Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with categorised responders, who are responsible under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 for assessing the risk of an emergency occurring, maintaining plans to ensure they can continue to perform their functions in case of an emergency, and considering whether an assessment makes it necessary or expedient to add or modify plans. Scottish Government are not however responsible for, or the owners of, any of these plans.

In relation to door-to-door welfare checks specifically, our follow-up report on Storm Arwen in October 2022 confirmed that “The capability to deliver this type of large-scale response relies on a number of the issues, for example swift activation of resilience arrangements, the ability to quickly assess the impact on the ground, strong mutual aid arrangements and links to community and voluntary groups, and agile public communications plans. Resilience partnerships are however also aware that deploying a large number of people to travel on foot to carry out door-to-door checks could itself create a risk for those involved, for example if the weather conditions remain challenging. As such, these checks should always be considered as part of a range of ‘care for people’ considerations and measures which are rolled out in response to any major incident, which might also for example include the provision of rest centres.”

The Scottish Government is also supporting partners in the development of the Persons at Risk Distribution (PARD) resource which enables the swift identification of, and support to, those most at risk during an incident.

Our emergency planning portal; ready.scot, was updated in June 2022 to include a new ‘Learn’ section to support the public, community groups and Voluntary Sector partners, by raising awareness of emergency resilience structures and processes, and to strengthen understanding of how they might participate in an effective and joined-up response to an emergency. Between March and April 2023 a series of four online community resilience workshops took place, joined by approximately 240 participants. We will continue to work with the sector, and in particular Local Authorities who have the lead role on engaging with local communities, to understand their training needs and to provide any additional resources required.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) has responsibility for the development of the Community Asset Register (CAR) and confirmed in October 2023 that a CAR ‘Action Plan’ has been developed to monitor progress of the actions required towards its improvement. SFRS also reiterated its intention to continue to develop the digital platform currently being used for the CAR with the necessary improvements being tabled for discussion as a priority for inclusion in its ICT workplan for 2024-2025.

The Scottish Government’s Storm Arwen Review provided a detailed review of such a situation, and our two follow-up reports made clear that the organisations who are responsible for emergency planning and response in Scotland had formally incorporated those recommendations into their workplans.

Scottish Government and the Improvement Service continues to support Local Authorities with their local implementations of PARD. Support ranges from guidance on data preparation, through to examples on when PARD can be used.

Scottish Government and the Improvement Service are also drafting a ‘quick start guide’ that will be distributed to Local Authorities by the end of October 2023. The guide answers frequently asked questions.

Scottish Government Digital Directorate has engaged with the Society of Local Authority Lawyers & Administrators in Scotland (SOLAR) FOI, Data Protection & Human Rights Group working group to brief them on the Data Protection requirements around PARD. The working group will provide support to Local Authorities when preparing Data Protection documentation relating to PARD.

Additionally, Scottish Government Digital Directorate presented PARD to a Public Engagement Panel that was looking at public acceptance and Data Ethics around the use of personal data by the Public Sector. The panel was very supportive of the use of personal data in PARD and in general for incidents and emergencies.

It is a matter for Local Authorities to decide whether they want to adopt PARD or use a different system. The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 places a duty on Category 1 and 2 responders to share and access information to support decision making.

To date, Scottish Government and the Improvement Service have held workshops with colleagues from Social Work and Emergency Planning in all Scottish Local Authorities. These workshops have focused on how PARD data can be used to identify people at risk during and to support decision making during incidents.

The Bee Health Team’s bee heath inspectors have been conducting a programme of apiary visits across Scotland during this year’s beekeeping season, inspecting colonies for signs of notifiable pests and diseases as well as monitoring for incursion of exotic pests. Our diagnostics and science team at SASA continues to provide a free diagnostic service to beekeepers in Scotland to identify and confirm the presence of bee diseases and pests. The Scottish Government also provides funding for a Bee Health Advisor post at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) who provides education and practical advice to beekeepers on honey bee health and good management with the aim of improving bee health in Scotland.

The Bee Health Improvement Partnership (BHIP) has developed a 10 year Honey Bee Health Strategy which aims to achieve a healthy and sustainable population of honey bees in Scotland, supported by an Implementation Plan detailing specific actions to deliver the Strategy’s outcomes. The Plan is updated and published after each quarterly BHIP meeting. Links to both the Strategy and the Implementation Plan are below:

Strategy: The Honey Bee Health Strategy 2022 - 2032 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Implementation Plan: Scotland’s Honey Bee Health Strategy: implementation plan - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Scottish beekeepers and members of the public can contact the Bee Health Team direct by emailing [email protected] to discuss any issues, seek advice, and request items to be raised at the BHIP meetings.

The R100 programme comprises of three strands of activity – the R100 contracts, R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (R100 SBVS) and continued commercial build.

The R100 contracts are gap funded meaning that the Scottish Government subsidises Openreach to deliver connections to premises which would not otherwise be commercially viable. Subsidy is only paid to Openreach once premises have been delivered and delivery milestones have been achieved.

Suppliers to the R100 SBVS can only claim their evidenced costs, up to a maximum of the voucher value, once the installation work is completed and the voucher beneficiary is able to receive, as a minimum, a superfast broadband service.

The Scottish Government does not have a remit to intervene should a broadband provider choose not to proceed with their commercial build plans.

The latest data available on admissions and length of stay for people in Mental Health Hospitals is collected as part of the Mental Health & Learning Disability Inpatient Census and Out of Scotland NHS Placements Census, 2022.

At the census point 11th April 2022, 166 adults with a diagnosis of a learning disability were inpatient within an NHS Scotland hospital. In addition, there were fewer than 5 patient(s) under 18. There were a further 33 adults with a diagnosis of a learning disability inpatient outwith an NHS Scotland hospital. These individuals also may or may not have a co-occurring autism diagnosis.

Data on the numbers of people with a diagnosis of a learning disability who have been admitted to hospital for treatment following offending is not collected.

There were 44 patients with a diagnosis of a learning disability who have been in an NHS Scotland hospital more than a decade, with an average length of stay of 19 years and 2 months. There are a further 8 patients with a learning disability who have been treated outwith NHS Scotland for more than a decade with an average length of stay of 19 years and 5 months. These individuals also may or may not have a co-occurring autism diagnosis.

The latest publication of the Mental Welfare Commissions Mental Health Act Monitoring Report covers the period 2021-22 and provides some information on compulsory treatment under criminal proceedings and you may wish to ask if they have further information.