Good morning. The first item of business is general question time.
Antisocial Behaviour on Public Transport
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what action it is taking to tackle antisocial behaviour on public transport. (S6O-02448)
Antisocial behaviour is clearly unacceptable on Scotland’s public transport and in wider society, and we are committed to tackling it. The police, local authorities and other agencies are responsible for tackling such behaviour at local level, and they have been empowered by the Scottish Government to co-ordinate activities designed to tackle it, such as formal warnings, fixed-penalty notices and antisocial behaviour orders, alongside the positive diversionary and early intervention activities that can be used.
Police Scotland and local authority antisocial behaviour teams support bus operators to enforce their conditions of carriage. British Transport Police is responsible for law enforcement on Scotland’s railway network.
I thank the minister for that comprehensive reply. A number of my constituents have raised with me concerns that the young persons free bus travel scheme is being abused by a small minority of young people who engage in antisocial behaviour on our bus network, thereby deterring others from travelling. Have any offenders had their bus passes withdrawn? What other actions are being taken specifically to reassure bus drivers, and the overwhelming majority of passengers who are keen to travel by bus safely, that harassment and intimidation will not be tolerated?
The member has raised important points. It is right to remember that the vast majority of young people who travel by bus behave appropriately, with more than 68 million journeys having been made by the end of May.
Free bus travel is just one of the services that are provided through the national entitlement card, which can also be used to access a variety of national and local public services such as free school meals and cashless catering. As such, it would not be appropriate for transport operators to remove cards from card holders due to the impact that that might have on other services.
However, the Scottish Government recognises that there is not a single approach to tackling antisocial behaviour; there is a suite of enforcement measures, which I have just mentioned, plus safe intervention. It is important that we work with our partners on tackling such behaviour. Only yesterday, at a meeting of the bus task force, I heard from various partners about how they have done so at Kilmarnock bus station.
Mental Health Support (Motherwell and Wishaw)
Presiding Officer, I apologise for missing the start of question time.
To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting people in the Motherwell and Wishaw constituency to access mental health support. (S6O-02449)
Over the past year, the Scottish Government has provided more than £700,000 to support 25 grass-roots community mental health projects for adults in Motherwell and Wishaw. This year, we are also providing North Lanarkshire Council with more than £900,000 to fund community-based mental health support for children, young people and their families. We are working with NHS Lanarkshire to plan for long-term, sustainable improvements to child and adolescent mental health services by offering tailored support to improve the delivery of such services and psychological therapies.
I am sure that Clare Adamson and other members in the chamber will welcome today’s publication of the Scottish Government’s mental health and wellbeing strategy, which sets out our vision for improving mental health, building on on-going work in Lanarkshire and across Scotland.
The Scottish Government’s distress brief intervention programme was launched in 2016 and was piloted in four health board areas, including Lanarkshire. It is a non-clinical form of intervention that provides quick, connected and compassionate support to people who are experiencing distress. What assessment has the Scottish Government undertaken of the impact of the pilot programmes? What plans are there to scale up distress brief intervention, and what actions will it take to promote the service to people in my constituency, particularly through primary care?
The member has made good points. The distress brief intervention programme has supported more than 43,000 people since it was launched in four pilot areas in 2017. The DBI programme is designed to support people who are in emotional distress who come into contact with emergency services. In addition, national health service boards can enable general practitioners to refer people directly to the programme.
Two independent evaluations have shown the DBI programme to be highly effective in providing people with timely, compassionate help by connecting them to local services that can help them to manage their distress and address the issues that might be causing it. The DBI service is now offered widely across Scotland, including through NHS 24 and police and ambulance call-handling centres. I am pleased to say that we are well on track to meet our target of making the programme available in all NHS boards by March 2024.
I am happy to work with the member on ways to highlight the excellent service in her local constituency, because the pilot work that was done there was so helpful to us in developing this excellent service.
I recently held an event in Parliament with the Miracle Foundation to raise awareness of the incredible work that it does to support children and young people with bereavement and trauma. It advised MSPs in attendance that it is proving extremely hard for families in the Motherwell area to access support services as a result of high costs associated with private counselling and therapy services and of waiting times of more than 24 months for NHS and child and adolescent mental health services.
Despite the pilot programme, the latest figures show that almost 1,600 children and young people are currently on a CAMHS waiting list in Lanarkshire. With charities and third sector organisations stretched, what strategy has the Government put in place to tackle mental health backlogs for children and young people in Motherwell and across Lanarkshire involving those vital organisations?
The member will be aware of all the work that is going on to tackle CAMHS waiting lists. We are focused on ensuring that we tackle the long waits as well as deal with new people coming into the system. As I have said previously in the chamber, we are seeing real progress on that front.
As well as improving CAMHS waiting times, we have done a lot of work to increase resources in the community. All children will have access to a school counsellor—in the first six months of last year, that meant that 15,000 children and young people were able to access support through their school.
In my answer to Clare Adamson, I talked about the community funding of more than £900,000 that we are providing. About 45,000 children and families around Scotland were able to access support through that funding in the second half of last year.
Question 3 has not been lodged.
Cost of Living Crisis (Mitigation)
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to mitigate the impact of the cost of living crisis on people across Scotland. (S6O-02451)
We have allocated almost £3 billion in 2023-24 to support policies that tackle poverty and to protect people as far as possible from the harm that is inflicted by United Kingdom Government policies and the cost of living crisis. We are supporting households by tripling our fuel insecurity fund to £30 million and delivering the game-changing Scottish child payment. We are providing free childcare to all three-year-olds and four-year-olds, and eligible two-year-olds, and free bus travel for more than 2 million people. We are also offering free school meals to all pupils in primaries 1 to 5 and to those in special schools.
I welcome the Scottish Government’s efforts to mitigate Tory austerity and the Tory cost of living crisis. What discussions have ministers had with the United Kingdom Government about the increase in interest rates and the impact that that is having on mortgages and on households throughout Scotland and across the UK as a whole?
Households are struggling with the increasingly unaffordable cost of food, housing and bills after years of austerity, a hard Brexit and economic mismanagement at the hands of the Conservative Government. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is also failing in his target to bring down inflation, and households are facing the impact of high interest rates.
Oversight and regulation of mortgage lenders is a reserved matter, and the Scottish Government has repeatedly asked the UK Government to do more to help those who are impacted. Having a UK social security system that is based on what people need for an adequate standard of living is but one example of what the UK Government could deliver right now to help people across the country, and it is deeply regrettable that it chooses not to do so.
The cabinet secretary might be aware of research from Marie Curie and the University of Loughborough centre for research in social policy that shows the profound impact on, and the difficult choices facing, those who are living with the double burden of rising costs associated with terminal illness and a reduction in their ability to work that is brought about by their terminal illness. Those people are in a truly desperate situation. How will the Government mitigate the impact of the cost of living crisis on those who are facing death and bereavement?
One example that I can give is our improved social security system for those who have a terminal illness and our more dignified approach to dealing with applications that come to Social Security Scotland. That shows the support that we can and do give to those people at the most difficult of times.
Autistic Children and Young People (Post-diagnostic Clinical Support)
To ask the Scottish Government what post-diagnostic clinical support is available for autistic children and young people. (S6O-02452)
We continue to invest in neurodevelopmental services to ensure that support for children and young people meets the standards and availability of services set out in the national neurodevelopmental specification for children and young people.
The specification makes clear that support should be put in place to meet the child’s or young person’s requirements when they need it, rather than their being dependent on a formal diagnosis.
In 2022-23, we allocated £46 million via the mental health outcomes framework to improve the quality and delivery of mental health services for all, including neurodevelopmental services.
We also fund a range of support in schools, including the autism toolbox, as well as materials and training events that support inclusive approaches by practitioners across Scotland.
I remind members of my diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
The Scottish Government has now completed its national autism post-diagnostic support project, which included families, children and young people. However, I hear concerning reports that it is not the Government’s intention to continue that funding for families, children and young people, which compounds people’s very real sense that a cliff edge is represented by a diagnosis of autism, in that people wait for years to get an assessment, yet nothing is there once they have that diagnosis. Will the minister confirm whether the Scottish Government plans to cut that funding and, if so, what support there will be for people once they have a diagnosis of autism?
The funding for the pilot project was provided for a three-year period, which came to an end in March. The £1 million fund for post-diagnostic support will be directed at adults, who currently receive very little local funding. As I set out in my original answer, we already provide significant additional funding to support autistic children and young people.
We can always build learning from pilot projects into wider services and support, and I am very grateful to the National Autistic Society and Scottish Autism for the work that they have taken forward. I expect to confirm soon that we will continue to fund Scottish Autism to provide its advice line for parents and carers.
I call for concise questions and responses.
It is essential that the Scottish Government engages with people who have lived experience, including autistic people and their families, and that it keeps person-centred approaches at the heart of its work. With that in mind, what action is the Scottish Government taking to ensure that a range of voices continues to be involved in the planning of, decision making on and delivery of neurodevelopmental pathways?
There have been a number of opportunities for people with lived experience to get involved, and we work very closely with charities that are led by people with autism. At the moment, as Stephanie Callaghan knows, we are working on developing a bill that I hope will be very powerful in upholding the human rights of such people, and we are engaging a great deal with people who have lived experience. If Stephanie Callaghan is aware of people who would like to contribute to that work, I will be more than happy to hear from her.
New Railway Stations (Dumfries and Galloway)
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to invest in the opening of any new railway stations in Dumfries and Galloway. (S6O-02453)
The Scottish Government is committed to improving connectivity in the south-west of Scotland. The second strategic transport projects review has recommended improvements to the railways in the region, including the decarbonisation of passenger services, improved freight capability and the moving of Stranraer station.
At the moment, the Scottish Government does not have any plans to invest in the opening of any new railway stations on existing lines. Cases for investment in new or reopened stations, whether driven locally or regionally, continue to be considered by the Government as they are brought forward.
I thank the minister for confirming that the answer is none. After years of hard work and tens of thousands of pounds spent on developing cases to reopen Eastriggs, Thornhill and Beattock stations, encouraged all the way by Transport Scotland, officials there have just confirmed that there was never any chance that those stations would meet the Government’s criteria. To add insult to injury, the same officials say that bus-based options are available. They are utterly oblivious to the fact that the bus network in Dumfries and Galloway is collapsing before our eyes.
I urge the minister, in her new role, to look at the reasons why her Government and transport agency are failing to invest properly in the transport infrastructure in Dumfries and Galloway. That is causing untold economic damage. Frankly, we are tired of being Scotland’s forgotten region.
I appreciate Colin Smyth’s concerns. A number of regional investments are taking place in that particular region. However, a 7 per cent real-terms capital reduction in our budget over the next period, driven by economic mismanagement by the United Kingdom Government, is not helping the situation. Colin Smyth will know about the South East of Scotland Transport Partnership’s own transport appraisal reports, which said that Beattock, Eastriggs and Thornhill stations are unlikely to stack up from an economic perspective, and the cost benefit ratios for those stations are poor. That is from the local transport authority.
We should always be looking at potentially more integrated transport resolution. I commit to working with members across the south-west of Scotland in my new capacity.
We will move on to question 7. We must have concise questions and responses.
Football (Accessibility)
To ask the Scottish Government when it last spoke to the Scottish Football Association about its efforts to make elite men’s football in Scotland as accessible as possible to everyone, specifically children from disadvantaged backgrounds. (S6O-02454)
The Scottish Government meets the SFA frequently to discuss a wide range of issues, including the accessibility of the game.
I thank the minister for that brief reply.
The minister will be aware of the two recent Scotland men’s games that were televised on Viaplay, which is a monthly subscription service, in addition to the Scotland men’s home shirt costing £50 for juniors and £70 for adults. What discussions has the Scottish Government had with the SFA about televising our national men’s game on free-to-air television so that everyone across Scotland can have access and show their support?
Unfortunately, neither the Scottish Government nor the SFA plays a role in the selling of match rights for the Euro 24 qualifiers. There is a centralised process that is run by the Union of European Football Associations. We believe that men’s and women’s Scottish international football matches should be part of the crown jewels of free-to-air sporting events. However, sadly, the United Kingdom Government has absolutely failed to act on that matter. We will continue to press the UK Government to expand the listed events regime, and we will continue to work with the SFA to continue to make football more accessible to everyone across society.
Asylum Seekers (Free Bus Travel)
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the pilot providing free bus travel to people seeking asylum in Glasgow. (S6O-02455)
The Scottish Government-funded pilot led by the Refugee Survival Trust and partners in Glasgow commenced on Monday 30 January, and it will run until July. It provides travel support to people who are seeking asylum and are living in Glasgow through the provision of a 12-week digital pass, along with information and digital support. Participants will provide information on how often they travel by bus, the reasons for their journeys and how having access to bus travel impacts their lives. The findings that are collected will help to inform longer-term solutions to provide free bus travel to people who are seeking asylum in Scotland.
I warmly welcome the minister to her new role in the Government, and I look forward to working with her in the months and years ahead.
The pilot in Glasgow will show us exactly how life changing free travel can be for people who are seeking asylum, who, thanks to Tory hostility, are forced to live on barely £45 a week. We already have similar stories from schemes in Aberdeen and Wales that make the case for change. Will the minister agree to meet campaigners to discuss the next steps on extending the scheme to all those who are seeking asylum in Scotland?
Yes, I will be happy to meet representatives of those groups following the conclusion of the pilot to discuss how free bus travel can best be provided to people to help to support them in really challenging circumstances. They are in a difficult position—generally, they are not allowed to work to support themselves or eligible for benefits. The Scottish Government takes an inclusive approach to people who are seeking asylum. It works to enable access to support and services on the same basis as other Scottish residents, where that is possible.
The minister will be aware that the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee has undertaken an inquiry on the experience of asylum seekers here in Scotland. Given the severely limited financial support, it is clear that free bus travel will better enable access to services. Will the minister outline what discussions have been had with the United Kingdom Government about providing wider support to asylum seekers accessing transport services?
I ask for a brief response, please, minister.
In the “Ending destitution together” strategy, the Scottish Government recommends that the United Kingdom Government should ensure that the financial element of asylum support reflects the real costs of daily life, including travel.
I am limited for time, so I will just reiterate that the Scottish ministers continue to raise issues that have an impact on people seeking asylum who are living in our communities, and to push the United Kingdom Government for positive change.
That concludes general questions.
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First Minister’s Question Time