Seòmar agus comataidhean

As set out in my response to S6W-00871 on 5 July 2021 we’ve taken a number of steps to provide advice and support to people with chronic pain during the pandemic, including highlighting relevant information on the matter of injections to assist them in discussions with their clinician and Health Board.

In June 2020, joint guidance was issued by the Faculty of Pain Medicine (FPM) and the British Pain Society (BPS) in relation to pain interventions which stated: ‘decision[s] to resume injections should be based on a balance of risks and benefits for individual patients’ . This statement reflected the factors the FMP/BPS said should be considered when resuming pain interventions, including the local prevalence of COVID-19, reducing the risk to patients (specifically in relation to steroid injections) and prioritising lower risk aspects of pain services first. It also emphasised the importance of patient consent in relation to additional risks of attending hospital and receiving an injection during the pandemic.

Following this, the advice issued by the FPM in July 2020 again set out that there was insufficient evidence to assess the potential associated risks should a patient come into contact with COVID-19. It goes on to on to clearly state: ‘Our previous recommendations - “FPM & BPS Joint Guidance on Pain Interventions during the COVID-19 Recovery Phase” published on the 8th of June 2020 in conjunction with the British Pain Society […] still stand ’. The update also stated, when making treatment decisions, the: ‘risk benefit ratio [should] also [be] measured in the context of the local prevalence of the COVID-19 virus at that point in time.’ Our replies to correspondence about this matter therefore continued to include a link to the June 2020 guidance and in response to feedback from a member of the public in April 2021, we now direct people to the overarching FPM webpage containing both advice documents.

Neither Scottish Government officials or Ministers make or influence treatment or prescribing decisions as these are entirely for clinicians in charge of a patient’s care to make. When taking these decisions we expect clinicians to discuss risks and options fully with their patients taking into account relevant guidance, the impact of pain on people’s quality of life and any safety considerations.

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) The Joint Housing Resilience Chairs Group was convened by the previous Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning at his request and were held over the period at the height of the pandemic. The need for specific meetings with the resilience group reduced as the recovery progressed. The group last met on 17 March and has not reconvened.

(b) No meetings of the Local Government Resilience Group have taken place since 6 May 2021 as this meeting was chaired and organised by COSLA. It has now been moved to meeting by exception.

(c) The Private Rented Sector Resilience Group met on the 17 May, 7 June and 23 June. The next scheduled meeting of the group is 26 July.

(d) The Social Housing Resilience Group met on the 25 May and 22 June. The next scheduled meeting of the group is 27 July.

(e) Rapid Rehousing Transition Plans Sub-group met on the 18 May and the next meeting of the group is on the 17 August.

The Scottish Government continues to support the national development of the ChargePlace Scotland electric vehicle charging network. We have invested over £45 million since 2011 in the ChargePlace Scotland network, which now has over 1800 publicly available chargepoints.

Over £5.5M will be provided to local authorities this year to continue to invest in the growth of the ChargePlace Scotland network. Funds will be administered across a number of schemes including our Local Authority Install Programme, which will focus on improving the capacity and resilience of the network by bolstering electric vehicle charging provision at key sites across Scotland, retrofitting rapid chargers with contactless payment facilities and funding warranty and maintenance packages. Other programmes such as Switched on Towns and Cities and Low Carbon Travel and Transport Fund will continue to deliver additional chargepoints and we are providing additional funding to Scottish local authorities as top-up funding for the UK Government’s on-street charging funding programme.

We continue to support households and business who wish to install chargepoints by providing grant funding to support this. To date almost 10,000 household and workplace charge points have been installed.

We are currently working with Scottish Future Trust to consider new approaches to financing publicly available EV charging infrastructure and will shortly bring forward consultation on installing EV infrastructure in all new build properties and all existing properties undergoing major renovation.

There have been no discussions with the Scottish Government in regard to homeless people in Scotland being provided with e-cigarette starter packs for a research project led by London South Bank University and UCL.

We maintain an open, yet precautionary, approach to the use of electronic cigarettes and we are aware that many smokers use e-cigarettes to reduce their tobacco intake or to quit altogether. The consensus in Scotland based on current evidence, is e-cigarettes are definitely less harmful than smoking tobacco. However, we recognise that more research is needed to understand the risks and the benefits of e-cigarettes in the long-term.

A joint Scottish statement encourages current smokers to switch to e-cigarettes, health professionals not to dissuade individuals from using them and to discourage children and non-smokers from trying e-cigarettes.

In the Ending Homelessness Together action plan, we have committed to closer working between homelessness and health services, but this is a general commitment rather than specific to tobacco.

The Scottish Government has established a comprehensive network of testing sites across the country enabling everyone in Scotland to access testing as required. This network includes Regional Testing Sites, Local Testing Sites, Mobile Testing Units, and small-scale test sites operated by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. Individuals are also able to access both PCR and Lateral Flow Tests at home, although all positive LFDs should be followed by a confirmatory PCR test. We have also established a programme of asymptomatic testing which includes regular testing for health and social care staff and community test sites where local individuals are invited for testing regardless of symptoms.

PCR samples are either processed through NHS Scotland labs, which includes the Regional Hub laboratories, or the UK National Testing Programme Laboratory Network, for which we receive a population based share. We work closely with the UK Government to ensure that the necessary capacity is in place across the laboratory network and that turnaround times are protected.

All residents should be able to enjoy meaningful time with loved ones (where local conditions support this) particularly given the beneficial impact which visits have on mental and emotional wellbeing.

Existing guidance, published in February, encourages care homes to resume good quality, meaningful contact between residents and loved ones in a flexible and person centred way, and with advice from local oversight arrangements as necessary.

Beyond the minimum starting point of two visitors per week and upper limits to group sizes as in the COVID-19 regulations, the guidance does not limit numbers, and instead encourages care homes to increase and embed support to meaningful contact in a person centred way. In June 2021, a review of progress with Open with Care reiterated that care homes should continue to increase the frequency and duration of visits, with local oversight monitoring and support. The vast majority of adult care homes are supporting indoor visiting with increased numbers supporting daily visits and multiple visitors.

On 15 July 2021, Scottish Government wrote to the care home sector encouraging care homes to increase opportunities for good quality and meaningful contact, in line with existing guidance, and setting out recommended relaxations in care homes from Level 0 on 19 July 2021. These include the removal of the ‘Designated Visitor’ status to support further flexibility in reconnecting, as daily and group visits become the norm. Looking ahead we hope to see care homes continue to strengthen all residents to have more meaningful lives and to have greater connection with communities. Advice will follow in coming weeks.

We will continue to monitor the situation and to work with the sector to support continued improvements to making good quality, meaningful contact the norm.

I can confirm that construction cost for this project is currently estimated to be £18m, which is well within the 2014 construction cost estimate of £26m.

Construction cost updates for the project are published on the Scottish Government website every 6 months via the Major Capital Projects update.

We are currently considering options for pilots. These pilots will test out how to successfully rollout a programme of free bikes to school age children who cannot afford them, including what the eligibility criteria should be for children to access the scheme.

The construction of the A92/A96 Haudagain Improvement project is progressing well and is anticipated to be complete in winter 2021 as confirmed in the Infrastructure Investment Plan update published in December 2020.

This date is subject to any unforeseen circumstances such as the effects of exceptional weather.

Access to the scheme in 2021 will initially be through pilot projects as set out in our ‘First Steps’ document.