Chamber and committees

There are a number of initiatives across the Scottish Government relating to employment opportunities for veterans. These include encouraging the private sector Scotland-wide to consider employing Service leavers and veterans; help for Early Service leavers; and assistance to veterans to establish their own businesses.

The Supporting Veterans into Employment initiative which I launched on 24 October, encourages businesses of all sizes and sectors proactively to recruit and benefit from employing veterans in the civilian workforce and will be delivered by Business in the Community, with funding from the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government has provided funding up to £6.1m in 2016-17 to support 700 Community Jobs Scotland (CJS) jobs lasting up to 12 months for vulnerable 16-29 year olds, including disabled people and armed forces early service leavers. Early service leavers and veterans, as well as the partners of current or former armed forces personnel, who are aged between 16-29, are also amongst the eligible groups for support through Scotland’s Employer Recruitment Incentive (SERI).

The Scottish Government also continues to work with a number of organisations including, Scottish Business Resilience Centre, the Federation of Small Businesses and CAN DO Places to develop the Veteran portfolio by promoting and developing CAN DO spaces that can assist veterans and their spouses in becoming entrepreneurs in a supportive environment.

In relation to specialist mental health care for veterans, the Scottish Government sets national direction of policy on mental health and provides funding to agencies to support implementation of policy.

The management of local actions in implementing national policy, and decisions on local service provision and spending priorities are the responsibility of relevant local agencies. It is therefore the responsibility of Integration Authorities, NHS Boards and Local Authorities to work with their partners and regularly review spending decisions to ensure they deliver fit for purpose services which respond to the needs of their local population. This includes ensuring the specialist mental health needs of veterans are assessed and met as appropriate.

The Scottish Government continues to fund the provision of specialist mental health services for veterans resident in Scotland at £1.2m per year, through arrangements with Combat Stress and NHS Scotland; and intends to publish its new Mental Health Strategy later this year. That will set out a 10 year vision for transforming and improving mental health services across Scotland.

As part of our promise to build a fairer Scotland, the Scottish Government is committed to increasing the number of accessible homes. All local authorities, including Dumfries and Galloway, are required by law to prepare a local housing strategy supported by an assessment of housing need and demand. The strategy has to set out the current need for specialist provision across all housing tenures that will help to support people to live independently; the likely requirement for this provision over the next five years; how current needs are being met; and what more is planned to meet future need.

Affordable Housing Supply Programme funding decisions are therefore based on priorities identified in Local Housing Strategies and local authority Strategic Housing Investment Plans. Housing for social rent which is delivered through the grant-funded Affordable Housing Supply Programme already has to meet accessibility standards, but funding is also available for specialist housing – for example, helping disabled people with more complex needs to live independently in their own homes.

The minimum standards and guidance for accessibility of new homes, introduced in 2007 to Scottish building regulations, are the best in the UK. Every new home built has to meet these standards, thereby increasing the number of disability-friendly homes, not only in Dumfries and Galloway, but also across Scotland. This benefits not only those with a disability but also the general population as it ages.

We are also working with Disabled People’s Organisations, local authorities and the housing sector to develop appropriate solutions. Our Disability Delivery Plan, which will be published later this year, will set out the further actions we will take to achieve this.

NHS Dumfries and Galloway advise that they are currently finalising detailed transfer plans for the migration of patients to the new facility. The Board envisage that this will take a small number of days and that a degree of 'double running' will be necessary during this period.

The Board also advise that there are no plans to retain inpatient beds on the current Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary (DGRI) site once the new hospital opens. However, a range of ambulatory care services, including ophthalmology and renal day-care, will continue to be delivered from the Cresswell Building immediately adjacent to DGRI.

The planning of local health care services is a matter for NHS Dumfries and Galloway, in line with national policy, frameworks and guidance. The Board's Business for the new hospital contained activity forecasts based on the region's anticipated changing demography into the mid 2030s. This informed the planning of the inpatient capacity for the facility.

NHS Dumfries and Galloway further advise that their capacity planning and bed projections take account of forecast demographic changes, particularly in the over 90’s age group. Service models are designed around the whole system working across health and social care services, which will include treatment of patients in more appropriate settings, thereby reducing reliance on acute hospital beds.

In addition, the Board advise that the new hospital has sufficient capacity available to use in future years as necessary, to support projected increases in demand as a result of changing demographics and profile of need.

The Scottish Government is committed to meeting the needs of children with autism. We want all children and young people to reach their full potential.

Education authorities and other agencies have duties under the Additional Support for Learning Act 2004 (as amended) to identify, provide for and keep under review the additional support needs of pupils, including children and young people with autism.

In addition the Scottish Government launched the Autism Toolbox website in April 2014, to help teachers and educational support staff (both in primary and secondary schools) meet the needs of pupils with autism. This online tool identifies best practice for all education staff in schools to support pupils with autism.

Through the Scottish Strategy for Autism we have funded a range of projects to support children and young people with autism. Two young girls involved in one of the funded projects can be seen in the video below:

http://www.autismstrategyscotland.org.uk/news/autism-europe-congress-highlights-video-released.html

We will continue to build on the work that the strategy has achieved in order to further support the needs of children with autism.

The Scottish Government is fully committed to supporting primary care, including GPs, and ensuring that all communities in Scotland, including remote and rural areas, receive safe, reliable and sustainable health care services.

Over three years, the Scottish Government is investing £85 million, as part of the Primary Care Fund. As part of this, over £2 million will be invested in work to explore with key stakeholders the issues surrounding GP recruitment and retention which can be particularly challenging in remote and rural areas. This will support a range of initiatives over the next two years including the establishment of a Scottish Rural Medicine Collaborative between NHS Dumfries and Galloway and six other health boards. This initiative will bring together recruitment strategies and support networks for GPs working in remote and rural areas.

Following the outcome of the referendum on the UK's membership of the EU, the Scottish Government has been undertaking extensive work to assess the implications of leaving the EU. This includes internal analysis, advice from the First Minister's Standing Council on Europe, consideration of other specialist opinions as well as direct and wide-ranging stakeholder engagement across a number of sectors. This analysis is evidence-led and takes into account all aspects of leaving the EU.

It is clear that there is an increasing body of evidence, such as the economic analysis published by the Scottish Government on 23 August and the recently leaked Treasury analysis, which demonstrates that any potential benefits in areas would be heavily outweighed by negative long-term ramifications.

The Scottish Government is committed to protecting Scotland’s relationship with the EU, including state aid rules, following Scotland’s unequivocal vote to retain the wide range of economic and social benefits membership provides. We are considering all possible steps to ensure Scotland’s continuing relationship with the EU and are engaged at ministerial and official level with the UK Government to ensure the best outcome for Scotland following the EU referendum.

Of the 93 cases for which the Scottish Government is the paying agency, 87 have been paid in full as at 17 October 2016, and the remaining 6 payments are expected to be made by the end of this month.

Of the 93 cases for which the Scottish Government is the paying agency, 87 have been paid in full as of 17 October 2016, and the remaining 6 will be settled by the end of this month. All elements of the business’ application must be confirmed as eligible by each administration involved. By their nature, these cases are more complex than single country cases because they have to be judged against the specific CAP rules in each part of the UK in which they have made a claim.