Seòmar agus comataidhean

Our equalities framework has six outcomes and six cross-cutting themes, one of which is recognising equality. That includes the particular needs of women but is also about how we can better reach the black and minority ethnic community.

As well as the Aberlour work that you outlined, and the work of Phoenix Futures at Harper house, which I will touch on in a moment, it is also really important to look at the perinatal mental health work that Kevin Stewart and Clare Haughey are involved in. There is substantial investment in refreshing and updating that work to support women who have mental health issues or use drugs. Much work has been done to change generic, universal and specific health services.

I had the great pleasure of visiting the first of Aberlour’s mother and child recovery houses in Dundee a month or so ago. It was quite an experience. The initiative is part of our work to keep the Promise. As a former social worker, I know the impact of families not being kept together.

We also know that, although significantly more men than women die, the rate of increase among women has been faster in recent years. Ten or 15 years ago, the ratio of deaths between men and women was wider; now, it has narrowed. To take, as you suggest, a gender-informed approach, there are many reasons for that, but at the heart of it are the trauma and grief that women experience when they lose their children. We need to work harder to keep families together—to keep mothers with their babies.

Aberlour will open another mother and child recovery house in the central belt. I await an update on that and I hope that we will have more to say on it in the not too distant future.

The work that Phoenix Futures is doing in Harper house will also be revolutionary. It is a national family service for mums, dads and children aged up to 11. Not just as a minister but as an MSP, I take very seriously my obligations to keep the Promise. Families should not be parted due to a lack of support and a lack of service. The evaluation on Harper house will inform us all for many years to come.

Sorry—would you repeat that?

My sense—it is just my sense—is that we are further away from the start of this journey and are now closer to a conclusion, although I appreciate that it is perhaps not the specificity for which Mr O’Kane and other colleagues are looking.

I will say, and I hope that this is reassuring for the committee to hear, that, given the journey that the task force underwent and the work in which the Crown Office and Police Scotland were involved, we have come to a point at which we as a country and with all our different partners understand what the evidence tells us.

The question that remains is ultimately one for the Lord Advocate, around what she can and cannot do within her powers around statements of public prosecution policy. Criminal Justice Committee members will remember the statement that the Lord Advocate made to the committee about the need for a “detailed and specific” proposition that the community and Police Scotland would buy into. That is what we have worked towards. I am not the arbitrator or the judge of that work—that duty lies with someone else—but, whatever the outcome of this journey, I will always look to get the right solutions in place.

So far, I have committed to and allocated an investment of almost £40 million for existing or new services. That investment touches upon seven services. Those are in Argyll and Bute; at Harper house in Ayrshire; in the Lothians and Edinburgh alcohol abstinence programme; and the new mother and child recovery house in Dundee. We recently announced funding for the north-east, where Phoenix Futures will take forward a project to address the needs of that area. There is also additional investment for Crossreach in Inverness. Those are among the seven distinct investments in new and existing services or projects. That £38 million will increase capacity by 40 per cent.

I am pleased to say that some of those new services are now up and running. We made a commitment to go from 425 to 650 beds. The investment thus far takes us to 600, with some of those beds already in use.

As well as increasing capacity, we are improving access. We wanted to ensure that the existing capacity within the system was being fully utilised. Our information is now a couple of years old, but some establishments were not full to capacity following lockdown. That is why we directed £5 million of funding for residential rehabilitation and aftercare to ADPs across the country. We should never forget aftercare, which is a crucial part of the whole-system approach.

I hope that is helpful.

That is a very important question. A range of colleagues across the Government have a direct interest in throughcare standards. You can well understand that, although they may be primarily a matter for justice ministers, there has to be an interest from housing ministers and other ministers who are focused on community services.

From my perspective, aftercare is one of the key issues. When people are released from custody, there is a period of transition, and any period of transition comes with risks. We know from all the evidence that, for some people, there can be a heightened risk of overdose when they are released from prison. That is why the peer-to-peer work that we are funding—which will be extended into all prisons—in respect of naloxone, for example, is so important.

I should perhaps have mentioned in my general update that we published on Monday our updated pathway from prison to rehab. I am a big advocate of prison to rehab. Rehab is not for everyone, but it should be there as an option for everyone for whom it is considered appropriate. We needed to do further work to ensure that both prison staff and people who are leaving custody are better prepared for what to expect when someone moves from a custodial setting into rehab.

It is about the continuity of connections with a community, even if the person been removed from that community. Planning for someone’s release should not be left to the last minute. I have a great personal interest in this area given that I have been a prison social worker in three establishments and my last post, prior to being elected to the Scottish Parliament, was at the state hospital. As with all planning, it needs to start not just early but at the point at which people start their sentences.

I can well understand why the committee has grappled with that, because unplanned discharges from court with little or no support elevate risk. The baseline approach is that we need to reform and change the whole system. That begs the question of whether remand should be used less so that we can get better bail arrangements in place. That would help to prevent those unplanned discharges from court.

Some interesting work is being done around the country in this area. In Edinburgh, there is a really interesting nursing team that does crucial court work. I met it some time ago. Again, that is all about continuity of treatment for people with substance use difficulties.

I absolutely agree that we could reduce the number of unplanned discharges from court by reforming the use of bail—where that is appropriate, obviously, because public protection is always paramount—and reducing the number of people who are on remand. It really has to be about every part of the system—whether it is justice, health or social work—being in a position to respond to needs much more quickly and swiftly. That goes back to the importance of the throughcare standards.

Where we need a cultural shift or a shift in mindset is that, first and foremost, we need to see families as partners because, at the end of the day, they often know their loved one better than any service provider does. As well as working to support the loved one who is affected by substance use, we must ensure that individuals within families receive support for all their needs. Families have expertise that we really need to tap into, respond to and listen to. That is the raison d’être of the family-inclusive practice that is at the heart of the whole-family approach. We have attached funding amounting to £6.5 million a year to that via ADPs and the Corra Foundation. There is continuity of that funding.

That is why the audit is really important. Although it might not make me universally popular, I am asking for more information than ever before about what people are doing with Scottish Government funding, because it is important in improving consistency and accountability. I am accountable to Parliament and local services and local politicians are accountable to their communities. We are currently working through that audit.

As well as bearing down and scrutinising what is or is not happening, we are, through the multidisciplinary expert group, trying to provide practical, hands-on support.

There is on-going engagement with my officials, as you would expect. I would have to check when I last spoke to Police Scotland. In the past, I have had lots of engagement with Assistant Chief Constable Gary Ritchie, who was very involved in the task force.

Yes, I believe that it has. As it often does, Audit Scotland made an important and serious point about our needing transparency. The criticism of that is that we will have to ask for lots of information that we then have to publish and people will complain about the resource that is attached to that. We have heard Ms McNeill raise a fair point about the bureaucracy around that.

For clarity, I accepted Audit Scotland’s point, and I believe that we have demonstrated transparency through our reporting on the national mission; our annual report, which is available for people to read; and the publication of quarterly reporting around things such as publicly funded residential rehabilitation.

That is an important point. Obviously, local partners are accountable for the implementation of both reports from the Dundee drugs commission. The commission has done an impressive amount of detailed work. From my engagement with the local ADP and, crucially, senior leaders in the integration joint board and the health board, I know that there is a commitment to taking that forward.

What is most notable to me is that there have been attempts at a real reset of the relationship with the third sector. We have not spoken much about the third sector this morning but, not just in Dundee but elsewhere, we need leadership in that regard. We need meaningful partnership and a bit more parity of esteem between statutory services and the third sector. I see some movement on that in Dundee. I am happy to provide further information on that to Ms Chapman directly.