- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 September 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 4 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that GPs are confident in delivering treatment aligned with the Medication Assisted Treatment standards, including the provision of training opportunities for GPs related to these standards.
Answer
Ensuring individuals have access to Primary Care is a key component in tackling the Drug Crisis we face in Scotland, MAT Standard 7 specifies ‘All people have the option of MAT shared with Primary Care’
The Scottish Government provides funding to the Royal College of General Practitioners to deliver the Certificate in Management of Problem Drug Use. This supports primary care professionals within Scotland to provide care for people who experience problem drug use.
Those who have undertaken the course report improved knowledge of the MAT standards and how to appropriately incorporate these into clinical practice.
The Scottish Government also provides funding to Scottish Recovery Consortium to deliver the Humanising Healthcare Conversation Café project. This is a project which provides medical students across Scotland with the opportunity to engage with people with lived experience of substance use through guided roundtable discussions in medical schools across Scotland.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 9 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the justice secretary has had with Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service regarding their role in addressing food crime, in light of reports of counterfeit vodka being seized in the Central Scotland region.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 9 October 2024
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 September 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 30 September 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide an update on the establishment of river management plans.
Answer
Scotland’s River Basin Management Plans 2021-2027 (RBMP) set out a range of actions aiming to improve the overall condition of Scotland’s water environment by 2027.
The Scottish Government invested almost £5m last year in the Water Environment Fund, a key element of the RBMP. Work continues this year providing access to rivers for migratory fish and restoring urban rivers providing benefits for biodiversity, climate change adaptation and flood management.
The most up to date RBMP classification information is available at the water classification hub.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 September 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 27 September 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to ensure that GPs are aware of the Medication Assisted Treatment standards.
Answer
Public Health Scotland’s (PHS) MAT Standards Implementation Team (MIST) has a role in working with and supporting Scotland’s Alcohol and Drug Partnerships in collating information from frontline services and partners that are used for Benchmarking on all 10 MAT standards.
Awareness-raising for the MAT standards would be led through the local Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs), the services they commission and Primary Care representatives in health boards.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 September 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 26 September 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to amend the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 to better reflect developing human rights standards.
Answer
We outlined our plans to reform and modernise mental health legislation in Scotland in our “Mental Health Capacity Reform: Delivery Plan” published in June 2024 (Mental Health and Capacity Reform: delivery plan October 2023 to April 2025 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)).
The plan sets out the recommendations of the Scottish Mental Health Law Review (SMHLR) that will be considered in the short to medium term. We have sought to prioritise areas of potential change that can be achieved as quickly as possible, within existing resources, as well as starting new work to scope and develop options for future reform. This includes work to consider various aspects of the scope of compulsory care and treatment within the 2003 Act; work around the operation of named persons within the mental health tribunal system; and advance statement safeguards.
We are taking staged approach to mental health law reform due to the scope, complexity, and inter-related nature of the SMHLR recommendations with other significant ongoing policy developments. This approach recognises the pressure on budgets and services and the challenges of delivering further change and reform at a time when there is significant wider transformation across the health and social care sectors.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 September 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 26 September 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made since the publication of the Mental Health Capacity Reform: Delivery Plan October 2023 to April 2025 report in June 2024.
Answer
The initial Delivery Plan for the Mental Health and Capacity Reform Programme published in June 2024 set out a range of actions being taken forward under Adults with Incapacity (AWI) and mental health law reform.
In terms of reforming capacity legislation, the AWI Amendment Act consultation was published in July and will run to October 2024 (Adults with Incapacity Amendment Act: consultation - Scottish Government consultations - Citizen Space). This builds on previous consultation work undertaken in this area and takes account of the targeted discussions that have taken place over the past year with stakeholders around specific policy proposals.
The Programme for Government 2024-25 which was published in September confirms that the Adults with Incapacity Bill will form part of the Year 4 Legislative Programme and officials have been working to progress this.
As part of work to progress mental health legislative reform, we have undertaken extensive engagement with partners to consider various aspects of the scope of compulsory care and treatment within the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003, with a view to developing potential options for change. We have also begun scoping work to consider recommendations around named persons and advanced statements.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 September 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 26 September 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made towards developing a framework for mental health security and assurance.
Answer
In line with the recommendation made in the Scrutiny and Assurance Review, we have been working with the Care Inspectorate, Mental Welfare Commission and Healthcare Improvement Scotland to develop a framework for scrutiny and assurance in mental health. We are in the process of agreeing this with scrutiny bodies and aim to publish shortly.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 September 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 26 September 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland having a role in appointing a named person, and whether it plans to make reforms in this area.
Answer
We outlined our plans to reform and modernise mental health legislation in Scotland in our “Mental Health Capacity Reform: Delivery Plan” published in June 2024 (Mental Health and Capacity Reform: delivery plan October 2023 to April 2025 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)).
The plan lists several actions under the priority of Mental Health Law reform. One of these is that we will consider whether the Mental Health Tribunal should have a role in appointing a named person and in what circumstances that provision might apply. Scoping work for this is well underway but further work is needed to inform that position.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 September 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 25 September 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will remind local Alcohol and Drugs Partnerships (ADPs) of the expectation that they will undertake local alcohol death reviews every three years, and whether this expectation will be included in ADP funding letters in the future.
Answer
The then Minister for Public Health, Sport and Wellbeing issued a letter to Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) supporting the release of Alcohol Focus Scotland’s guidance on undertaking alcohol death reviews on 24 September 2020. The letter asked that ADPs undertake an alcohol death review every three years.
We are currently working with both Alcohol Focus Scotland and Public Health Scotland to review how alcohol death reviews are being delivered in Scotland and also what learning can be taken from the delivery of drugs death reviews.
These findings will feature in the national specification for treatment of drug and alcohol misuse in Scotland which is currently in development and will build on the recommendations of the forthcoming UK Clinical Guidelines for Alcohol Treatment.
It is our expectation that future Alcohol and Drug Partnership (ADP) funding letters will ask ADPs to undertake local alcohol death reviews .
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 September 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 25 September 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to balance resource allocation between alcohol and drug addiction services to ensure that equitable and effective treatment options are available for both services.
Answer
Funding allocated to Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) is for both alcohol and drug treatment services. In 2024-25, £112.9 million has been made available to ADPs. ADPs decide how this money is spent in their local areas to meet the needs of those who live there and experience drug and/or alcohol harms.
