Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-35171 on 11 March 2021. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The Scottish Government is responsible for setting the overall policy direction of mental health services, and for working with and funding NHS Boards and local authorities to ensure they plan and deliver appropriate local services. It is for local NHS Boards and local authorities to decide how they implement these policies to ensure that their local population have the highest quality of care and treatment at the right time and in the right place.

In Scotland, a range of eating disorder support and treatment is provided in line with clinical good practice across community, primary care and specialist services for children, adolescents and adults. This includes home visits to support individuals and families during mealtimes.

The vast majority of people with eating disorders are treated in the community, through support provided by primary care or community mental health teams who can also facilitate links to specialist hospital or voluntary sector care, where appropriate.

The new Scottish-specific Guidelines on the management and treatment of eating disorders, which are being produced by the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN), will cover referrals, management of medical and mental health risks, choice of treatments and management of transitions. The new guidelines are due to be published later in the year.

The projects that are being considered under the five year Energy Transition Fund (ETF) programme are; Global Underwater Hub, the Aberdeen Energy Transition Zone, hydrogen projects including Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub and ACORN Hydrogen, an innovation programme led by OGTC’s Net Zero Solution Centre.

Since June last year the focus of the Energy Transition Fund has been on working closely with these projects to support them as they develop their business cases, the approval of which will allow them to move into delivery and funding phases. By January 2021, and to date, the Fund has offered £4.5m grant funding to Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub for the procurement of an additional ten hydrogen double decker buses to help anchor hydrogen demand and enable future buildout phases of the Hub. In addition, many of the ETF project business cases are now in a late stage of development and it is anticipated that further grant offers will be made in the near future, pending their approval.

This investment will benefit the wider Scottish energy sector and broader supply chain, working with local businesses to maximise the economic benefits, create and support sustainable jobs and contribute to inclusive economic growth across the country – this is central to our approach to net zero to ensure it is a just transition and no one is left behind.

Community controlled bodies wanting to take ownership of land or buildings through asset transfer must have provision within their constitution, articles of association or registered rules stating that they have at least 20 members. This number helps to ensure that there are enough people to take on the responsibilities of ownership and keep the body going. However, section 80 paragraph (d) of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 does include a right for community organisations, who might find it difficult to secure a minimum of 20 members, to apply to Scottish Ministers for designation. This can be done by an order under paragraph (a) of subsection (2) of section 77 as a community transfer body. Chapter 5 of the statutory guidance for community transfer bodies includes guidance for designation requests, which can be accessed via the following link: Community transfer bodies guidance .

The additional £120 million supports a Recovery & Renewal Fund to help deliver the commitments set out in the Mental Health Transition & Recovery Plan. Those commitments span different types of need, including the provision of specialist child and adolescent mental health services. Funding decisions are currently being considered and will be announced in due course.

The provision of school transport is the responsibility of local authorities. It is for individual local authorities to decide on the level of support they provide to their contractors during the current Covid-19 outbreak. Local authorities will take into account current contracting arrangements, the level of financial support available to business during this time and the reduction in operating costs due to the current demand for school transport services. The Scottish Government’s expectation is that local authorities will treat their contractors fairly and for conditions for operators to improve as demand for school transport increases due to more pupils returning to in-person learning.

We understand how difficult this is for families with children, but to manage the risk of importing new variants and to give vaccine deployment the best chance of bringing us closer to normality these limits on international travel are necessary.

The clinical advice is clear that a comprehensive system of managed quarantine is essential to minimise the impact of new COVID-19 variants. This means children must enter managed isolation regardless of whether they are accompanied or unaccompanied. A parent or guardian will be required to enter managed isolation to ensure the child is not left alone.

We must restrict how many exemptions are in place otherwise the policy will not be effective.

We have provided Beat, the UK’s eating disorder charity, with funding to ensure that their online and telephone services were able to support and help as many people as possible during this difficult time. In addition to these services, Beat launched a new moderated online group, The Sanctuary, which focuses on supporting sufferers with concerns relating to their eating disorder and Covid-19.

Furthermore, we provided funding to deliver additional capacity to NHS Lothian and Beat’s National Peer Support Services for both young people with an eating disorder, and their parents and carers.

In addition, we have invested £1.1 billion for NHS Boards and Integration Authorities to meet the costs of responding to the pandemic. Funding for additional mental health costs is included with the £1.1 billion allocation, and we expect that to be used to meet those pressures. Funding for frontline NHS boards will increase to £11.6 billion in 2021-22 and NHS boards will work with their partners to make local spending decisions on mental health that reflect local needs and national priorities, including taking into consideration the demand for adolescent eating disorder services.

We continue to monitor research, referral rates and engage regularly with the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service Lead Clinicians, Service Managers and Heads of Child Psychology Group to provide us with an understanding of how those with an eating disorder, and their families, are feeling during the coronavirus pandemic to ensure that the right help and support is available.

Our Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan, published in October 2020, has a specific action to ensure that the National Review of Eating Disorder Services takes into account the effects of the pandemic and lockdown on access to help and support. The Review will be publishing their final report and recommendations at the end of this month.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) priority list has been updated to include funeral workers who are considered frontline funeral operatives and mortuary technicians/embalmers, as they are both at risk of exposure and likely to spend a considerable amount of time in care homes and hospital settings where they may also expose multiple patients. They are eligible for vaccination under category 2 of the JCVI list.