Chamber and committees

Information about numbers of inpatients is not held centrally in the format requested. The Mental Welfare Commission holds information on persons subject to detention orders in mental health hospitals. The following table includes information about the numbers of new detention orders granted in each year. The recording of detention orders by low and medium secure mental health hospitals is improving. The following historic data needs to be treated with caution because data may be recorded at hospital rather than specific ward level in some cases (where ward data, and therefore the low/medium secure level, is unclear).

Security	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
Low	4,037	4,075	4,130	4,258
Medium	22	29	46	26
High	25	23	27	40

A criteria for detention under the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 is risk.

The national carers strategy 2010-15 acknowledges the immense contribution that carers and young carers make to society. However we want to accelerate the pace of change to strengthen support to, and further the rights of carers and young carers. That is why we introduced the Carers (Scotland) Bill to Parliament on 9 March 2015.

The government has provided funding of nearly £34 million from 2008-16 to NHS boards. This resource is contributing, amongst other things, to funding of carers centres and other projects across Scotland, which provide a range of services including information and advice, and advocacy which helps to promote carers’ rights.

The Carers (Scotland) Bill will protect and extend carers’ rights. As part of the Bill’s provisions, the information and advice service to be established by local authorities will provide information and advice on the rights of carers.

It is the responsibility of employers of social service workers, whether public, voluntary or private, to support and assist workers to achieve the qualifications required for the role they undertake and for their continuing professional development – in line with the Code of Practice for Employers issued by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC).

The SSSC, which is a Scottish Government non-departmental public body, provides guidance and tools for social services employers to help them understand the training required for their employees and also to support employees in their training. The SSSC also provides information on potential sources of funding to assist workers with the cost of undertaking qualifications.

NHS boards are the principal employers of the majority of healthcare support workers (HCSW) in Scotland, and they are responsible for ensuring their staff have the appropriate training necessary to carry out their roles safely and effectively. Since December 2010, HCSW joining NHSScotland boards must achieve Mandatory Induction Standards and comply with a Code of Conduct set by the Scottish Government. The joint Scottish Government and NHS Education for Scotland (NES) publication, A Guide to Healthcare Support Worker Education and Role Development, sets out the nationally agreed educational expectations and core skills for HCSW in clinical roles at levels two, three and four of the NHSScotland Career Framework. NES has established a £20,000 supporting learning fund for HCSW and individuals responsible for the development of HCSW within NHSScotland.

We will assess the status of each commitment within the current mental health strategy towards the end of 2015.

Consideration of the next mental health strategy is at a very early stage. We will be developing work for post the 2012-15 mental health strategy during the latter half of 2015 and into 2016. I intend that to be an open and participative process to ensure stakeholders can express their views on the renewal of the strategy.

The adolescent inpatient estate is managed on a regional basis. NHS boards are responsible for ensuring that there is adequate inpatient care for their local population. NHS Directors of Planning monitor the situation on an on-going basis. NHS boards are also developing models of intensive treatment in the community that can avoid the need to admit a child or young person to hospital, or shorten the length of stay if an admission is necessary. We continue to monitor the need for further development with NHS boards.

NHS National Services Scotland carried out a review of the national child inpatient psychiatry service (for children under the age of 12) in November 2014 (http://www.nsd.scot.nhs.uk/services/specserv/inpsych.html) and found that since 2009 the bed occupancy (excluding day patient beds) ranged from 47% in both 2009-10 and 2010-11 to 28% at its lowest in 2012-13.

The delivery of social services is carried out by providers in the public, voluntary and private sectors.

The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC), a non-departmental body established by the government to regulate the social services workforce in Scotland and their education and training, has produced a number of different resources to support those looking to recruit staff and for those looking at a career in the care sector. The resources are also of use for others such as career advisers and Jobcentre Plus.

A key resource is the SSSC's Ambassadors for Careers in Care scheme. This is staff that currently working in the sector at all levels and in different types service delivery who attend events, visit schools and careers fairs to promote careers in the sector.

The number of children admitted to non-specialist facilities since 2010 was:

2010-11	128
2011-12	115
2012-13	148
2013-14	179

Source:- The Mental Welfare Commission Young Person monitoring report 2013-2014

The Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014 (the Act) provides the legislative basis for health boards and local authorities to delegate functions and their associated budgets to integration authorities.

As a result, integration authorities are required by the Act to prepare a strategic plan which sets out how they intend to deliver those delegated functions within their individual areas. Alongside this integration authorities must also produce an annual financial statement; this provides the mechanism that ensures transparency and accountability for how integration authorities are funding the requirements set out in their strategic plan.

This information is available from the Information Services Division Scotland website via the annual continuing care census: http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Health-and-Social-Community-Care/NHS-Continuing-Care/Publications/. This census was taken on 31 March 2014 and published on 24 June 2014. The next annual continuing healthcare census will be published on 23 June 2015.

The Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014 places a legal requirement on health boards and local authorities to delegate functions and the associated budgets relating to those functions to integration authorities.

By bringing together health and social budgets, funding can be used more effectively and efficiently and will allow integration authorities, through their strategic plans, to adopt a more preventative, community focused approach to health and social care services. To assist, the Scottish Government is providing an additional £0.5 billion in direct funding to support integration authorities over the next three years.