Seòmar agus comataidhean

There are currently 54 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) inpatient beds across Scotland for children and adolescents.

Forty eight of these beds are commissioned on a regional basis. These are split across:

• NHS Tayside at Dudhope Young People’s Inpatient Unit - 12 beds;
• NHS Lothian at Melville Young People’s Mental Health Unit - 12 beds;
• NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde at Skye House Adolescent Inpatient Unit - 24 beds.

These units admit children and young people from Health Boards in that region, with the flexibility to admit from other regions if the unit closest to a child or young person is full.

Additionally, the National Child Psychiatry Inpatient Unit in the Glasgow Royal Hospital for Children has 6 beds for children under 12 years and admits children from across Scotland, based on clinical need.

As stated in the answer to S6W-13242 responsibility for the publication of costs on delayed discharges rests with Public Health Scotland, and future plans for publication of this information is currently being reviewed by PHS .

There are currently 22 trainee doctors undertaking specialty training in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

In February 2020, Scottish Government published the National Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Service Specification which outlines provisions young people and their families can expect from the NHS.

Following recommendations made in Mental Welfare Commission reports, Scottish Government commissioned a national review of existing provision for young people under 18 years who had needs and risks that required intensive psychiatric care. This review published its findings in June 2021 and recommended purpose-built regional units adjacent to existing inpatient services.

As a follow-up, Scottish Government is supporting the development of three regional Intensive Psychiatric Care Units (IPCUs) to be hosted within NHS Lothian, Tayside and Greater Glasgow and Clyde. The provision of intensive psychiatric care beds will expand the inpatient estate and also ease pressures on existing adolescent inpatient services, as these will ensure young people are accessing the appropriate care and treatment when required.

Scottish Government has also commissioned Foxgrove, the new CAMHS National Secure Adolescent Inpatient Service for Scotland (NSAIS) which is currently under construction. The Unit will be on the Ayrshire Central Hospital campus in Irvine, North Ayrshire and will provide secure mental health care for young people from across Scotland.

Similarly, Scottish Government is in the process of commissioning a CAMHS national inpatient service for children and young people with learning disabilities.

This work sits alongside our investment in prevention and early intervention support for children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing. For example, local authorities report that over 38,000 children, young people and parents/carers benefitted from our £15 million per annum investment in community supports and services in the first six months of 2022 alone; and young people now have access to a school counsellor in every secondary school in Scotland.

The following table sets out the number of people who participated in Scotland's Mental Health First Aid (SMHFA) course, from 2021 to January 2023.

Transport Scotland is continuing to consult with Local Authorities and others to develop both the secondary legislation required to allow them to enforce the National pavement parking prohibition as well as the Parking Standards Guidance which will underpin the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019.

The first of the associated regulations, which sets out the Exemption Order Procedures which local authorities must follow, was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 16 November and came into force on 9 December 2022.

My officials continue to work on the other secondary legislation which is required during the course of this year. These further regulations will ensure Local Authorities have all of the necessary tools to enforce the pavement parking prohibitions from late 2023 onwards.

The Scottish Government does not monitor the total number of trained mental health counsellors in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has made significant funding commitments to protect and restore our biodiversity and is committed to invest an additional £500 million in our natural economy over the course of this parliament. Our recent funding package of £2.9 million for biodiversity projects comes on top of a £65 million commitment for nature restoration. This additional funding includes £1.3m for Atlantic rainforest restoration to fund the first phase of a rainforest restoration programme; £0.5m for ‘Species on the Edge’; and £200,000 to expand nature networks.

As set out in the new draft Scottish Biodiversity Strategy we are committed to developing a Biodiversity Investment Plan, to mobilise public, private and philanthropic finance, closing the estimated £20 billion finance gap for nature this coming decade.

Following careful consideration of responses to the consultation on the Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill, the Scottish Government is content that there is sufficient legislative provision to enable secure transport to be utilised when necessary, and to ensure the safety of the child and others.

An overly prescriptive approach to minimising restraint practices could bring adverse consequences around escalation and criminalisation. Instead, Ministers consider that a blended framework of regulation, guidance, practice support and precise reporting is likely to best serve Scotland’s children.

Work is ongoing with partners to reduce, and where possible eliminate, the use of restraint in respect of children in care. This includes working with the Scottish Physical Restraint Action Group (SPRAG) to explore definitions of restraint, along with the availability of data, training and support.

A national service specification for secure transport is being developed by the joint Scottish Government and COSLA led Secure Care Group. The specification states that any use of restraint must be in line with Scotland’s Holding Safely guidance. This specification aims to bring consistency to the expectations and requirements, wherever secure transport requires to be commissioned. It covers areas such as data gathering and staff training. It also prohibits the use of mechanical restraint, handcuffs or pain-inducing techniques.

The Scottish Government accepts that this statistic needs revising and we have already committed to undertake further work to quantify Scotland’s offshore wind potential. In response to the issues raised in the UK Statistics Authority’s letter, dated 7 December 2022, the Scottish Government has engaged directly with the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) setting out the steps that have been taken to ensure the statistic is not used further, and provided an update on the analytical work that is underway to produce a replacement statistic.