Chamber and committees

a) As at 30 June 2020, of the total Psychology Workforce establishment of 1387 WTE, there were 76 WTE posts vacant for Applied Psychologists with vacancy rate of 5.5%.

Data source: NHS Education for Scotland Official Statistics release -Psychology Services Workforce in NHSScotland Publication for Quarter ending 30 June 2020. https://turasdata.nes.nhs.scot/workforce-official-statistics/psychology/publications/01-september-2020/dashboards/

b) (i) As at 30 June 2020, of the total Psychology workforce establishment of 1387 WTE, there were 6.8 WTE posts vacant for Cognitive Behaviour Therapists (CBT) with vacancy rate of 0.5%.

Data source: NHS Education for Scotland Official Statistics release -Psychology Services Workforce in NHSScotland Publication for Quarter ending 30 June 2020. https://turasdata.nes.nhs.scot/workforce-official-statistics/psychology/publications/01-september-2020/dashboards/

b) ii) As at 30 June 2020, of the total Psychology workforce establishment of 1387 WTE, there were 12.4 WTE posts vacant in Psychology professional group in Child and Mental Health Services (CAMHS) with vacancy rate of 0.9%.

Data source: NHS Education for Scotland Official Statistics release -Psychology Services Workforce in NHSScotland Publication for Quarter ending 30 June 2020 & Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Workforce in NHSScotland Publication for Quarter ending 30 June 2020. https://turasdata.nes.nhs.scot/workforce-official-statistics/psychology/publications/01-september-2020/dashboards/

https://turasdata.nes.nhs.scot/workforce-official-statistics/camhs/publications/01-september-2020/dashboards/

b) iii) As at 30 June 2020, of the total Psychology workforce establishment of 1387 WTE, there were 0.8 WTE posts vacant for Other Therapists (Other Therapists include Psychotherapists, Family and Couple Therapists.) with vacancy rate of 0.1%.

Data source: NHS Education for Scotland Official Statistics release -Psychology Services Workforce in NHSScotland Publication for Quarter ending 30 June 2020.

Further information related to Psychology Services Workforce can be found here:

https://turasdata.nes.nhs.scot/workforce-official-statistics/psychology/

Further information related to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Workforce can be found here:

https://turasdata.nes.nhs.scot/workforce-official-statistics/camhs/

Data on the number of children who have been refused support by Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) is not held. However, Public Health Scotland collects data on ‘rejected referrals’ in CAMHS, which correspond to cases in which a referral is deemed as not appropriate and the individual may be referred back to their GP or sign-posted to another service.

Data for CAMHS is available until June 2020 (i.e. the latest publication period). The number and proportion of rejected referrals for Scotland is shown in Table 1:

Table 1: Monthly CAMHS Referral Summary - Scotland (2020)

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-31767 on 25 September 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 .

We are in regular dialogue with local authorities regarding the impact of the pandemic. Support for showpeople and funfair organisers and the reduction or suspensions of charges for funfairs has not been an explicit part of these discussions. Separately, the Scottish Government has issued non-statutory guidance to licensing authorities in respect of how licensing applications for travelling funfairs should be considered sensitively, pragmatically and timeously where possible given the current situation.

We continue to engage with fairgrounds and showpeople and worked with them on our guidance, which enabled safe re-opening on 24 August.

The Scotland Cycle Repair Scheme launched on 3 August with over 100 participating retailers registered. Cycling UK, the organisation which manages the scheme, has been working hard to add more shops. There are now over 200 participating retailers including 9 either approved or awaiting approval in the Renfrewshire Council area, as set out in the following table.

No such businesses have contacted the Scottish Government or Transport Scotland directly to take part in the Scotland Cycle Repair Scheme. The following table sets out the data for the businesses that have contacted Cycling UK, who manage the scheme with Scottish Government funding.

In July the Committee of Ministers adopted a Recommendation to update the 2006 European Prison Rules. This includes changes to Rule 15. We are examining the changes that have been made to the Rules carefully in conjunction with the Scottish Prison Service and will consider what action might be needed in due course.

The Scottish Government is committed to having a modern and forward thinking prison system based on a human rights and asset based approach.

We are aware that the Committee of Ministers adopted a Recommendation in July to update the 2006 European Prison Rules. We are examining the various changes that have been made to the Rules in conjunction with the Scottish Prison Service and partners and will consider in due course whether any measures need to be taken.

The Scottish Government recognises that unpaid work in households and unpaid care is disproportionately carried out by women with impacts for women's participation in the labour market and public life. While this was the case prior to the COVID-19 pandemic we know that women have absorbed additional childcare as a result of school and nursery closures.

I have committed to consider the recommendations set out in the report and respond to Engender. Once I have done so I will write to the member with a fuller response and a copy will be placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib number 61725).

We welcomed the Committee’s report on their Inquiry into mental health support for young people in Scotland. I wrote to the Committee Convenor on the 19 August outlining our response to the recommendations directed to the Scottish Government, and detailed the actions that we are taking to ensure young people can access the right support for their mental health. This includes:

• the development of new community mental health and wellbeing services for 5-25 year olds, their families and carers;
• the expansion of the Distress Brief Intervention (DBI) programme to those over the age of 16 and;
• the development of ‘Aye Feel’ by Young Scot which provides information about mental health and wellbeing during the Covid-19 pandemic and sign posts to further resources and support.

We have also provided an update on our school counsellors commitment.