Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Scottish Health Service Costs are published annually in arrears by Public Health Scotland.

The most recent cost book data available covers 2020-21 and was published on 22 February 2022. Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services spend is not routinely published in the cost book publication but is available from Public Health Scotland on request through [email protected].

Data for 2021-22 is not currently available, but will be available on request after publication of the 2021-22 cost book, which is currently scheduled for November 2022.

The Scottish Government is unable to comment on a live investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. Our priority is to support Scotland’s strategically important steel sector and the highly-skilled jobs it provides.

The Scottish Government is not at this stage considering options for a national slavery museum. The remit of the independent Empire, Slavery and Scotland’s Museums steering group is to explore the most appropriate model and mechanism of delivery of a museum. The group was asked not to explore costings or specific locations of a potential building.

In 2019, we introduced a uniform approach to recording and monitoring bullying incidents in schools, supported by guidance. All local authorities and schools are expected to be using the new approach.

It is the responsibility of school staff and local authorities to decide how to address bullying in their schools. We expect that all local authorities have an anti-bullying policy that covers all of their schools and each school should develop and implement an anti-bullying policy in line with this. The policy should indicate how incidents will be dealt with and recorded.

Therefore, this information would need to be requested from each local authority directly.

The Scottish Government is aware that changes to officer pensions have resulted in an increase in the numbers currently retiring.

The recruitment of police officers is a matter for the Chief Constable, who is actively managing workforce challenges and is committed to recruiting 300 new officers each quarter to help return officer numbers to appropriate levels. Implementation began in April when a larger than usual intake of approximately 300 probationers joined the service.

The Scottish Government does not hold statistics on incidents or crimes of animal theft. The data we receive from Police Scotland is a count of the number of crimes and offences recorded by the police, split by local authority, and the number cleared up by the police. The Scottish Government does not receive further details on the characteristics of these crimes. This means we are unable to identify how many reported thefts involved animals being stolen.

Engagement is ongoing with industry, academia and other interested stakeholders in the expansion of NHS Scotland capabilities for genomics. Over the coming months we will be expanding the membership of our Scottish Genomics Leadership Group (SGLG) and relevant work streams to include a wider pool of stakeholders than those currently on the SGLG. This expanded structure will consider the recommendations from the Genetic Major Service Review as well as considerations for further genomics expansion.

The Scottish Government recognises that physical bank branches provide an important service for many individuals and businesses across Scotland. The closing of branches in Scotland raises concerns around access to cash and banking services - particularly for rural communities, vulnerable individuals and digitally excluded customers

I engage regularly with the banking sector through bilateral ministerial meetings and the Financial Services Growth and Development Board, engagements in which concerns around the ability for consumers to access cash and banking services are raised. Following the Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) announcement in March to shut 19 Bank of Scotland branches, I met with LBG representatives to discuss their decision and Governments concerns on the potential impacts on affected communities.

The responsibility for the regulation of the financial services industry is reserved to the UK Government and Scottish Ministers are unable to intervene in the commercial decisions made by banks. HM Treasury announced their intention last year to legislate on “access to cash” and in the Queen’s Speech on 10 May 2022, “ensuring continued access to cash across the UK” is referenced as an intended outcome of the Financial Services and Markets Bill.

The Scottish Government is ready to work constructively with the UK Government on this matter to ensure that Scotland’s communities have fair access to convenient, local cash and banking services.

Since its launch in October 2020, the value of the Self-Isolation Support Grant has been aligned to the value of the Real Living Wage (RLW) during the period that a worker might be required to self-isolate.

The Grant was initially available to workers in receipt of Universal Credit, but was expanded to workers who earn less than the RLW on 16 February 2021.

NHS Scotland expenditure on mental health, including children and adolescents, is reported in the Scottish Health Service Costs , published annually by ISD Scotland.

Expenditure in financial years 2016-17 to 2020-21 in NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, NHS Forth Valley and NHS Dumfries and Galloway, identified as relating to mental health services delivered in hospitals or in the community aimed specifically at children and adolescents, is shown in Table 1. The financial resource allocated to reduce waiting times for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) is not held by Public Health Scotland.

Table 1: