Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government provides funding to support our local Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) who are responsible for the design and delivery of treatment and recovery pathways at the local level. They ensure a full range of recovery services are available such as aftercare, detox, residential rehabilitation and psychosocial treatments.

In 2022-23, £106.8 million was made available to ADPs, and nationally there is ongoing work including the expansion of our residential rehabilitation capacity by 50% by the end of the current Parliament and the UK Alcohol Treatment Guidelines which are currently out for public consultation until 8 December 2023.

Scottish Government also provides funding towards specific projects that support those with alcohol dependency, such as the Managed Alcohol Programme pilot being delivered by Simon Community Scotland in Glasgow.

The draft national Good Food Nation Plan is currently in the final stages of preparation and will be published shortly.

Alcohol Focus Scotland’s objectives as set out in their grant letter for 2022-23 were:

• Advocate for the continuation and optimisation of minimum unit pricing in Scotland
• Build community capacity to engage in the licensing process
• Improve the accessibility and effectiveness of the licensing process
• Encourage strategic action to reduce the availability of alcohol
• Build support for controls on alcohol marketing as recommended by the Expert Network.
• Engage with communities of interest to explore and publicise experiences of alcohol marketing
• Expand the evidence base and our policy advocacy work to protect children and young people from the impact of alcohol
• Increase awareness of the impact of alcohol on children and young people
• Build capacity of practitioners to identify and work with children and young people
• Improve knowledge of alcohol and understanding of risks
• Build capacity of practitioners to identify and work with children and young people
• Support the routinisation of Alcohol Death Reviews, and the sharing of knowledge from them, across Scotland
• Support interventions to reduce alcohol-related deaths

The Scottish Government continues to deliver on its commitment to build the case for an independent Scotland within the EU, through the development of a prospectus to give people the information they need to make an informed choice about their future, and I’m pleased to confirm that today we are publishing Migration to Scotland after independence.

This is the sixth paper in the Building a New Scotland series. It sets out proposals for how an independent Scotland with control of its migration policy could devise a humane, dignified and principled migration system to help grow our population. Through population growth, we can strengthen and grow our economy, address skills shortages within key sectors, deliver positive outcomes for our communities and public services, and enrich Scotland culturally.

I can also confirm that we intend to bring the matters raised in this publication forward for a debate in the Chamber in the coming weeks.

The Scottish Government is continuing to prepare further papers in the Building a New Scotland series and these will be published shortly.

Building a New Scotland: Migration to Scotland after independence is available to view on the Scottish Government website from today at www.gov.scot/newscotland

One of the key aims of the National Mission is to improve and save lives by ensuring that every individual has access to, and choice in the type of recovery and treatment they need. In response to the Changing Lives report published by the Drug Deaths Taskforce, the Scottish Government published a Cross Government Plan which sets out examples of how we are improving alcohol and drug services to make them more flexible, convenient, accessible and easier to navigate.

For example, we are supporting local areas further develop their assertive outreach programmes both through the implementation of the MAT standards and in other ways such as the Primary Care Alcohol Nurse Outreach Service (PCANOS), which embeds specialist harm reduction services within Deep End GP practices and supports patients in engaging with and navigating treatment services.

We are also investing in residential rehabilitation to ensure people can access help when they need it and have established an Expert Group to recommend improvements for crisis management and stabilisation.

In addition, we sponsor a number of third sector organisations which offer convenient and accessible technology-based help, advice and treatment for people with problematic drinking, for example, Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs and We Are With You, who also provide a live web chat services which have improved engagement for many people.

We are also supporting the UK Government in developing the clinical guidelines for alcohol treatment, which were published for public consultation on 16 October 2023. The guidelines encourage more flexible and convenient interventions by using digital technologies when appropriate.

The Aqua Nor Conference in Trondheim was a fantastic opportunity to showcase the innovation, technology and research of Scottish aquaculture to an international audience.

A new Consenting Task Group has been formed to take forward and pilot key recommendations from last year’s independent review of aquaculture regulation. Good progress is being made to inform a new process for managing fish farm applications and the group is working towards piloting new arrangements which will be deployed in two local authority areas later this year.

On Scottish Government’s approach to aquaculture innovation, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-22256 on 31 October 2023.

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

I recently chaired a series of meetings of a Priority (previously known as Vulnerable) Energy Consumers Working Group to consider the key principles and practicalities of delivering a social energy tariff. The work of the group has informed the Scottish Government’s representation to the UK Government ahead of its Autumn Statement. We are continuing to call for additional and meaningful support to be delivered to those who need it the most including the urgent introduction of a social tariff mechanism.

In addition, I have met with the UK Government Minister for Energy Consumers and Affordability three times and advocated for a social tariff targeted at consumers living under vulnerable circumstances, including high energy users that use medical equipment at home.

Scottish Government has outlined the importance of a person-centred approach to treatment in it’s alcohol and drug treatment strategy, Rights, Respect, Recovery . By developing recovery oriented systems of care and creating services that are trauma informed, the root causes of problematic alcohol and/or drug use can be identified and supported.

We recognise the many drivers behind problematic use of drugs and alcohol, and the importance of working together to address the underlying causes, providing support to those affected to live full and healthy lives.

We are tackling this by ensuring a holistic approach and strengthening links between work on poverty, structural inequality, education, children and young people and work on alcohol and drug policy.

The Early Interventions for Children and Young People working group are currently developing recommendations of what good quality early intervention support services should be available across Scotland for young people with emerging problematic drug and alcohol use.

In Spring 2023, the working group began engaging with young people, using a co-design approach, to gather their views of what good support should look like. These findings, along with existing international evidence of good practice will be used by the working group to develop standards of support for children and young people.

The co-design work will conclude in January 2024.

The working group will then outline the minimum principles of support that is required by local areas to meet the needs of children and young people, providing early intervention support in a way young people want.

The publication of Non-domestic rates relief statistics 2023 is currently planned for early 2024. The date of publication will be announced as soon as it is available, at https://www.gov.scot/publications/official-statistics-forthcoming-publications/ .