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As at October 2023, our records show that across the whole of the Scottish Government there are currently 155 individuals procured to provide specialist services under a Service Level Agreement.

The Agreements that are put in place stipulate the length of the service period, and so will often set that Agreement in place for a period of two years, or more. Some Agreements have been established with short service periods, such as 6 months, but the norm is for two to three years. Agreements are reviewed annually to consider the service being provided and whether there is a business need for that service continuation.

The percentage of individuals procured by the Scottish Government to provide specialist services under Service Level Agreements compared to the total headcount (as at 30 June 2023) is 1.44%.

As at October 2023, the Scottish Government’s Health and Social Care Directorates (HSCD) have 145 specialist advisors from various NHS Scotland territorial and national boards, procured under a Service Level Agreement, working with Scottish Government officials.

As at October 2023, the Scottish Government’s Health and Social Care Directorates (HSCD) have 8 specialist advisors procured under a Service Level Agreement from NHS Ayrshire and Arran.

Service Level Agreements (SLA) with other public bodies are a commonly used and effective way to procure specialist advisory services for a defined period. Underpinned in Scottish Procurement law by the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 Regulation 13, the SLA approach is used to deliver a specific service through an individuals’ existing specialist skills and experience and so are commonly used across Health and Social Care Directorates (HSCD) to bring in the specialist, clinical knowledge and experience to enhance our vital services.

An SLA is not, therefore, an employment arrangement as the individuals’ employment contract arrangements remain with their employer. In the case of those individuals brought into HSCD, the service level agreement is between the Scottish Government and the relevant NHS Scotland Board.

Funding for mental health services is drawn from the overall funds allocated to NHS Scotland by the Scottish Government. The latest available data from the Public Health Scotland Scottish Health Service Costs shows that for 2021-22 total expenditure by NHS Scotland on mental health was £1.299 billion. The figures for 2022-2023 are yet to be published.

As part of the block funding provided to NHS Boards by the Scottish Government, NHS Boards make operational decisions on how to deploy spend, in a way which best meets local needs. The detail of this is not held by the Scottish Government.

Prevention and early intervention remain a priority for the Scottish Government.

We have placed a stronger focus on preventing mental health issues and tackling the underlying causes and inequalities through our recently published Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy. The provision of advice and support will continue to be an important part of our approach.

We continue to undertake a range of preventative and early intervention mental health work, key examples include:

• We have invested a total of £51m since 2021 in our Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults, with approximately 3,300 grants made to local projects across Scotland in the first two years alone.
• We have allocated a total of £45m since 2021-22 for local authorities to provide over 300 community mental health and wellbeing supports and services for children, young people and their families.
• We published an ambitious Suicide Prevention Strategy and Action Plan with COSLA in 2022, with the vision of reducing suicide deaths and tackling the inequalities which contribute to suicide. The strategy is supported by record funding to double the annual suicide prevention budget to £2.8m by 2026 and we are well on track to achieving this target.
• Since 2016, we have invested over £21m in our world-leading Distress Brief Intervention (DBI) programme, which offers timely, compassionate support to people in distress who come into contact with frontline services. Over 50,000 people have already been referred for DBI support. We are on track to have DBI available in all NHS Board areas by March 2024.

Over the last three years (2021-24), £51 million has been provided through the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults. The following amounts have been provided in each year:

• 2021-22 (Year 1) – £21 million.
• 2022-23 (Year 2) – £15 million.
• 2023-24 (Year 3) – £15 million.

This is in addition to the £45 million allocated to local authorities since 2021 to provide community-based mental health and wellbeing support for children, young people and their families.

Future funding will be subject to the annual budget process and approval by the Scottish Parliament.

In the last five years, SFRS have had a total of 26 High Reach Appliances in their fleet.

From 4 September this year, as part of the SFRS operational strategy and after careful consideration and scrutiny of Incident Recording System (IRS) data, this number will drop to 16. This is part of a number of operational changes the SFRS have undertaken last month.

The operation of high reach appliances and their commission is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

There are currently no plans to close any fire stations in the next year. SFRS are currently considering the responses to a public consultation on the future of Leadhills Fire station in South Lanarkshire however, no decisions have been made at present.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The SFRS fleet, its maintenance and usage are matters for SFRS.