- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 16 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what briefings and information ministers have received from health officials regarding the monkeypox outbreak.
Answer
Scottish Government Ministers regularly meet with and are briefed by health officials and clinical advisers to ensure they are kept up to date with the ongoing situation regarding case numbers, treatment pathways and public health information messaging on the current monkeypox outbreak. This includes all relevant updates from the public health agencies across the UK, which are leading on the Monkeypox response.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Ash Regan on 16 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-09208 by Ash Regan on 30 June 2022, how many buildings in Scotland have (a) been identified as at risk and (b) had evacuation alert systems installed.
Answer
Evacuation alert systems were introduced to all new high rise domestic buildings over 18m to assist the Fire and Rescue Service in the unlikely event of a partial or full evacuation of the building following the outbreak of fire.
The guidance in the technical handbooks is not retrospective and applied to new buildings or conversions from 1 October 2019. Local authority building standards services hold building warrant records, which should show which buildings have evacuation alert systems installed.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Ash Regan on 16 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-09207 by Ash Regan on 30 June 2022, whether it has any plans to translate this guidance into formal regulations, and how many buildings currently have personal fire evacuation plans in place for disabled tenants.
Answer
There are currently no plans to translate the guidance into formal regulations, however the Scottish Government keeps this under review.
The Scottish Government does not hold information on individuals who have personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs). Further information on fire safety and PEEPs can be found in the Practical Fire Safety Guidance for Existing Specialised Housing and Similar Premises and Practical Fire Safety Guidance for Existing Specialised Housing and Similar Premises .
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Ash Regan on 16 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-09208 by Ash Regan on 30 June 2022, how much funding has been (a) allocated and (b) spent to date on installing evacuation alert systems.
Answer
Local authorities receive a notional element for housing activities in their general and capital grant funding, but it is for each authority to determine how its funding is used and we do not collect data on allocation.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Ash Regan on 16 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-09208 by Ash Regan on 30 June 2022, whether it will clarify what constitutes its "risk based approach"; what buildings are classified as at risk, and what evidence it is using to both inform and justify this risked-based approach.
Answer
The Scottish Government Practical Fire Safety Guidance for Existing High Rise Domestic Buildings includes a template and advice on carrying out a fire risk assessment of the building. The outcome of this assessment will give an idea of the relative risk of the premises and what mitigations might be helpful.
The Scottish Government worked with key partners including the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and Her Majesty's Fire Service Inspectorate for Scotland when drafting the guidance. The guidance was widely consulted on setting out the reasoning for the approach taken.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 16 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many properties have received funding to date from the £500,000 it allocated to meet the cost of installing interlinked fire alarm systems; what the average cost has been per property of those that received funding to have interlinked fire alarms installed, and how many of the systems that have been funded were connected to the mains electricity supply by a qualified electrician.
Answer
In 2021-22, total funding of £1.1 million has been provided to Care & Repair (C&R). This was, in addition to the £1 million allocated to Scottish Fire & Rescue Service (SFRS) for its Home Fire Safety Visit programme to install interlinked fire alarms in the homes of those at highest risk.
Our funding for Care and Repair has enabled them to fit interlinked fire alarms to 2,421 households, with a further 1,466 households still to be completed. C&R average costs for a supply and fit of the battery operated fire alarms for a typical 3 bedroom home was £300.
The Scottish Government funding was for battery-powered alarms, which do not require alarms to be connected to the mains electricity supply by a qualified electrician.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many GP surgeries there are and what percentage of those have dedicated mental health professionals; and how many (a) additional mental health professionals in GP surgeries have been recruited under Action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-2027 and (b) mental health professionals in total are based in GP surgeries, as of 1 April 2022.
Answer
As at 1 October 2021, there were 922 GP Practices. This data was published on 14 December 2021 – ( GP Workforce and practice list sizes 2011 - 2021 - Publications - Public Health Scotland )
The Scottish Government does not hold a global figure for the percentage of practices with dedicated mental health professionals. However, at 31 March 2022, nearly 80% of GP practices across Scotland had access to a Mental Health Worker under the Primary Care Improvement Fund (PCIF) and Action 15 alone. Further detail is set out in the latest PCIF data which was published on 21 June 2022 - ( Primary Care Improvement Plans: Summary of Implementation Progress at March 2022 ).
In total, 259.9 WTE mental health workers have been recruited under the PCIF as at March 2022. Under Action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-27, an additional 356.1 WTE posts were recruited to GP practices by the end of the commitment. Further detail is available in the quarterly performance update on Action 15 implementation published on 12 July 2022 ( Mental health workers: quarterly performance reports - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) ).
There are also mental health professionals directly employed by GP practices in addition to those employed under the PCIF and Action 15. Mental health professionals employed directly by GP practices are not separately identifiable within the published GP in-hours workforce survey results . However, we expect numbers to be relatively small.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 24 June 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Ash Regan on 12 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether there is legislation in Scotland equivalent to Section 59 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, giving local authorities the power to make public spaces protection orders to help address any noisy behaviour in public spaces.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to tackling all forms of antisocial behaviour and recognises that this can blight people’s lives. Our national strategy is based on prevention, early intervention and diversionary activities. We recognise that no single approach will tackle all antisocial behaviour. That is why we support a suite of activities which includes Antisocial Behaviour Orders and Fixed Penalty Notices.
There is no Scottish legislation equivalent to Section 59 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 that conveys specific power to local authorities to make public spaces protection orders to help address any noisy behaviour in public spaces.
However, the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004, supported by Scottish Government guidance, helps ensure that local authorities and Police Scotland have a robust range of powers and tools allowing them to proportionately address such issues as they arise in their areas and provides a wide range of measures for dealing with all forms of antisocial behaviour.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 9 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many prisons there are and what percentage of those have dedicated mental health professionals; and how many (a) additional mental health professionals in prisons have been recruited under Action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-2027 and (b) mental health professionals in total are based in prisons, as of 1 April 2022.
Answer
There are 15 prisons located throughout Scotland, 2 of which are managed privately.
Responsibility for providing prison healthcare was transferred from Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to NHS in 2011, and as such the Scottish Government does not hold data on the mental health workforce.
Data such as the number of staff in post or vacancies is collected on specific job roles but not within specific settings such as prisons.
While the Scottish Government provides funding for recruitment under Action 15, workforce and service planning is conducted by Integration Authorities according to the needs of their populations.
Under Action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-27, 54.4 whole time equivalent (WTE) mental health posts have been recruited to in our prisons.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 9 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many A&E departments there are and what percentage of those have dedicated mental health professionals; and how many (a) additional mental health professionals in A&E departments have been recruited under Action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-2027 and (b) mental health professionals in total are based in A&E departments, as of 1 April 2022.
Answer
There are 91 locations providing A&E services across Scotland. Of these, 30 are classed as Emergency Departments - larger A&E services that typically provide a 24 hour consultant led service.
The requested data on the number of mental health workers in A&E departments is not centrally collected. Data such as the number of staff in post or vacancies is collected for specific mental health professional groups in the NHS, but cannot be broken down by settings such as A&E.
Under Action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-27, an additional 179.2 whole time equivalent mental health posts have been created in A&E departments.