We expect Health Boards to fully engage with the review process that takes place via the Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme. The Board review process allows for an evaluation of stroke service performance, identification of areas of concern and agrees steps to implement local action plans to improve the delivery of stroke care, including rehabilitation.

NHS Boards are expected to demonstrate rehabilitation provision in a variety of settings, including inpatient and community settings and at a range of intensities. Boards must also demonstrate that there is a clear pathway for people who have had strokes to re-engage with stroke rehabilitation services as appropriate.

We are also working with rehabilitation stakeholders and Public Health Scotland to develop empirical measures of rehabilitation and measures of patient experience, to enable us to better assess the effectiveness of rehabilitation delivery.

The Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme team work closely with services and NHS Boards to use learning from the Scottish Stroke Care Audit (SSCA) and the Health Board review process to support care improvement across the whole stroke pathway, including access to rehabilitation.

We continue to expect Health Boards to identify aspects of their stroke services which do not meet the Scottish Standards and to work with their stroke Managed Clinical Networks (MCNs) to improve their standards of care locally.

We are also working with rehabilitation stakeholders and Public Health Scotland to develop empirical measures of rehabilitation and measures of patient experience, to enable us to better assess the effectiveness of rehabilitation delivery.

The Scottish Government has committed to introducing a new Human Rights Bill in the current Parliamentary year. The consultation on the proposals closed on 5 October 2023 and the responses received are currently being independently analysed.

The Human Rights Bill will incorporate a wide range of internationally recognised human rights belonging to everyone in Scotland, into Scots law within the limits of devolved competence. Our proposals would mean that for the first time in our domestic legal framework, duty bearers have to comply with the rights in the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (including the right to health) and actively consider the rights in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities when making decisions and delivering public services.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all adults who require rehabilitation have timely access to the right information and services by the end of 2025 through our Once for Scotland Rehabilitation Approach. This is supported by NHS Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships, encouraging cross-sector working with third and leisure sectors to support community-based services and supported self-management. We are working with key partners to deliver this.

We expect local health and social care services to refer or signpost people who have experienced a stroke to the appropriate local services. We are not aware of any barriers to health and social care services referring to third sector services.

We are grateful to third sector organisations, such as Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland and the Stroke Association, for their continued work in supporting people living with stroke across Scotland, and both organisations contributed to the development of the Stroke Improvement Plan.

Actions taken by the Scottish Government to respond to the report’s recommendations are set out in the Equalities and Wellbeing in Manufacturing Working Group Recommendations: One Year Report, which was published on the Scottish Government website on 29 August 2023.

Scottish Government worked in collaboration with industry and flexible working specialists, and provided them with grant funding, to produce a set of 3 flexible working video case studies which are real-life examples of flexible working best practice in SME manufacturers. These popular video case studies are available online and have been well publicised at industry events and shared with business organisations to promote to their members. They have been shared with public bodies such as DWP jobcentres, Scottish Council for Development and Industry, Scottish Enterprise, Food and Drink Federation (Scotland and UK) for use and promotion of flexible working best practice in industry.

Scottish Government published its refreshed Fair Work action plan and Anti-Racist Employment Strategy in December 2022, setting out actions to help promote and support fair and inclusive workplaces across Scotland.

We will continue to work with industry and seek feedback on what further support is required to support SMEs to develop inclusivity and flexible working practices.

Actions taken by the Scottish Government to respond to the report’s recommendations are set out in the Equalities and Wellbeing in Manufacturing Working Group Recommendations: One Year Report, which was published on the Scottish Government website on 29 August 2023.

Link to Equalities and Wellbeing in Manufacturing Report

Link to Equalities and Wellbeing in Manufacturing: One Year Report

Actions taken by the Scottish Government to respond to the report’s recommendations are set out in the Equalities and Wellbeing in Manufacturing Working Group Recommendations: One Year Report, which was published on the Scottish Government website on 29 August 2023. Scottish Government Mental Health team in collaboration with Public Health Scotland, launched the Employer Mental Health Platform, a comprehensive and streamlined online service, which provides employers and employees access to a range of free resources from public, private and the third sector, to help promote a mentally healthy workplace. We will continue to work with partner organisations and industry to provide mental health and wellbeing resources that support employers and employees in the sector.

Scotland’s secure accommodation centres offer an integrated model of delivery, caring for children together in locked premises under high intensity supervision. This applies regardless of the route children have been placed there.

When a child is placed in secure care, children’s safety is to the fore. Secure care centres are highly skilled and experienced in directing and restricting the contacts that a young person can have with others.

The daily care arrangements experienced by individual children are tailored to their own risk and needs, and the safety requirements of other children. This involves risk-assessing the individual child, and then formulating a plan, based on those risks and the vulnerabilities of any others with whom they may come into contact.

Young people who have been supported and supervised under the children’s hearings system are not dealt with as ‘offenders’, as would be the case in the criminal justice system. There is no retributive focus for decision-makers in the children’s hearings system. Once a compulsory supervision order (CSO) has ended or been discharged, then the implementation authority has duties regarding the necessary aftercare arrangements. Section 7 of the Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill would, if passed, amend the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 to enable a children’s hearing on reviewing a CSO, to consider whether after the CSO is to come to an end, the child might still need supervision or guidance after the child turns 18. In that case, the relevant local authority's duty to provide the child with that supervision or guidance continues to have effect after the child turns 18 until they turn 19. 60% of over 100 respondents to the Bill consultation in 2022 supported this. By this point, there would be no compulsion or obligation to accept offers of support. Rather, the young person may benefit from, and wish, voluntary advice, guidance and assistance as they transition to adulthood.

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Government analysis concluded that the Bill could not extend compulsory measures beyond 18 using the children’s hearings system. This would fundamentally change the child welfare-based system, and require an entirely new framework. The tests needed to justify compulsion beyond childhood would require to be restated to accommodate the rights of evolving young adults, with limited suitable options for dealing with non-compliance. Such an approach could also cause capacity issues, including for the volunteer panel members, who would be making decisions in relation to young adults as opposed to children.

The Bill also includes powers to enable those who are remanded or sentenced under 18 to detention in secure accommodation, to remain in secure accommodation until a maximum age of 19. This is to prevent young people – where their sentence is due to end shortly after their turning 18 – being automatically conveyed to serve a short outstanding part of that sentence in a Young Offenders’ Institution. This is therefore directed at minimising placement moves and avoiding unnecessary risks, disruption or trauma. This is in line with UNCRC.