Seòmar agus comataidhean

To ask the Scottish Government when it last discussed plans with NHS Lanarkshire to ensure that neurodivergent children and young people receive the right treatment and support. (S6O-04233)

In March last year, I raised with the First Minister the case of my constituent in Lanarkshire, who is now just 14, who had been waiting three and a half years for a neurodevelopmental assessment. She was eventually given an assessment in April last year, but she then had to wait until December before any treatment began. That wee girl’s mum described to me how her daughter often spent hours lying on the floor, screaming and crying in pain. She believes that, had she had that treatment sooner, she would not be facing a massive uphill struggle to get her health and life back.

Minister, my constituent’s mum wants to know why it has taken more than four years for her daughter to finally get treatment. What is the Government doing to change things and stop other kids who are struggling now having to wait years to get the support that they need?

A decade ago, the Scottish Government promised to eradicate delayed discharges. Since then, 193,000 bed days have been lost to delayed discharge in NHS Dumfries and Galloway, and the latest figures show that that number is rising yet again. It is no wonder that, today, the Royal College of Nursing published devastating testimony of nurses who are having to care for patients on trolleys because there are no spare hospital beds. When will the Government finally deliver on its promise to eradicate delayed discharge, or is that just another broken Scottish National Party health promise?

To ask the Scottish Government when it last discussed plans to reduce delayed discharge with NHS Dumfries and Galloway. (S6O-04205)

The cabinet secretary referred to funding for the warmer homes Scotland scheme. What discussions has she had with her colleagues on the Government’s consistent failure to spend the budget that it sets aside for area-based energy efficiency projects? Does she not agree that the failure to spend £62 million of the £192 million allocated in the past three years is appalling, as is the fact that research by the Chartered Institute of Building shows that fewer than 40 per cent of older people are even aware of the Government’s energy efficiency schemes?

I welcome the debate and the fact that, as a result of the record funding settlement from the UK Government to this Parliament of an extra £5.2 billion over the next two years, there is an opportunity to reset the damaged relationship between the Scottish Government and the sector. The proposed uplift in the Scottish Government’s budget this year can be a first step, but there remains uncertainty over the approach to how that funding will be allocated by Creative Scotland.

Many organisations that currently are not regularly funded access funding for their on-going work through annual applications to the open fund. It is unclear whether that route will be available in the future, as Creative Scotland seems to be hinting that multiyear funding may become the only route to support regular or on-going work. Maybe in the cabinet secretary’s closing comments he can provide some clarity on that issue, because Creative Scotland has not, and it remains a concern for any organisation that might be unsuccessful in what is an oversubscribed bidding process for multiyear funding.

Looking to the longer term, I appreciate that the Government has announced a review of Creative Scotland and cultural funding. That is welcome, but it is often referred to as a review of Creative Scotland. Although that is an important aspect of the review, it is also important that it looks at the Government’s approach and decisions. The Government needs to take a far more strategic view on what public funds should deliver, what a sustainable level of cultural funding is and how we provide on-going certainty and confidence to a sector that feels that it has been badly let down by decisions in recent years. The review also needs to ensure that we better recognise the role of culture in delivering creative place making in our communities.

In November, I had the privilege of co-hosting an event in Parliament that was organised by the Stove Network in Dumfries. It has been working with South of Scotland Enterprise on creative place making using the arts and culture as the foundation of community engagement and involvement because of the positive impact that that has on health, employment, wellbeing and regeneration. The current silo model of cultural funding, with its emphasis and focus on performance—often professional—does not properly recognise participation. In contrast, for example, Ireland—

I do not think that I have any extra time.

I would love to take the intervention, but unfortunately I do not have extra time. However, I appreciate that Emma Harper also co-hosted that event. She will have heard the speaker from Ireland who talked about the fact that Ireland has a specific additional funding stream for participation in community-based practice. To be fair, we have that for sport in Scotland, but we do not have it for culture and arts.

We also need to better recognise the wider role of culture in delivering the wellbeing economy—preventing social isolation, improving mental health and regenerating communities—by better ring-fencing funding streams for that participation.

There must also be more regional equity in the allocation of funding. Festivals and events play a hugely important part in my region of Dumfries and Galloway, but in recent years we have lost many major festivals, including the Wickerman festival, the Electric Fields festival and the Doonhame festival. Next week, the Big Burns Supper will return, but it will do so in a much reduced format, having been cancelled last year as a direct result of the Scottish Government’s decision to axe the winter festival funding. When new festivals emerge, such as Music at the Multiverse, in a bid to replace those that have been lost, they really struggle to get support from Government agencies.

The cultural offering in Scotland is about more than big international festivals. That needs to be reflected when it comes to Government support for a sector that makes a significant difference to communities in every part of Scotland and, in particular, helps people to participate and make a big difference to the area in which they live.

The figures show a 16 per cent rise in ASN pupils in Dumfries and Galloway since 2019, and that number continues to rise. The number of ASL teachers has been cut by 16 per cent over the same period and by a shocking 40 per cent since 2010. What assurances can the cabinet secretary give that those cuts in ASL teachers will be fully reversed by the Government’s budget and through the recruitment of additional teachers, at a time when the council is consulting on further cuts to ASL teachers? Behind those numbers, there are far too many young people who are simply not getting the support that they need.

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the data from the pupil census supplementary statistics, which reportedly shows that the number of pupils with additional support needs in Dumfries and Galloway increased by over 1,000 between 2019 and 2023. (S6O-04171)