Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07558 on 19 April 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

As part of the Scottish Government’s 2021-22 Mental Health Recovery and Renewal Fund, we allocated an additional £40 million to NHS Boards to improve Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and to clear waiting list backlogs by March 2023. We are also continuing to work directly with Health Boards with the poorest performance to ensure the 18 week waiting time standard is met.

As set out in the Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan, we are taking a whole systems approach to improving children and young people’s mental health. Alongside investing in acute CAMHS, we are ensuring community services and school counselling are also available in a responsive and timely manner. We are developing responses to young people experiencing crisis and distress, as well as investing in approaches that promote prevention, early intervention and reducing stigma.

To support this approach, an additional £15 million was provided to local authorities in 2021-22, with the same amount being provided again in 2022-23, to deliver locally based mental health and wellbeing support for 5-24 year olds in their communities, providing alternative treatment options focussed on prevention and early intervention. We have also ensured access to counselling support services in all secondary schools.

This package of commitments is designed to ensure the right help is available, in the right place, at the right time. This additional investment will contribute towards delivering our commitment to ensure that, by the end of this Parliament, at least 10% of frontline NHS spend goes towards mental health, with 1% going towards CAMHS.

For reference details of the 9 projects are available from the Chief Scientist Office website

Long Covid Call – Chief Scientist Office (scot.nhs.uk)

Six-month progress reports have been received for all 9 projects

A twelve-month progress report has been received for project LTE/20/04

On 31 March 2022 the Chief Scientist Office hosted a virtual symposium where the lead investigators for each of the 9 projects presented the results obtained to date

The Scottish government’s principle engagement mechanism with disabled people and the organisations which represent them is through regular meetings with the Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland (MACS), an independent advisory non-departmental public body. Their role is to consider matters about the needs of disabled persons in connection with transport that the committee think are appropriate.

Transport Scotland has consulted and engaged with disabled people’s groups to deliver updated Cycling by Design guidance, Inclusive Design Guidance for Town Centres and Busy Street and more specific work including Free Bikes for Children who cannot afford them and ongoing work on accessible bike hire.

The Scottish Government is committed to tackling all forms of racism, including antisemitism. We adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism in June 2017. This is the Scottish Government position and it applies to all Ministers. We encourage all bodies to sign up to the IHRA definition of antisemitism.

We are actively engaged in consultation with Jewish students, Jewish community organisations, and stakeholders in higher education as part of our wider approach to tackling antisemitism.

On 23 February 2022, I held a round table discussion on antisemitism in higher education with Jewish students, representatives from the Jewish community, and stakeholders from the higher education sector. The event was organised in response to a letter from the Union of Jewish Students regarding universities and the IHRA definition of antisemitism.

It was an opportunity for students to share their experiences of antisemitism and also to hear from stakeholders about the work they are doing to confront this issue in practice. The discussion was very productive, with all parties agreeing to undertake positive actions to address antisemitism on campus going forward.

The routine immunisation programmes have continued in Scotland throughout the COVID-19 pandemic despite code black status being declared in some NHS Boards.

Uptake rates for routine programmes have remained consistently high across Scotland. Maintaining the best possible uptake of immunisations is a priority for the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland, and this reflects the hard work and commitment of our colleagues within the NHS.

The latest statistical releases from Public Health Scotland can be found here: Publications - Public Health Scotland

Recruitment of invigilators is an operational matter for the SQA. SQA is working with centres to ensure sufficient numbers of invigilators are available, with contingencies in place to mitigate any unexpected absences due to Covid-19 during the exams.

An evidence review on international approaches to challenging demand is being carried out by Scottish Government’s Justice Analytical Services (JAS), and will be published later this year as an official social research report.

As is the case with all Analytical Services Divisions within the Scottish Government, JAS provide impartial evidence-based advice to support policy development - with all social research needing to comply with the Scottish Government’s ethical principles. These principles specifically require researchers to consider and address ethical risks to protect against distortion and bias in the interpretation of findings.

This analysis will support the development of a model for Scotland which effectively tackles and challenges men’s demand for prostitution, whilst taking into account Scotland’s unique legal and societal landscape.

The Scottish Government takes bullying very seriously. Bullying of any kind is completely unacceptable and must be addressed.

In November 2017, the Scottish Government published updated anti-bullying guidance ‘Respect for All: The National Approach to Anti-bullying for Scotland’s Children and Young People’

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

The Scottish Government currently has no plans for the numbers of bullying incidents to be collated at a national level. Recording and monitoring is essential and best carried out locally where recurring patterns can be understood and acted upon. An evaluation will be undertaken later this year to assess how successfully the new system has been embedded.

respect me, Scotland’s anti-bullying service, continues to provide support to all adults working with children and young people to give them the practical skills and confidence to deal with all types of bullying behaviour.

An exam exceptional circumstances service will be available for learners who miss their exam due to, for example, illness which would include being ill with Covid-19.

This service is based on SQA’s established annual process. If a candidate is eligible for exceptional circumstances, their centre will provide appropriate assessment evidence gathered during the course of the year. The SQA will review this, along with any exam script and coursework, against the national standard to award appropriate grades.