- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 July 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Christina McKelvie on 31 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-28303 by Christina McKelvie on 9 July 2024, how it ensures that the length of residential rehabilitation treatments in Scotland meets or exceeds best practice guidelines and standards, when compared with other countries.
Answer
The Residential Rehabilitation Development Working Group defines residential rehab as facilities offering programmes which aim to support individuals to attain an alcohol or drug-free lifestyle and to be re-integrated into society, provide intensive psychosocial support and a structured programme of daily activities, and which residents are required to attend over a fixed period of time.
The Scottish Government recognises that diversity of treatment options is important to empower individuals to have more choice and to meet the needs of individuals seeking different types of recovery, and this includes taking a person-centred approach to the duration of treatment.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 July 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Christina McKelvie on 31 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide a detailed breakdown of (a) how
its stated record investment in Alcohol and Drug Partnerships has been used and
(b) the outcomes that have resulted from this funding.
Answer
A breakdown of how funding is allocated to ADPs since 2017 can be found on the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/alcohol-and-drug-partnerships-funding-allocations/
This shows a breakdown in funding for each ADP across several policy areas including: MAT Standards, Stabilisation, Residential Rehab, and Whole Family Approach.
The ADP Annual Survey evidences activity of ADPs in alignment to National Mission outcomes. The last survey, covering 2022-2023, was published in September 2023 and can be found on the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/alcohol-drug-partnerships-adp-2022-23-annual-survey/
The upcoming report, covering 2023-2024, is due to be published in Autumn 2024.
- Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 July 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 31 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what action is it taking to help displaced people
from Ukraine to enter the private rented sector.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to helping displaced Ukrainians access sustainable accommodation, including in the PRS.
The Housing (Scotland) Bill includes a package of PRS reforms that provide additional rights and protections for tenants, including displaced people from Ukraine.
Information on tenants’ rights has been translated into Ukrainian and shared via the Scottish Government’s website and within the Ukrainian community. The Minister for Housing has engaged with landlords, estate agents and their representatives and will continue to do so to understand the challenges facing the PRS and how we may most effectively support displaced Ukrainians in accessing it.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 08 July 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it remains committed to reducing teachers' class-contact time to 21 hours per week, and, if so, when it expects to meet this target.
Answer
We remain committed to reducing class contact time, and we continue to explore with COSLA and the teacher unions, through the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT), how best to deliver this commitment.
Any changes to terms and conditions for teachers require tripartite agreement through the SNCT.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 July 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Christina McKelvie on 31 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-28303 by Christina McKelvie on 9 July 2024, what action it will take if any significant discrepancies are found in the lengths of residential rehabilitation treatments across different regions or facilities.
Answer
The Residential Rehabilitation Development Working Group defines residential rehab as facilities offering programmes which aim to support individuals to attain an alcohol or drug-free lifestyle and to be re-integrated into society, provide intensive psychosocial support and a structured programme of daily activities, and which residents are required to attend over a fixed period of time.
The Scottish Government recognises that diversity of treatment options is important to empower individuals to have more choice and to meet the needs of individuals seeking different types of recovery, and this includes taking a person-centred approach to treatment length.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 July 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Christina McKelvie on 31 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how it will address any impact of the closure of facilities,
such as Turning Point 218 in Glasgow, on the availability and accessibility of
addiction recovery services for women.
Answer
The Scottish Government will address the impact of changes to service provision on access and availability to alcohol and drug recovery services by continuing to ensure that the specific needs of women are considered in the design and delivery of services, and that a gendered approach is taken in all new or developing initiatives across the National Mission to reduce deaths and improve lives.
The Scottish Government provided specific funding of around £1.5m per year to Glasgow City Council to support the 218 Service. As a result of that funding relationship, Glasgow informed the Scottish Government of its plans to re-tender the service last year and discussions took place to confirm that the funding would still be available following that exercise.
Glasgow City Council has provided assurances that it worked closely with Turning Point Scotland to support individuals in transitioning to other support arrangements and that other services, including residential placements, are available to support people with similar needs. In particular, it has confirmed that all 218 service residents had moved on from the service as of 31 January 2024 – some residents naturally came to the end of their stay, while others moved back to their own tenancy or to accommodation with support.
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 July 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 31 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to fulfil the Scottish National Party 2021 manifesto commitment to "legislate to ensure equal rights of succession for women in agriculture, and reform trust law that enables avoidance of legal obligations like the pre-emptive right to buy for tenants".
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to equality in agriculture, which is set out in the Agricultural Reform Route Map and in our 2023-2024 Programme for Government.
In line with the 2023-2024 Programme for Government, we are co-developing a gender strategy for agriculture. The strategy will be developed in partnership with women living and working in agriculture and through a ministerial roundtable with stakeholders. The results of these discussions will inform the development of the strategy and any future legislative needs. We are also continuing to fund training opportunities for women, new entrants, and young farmers as part of increasing business resilience, just transition, and equality of opportunity for all.
We will to bring forward a consultation on how trust law interacts with the pre-emptive right to buy for tenant farmers within the next year. This will draw on the views of the Tenant Farming Advisory Forum.
The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting everyone living and working in Scottish agriculture and empowering them to play their role in making our Vision for Agriculture a reality.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 July 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Christina McKelvie on 31 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-28303 by Christina McKelvie on 9 July 2024, what steps are being taken to involve key stakeholders, including (a) patients, (b) families and (c) addiction recovery organisations in the (i) development and (ii) monitoring of residential rehabilitation programmes.
Answer
Public Health Scotland worked in close consultation with key stakeholders to develop the core minimum dataset, which will form the basis for the monitoring of residential rehabilitation. Early versions of the dataset were shared with the Monitoring, Evaluation and Research Advisory Group (MERAG) and the Residential Rehabilitation Development Working Group (RRDWG), which have representatives from groups such as individuals with experience, families and recovery organisations.
Current residential rehabilitation clients were given the opportunity to complete a survey to provide details of their own experience. Qualitative research was also undertaken with people with lived experience of having accessed residential rehabilitation to explore their experiences of the pathways into, through and out of this form of treatment.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 July 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Christina McKelvie on 31 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the data regarding River Garden Auchincruive is absent from Public Health Scotland's Interim monitoring report on statutory-funded residential rehabilitation placements, which was published on 18 June 2024.
Answer
Public Health Scotland (PHS) follows statistical disclosure control (SDC) when publishing data, including those submitted for their most recent report on statutory-funded residential rehabilitation placements.
PHS applies the SDC to data due to the sensitive nature of the topic, and to reduce the risk of identifying individuals, (especially those from small geographic areas) who in this case were the number of people accessing residential rehabilitation for substance use in River Garden.
The data was therefore suppressed and an asterisk used to denote this in the published report.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 July 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it had (a) completed all the work required to produce and (b) finalised its guidance on mobile phones in schools, prior to the commencement of the purdah period for the 2024 General Election.
Answer
The revised guidance on use of mobile phones in schools was fully drafted and had been agreed by the Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools (SAGRABIS) prior to publication. The document was in the process of completing final due diligence consideration when the need to consider whether or not it could be published during the pre-election period arose. The guidance would otherwise have been published prior to the end of the school year.