Chamber and committees

Information on the numbers of women over the screening age who have self-referred into the breast screening programme can be found in the tables below.

Please note that in 2003, the age range for routine invitation to the breast screening programme was amended. Women aged 50 to 64 years old were invited for routine breast screening up to 2003, and from 2003, women aged 50 to 70 years old were routinely invited.

It is important to note that the data below is management information and has not been subject to the necessary quality checks carried out for an official publication. The breast screening year runs from 1st April to 31st March.

Table 1: Breast screening attendance by women aged 65 and over self-referring to the screening programme in Scotland, 1st April 1999 to 31st March 2003.

Support from the £10 million Fuel Insecurity Fund will be delivered by third sector partner organisations and will be available to households across Scotland who are at risk of self-disconnecting, or self-rationing their energy use this winter, regardless of tariff type or fuel type.

Through all of the projects supported by the Fuel Insecurity Fund, we will seek to ensure that those receiving help are not just provided with financial support but that they are also connected with wider advice and support on energy efficiency, income maximisation and how to reduce energy bills.

The Scottish Government is committed to our Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) being operational as soon as practicably possible. We are working hard with Circularity Scotland Ltd and wider industry to agree a final timescale and clear milestones for delivery, and will announce this schedule to Parliament in due course.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

Since 1991 the SPS Prison Survey has provided a unique insight into life in Scottish prisons from the perspective of those who are in custodial care; it furnishes a meaningful channel for the “user’s voice” to be heard. It offers a rich data source which complements official statistics and provides the Service, partner agencies, researchers and academics with valuable time-series trends. The Survey focuses on the core elements of prison life: living conditions, family contact, healthcare, relationships, atmosphere and perceived safety. Over the years, the questionnaire has introduced new topics on mental health, substance misuse, housing status, military service, knife carrying, gang membership, violence against women, equality and diversity, looked after as a child and adverse childhood experiences. The most recent Prison Survey in 2019 [1] found that one quarter of those held in custody reported that they had been in care at some point during their up-bringing.

Work undertaken in 2017-18 by SPS and the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice (CYCJ) [2] on children and young people in custody also showed that they came from a range of communities across Scotland, but most came predominantly from the central belt. The highest numbers of young people in both age ranges were from the most deprived 10% of communities, with almost two-thirds of the 16 and 17 year olds and over half of 16 to 21 year olds living in the 20% most deprived communities in Scotland.

[1] Prison Survey 2019, J. Carnie & R. Broderick, Scottish Prison Service, 2019, page 19

Publications (sps.gov.uk)

[2] Children and Young People in Custody in Scotland: Looking Behind the Data, G. Robinson, J. Leishman & C. Lightowler, Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice, 2018, page 8

Children and Young People in Custody in Scotland: Looking Behind the Data (Revised June 2018) - Children's and Young People's Centre for Justice (cycj.org.uk)

The Scottish Government has set out the range of technologies that it considers to be low or zero emissions heating systems – and which includes a range of renewable heating systems – at page 16 of the Heat in Buildings Strategy.

The Strategy can be accessed at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/heat-buildings-strategy-achieving-net-zero-emissions-scotlands-buildings/

As set out in the Heat in Buildings Strategy, the Scottish Government will consult in detail on our approach to regulating heat in buildings during 2022, which may include further discussion of those technologies which will, or will not, be compliant with future standards.

Gamete (egg and sperm) storage can be provided by the NHS with informed consent from patients (regulated by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) and by law under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 (as amended)) under the following circumstances:

• Storage of personal gametes for use in NHS Assisted Conception Treatment by couples that fulfil the access criteria.
• Storage of gametes for patients who require fertility preservation treatment.
• Storage of gametes donated altruistically by sperm or egg donors for use in NHS Assisted Conception Treatment.

During the COVID-19 pandemic we have worked closely with Health Boards to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on demand and capacity. Services are now working hard to return to previous activity levels and to deal with any backlogs that have developed, as well as to address long-standing issues around access to services. That is why we have set out in our Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan, published on 8 October, our plans to provide a tailored programme of enhanced improvement support for individual NHS Boards to improve their waiting times performance. We are also working on a national programme of support to Boards based on key themes emerging from their Covid remobilisation plans. Our Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan is supported by a £120 million Recovery and Renewal fund, announced in February 2021. The Fund will transform services, with a renewed focus on prevention and early intervention.

This year, £89m has already been allocated from the Fund. This includes an additional £9m to address Psychological Therapies waiting times. We remain committed to meeting the standard that 90% of patients begin treatment within 18 weeks of referral.

We are also taking steps to grow the mental health workforce to meet increasing demand, including increasing the Clinical Psychology Doctorate Training Programme intake by 10 trainees per year for the next three years; supporting 10 Masters level training places per year for the next three years; and funding a new Enhanced Psychology Practitioner training programme to create a new workforce of psychological practitioners capable of delivering high-quality, evidence-based interventions for mild to moderate difficulties in a way that can be deployed in Primary Care, Community, Early Years, and Schools. We have also developed a new Psychology Wellbeing Practitioner role within NHS24 to provide a compassionate response and support to callers who are experiencing mental health difficulties and distress.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of the provision of safe and reliable lifeline ferry services for our island economies. We recognise how frustrating delays and cancellations can be for businesses, individual and communities but it should be remembered that they happen for a variety of reasons, often weather related or for reasons outwith Calmac’s control. Our focus is very much on preventing service disruption where that is possible, so we continue to work with CalMac to maximise available capacity across the network.

The Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 introduced a number of measures ensuring that there is a sustained focus across Government and the public sector to meet the needs of island communities now and in the future.

The vast majority of the school estate is the responsibility of, and managed by, local authorities. The Scottish Government’s Learning Estate Strategy and its guiding principles provide a platform for investment in the learning estate across Scotland and set out our strategic approach for managing the learning estate. One of these guiding principles is that learning environments should serve the wider community and where appropriate be integrated with the delivery of other public services.

The Programme for Government aims to address the inequalities in our society, and create a fair, equal society for all. The commitment to doubling investment in sport and active living is aligned to this wider aim and will be used to ensure we support participation across all groups and address inequalities in access to physical activity and sport.

As part of its ongoing commitment to develop the sporting system, sport scotland continues to work with local authorities to encourage and support them in widening access to school sport facilities. This has involved working in partnership with local authorities to support various aspects of their planning, including facilitating the development of local sport and sport facilities strategies, and supporting operational planning at individual school level, including developing Community Sport Hubs within schools.

Community Sport Hubs are delivered in partnership with the local authority, ensuring that there is full commitment to delivering community access to the school estate from the outset. Community Sport Hubs provide a home for sport. They bring together sport clubs and community organisations who want to develop and grow the sporting offering in the community. They focus on sustainable, community-led approaches that get clubs working together to develop a welcoming, safe, and fun environments for sport.

Our Transition and Recovery Plan recognised that there can be challenges relating to rural isolation, which may be increasingly felt by those in remote communities as a result of the pandemic. We have committed to working in partnership with the National Rural Mental Health Forum to develop an approach to ensure that these communities have equal and timely access to mental health support and services, including consideration of whether dedicated pathways are needed. We’re keen to support efforts by NHS Boards to promote the use of digital services, in particular to maximise the benefits for rural communities; whilst recognising that this isn’t the solution for everyone.

Our Transition and Recovery Plan is supported by a £120m Recovery and Renewal fund. This year, a total of £9m has been allocated from this fund to address Psychological Therapies waiting times. Phase one funding of £5 million was allocated to Health Boards to address long waits within psychological therapies. Phase two funding of £4 million was recently approved to allow Boards to recruit more staff now, see the longest waits, meet the anticipated winter surge of those being referred for psychological interventions, and support the creation of a more effective digital infrastructure so those in remote and rural communities can be seen whenever and wherever they require care. Phase two funding included a minimum allocation for Island Boards to ensure that they can use the money in the transformational way it is intended.