Chamber and committees

The draft Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations 2020 propose the introduction of new legal obligations on all producers wishing to sell single-use drinks containers to consumers in Scotland. It will be for producers to determine appropriate fraud prevention measures which we understand to be the key issue in determining whether separate stock will need to be held for the Scottish market.

The Scottish Government’s “Deposit Return Scheme: Full Business Case Stage 1” makes clear that the setting of producer fees for specific materials is a matter for industry. A Full Business Case Stage 2 is planned for publication in early 2020. That document will build on extensive supplier engagement and include indicative producer fees to inform industry’s considerations.

The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting local authority collection arrangements for a range of packaging materials alongside DRS. Under our proposed reforms of wider packaging producer responsibility arrangements, the costs to local authorities of delivering these services will in future be met by producers.

Zero Waste Scotland continues to work with local authorities to assess the impact of deposit return on their waste collection services.

We cannot provide this level of information back to 2007. The current corporate system that records correspondence from members of the public was developed in 2012 and we are unable to provide detailed information on communications raised by members of the public.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.

Schools and education authorities use a range of strategies and programmes to support children and young people with mental health issues and this will involve many teaching and other school staff.

Education authorities and schools have responsibilities to identify, support and develop the mental wellbeing of pupils. Every child and young person should have access to emotional and mental wellbeing support in school.

The Scottish Government and Education Scotland provide guidance and support to schools and local authorities to help them carry out these responsibilities.

For example, Education Scotland recently launched ‘The Compassionate and Connected Classroom and Community’ resource and coaching for practitioners to help them support upper primary aged children. This helps children to cope with challenges and adversity and develop their confidence, resilience, compassion and empathy. Almost all authorities have now received the two day coaching session.

The Scottish Government is committed to promoting and supporting children and young people’s mental wellbeing. Through wide ranging commitments in the 2018 Programme for Government we set out a £250 million package of measures to support positive mental health for children and young people.

One of the commitments is to enhance support and professional learning materials for teachers on good mental health. We are currently assessing the wide ranging suite of resources and approaches that are currently available to support primary and secondary teachers and will undertake further consultation with key third sector bodies as to what further resources may be required.

Additionally, following a thematic inspection of the delivery of Personal and Social Education, including how positive mental health is encouraged, we published the ‘Review of Personal and Social Education’ in January 2019. The Review included a recommendation that the Scottish Government work with partners in local government, Health Boards and the third sector, to provide guidance and support to schools on the spectrum of mental health and wellbeing services that are available to meet the needs of staff and children and young people. This work is ongoing and is due to be complete by March 2021.

We increased the numbers of radiology trainees by 26 between 2014 and 2017. In 2017 the Cabinet Secretary announced an additional £3 million for a further increase in the number of radiology trainees in Scotland by at least another 50 by 2022.

We are investing £4m in the Scottish Radiology Transformation Programme to improve diagnostic imaging capacity across Scotland, and improve IT connectivity.

A number of NHSScotland Boards have invested in training for radiographers, extending their roles to include image reading, ultrasound examinations and some diagnostic procedures.

In 2018 NHS Scotland Boards ran an international campaign to recruit up to 32 consultant grade radiologists. Since the campaign, many Boards have also recruited Radiologists via local recruitment methods. In many cases these Boards have retained these doctors following their CCT and have been able to offer them a Consultant-level position.

We are working with the Scottish Cancer Taskforce, who are feeding into the development of the Integrated Health and Social Care Workforce Plan.

The Scottish Government will circulate updated guidance on workforce planning to Boards alongside the Integrated Health and Social Care Workforce Plan in 2019.

All newly qualified doctors follow the foundation curriculum for their first two years in postgraduate training, which is approved by the General Medical Council (GMC). This requires them to have a clear understanding of how to provide good palliative care. The foundation programme curriculum is based on educationally and clinically supervised, practice-based learning, underpinned at regular intervals by feedback, reflection on practice and assessment.

HM Inspectors of Education in Education Scotland are committed to continuing to review and develop our approaches to school inspection and, in doing so strengthen further the role of inspection as a positive tool within Scottish education to help drive improvement in quality and performance across the system. Evaluating the effectiveness of our quality frameworks, such as How Good is Our School? 4th edition (HGIOS?4) is part of that commitment.

HGIOS?4 has a strengthened focus on equality and wellbeing across the framework since mental, emotional, social and physical wellbeing has a significant impact on children’s and young people’s success in school and beyond school.

Quality indicator(QI) 3.1 Ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion focuses on the impact of the school’s approach to wellbeing which underpins children and young people’s ability to achieve success. It has a clear focus on ensuring wellbeing entitlements support all learners to maximise their successes and achievements. It has a strong focus on how well schools support mental health of children and young people.