Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government remains committed to answering all correspondence as quickly as possible and within agreed timescales. This question has been interpreted to be seeking figures from the start of session 6 to date.

a) The Scottish Government responded to 2750 freedom of information requests within the statutory 20 working day deadline during this period. The time limit was exceeded 470 times. FOI performance figures are published on monthly basis on the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/freedom-of-information-foi-reporting/ .

b) The Scottish Government produces statistics, available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, which show how many written parliamentary questions were answered after the substantive date.

c) A high volume of Ministerial correspondence was received by the Scottish Government during this period. Of the 44991 pieces of correspondence received, 77% were answered on time with 10370 exceeding the response deadline.

The Scottish Government is aware that Optima Health, Police Scotland’s occupational health and employee assistance programme providers, have advised that there are no issues in terms of availability of appointments at present.

The following table shows incidents by year that have alcohol mentioned as a possible factor by ambulance crews when completing an electronic patient record. The Scottish Ambulance Service does not specifically record alcohol-related incidents.

From March 2020, a series of Temporary Special Leave Measures (specifically through https://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/dl/DL(2020)05.pdf and https://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/dl/DL(2020)30.pdf )were introduced to both support NHS Colleagues and assist in the prevention of the COVID-19 pandemic from spreading across our NHS Sites.

In particular:

• Since March 2020, NHS Staff who have been absent due to COVID-19 have been paid in full as if they had been at work; and,

• Those absences have not counted towards normal sickness absence triggers for those staff.

As we are now at a different stage in dealing with COVID-19 it was confirmed (on 24 June), and in broad alignment with other UK Nations, that all Temporary Covid Policies (including Special Leave) will be removed ( https://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/dl/DL(2022)21.pdf) .

In particular, from 1 September 2022, NHS colleagues who are absent due to COVID-19 will revert to contractual sick leave entitlement.

I can confirm that on that date, no-one will see their Sick Pay stop with the vast majority receiving six months full pay followed by six months half pay.

Thirteen Health Boards submitted proposals to the Strategic Network on managing the long term effects of COVID-19 for how they intend to utilise long COVID Support Funding across 2022-23.

Following review by the Network’s Strategic Oversight Board, funding allocations were confirmed to all 13 Health Boards on 19 May to support the delivery of activities identified within their proposals.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09460 on 13 July 2022. 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 .

Work is currently underway to deliver our 2021-22 Programme for Government commitment that “by 2026, every GP Practice will have access to a mental health and wellbeing service, funding 1,000 additional dedicated staff who can help grow community mental health resilience and direct social prescribing”.

While each area has the flexibility to develop services to meet the needs of their own local communities, the Scottish Government has been clear on the need for multi-disciplinary teams who will provide assessment, advice, support and some levels of treatment for people who have mental health, distress or wellbeing needs.

These teams could include Occupational Therapists, Mental Health Nurses, Psychologists, Enhanced Practitioners, Peer Support Workers as well as linking to others such as those providing financial advice, exercise coaches, family support networks. Every service should ensure that it provides access to a link worker to support wellbeing.

This commitment builds on the significant progress that has already been made through Action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-27, where 356.1 WTE posts have been recruited to GP settings; and the Primary Care Improvement Fund, which at March 2022 has seen a total of 260 recruited.

We recognise that language is a critical element of integration and that this may be challenging for displaced people and hosts alike. We appreciate those that have opened their homes to guests from Ukraine.

We have published guidance to support hosts who have generously opened their homes to displaced people and we would suggest hosts make use of free online translation services. The Scottish Refugee Council also provides helpful guidance around interpretation here: Where to find help and information if you are from Ukraine - Google Docs

It may be helpful to note that when displaced people are accessing public services, such as GPs and social services, licensed interpreters are available.

Following the Grenfell Tower fire the Scottish Government produced the Practical Fire Safety Guidance for Existing High Rise Domestic Buildings . Additionally, in February 2020, to assist those with responsibilities for providing personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs), the Scottish Government produced the Practical Fire Safety Guidance for Existing Specialised Housing and Similar Premises . This guidance provides information on the formulation of PEEPs in appropriate settings. The guidance also provides links to the Practical Fire Safety Guidance for the Evacuation of Disabled Persons from Buildings .

Evacuation alert systems for high rise domestic buildings with a storey more than 18 metres above ground level was introduced in the 2019 building standards technical handbooks (domestic and non-domestic) published on 12 July 2019.

The government also published Practical Fire Safety Guidance for Existing High Rise Domestic Buildings. The guidance promotes using a risk based approach to determine the fire safety measures required. Therefore, upgrading existing high rise domestic buildings with evacuation alert systems may be implemented where the level of fire risk is justified, taking into account the time, cost and disruption to building occupants involved.