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The Scottish Government’s national guidance on Alcohol Brief Interventions (ABI) was last published in 2018. It includes advice on training as well as advice for carrying out and recording ABI in justice settings.

In response to the national review of ABI we will be working on updating this guidance and working with Public Health Scotland on refreshing and updating related advice as part of our new approach to alcohol care and support.

The Scottish Government is engaging widely on the creation of a new approach to care and support for people impacted by alcohol. The recommendations made in the Public Health Scotland review of ABI are a key component of our engagement.

Our aim is to publish our new approach in 2026. This will include actions for re-affirming our commitment to brief interventions in all settings as well as how we will meet the recommendation to embed conversations about alcohol over 10 years.

The Scottish Government’s national guidance on Alcohol Brief Interventions (ABI) was last published in 2018.

In response to the national review of ABI we will be working with Public Health Scotland on refreshing and updating guidance and training advice as part of our new approach to alcohol care and support.

The Scottish Government is engaging widely on the creation of a new approach to care and support for people impacted by alcohol. That new approach will include plans for a national specification setting out the interventions required to reduce harm as well as improved standards for implementing those. Standards for alcohol care and support in the justice system are the same as standards in the community.

The Scottish Government has oversight groups in place to help provide national and local leadership with a clear steer on the services which need to be in place in all settings.

The independent evaluation of the Just Transition Fund (JTF) found that, in its first two years of operation, the Fund created and safeguarded 230 jobs, alongside the provision of more than 750 training places, and leveraged over £34 million in additional investment.

The Scottish Government does not have a central record of details of engagement with non-government organisations or of how every Parliamentary Question is handled.

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-39215 on 30 July 2025. 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.

A national local delivery plan (LDP) standard was introduced to agree priorities between Scottish Government and NHS boards for the provision of care and support. The LDP standard states all people newly diagnosed with dementia should receive a minimum of one year’s Post-Diagnostic Support, provided by a named link worker.

Extending the awareness, reach and impact of Post-Diagnostic Support is a key priority for all those living with dementia, from those diagnosed with the condition it its initial stages to those living in residential care. This supports people with dementia and their care partners to uphold their right to participation in care needs assessment, future care planning, choosing and arranging care, support and treatment. This includes advanced decision making, embracing the principle of shared decision making and in accordance with the principles of Realistic Medicine and detailed in the SIGN Dementia Guideline.

The Scottish Government and CoSLA are working in partnership to deliver on the Joint Statement of Intent and Next Steps for Adult Social Care 2022-23 commitment to overhaul the current mechanism of eligibility criteria to ensure an approach to social care support that is based on human rights and needs, including for people living with dementia.

This work is being undertaken with input from an external working group including representatives from Disabled People’s Organisations, carers’ representatives, people working in the sector and academics. We are also ensuring the voices of people with lived experience are informing our work via the ongoing National Care Service co-design programme.

The work will include planning for assessment of impacts of any future eligibility criteria.

The New Dementia Strategy for Scotland emphasises the importance of ensuring that people are supported to receive a timely diagnosis, delivered in a person-centred manner, and high quality Post-Diagnostic Support is received for a minimum of 12 months, irrespective of where they live or how old they are. This includes a diagnosis of dementia being followed with clear, consistent quality information and support options, underpinned by inclusive communication approaches, including Post-Diagnostic Support, rehabilitation and other supportive treatments to people with dementia and their care partners.

To support the delivery of this ambition, and address variation in access, we have continued to invest an additional £3.5m per year to Health & Social Care Partnerships to increase uptake of this support in communities across Scotland.

We have also commissioned IFF Research to undertake an independent evaluation of Scotland’s dementia Post-Diagnostic Support policy. To better understand how this is being prioritised and delivered locally, and provide evidence of the value and impact of Post-Diagnostic Support to date which will help inform future Post-Diagnostic Support policy, service planning and practice.

To support the evaluation, we are progressing work with data specialists in the Scottish Government, local government and Public Health Scotland to improve data collection on diagnosis and Post-Diagnostic Support, with the aim of publishing more accurate data on the numbers of people living with a diagnosis and the proportion of those diagnosed who access Post-Diagnostic Support. Early work has seen Public Health Scotland develop an initial version of a Dementia Index which brings together 5 points of data from across Health and Social Care. This data work is crucial in helping us to identify the number of people living with dementia who are accessing care and support, ensuring that this links into data from primary care.

Lastly, I also want to highlight the role that dementia community groups across Scotland play in supporting people to seek a diagnosis and improve access to Post-Diagnostic Support. Working with the National Dementia Resilient Communities Board, made up of local, national and third sector partners alongside the voices of lived experience, the Scottish Government has allocated around £1.45m since 2024 to enhance the resilience of community and grassroots supports for those who are living with dementia.