Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Official Report 694KB pdf

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Topical Question Time

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Counsellor Funding (Colleges and Universities)

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on targeted counsellor funding for colleges and universities. (S6T-01299)

Since 2019-20, we have invested more than £13.5 million to provide almost 90 additional counsellors in colleges and universities. That exceeds our programme for government commitment to support the recruitment of 80 such posts. We are committed to meeting our programme for government commitment to provide additional funding for the entirety of the 2022-23 academic year. We are the only United Kingdom nation that is funding student counsellor provision in that way.

Last week, the Education, Children and Young People Committee published its report on college regionalisation, which found that targeted counsellor funding is critical for students. Has demand for mental health counselling increased over the four-year period in which dedicated funding for counsellors has been provided? How will future demand for such services be met if that financial support will not be available beyond the end of this academic year?

On Ms Gosal’s final point, we have committed to publishing a student mental health action plan, which will be forthcoming very shortly. We have not made a final decision on funding beyond the end of this year. We recognise the importance of the investment that we have made thus far, and we want to continue to support students through what we know has been a difficult and challenging time. Fundamentally, the mental health action plan will seek to continue our response to that.

We already know that some colleges will be making drastic reductions in response to the Scottish National Party’s funding settlement. One college is planning for staff redundancies at a rate of up to 25 per cent over the next few years. That situation is not unique. Twenty-one college principals have written to the Scottish Government to plead for help. Such counsellors can provide a life-saving service for many students who struggle with their mental health. Following those pleas, will the minister set out the Government’s position on compulsory redundancies and ensure that all college students can access the services that they need?

I am aware of the letter from the 21 college principals. As members would expect, the Government will, of course, reply to that letter. There has been very close contact with college principals to discuss the issues that we are touching on today. I have made it as clear to them as I am making it to Ms Gosal that we are committed to publishing a student mental health action plan, and I have said what we might be able to do in subsequent years. In relation to funding, we have leveraged in additional resources for colleges for the coming year.

I respectfully say to Ms Gosal that it is not good enough to call for additional funding—as she does week in, week out—for not just the college sector but virtually every sector that involves Government expenditure, without identifying where the money should come from, so I look forward to hearing her say where the money will come from.

As members might expect, there is a lot of interest, so I ask for concise questions and responses to enable more members to take part.

It is my understanding that since 2019-20, the Scottish Government has invested in almost 90 additional counsellors in colleges and universities. Some of those institutions are private organisations and have their own role to play in ensuring that there is provision for the wellbeing of their students.

Can the minister say something about how the work of those professionals, including those who are provided through Government funding, will complement the work of the upcoming student mental health plan?

Kaukab Stewart makes an important point—she is right to identify that the institutions for which we are providing funding have a fundamental core responsibility in that regard. They themselves have to ensure that they are adequately responding to and supporting their students’ mental health needs.

We have assisted with that by providing a substantial package of funding to universities and colleges, and providing additional funding to support the recruitment of those counsellors. Through our student mental health action plan, we will seek to build on that to ensure that we support the resilience and mental wellbeing of students across the country.

We know that 128,000 people have signed a petition to the United Kingdom Government calling for the creation of a statutory legal duty of care for students in higher education. A duty of care already exists for staff and for students who are under 18. Would the minister explore the idea of introducing a statutory legal duty of care for students in colleges and universities?

I cannot say in earnest that it will be me who will be doing that, but the Government should reflect on that matter.

The minister said that no final decision has been made about future funding, which is a little bit more positive, but it leaves those staff in limbo. I hope that the minister will act with a little bit more haste and make a quicker decision on that, because the mental health counsellors have provided an invaluable service for vulnerable students across the college and university sector. How much longer will they have to wait?

I understand the point that Mr Rennie makes, and I take it seriously, because we have to try to provide that clarity. He will understand that we have to go through the usual process, but we have made that commitment to the student mental health action plan, which will come forward very soon. In my view, we should not disaggregate these issues too much, but I take on board his point that we need to provide institutions with clarity as soon as possible.

The health and wellbeing census shows that for many young people, challenges with their mental health begin at school, before college or university. Can the minister give an update on what progress has been made towards the Bute house agreement commitment that every young person has a right to access in-school mental health counselling if they require it? That should, one would hope, reduce the demand for college and university mental health support services.

That is a fair reminder that we have a duty to support the mental wellbeing of all young people in Scotland. We continue to provide £16 million to local authorities towards the commitment to ensure that every secondary school has access to counselling services.

Authorities across the country have confirmed that all schools have such access. Authorities provide the Scottish Government with six-monthly reports on those services, and the latest reports that we analysed showed that just over 14,500 young people accessed the services between January and June 2022, with more than 6,000 of them reporting improved outcomes. The majority of the remaining young people are still accessing the service and their outcomes are yet to be captured, but those will be reported in due course.

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Poverty (Health Inequalities)

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to recent reported analysis by Health Equals, which shows that poverty-driven health inequalities are reducing life expectancy among people who live in the most deprived areas. (S6T-01294)

We are using all the powers and resources that are available to us to tackle poverty, reduce inequality and increase healthy life expectancy, and thereby create a fairer Scotland.

The Scottish Government has allocated almost £3 billion from 2021 to 2023 to mitigate the damage that has been inflicted on households by the United Kingdom Government’s cost of living crisis. We are providing free school meals and increasing the number of hours of free childcare, and we have already increased the Scottish child payment to £25 per week. We have supported 1.85 million households with a council tax reduction and have uprated all the benefits that we deliver. We will continue to deliver free prescriptions, concessionary travel, free personal care and our fair work agenda.

As co-convener of the cross-party group on improving Scotland’s health, and as a member of the Social Justice and Social Security Committee, I am well aware of the disparities in health in Scotland. In 2018, a study showed that a boy born in Muirhouse had a life expectancy 13 years less than that of a boy born in neighbouring Cramond. Analysis from The Health Foundation reported that average life expectancy in Scotland has reduced by 4.4 years since 2013. In addition, drug-related deaths have increased and are 18 times higher in the most deprived areas than they are in the least deprived ones.

Will the minister confirm what steps the Scottish Government has taken to address those health inequalities and the specific health conditions that disproportionately affect people from the most deprived areas?

We absolutely recognise the clear and inextricable links between health inequalities and poverty. That is why we are using all the powers and resources that are available to us to support families as much as possible and to tackle the underlying causes of inequality through our national mission to tackle child poverty.

As Mr Choudhury is aware from being on the CPGs that he is on, we are also targeting people who have low incomes in reaching out to provide healthy, life-changing—[Interruption.] I am sorry. We are also targeting people who live in poverty with the means to stop smoking. Measures such as minimum unit pricing of alcohol, which was aimed at the whole population, have had a particular impact on people who live in poverty; people who live in poverty have been helped most by that policy.

Poverty-driven health inequalities are preventing people with diabetes from accessing technological advances in treatment of their condition. That has been highlighted by Diabetes Scotland’s “Diabetes tech can’t wait” campaign. The technology has the potential to change and, indeed, to save the lives of people with type 1 diabetes. It can also reduce serious complications and reduce the strain on the national health service. Will the minister advise me what action the Government will take to tackle the inequalities of access to hybrid closed-loop diabetes technology that relate to socioeconomic background?

Absolutely. That is a great question. Those people have real difficulty accessing and navigating healthcare. One of the reasons why people who experience health inequalities suffer poorer outcomes is that the system fails to listen and respond to them in the way that it listens and responds to people from wealthier and more educated backgrounds, who are more able to advocate for themselves. Undoubtedly, we will ensure that the system begins to listen to everyone.

I can write to Foysol Choudhury with details of how much money is going into the diabetes technologies. It is a tragedy that one of the greatest predictors of people’s health and life expectancy is their wealth. The Parliament is determined to tackle that brutal tragedy. We will tackle it, but we will need cross-party support to make the bold decisions that will tackle the underlying causes of poverty as well as ensure that people who live in poverty can access equal healthcare.

The analysis to which Mr Choudhury referred makes it clear that 13 years of callous Tory austerity are now impacting on every inch of the United Kingdom. Recent research by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health also linked Tory-led austerity to worsening health outcomes in the 20 per cent most deprived areas of Glasgow and Dundee. Will the minister reiterate the Scottish Government’s commitment to taking action within its powers to tackle the root causes of poverty and associated health inequalities?

Emma Harper is absolutely right to raise that issue. [Interruption.] Foysol Choudhury, too, mentioned the key year of 2013 as being when we started to see life expectancy reduce in Scotland. That is, the academics tell us, because of the Tory-Lib Dem austerity measures, which they brought in in 2010—[Interruption.]

Let us hear the minister.

It is a policy that is absolutely life shortening for people in Scotland. It has had a life-shortening impact on people living in Scotland. [Interruption.] I hear members chuntering from sedentary positions, but for 16 years—the academics are exceptionally clear on this point—austerity and the political choice to pursue austerity politics have been life shortening for people in Scotland, and continue to be so.

That concludes topical question time.