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The Distress Brief Intervention Programme provides tailored one to one support across a period of up to around 14 days. Some people will only require one phone call whereas others may need more support across the 14 days including background work for resources and signposting. Overall, of those who engage with the programme, more than 80% of people go on to receive further support beyond one phone call across the 14 day period.

Table 1 shows the specific numbers of people who received support across the 14 day period. This is broken down by health and social care partnership areas and small numbers have been suppressed. The data available was between June 2020 and May 2024.

Table 1 – Number of individuals who received DBI support by H&SCP

The ability to re-refer is part of the current structure of the Distress Brief Intervention programme. Data is not held within individual years for multiple referrals but data about multiple referrals overall has been provided below. Data beyond January 2023 will be available after spring 2025.

The programme was initially piloted in Lanarkshire, Aberdeen city, Inverness City and Scottish Borders. Data for these areas is available between 1st November 2018 to 31st January 2023 and is outlined in Table 1. Data for the subsequent rollout across the remaining health and social care partnerships is available between 1st July 2019 to 31st January 2023 and is outlined in Table 2.

For the National Pathways (NHS 24, Scottish Ambulance Service and Police Scotland), data is available between May 2020 to the end of January 2023. In this time, 12,649 individuals were referred. Of these, 1,044 people (8.3%) had 2 referrals and 473 people (3.7%) had 3 or more referrals.

Table 1 – Referral numbers for pilot areas (November 2018 to January 2023)

We can currently only provide accurate information on whether buildings are within scope of the Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Act 2024 if they have been entered into the pilot phase of our Cladding Remediation Programme. There are no buildings within the Highlands and Islands region that were entered into the pilot phase. We currently do not know if there are any buildings within the region that are within scope of the Act.

We recently announced that we will be delivering two new schemes of assessment and remediation. One will allow residents of potentially affected buildings to bring these to our attention where no owner or developer is willing or able to undertake responsibility. The other will involve working with local authorities and the fire service to identify buildings that appear to be at an elevated risk. More generally, we plan to bring partners together - harnessing their skills, knowledge and capacity – to make action on cladding a national, collective endeavour.

These actions will allow us to develop a clear picture of the position across Scotland and action being taken. We will seek assurance where appropriate, and be prepared to offer support where needed. We will be publishing a renewed plan of action in March that will set out how and when we will be delivering these and other priorities for cladding remediation.

Practitioner training data is currently available up to 31st October 2023 for Level 1 training and to 31st August 2023 for Level 2 training. The next tranche of training data will be available after summer 2025.

Table 1 provides data on the number of frontline staff trained in Level 1 of Distress Brief Intervention where initial compassionate support is provided and referral takes place.

Table 2 provides data on the number and distribution of third sector staff trained in Level 2 of DBI where support is provided for a period of up to around 14 days.

In addition to the training by health and social care partnership area provided in the tables below, an additional 562 frontline staff have been trained in Level 1 through the DBI National Pathways (NHS 24 and call handling centres operated by Scottish Ambulance Service and Police Scotland). This additional data covers training to NHS 24 (up to March 2024), Scottish Ambulance Service (up to December 2022) and Police Scotland (up to March 2024). For Level 2, there have been 32 practitioners trained for the National Pathways.

The DBI programme was rolled out in stages which means that areas which opted in earlier may have higher numbers of practitioners trained than those who opted in later, though health and social care partnership population and demographics will also play a role.

Table 1 - DBI Level 1 Staff Training estimates

Since April 2021 the Scottish Ballet has undertaken the following number of productions in Scotland and in the Highlands and Islands:

Scotland’s first Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services (RCDSs) – established within existing NHS infrastructure – are operational in NHS Ayrshire and Arran, NHS Dumfries and Galloway NHS Fife, NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Borders.

Our Programme for Government has committed to establishing a further Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Service in NHS Forth Valley, bringing our national total to six. It is expected the RCDS in NHS Forth Valley will start accepting referrals by Spring 2025.

It is Scottish Government’s policy to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. The vast majority of funding is provided by means of a block grant. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

As part of the monitoring for the third Scottish national Adaptation Plan (SNAP3), the number of published Coastal Change Adaptation Plans will be monitored. The outputs of the Coastal Change Adaption Fund case studies are shared on the Dynamic Coast website and webinars on coastal change are held so the knowledge is shared across key stakeholders.

The draft Budget 2025-26 includes £5m of funding for Coastal Change to be included in the General Capital Grant provided to local authorities.

It is Scottish Government’s policy to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. The vast majority of funding is provided by means of a block grant. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. We are working with PHS to collate RCDS data with a view to publishing in the future.

Colleagues in the Centre for Sustainable Delivery continue to engage with Health Boards across NHS Scotland and regional cancer networks, such as the North Cancer Alliance, to extend Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services. We are committed to achieving population based coverage by 2026.

A clinical refresh of the Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer is currently underway to help ensure the right person is on the right pathway at the right time. The guidelines are due to be published in Spring 2025. A new guideline will now be included for those patients presenting with symptoms that do not follow the specific tumour referral pathways, ensuring that patients across NHS Scotland who present with non-specific symptoms of cancer will have a clear Urgent Suspicion of Cancer referral route. This non-specific symptom guideline is closely aligned to the referral route for those who are referred to a Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Service (RCDS).