contribute to this as they cannot be recycled. Therefore, we recommend that members of the public wash and reuse their own face coverings. Disposable face coverings should be disposed of in residual (black bag) waste or litter bins.

Throughout this crisis, the impact on children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing has been at the forefront of our minds.

We have worked closely with Education Scotland to ensure that advice and guidance including sources of quality support from external organisations is available. This has been delivered through the Mental Health and Wellbeing Wakelet which includes support and resources for parents and carers as well as children and young people. It also includes the Mind yer time and Aye Feel resources for children and young people and the Clear your head resource for both adults and young people which provide sources of support and information.

Education authorities and schools are providing support to children and young people and their families. These include a wide range of approaches such as telephone helplines, education psychology support, bespoke support packages and resources and virtual and telephone counselling, as well as whole-school approaches such as trauma informed and nurture. Our local authority partners have made excellent progress during the school closures and have confirmed that access to counselling support services are also in place across Scotland.

More than £15 million is being distributed to local authorities to support the mental wellbeing 5-24 year olds. Of this, £11.25 million is for services in response to the pandemic and the remaining £3.75 million will fund new and enhanced community mental health and wellbeing services. We expect all new supports to be in place by the end of March. We will be providing a further £15 million in April, assuming services are fully in place.

We recognise that this remains an exceptionally challenging time for many families, including those with young children, and we are working across the public and third sector to ensure that support is there for anyone who needs it. For households with caring responsibilities (for a person of any age) there are exemptions to restrictions on household visiting and travel to provide care or support to a vulnerable person. Informal childcare rules also apply, where there is an essential childcare need. Further guidance on this is on the ParentClub website.

In terms of support bubbles, currently two households can form an extended household if one of the adults lives alone, or lives alone with children under 18 years old; or if two adults are in a relationship and they do not live together. For social support up to two people from two separate households can meet outdoors for social interaction. Children under the age of twelve from these households do not count towards the total number of people permitted to gather outdoors, so a parent can still meet another parent with their babies and any other children under 12. The Scottish Government does not intend to revise the extended household rules to include all parents with a child under the age of 1 at this time, due to the ongoing prevalence of the COVID-19 virus.

There are, however, measures in place to ensure that families, particularly new parents, continue to get access to the support that they need. This includes access to universal services, such as maternity services and health visiting, to further aid access to any local community supports. The new national Family Support Directory , available on ParentClub, also provides access to further sources of information for parents and direct support on a broad range of issues, such as support on childcare, mental health and wellbeing and family relationships.

In recognising the particular needs of babies and young children, the Coronavirus (COVID-19): organised activities for children supplementary guidance was updated on 5 January 2021 for the safe running of organised activities for children and young people during lockdown. The guidance sets out the maximum number of adults who can attend parent/baby or toddler groups (under 5s) and associated organised activities at any one time, to provide more flexibility in this age group.