Seòmar agus comataidhean

Scottish Government communications have supported individuals with no access to the internet through a number of offline channels.

300,000 copies of the cost of living support leaflet ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/cost-of-living-support-leaflet/ ) were distributed via libraries, GP surgeries, Health Boards and other community channels. This has also been translated in a number of languages and formats such as British Sign Language and Easy read to enhance accessibility. Local and national press features as part of the national marketing campaign have allowed for an offline extension of the campaign across different areas of Scotland.

In addition, key partnerships were secured with Asda and Scotmid across 238 stores, translating to leaflets, posters and radio ads and creative assets were offered to over 600 partners, including local authorities.

Low income families who are struggling to pay for their digital connectivity can find a link to social tariff information on our Cost of Living website.

We do not have the information requested as we are still in the testing and policy development phase of the free bikes programme. In this government’s first 100 days, we established six pilot schemes with a further four running by the end of 2021. Nine of these pilots will run until the end of March 2023, testing different approaches and delivery models, including eligibility, to help inform a national rollout.

We do not record data on these projects at local authority level. However, considering bikes issued and associated training and promotion sessions, free bikes activities have taken place in 20 of 32 local authority areas. The 9 pilots are running across a range of locations including in urban, rural and island communities.

There were significant capacity constraints across the medicines homecare market in 2022. A key challenge has been recruitment of staff in a challenging labour market, with some providers more adversely affected than others. The situation is improving but continues to be closely monitored.

Certain homecare providers have highlighted issues with nursing capacity in recent months. Where this has been raised as an issue, there has been close working with providers to ensure that available staffing resource is used in a way that helps minimise disruption to service performance.

Homecare providers have not reported any recent issues with staffing within their pharmacy departments.

Several homecare providers have experienced staffing shortages within customer services departments, and this has been a major contributing factor to the capacity constraints experienced.

There have been a small number of instances where there have been delays to the delivery of medicines to patients, which has the potential to impact on patient safety. Medicines homecare providers and Health boards have processes in place to support managing and learning from any patient safety incidents that arise during service delivery.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13597 on 19 January 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 .

This information is not held by The Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government’s Changing Places Toilets investment will be delivered in phases over the course of this parliamentary term. The Scottish Government is progressing the first phase of work, in order to design an investment programme that ensures that the Changing Places Toilets which are built are fit for purpose and are installed in appropriate locations to meet the needs of those that will use them. We will work with stakeholders to develop eligibility criteria for the fund.

Further details will be available soon.

Energy policy, including the rollout of smart meters programme, is a matter reserved to the UK Government.

Smart meters have an important role to play in helping the Scottish Government achieve our aim of increasing energy efficiency across Scotland as well as helping consumers manage their spend on energy. At the recent energy summit chaired by the First Minister, we committed to working with partners to increase the number of households with smart meters in Scotland, with a focus on rural areas, by highlighting the benefits they can deliver in terms of both energy bills and energy efficiency. As part of this work, we will continue to call upon BEIS and Ofgem to take the necessary action to ensure all households eligible for a smart meter have the opportunity to install one in their home.

In the meantime, we will continue to work with our consumer advice and advocacy partners to ensure they are equipped with the necessary knowledge and information to support consumers seeking help on managing or accessing a smart meter.

I would also urge consumers who are struggling with their energy bills to contact Energy Advice Scotland on 0808 196 8660 or at energyadvice.scot.

Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) will ensure a higher percentage of glass sent for recycling. Analysis from Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) shows that presently only around 59% of mixed glass is recycled. DRS is expected to capture 80% of glass bottles in the first year of DRS, increasing to 90% thereafter, this will therefore increase the amount of overall glass sent for recycling.

ZWS supports local authorities to assess their recycling collection options to help align services with the Household Recycling Charter Code of Practice, as well as future proofing those services by understanding the impact of other measures such as DRS and Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility.

As pharmacies, medicines homecare providers must demonstrate that they can meet the standards for registered pharmacies set by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC). The standards are designed to create and maintain the right environment for the safe and effective practice of pharmacy and to improve the quality and safety of services provided to patients and the public. The GPhC inspect registered pharmacies to seek assurances that the standards are being met. Depending on the range of services provided, medicines homecare providers may also be registered with additional regulators such as the Care Inspectorate and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

To ensure compliance with regulatory standards, providers must have governance arrangements in place to safeguard the health, safety and wellbeing of patients and the public. This will include effective systems for risk management and the management of complaints and incident including root cause analysis of issues arising and implementing corrective and preventative actions.

Health Boards have contractual arrangements in place with Homecare Providers via either Service Level Agreements or Framework Agreements. These agreements detail responsibilities for service provision and define service requirements including governance and reporting.

Before arrangements are made to set-up a new service, Health Boards undertake risk assessments to assess the risks associated with supplying a particular medicine through a home delivery service. In addition, before a patient is on-boarded on to a service, checks are undertaken to help ensure that homecare is suitable for an individual patient.

The Scottish Government will continue to support sustainable change and improvements in Tayside, to ensure the safe and effective delivery of mental health services.

To ensure that Tayside Mental Health Services have the resources needed to deliver on the recommendations contained in the Oversight Group’s Final Report, the Scottish Government will provide access to advice from Professional Advisors and Senior Officials in the Mental Health Directorate as partners in Tayside develop a detailed improvement plan. The plan will contain clear milestones and deliverables which progress key areas for action.

More widely, the Scottish Government has increased financial resources across Scotland, with NHS Mental Health expenditure rising from £1.1bn in 2019-20 to £1.25bn in 2020-21: an increase of £172m.