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NHS Scotland already utilises an electronic prescription message between GP practices and community pharmacies which runs in parallel with paper prescriptions. However, the use of paper prescriptions is still a necessity at this stage as a legal requirement.

The Scottish Government has commissioned NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) to take forward a number of digital priorities in response to COVID. This national programme includes investing in development of a new ePrescribing and eDispensing pathway by enabling the use of advanced electronic signatures in primary care and addressing the need for an end-to-end digital solution that will support replacement of the paper prescription from all community settings with a digital solution. The programme recognises that electronic prescribing will help some vulnerable sections of society, but we must also ensure others are not disadvantaged and the solution adopted should address patient needs including digital exclusion. It is difficult to be precise on timescales at present but significant progress on the technical and process models continues at pace and the Scottish Government is committed to deliver a solution through this programme.

Our refreshed Digital Health and Care Strategy includes a clear approach on how we will empower the public to manage their health and wellbeing through digital means. This work will look to give greater access to things like health records and being able to manage prescriptions online.

In addition, patients who have a long-term condition can access the ‘Medicines: Care and Review Service’ at their local community pharmacy. It promotes a partnership approach between the pharmacist, the patient and their GP practice. Patients with stable long-term conditions can receive serial prescriptions for a duration of 24, 48 or 56 weeks which are dispensed in regular intervals by the pharmacy and remove the need to request regular repeat prescriptions.

The regulation of financial services is reserved to the UK Government and as such Scottish Ministers are unable to directly intervene in the commercial decisions made by financial services companies or comment on individual complaints. Scottish Ministers engage regularly with their UK counterparts and we engage with the industry via the Financial Services Industry Advisory Board (FiSAB) as well as meeting regularly with representative bodies.

The Scottish Government stands ready to work constructively with the UK Government, banks and other stakeholders to ensure that customers, local communities and businesses have access to the banking facilities they require.

Regulation and authorisation of medicines is reserved to the UK Government. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is the UK agency responsible for the approval of clinical trials in the UK and of marketing authorisations (licences) for new medicinal products. There are currently no COVID-19 vaccines authorised for supply in the UK for those aged 12 years and under.

In the event that the MHRA authorises COVID-19 vaccine(s) for those under the age of 12 years we will be guided by this and by advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisations on offering vaccination to this age group.

I can confirm that a fee award increase for General Ophthalmic Services eye examinations is under active consideration.

As you know, our Mental Health Transition & Recovery Plan, which sets out over 100 actions in response to the mental health effects of the pandemic, is supported by a £120 million Recovery and Renewal fund.

This year, around £40 million has been allocated to NHS Boards to improve the mental health care that children and young people receive through Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and also includes funding for NHS Boards to build professional capacity to support children and young people with neurodevelopmental support needs.

Since October 2020, we have also allocated £30 million of additional funding to local authorities to deliver locally based mental health and wellbeing support for 5-24 year olds in their communities. This includes £18.75 million to fund new and enhanced community mental health and wellbeing services for 5-24 year olds with a focus on prevention, early intervention and the treatment of distress. The remaining £11.25 million was made available to support children and young people’s mental health and emotional wellbeing issues that have arisen as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In addition, we continue to prioritise support for children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing in schools, including developing and delivering new mental health training and learning resources, and £16 million per annum in funding to ensure that every secondary school has access to counselling services.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving the population of Scotland’s mental health and wellbeing; ensuring everyone receives the best possible care and treatment from our health and care services. Delivering service improvement can only be achieved with the right workforce capacity and capability.

This is why we have committed to develop a long-term Mental Health Workforce Plan in the first half of this Parliament and will ensure that by 2026, 10% of frontline NHS budget is invested in mental health, with 1% directed specifically to children and young people.

Since May 2021 we have committed £27.23 million to support NHS Boards to implement the National Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Service Specification. Through this funding, NHS Boards have started to recruit additional staff to implement the Specification and to build professional capacity to support children and young people with neurodevelopmental support needs.

In addition to this work we continue to support our local authority partners providing £16 million in funding to ensure that every secondary school in Scotland has access to counselling services. Since the beginning of the 2019/20 academic year we have also invested more than £7 million to support our commitment to introduce more than 80 additional counsellors in colleges and universities with over two thirds of these now in place.

Since October 2020, we have also allocated £30 million of additional funding to local authorities to deliver locally based mental health and wellbeing support for 5-24 year olds in their communities. This includes £18.75 million to fund new and enhanced community mental health and wellbeing services for 5-24 year olds with a focus on prevention, early intervention and the treatment of distress. The remaining £11.25m was made available to support children and young people’s mental health and emotional wellbeing issues that have arisen as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This Government has made clear that whilst a cautious approach to removing or reducing mitigations will continue to be taken, we do not want mitigations to be in place in schools any longer than is necessary. Therefore, as confirmed on 19 October existing safety measures are to remain in schools for now, following advice from senior clinicians.

As has been the case throughout Scotland’s response to the pandemic, all decisions related to schools draw on expert advice, including that received from the Advisory sub-group on children’s issues , and consider the valuable feedback from partners and stakeholders, including the COVID-19 Education Recovery Group?(CERG) . There is no fixed threshold for decisions to either increase or decrease mitigations, but instead a range of indicators are monitored. All adjustments to mitigations in schools, and other education settings, are made after very careful consideration of all available advice and continue to be kept under regular review in light of emerging scientific evidence.

Informed consent is integral to the vaccination programme, and we have developed detailed information for young people and their parents or carers to allow them to make informed decisions on vaccination. Vaccinators are fully trained and have materials to support discussions on informed consent at appointments.

Further information on consent for children and young people can be found on NHS Inform: Vaccinating 12 to 15 year olds | NHS inform .

A new leaflet from Public Health Scotland will be circulated and is available to view online at: COVID-19 vaccine information for young people in English (healthscotland.com) .

Whilst we strongly encourage those eligible to receive coronavirus vaccination to do so, the decision is one of personal choice and the Scottish Government has no plans to introduce mandatory vaccination.