Seòmar agus comataidhean

My first question is to Dr Louise Hill. Your submission says:

“Children 1st support the proposal to establish a Victims and Witnesses Commissioner ... However ... a Commissioner should not be brought in—at considerable expense—to act as a substitute for real action in improving the experiences of victims and witnesses.”

Please say more about the action you would like to see happening and whether that would require legislation.

Yes.

You have both spoken about accountability. We already have a cabinet secretary and a minister who are accountable to Parliament, and I see all our panellists’ organisations as being the voices of victims and witnesses. I am trying to work out what the benefit would be of bringing in another layer of bureaucracy and whether your voices would end up being diminished by having to go through one person. Rather than hearing from, say, the four of you, we would hear from one person, so we might end up missing some messages. I also wonder whether the cost of a victims commissioner, which would be nearly £640,000 for setting up in year 1 and £615,000 on an on-going basis, would not be better spent on your organisations. I ask Kate Wallace to respond to that first, and then Sandy Brindley.

Would it take a commissioner to carry out such a review? Should we continue with the bill, or should there be a halt in order to look at all the previous legislation that has not been implemented?

I will move on to plans and strategic direction, How realistic are the Scottish Government’s commitments to increase the mental health directorate’s budget by 25 per cent and to ensure that 10 per cent of the front-line NHS budget is spent on mental health by 2026, given the financial constraints that your report highlights?

Good morning. Paragraphs 77 and 78, on page 41 of the report, raise concerns that pressure on staff is increasing because of high vacancy and turnover rates and difficulties in filling vacancies. The report cites a national shortage of psychologists, and it says that

“vacancies for general psychiatry consultants are the highest of all medical and dental consultant roles in Scotland”

and that

“Vacancies for mental health nurses have more than doubled between March 2017 and March 2023, and the turnover rate has reached a record high.”

What action is the Scottish Government taking to support NHS boards that face those issues?

What more could the Scottish Government, alongside its health and social care partners, learn from NHS England to improve its financial, workforce and operational data in relation to mental health services? You refer to that in paragraph 98 on page 47.

Your report says that, during the audit,

“The Royal College of Psychiatrists also raised concerns that most NHS boards rely on locums who are not consultants to fill vacant consultant psychiatry posts.”

Do you know the extent to which that is happening? Has an assessment been made of any risk that it could present?

That goes back to your comment that difficult decisions that will need to be made.

We note that, this autumn, the Scottish Government expects to publish a delivery plan and a mental health workforce plan that will set out how and when the priorities in the mental health and wellbeing strategy published jointly with COSLA will be achieved. Do you have an update on the timings for the publication of those documents?

You also mentioned the workforce plan, and we are waiting for the report on that to come out. I am always interested in whether the workforce plan equals funded places at universities and colleges. Do you know why not enough students are coming into mental health nursing? Seemingly, there has been an increase in funded places, but we still cannae get enough people in.