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The Scottish Government is committed to introducing new and innovative treatment practices to address problem substance use, based on strong and sufficient evidence.

We have had discussions with a number of external stakeholders as well as internal policy and analytical teams to help inform our position on NET. As a result of these discussions we were advised that before Neuro-Electric Therapy (NET) could be made available as a treatment option through the NHS, it must be researched according to current guidelines and NHS ethics and be registered, as a licensed medical device, with Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency ( MHRA). Until this happens the device can only be used in experiments or medical trials.

These discussions also concluded that as Scottish Government does not directly fund clinical trials or literature reviews into the efficacy of specific treatment interventions, we should recommend that NET RECOVERY Corporation- the company that manufactures NET device - should explore funding streams available through a number of open and competitive funding channels including Medical Research Council and the CMOs Chief Scientist Office.

The Scottish Government provided a progress update on major capital projects, including NHS infrastructure projects, to the Public Audit Committee by letter dated 23 June 2021. In relation to funding for a replacement eye hospital for NHS Lothian, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-00975 on
‎ 23 June 2021. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

The information you have requested on the number of people who have a community alarm is set out below. We do not gather information on the number of households that this applies to so we cannot provide this information. There also wasn't a national collection pre 2011, so all existing data is included below.

The exact information requested is not available centrally. The following table shows number of people reported on HL1 applications. applying for Local Authority assistance and presenting as homeless or threatened with homelessness, each year between 2016-17 and 2019-20 and their attendance at Accident and Emergency Departments in the 6 months before and after assessment decision date. The information presented is limited to 11 Local Authorities and the years shown.

The information in the table below will also exclude any homeless people or rough sleepers who attended Accident and Emergency Departments, but did not apply for Local Authority homelessness assistance.

Table 1: A&E attendances in the period before and after HL1 assessment decision date by financial year of the decision date.

The Scottish Government does not hold the precise information to answer this question. The Scottish Government is investigating whether any related useful analysis can be released based on the data held. I will write to the member with an update on this matter when one is available, with a copy of any analysis which can be provided placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib number 62572).

Covid 19 has exacerbated, and brought into full focus, the existing inequalities that exist within Scotland. Ensuring equitable access to health services and improving the health outcomes for specific groups within our society, including the homeless population, is a crucial aspect of our post-Covid recovery work.

It is essential to ensure that individuals experiencing homelessness are able to access the right care at the right time. We are taking a multi-disciplinary approach across health, homelessness and frontline services in order to strengthen partnerships and to improve outcomes for people experiencing homelessness, particularly for those with more complex needs.

The joint Scottish Government /COSLA ‘Ending Homelessness Together Action Plan’, includes plans for a ‘no wrong door’ approach to accessing support and services for those experiencing homelessness, as well as plans for a new duty for public bodies, including health services, to help prevent homelessness. We are also taking steps to break down the silos between homelessness and health services, including through funding and supporting the development of the Housing First model for those with more complex needs, and through funding a Healthcare Improvement Scotland project to identify the learning from the joint working across homelessness and addictions services that has been adopted during the pandemic.

The Scottish Government is working to support a whole system change in delivering good family support, support that is flexible and sustained for as long as it is needed, and driven by the needs and voice of families. This will include supporting families with bereavement.

Since 2016 the Scottish Government has funded Cruse Scotland and Child Bereavement UK through the Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention & Adult Learning and Empowering Communities Fund to provide support to individuals and families who have been bereaved.

Additionally, the National Family Support Directory can be accessed by families for information on bereavement help and support.

In March 2020 we awarded a contract to Includem to deliver a childhood bereavement coordinator for two years. This post has strategic oversight of childhood bereavement support services in Scotland and acts as a national champion, aiming to work with partners to develop an action plan and vision for support for those children and young people who have experienced bereavement.

The Scottish Government also fund and support the National Bereavement Care Pathways (NBCP) for 5 types of pregnancy and baby loss, led by SANDS UK, which are currently being piloted in 4 early adopter health boards. The NBCP Core Group will meet later this year to discuss timings for the next wave of boards joining. In addition to this psychological support for families using maternity and neonatal services is being implemented across Scotland as part of a wider £50 million investment in perinatal and infant mental health.

We continue to work with NHS Education for Scotland who support the education and training needs of those who work with the bereaved in Scotland.

Scottish Government annual statistics on the number of long term empty properties and unoccupied exemptions are published at

Housing statistics quarterly update: December 2020 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) ,

with detailed local authority level Excel tables with figures from 1996 to 2020 available at Housing statistics: Empty properties and second homes - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

These figures are sourced from the Council Tax Base data return, and relate to properties on the Council Tax Valuation List as at the first Monday in September each year.

Since 2007, the number of long term empty properties in Scotland has increased from 20,328 properties to 47,333 in 2020. However some of the rises across this period, particularly across 2013 to 2015, will have been due to reclassification exercises which local authorities carry out from time to time, or issues with management information systems, rather than being real changes in the numbers of long term empty properties.

The 16% (6,370 properties) increase in the number of long-term empty properties over the latest year between September 2019 and September 2020 is likely to be associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, which directly affected both the property rental and sales markets, with the movement restrictions in place also having a range of other impacts.

The most recent annual data as at September 2020 shows that the local authorities with the highest number of long-term empty properties include the City of Edinburgh (7,152 properties), Aberdeen City (4,537 properties), Glasgow City (3,536 properties), Aberdeenshire (3,167), and Fife (2,943).

The criteria for analysing national developments was published in January 2020 as part of our Call for Ideas early engagement programme. The four criteria are: reducing emissions; supporting health, wellbeing, sustainability and quality of life of our population; reducing poverty and inequality through sustainable economic growth; and protecting or enhancing quality of place.

We are currently assessing the national developments suggested to us against those criteria alongside the development of the strategy, which national developments will help to deliver. We are also undertaking a range of statutory and non-statutory impact assessments which will inform our consideration. The draft National Planning Framework 4, including details of proposed national developments, will be laid in Parliament in autumn 2021. Extensive public engagement will run alongside Parliament’s consideration of the draft and will provide further opportunity for anyone to comment on the proposed national developments, or alternatives to them.

Scottish Government annual statistics on the number of household applicants on local authority or common housing register lists as at the end of March each year from 2001 to 2019 are published at

https://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-scotland-2019-key-trends-summary/ , with detailed local authority level Excel tables available at https://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-management-of-local-authority-housing/ .

More recent figures as at March 2020 are not yet available due to a delay in the publication of annual housing statistics for 2020 due to the impacts of COVID-19 on data provision and staff resourcing.

The annual statistics figures are sourced from local authority data returns that provide information on the number of applicants on local authority or common housing register lists (excluding stock transfer authorities), and will include households using choice based lettings where the application details registered as part of these schemes are considered to form part of the main housing register. Some applicants will be on more than one waiting list, and therefore the total figures presented will include an unidentifiable level of multiple counting of applicants.

Separate survey based estimates of the proportion of households on housing lists or using choice based letting are published as part of the Scottish Government Scottish Household Survey outputs, with local authority level figures available in Tables 3.18a and 3.18b at https://scotland.shinyapps.io/sg-scottish-household-survey-data-explorer/ . Note that the Scottish Household Survey figures are based on the proportion of households reporting to be on any type of housing list, which will include housing association lists as well as council lists.

The Scottish Household Survey figures are subject to sampling variation, especially at a local authority level, however the results are not subject to any double counting issues. In addition the figures cover all local authorities, including stock transfer authorities, so they provide the most reliable national level estimates available.

The published figures for the number of households on housing lists or using choice based lettings equate to an estimated number of households as presented in the following table.

Note that the Scottish Household Survey figures in Table 1 include households who are already living in the social rented sector who are looking to transfer to another social rented home, as well as households looking to move into social rented properties from other housing tenures.

Table 1: Scottish Household Survey: Estimated number of households on a housing list, 2013 to 2019.

(Figures for 2013 to 2016 include households on a housing list. Figures for 2017 to 2019 include households either on a housing list or who are seeking social housing using choice based lettings)