Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-36359

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 30 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that women seeking an abortion are informed of all the treatment options that they are legally entitled to.

Question reference: S6W-35929

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to support the roll-out of alcohol-related brain damage services across Scotland to ensure equal access to support and treatment for all patients.

The Scottish Government is keen to see equal access to support for all alcohol conditions, including ARBD, and will continue to encourage local areas to base service provision on local needs.

We have committed to publishing a National Specification for alcohol and drug treatment and support services. The Specification will set out what services are required to implement the Charter of Rights for people affected by substance use, which includes those impacted by ARBD.

Question reference: S6W-35927

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting health and social care partnerships to implement the recommendations in the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland 2021 report on care and treatment for people with alcohol-related brain damage.

The Scottish Government supports Health and Social Care Partnerships with funding provided to Health Boards and local authorities to implement guidance, such as that published by the Mental Welfare Commission on alcohol-related brain damage.

That will be supplemented soon by the UK’s first comprehensive guidance for clinical treatment for alcohol conditions. The guidance will include requirements for the treatment of ARBD and we will support the adoption of the clinical guidance.

We recognise that the management and support required for people with ARBD is not limited to healthcare. Whether it is social care, mental health support, primary care or alcohol treatment and support - including rehabilitation - in communities or in residential settings, the person affected must be at the centre of the support pathway.

Question reference: S6W-35928

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to increase training on alcohol-related brain damage for health and social care staff.

The Scottish Government will encourage local delivery partners such as Health and Social Care Partnerships to identify training needs and ensure staff are able to receive all relevant training.

The need for more specific training on ARBD is now something local delivery partners should be addressing and the Scottish Government will be keen to promote this wherever possible.

We have committed to publishing a National Specification for alcohol and drug treatment and support services. The Specification will set out what services are required to implement the Charter of Rights for people affected by substance use, which includes those impacted by ARBD.

Question reference: S6W-35932

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to raise public awareness of alcohol-related brain damage.

Question reference: S6W-35930

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the (a) continuation of the Managed Alcohol Programme (MAP) in Scotland and (b) importance of MAP in addressing alcohol-related brain damage.

We continue to fund the Managed Alcohol Programme pilot in Glasgow being run by Simon Community Scotland. We await the evaluation of the pilot being undertaken by the University of Stirling before reaching a position on future expansion.

The MAP pilot itself does not contribute directly to work being done to address alcohol-related brain damage, as those impacted by ARBD are referred elsewhere. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde does offer ARBD supported accommodation through Penumbra.

Question reference: S6W-35931

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the (a) continuation of the Primary Care Alcohol Nurse Outreach Service (PCANOS) and (b) importance of PCANOS in addressing alcohol-related brain damage.

NHS GGC agreed in May 2024 that its PCANOS model and staff would be embedded into their specialist Alcohol and Drug Recovery Services in order to ensure long term sustainability. The realignment of PCANOS expertise into Glasgow Alcohol and Drug Recovery Services ensures that staff are fully supported by the wider Alcohol and Drug Recovery Service team to provide a full range of clinical, medical and psychosocial support services to individuals.

Glasgow City ADP greatly value the variety of specialist alcohol services across the city in dealing with the public health crisis in relation to alcohol. The Managed Alcohol Programme, the Fibro scanner pilot and the community and residential Alcohol Related Brain Damage Services are just some examples of the innovative and impactful provision in the city.

The Scottish Government is fully supportive of the actions being taken by both NHS GGC and Glasgow City ADP.

Question reference: S6W-35933

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will develop a specific standard for the provision of alcohol-related brain damage services in every health and social care partnership.

The Scottish Government has committed in our Cross Government Plan for tackling substance use harms to developing standards for alcohol and drug treatment and recovery.

In the development of those standards, ARBD is a particular condition that will be a focus of attention given the significant number of people it has affected. The standards will bring together a range of guidance, principles and other relevant standards to help ensure services are working together, which is particularly important for conditions such as ARBD which requires a range of support to be offered in one package.

Question reference: S6W-36164

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it has engaged with the construction sector in East Ayrshire to determine the demand for roof slating and tiling apprenticeship opportunities in the area, in light of reports that the National Federation of Roofing Contractors was unable to get a course re-established at Ayrshire College because it did not meet the requirement set out in the final report of the Skills Delivery Landscape Review, Fit for the Future: developing a post-school learning system to fuel economic transformation, that “to use resources to best effect, and to ensure funding and provision can be aligned to need (not just demand), then there must be a clear articulation of the areas that are a national priority”.

Question reference: S6W-36163

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that apprentices have equitable access to learning opportunities, and what its response is to reports that some roofing apprentices in East Ayrshire have a two-hour journey to and from college for training.

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