Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government holds the principle that care services should be as well-coordinated and seamless as possible. Our programme of health and social care integration, which brings together NHS and Local Authority care services, is helping to deliver this. With a greater emphasis on community-based and more joined-up, anticipatory and preventative care, integration aims to improve care and support for people who use health and social care services. Improving the wellbeing of people with mental health problems is a key priority for Integration Authorities, who recognise that employment is an important factor in promoting wellbeing and recovery.

The Mental Health Strategy 2017 – 2027 focuses on the important role of getting a job and staying in work. In particular, action 37 commits to exploring with others innovative ways of connecting mental health, disability, and employment support in Scotland.

The Scottish Government funds the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives, part of NHS Health Scotland, to provide information and advice on workplace health and wellbeing. The Centre, and the network of advisers in territorial NHS Boards, offer free and confidential advice on a wide range of issues relating to health, safety in the workplace. This includes promoting wellbeing in the workplace, managing sickness absence and supporting employees to return to work.

Health Working Lives runs training courses for employers on managing and promoting good mental health in the workplace.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-08740 on 27 April 2017. 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

Information sourced from the Annual Population Survey in Table 1 shows the employment rate for the working age population overall, and also for those reporting health problems related to mental health.

Those reporting health problems related to mental health in these data are defined as those who responded to the APS reporting:

• that they had a physical or mental health condition or illness lasting or expecting to last 12 months or more; and,

• that their main health problem was either ‘Depression, bad nerves or anxiety’ or ‘Mental illness or suffer from a phobia, panics or other nervous disorders’.

Data is provided for the period between 2010 and 2016, with 2016 being the most recent data available.

Table 1: Employment rate (aged 16-64) for Scotland and for people whose main health problem was related to mental health

Source: Annual Population Survey, ONS (January to December in each year)

Our one year transitional employment programmes were launched at the beginning of April 2017. Work First Scotland will deliver employment support for up to 3,300 disabled people, including those with mental health conditions. Work Able Scotland will provide employment support for up to 1,500 clients with a disability or a health condition, including those with mental health conditions, who are at risk of long term unemployment.

While one of the key target groups for support through these services, as they are both wholly voluntary, we cannot state how many people with a mental health condition we expect to volunteer to participate or achieve job outcomes. However, we are collecting customer information on type of health condition and aim to include this in the Scottish Government statistics publication due for release later in the year, which will report on the transition year employability services.

From April 2018, we will introduce a new Scottish employability service - Fair Start Scotland. It is expected that the programme will support a minimum of 38,000 people over 3 years of referrals. People with mental health conditions are one of the key client groups we aim to support into work through Fair Start Scotland.

We recognise the very specific challenges that some people with barriers to employment, including mental health conditions, can face in obtaining and securing sustained employment.

That is why we worked with the Open Doors Consortium, a partnership of Scotland’s leading Third Sector specialist employment providers, to develop a tailored in-work work support package to support the employment outcomes of those with the greatest barriers.

This support has been delivered nationally by the Open Doors Consortium since July 2015, and can include mentoring, job coaching, training, orientation visits and providing training to the employers' staff. Help towards essential equipment or work clothes can also be provided. The support package can be accessed at any point within the first 52 weeks of employment.

In recognition of the barriers to employment some young people face, including those with mental health conditions, we are also working in partnership with the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) to provide up to 12 or 18 months of supported job training through a range of third sector employers across Scotland as part of the Community Jobs Scotland programme.

Since 2011 we have invested more than £50 million in Community Jobs Scotland, which has now helped more than 7,500 young people aged 16 to 29 access paid job training and the chance to enhance their longer term job prospects through additional training specifically designed to increase employability skills.

Petroineos Manufacturing Scotland Limited holds the licence that covers the oil refining activities at Grangemouth. SEPA's Compliance Assessment Scheme is designed to demonstrate the level of compliance associated with specific licence conditions and is assessed annually.

The Compliance Assessment Scheme Assessment Reports for regulated sites available at http://apps.sepa.org.uk/compliance/ and the results for the last 5 years are set out in the following table.

The Scottish Government does not hold any information as health and safety are matters reserved to the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) and HSE are accountable to UK Ministers, given these concern matters reserved to Westminster.

We will shortly publish a full summary of the progress made by the Mental Health Strategy 2012- 2015.

Information sourced from the Annual Population Survey below shows the employment rate: for the working age population overall and for those with mental health problems.

People with mental health problems are defined as those who responded to the survey reporting :

• that they had a physical or mental health condition or illness lasting or expecting to last 12 months or more; and,

• that their main health problem was either ‘Depression, bad nerves or anxiety’ or ‘Mental illness or suffer from a phobia, panics or other nervous disorders’.

In 2016 the employment rate for people with mental health problems was 39.0%. This compares with 72.9% for the general population.

Source: Annual Population Survey (January 2016 to December 2016)