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The Scottish Government invested approximately £40k to support the important work of the National Bairns' Hoose Governance Group. The Group held its final meeting in June 2024 and has since been replaced by the National Bairns Hoose Implementation Group.

(a)The Scottish Government is taking a phased approach to the development of Bairns’ Hoose, to create a system that works nationally and allows for flexibility to accommodate the needs of different areas (urban, rural, island) across Scotland. The first – Pathfinder - phase began in October 2023 with the announcement of six Pathfinder and four Affiliate partnerships. Each partnership is delivering some Bairns’ Hoose services with four partnerships currently delivering these from Bairns’ Hoose sites. We continue to work collaboratively with all ten partnerships as they trial the Bairns’ Hoose Standards.

(b)The Bairns’ Hoose programme is already improving children and young people’s experiences of the child protection, justice and health services as partnerships start to introduce Bairns’ Hoose services across Scotland.

One of the strands of the Pathfinder phase is to establish a core indicator set which will include information on the numbers of children accessing services.

The Scottish Government has committed in our Cross Government Plan for tackling substance use harms to developing standards for alcohol and drug treatment and recovery.

In the development of those standards, ARBD is a particular condition that will be a focus of attention given the significant number of people it has affected. The standards will bring together a range of guidance, principles and other relevant standards to help ensure services are working together, which is particularly important for conditions such as ARBD which requires a range of support to be offered in one package.

We want all local transport authorities to be able to improve all of the bus services within their areas. That is why, through the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, we have given local authorities powers on partnership working, franchising and the ability to run their own bus services. This provides the opportunity for services that are reliable, frequent and tailored to local demand.

The Scottish Government provided £1.7 million of funding to extend platforms on the West Highland Line. This now allows ScotRail to run longer trains which will reduce overcrowding and lead to increased capacity for residents, tourists and cyclists with their bikes.

ScotRail has a programme of works which are being delivered specifically to improve the reliability of the diesel train fleet which operate on the Highland routes and these improvements are expected to be completed later this year.

ScotRail is considering options to recast the Inverness to Central Belt and Inverness to Aberdeen timetable. ScotRail will consult with passengers prior to any changes being determined.

The Scottish Government have committed to investing around £700m in ports and vessels. This includes 6 new major vessels for the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service (CHFS) fleet before the end of this Parliament session, and the delivery of a further seven electric vessels as part of the Small Vessels Replacement Programme by 2029, while work to deliver two new Freight Flex vessels for the Northern Isles Ferry Service is progressing.

We continue to fund the Managed Alcohol Programme pilot in Glasgow being run by Simon Community Scotland. We await the evaluation of the pilot being undertaken by the University of Stirling before reaching a position on future expansion.

The MAP pilot itself does not contribute directly to work being done to address alcohol-related brain damage, as those impacted by ARBD are referred elsewhere. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde does offer ARBD supported accommodation through Penumbra.

We believe that appropriate trauma-informed services and support should be available to all children who need them. Our phased approach to Bairns’ Hoose testing and implementation will help ensure that the principles of Bairns’ Hoose can meet the individual needs of any child, wherever in Scotland they are, who may be referred to Bairns’ Hoose services.

NHS GGC agreed in May 2024 that its PCANOS model and staff would be embedded into their specialist Alcohol and Drug Recovery Services in order to ensure long term sustainability. The realignment of PCANOS expertise into Glasgow Alcohol and Drug Recovery Services ensures that staff are fully supported by the wider Alcohol and Drug Recovery Service team to provide a full range of clinical, medical and psychosocial support services to individuals.

Glasgow City ADP greatly value the variety of specialist alcohol services across the city in dealing with the public health crisis in relation to alcohol. The Managed Alcohol Programme, the Fibro scanner pilot and the community and residential Alcohol Related Brain Damage Services are just some examples of the innovative and impactful provision in the city.

The Scottish Government is fully supportive of the actions being taken by both NHS GGC and Glasgow City ADP.

In accordance with the Programme for Government 2024-25, we are working with partnerships across Scotland to test our approach to Bairns’ Hoose across ten areas – providing safe, trauma informed environments for child victims and witnesses to access multi-agency support and recovery services – ahead of a national rollout, incrementally, from 2027.

The Scottish Government is keen to see equal access to support for all alcohol conditions, including ARBD, and will continue to encourage local areas to base service provision on local needs.

We have committed to publishing a National Specification for alcohol and drug treatment and support services. The Specification will set out what services are required to implement the Charter of Rights for people affected by substance use, which includes those impacted by ARBD.

The model of Health Boards being responsible for delivering vaccinations is working well across Scotland, but I recognise the need for flexibility to account for specific circumstances that might negatively affect vaccine uptake.

That is why I have agreed to Highland HSCP putting in place a mixed model for vaccinations.

GP delivery will be key in some aspects of this model, however, the aim here is to take a collaborative approach to delivering vaccines.

The Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland continue to engage with Highland HSCP to support a flexible and responsive immunisation service.