- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 July 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Christina McKelvie on 31 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide a detailed breakdown of (a) how
its stated record investment in Alcohol and Drug Partnerships has been used and
(b) the outcomes that have resulted from this funding.
Answer
A breakdown of how funding is allocated to ADPs since 2017 can be found on the Scottish Government website:
This shows a breakdown in funding for each ADP across several policy areas including: MAT Standards, Stabilisation, Residential Rehab, and Whole Family Approach.
The ADP Annual Survey evidences activity of ADPs in alignment to National Mission outcomes. The last survey, covering 2022-2023, was published in September 2023 and can be found on the Scottish Government website:
The upcoming report, covering 2023-2024, is due to be published in Autumn 2024.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 July 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Christina McKelvie on 31 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-28303 by Christina McKelvie on 9 July 2024, what action it will take if any significant discrepancies are found in the lengths of residential rehabilitation treatments across different regions or facilities.
Answer
The Residential Rehabilitation Development Working Group defines residential rehab as facilities offering programmes which aim to support individuals to attain an alcohol or drug-free lifestyle and to be re-integrated into society, provide intensive psychosocial support and a structured programme of daily activities, and which residents are required to attend over a fixed period of time.
The Scottish Government recognises that diversity of treatment options is important to empower individuals to have more choice and to meet the needs of individuals seeking different types of recovery, and this includes taking a person-centred approach to treatment length.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 July 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Christina McKelvie on 31 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how it will address any impact of the closure of facilities,
such as Turning Point 218 in Glasgow, on the availability and accessibility of
addiction recovery services for women.
Answer
The Scottish Government will address the impact of changes to service provision on access and availability to alcohol and drug recovery services by continuing to ensure that the specific needs of women are considered in the design and delivery of services, and that a gendered approach is taken in all new or developing initiatives across the National Mission to reduce deaths and improve lives.
The Scottish Government provided specific funding of around £1.5m per year to Glasgow City Council to support the 218 Service. As a result of that funding relationship, Glasgow informed the Scottish Government of its plans to re-tender the service last year and discussions took place to confirm that the funding would still be available following that exercise.
Glasgow City Council has provided assurances that it worked closely with Turning Point Scotland to support individuals in transitioning to other support arrangements and that other services, including residential placements, are available to support people with similar needs. In particular, it has confirmed that all 218 service residents had moved on from the service as of 31 January 2024 – some residents naturally came to the end of their stay, while others moved back to their own tenancy or to accommodation with support.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 July 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Christina McKelvie on 31 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-28303 by Christina McKelvie on 9 July 2024, what steps are being taken to involve key stakeholders, including (a) patients, (b) families and (c) addiction recovery organisations in the (i) development and (ii) monitoring of residential rehabilitation programmes.
Answer
Public Health Scotland worked in close consultation with key stakeholders to develop the core minimum dataset, which will form the basis for the monitoring of residential rehabilitation. Early versions of the dataset were shared with the Monitoring, Evaluation and Research Advisory Group (MERAG) and the Residential Rehabilitation Development Working Group (RRDWG), which have representatives from groups such as individuals with experience, families and recovery organisations.
Current residential rehabilitation clients were given the opportunity to complete a survey to provide details of their own experience. was also undertaken with people with lived experience of having accessed residential rehabilitation to explore their experiences of the pathways into, through and out of this form of treatment.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 July 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Christina McKelvie on 31 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the data regarding River Garden Auchincruive is absent from Public Health Scotland's Interim monitoring report on statutory-funded residential rehabilitation placements, which was published on 18 June 2024.
Answer
Public Health Scotland (PHS) follows statistical disclosure control (SDC) when publishing data, including those submitted for their most recent report on statutory-funded residential rehabilitation placements.
PHS applies the SDC to data due to the sensitive nature of the topic, and to reduce the risk of identifying individuals, (especially those from small geographic areas) who in this case were the number of people accessing residential rehabilitation for substance use in River Garden.
The data was therefore suppressed and an asterisk used to denote this in the published report.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 July 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Christina McKelvie on 31 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-28303 by Christina McKelvie on 9 July 2024, what measures are currently in place to ensure the quality and effectiveness of residential rehabilitation treatments across different facilities in Scotland, in light of data not being collated centrally.
Answer
Residential rehabilitation services in Scotland are regulated by appropriate governing bodies independent of the Scottish Government; namely the Care Inspectorate, Healthcare Improvement Scotland or the NHS.
It is the responsibility of these bodies to monitor and ensure that residential rehabilitation services are providing safe, quality support to people in recovery across the country.
The Scottish Government entrusts these bodies to carry out this responsibility diligently, and in line with the qualified levels of clinical expertise that they provide.
The Scottish Government commissioned Scotland Excel to develop a National Commissioning Framework to support the procurement of residential rehabilitation placements. The Framework launched in April 2024 and includes a service specification as part of the contractual arrangement. This service specification was developed in conjunction with the regulators to ensure a minimum level of care provided by each provider on the framework.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 July 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Christina McKelvie on 31 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-28303 by Christina McKelvie on 9 July 2024, when it expects the data infrastructure by Public Health Scotland to be fully operational, and when the detailed information on treatment lengths will be made publicly available.
Answer
We have responded to calls for more transparency and accountability by working with Public Health Scotland to track the number of residential rehab placements that have been funded using public money.
PHS and SG have worked collaboratively with stakeholders to establish a core minimum dataset to support the monitoring and evaluation of residential rehab. The first batch of returns for the dataset have now been received from most providers. It is expected that the first extracts from the dataset, including the number of publicly funded residential rehabilitation placements will be published in December 2024.
A greater level of insight and data will be available for publication, including average treatment length and associated outcomes, as the dataset continues to develop and become more mature.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 July 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Christina McKelvie on 31 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-28303 by Christina McKelvie on 9 July 2024, whether it can provide any interim estimates for the average length of residential rehabilitation treatments, based on existing reports or studies.
Answer
published in November 2021, found that the duration of treatment programmes varied substantially across providers, with an average core treatment duration of 23 weeks. Some providers suggested that this was flexible based on individual need. Typically, private providers reported shorter (5–12 weeks) programmes, while third-sector providers reported longer (14–156 weeks) programmes. Further breakdown of treatment duration by facility is available in the published report.
This report was referenced in Public Health Scotland’s interim evaluation of the Residential Rehabilitation Programme, published 13 February 2024.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 June 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 25 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the academic research on teacher workload, commissioned by the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) and published at its June 2024 AGM, which provided evidence that teachers in Scotland continue to work well beyond their contracted hours and that the number of working hours per week is rising.
Answer
I will be responding directly to the EIS on the important issues raised around teacher workload in their most recent report.
I have also strengthened teacher union engagement in recent months through the creation of the Professional Association Forum, which allows for more routine engagement to discuss issues such as workload.
Any changes to teachers’ terms and conditions require tripartite agreement through the SNCT.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 June 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 25 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to modernise deer management in Scotland to (a) help tackle the climate and nature emergencies and (b) implement the recommendations of the Deer Working Group.
Answer
As set out in the Scottish Government’s Climate Change Action: Policy Package, , we are developing a package of incentives schemes for deer management to pilot across Scotland. These local schemes will be implemented this year in different parts of Scotland to test different approaches to incentives and to better understand the barriers to deer management.
In addition to this the Managing Deer for Climate and Nature: consultation closed on 29 March 2024. This consultation sought views on proposed legislative changes to Scotland’s systems of deer management, including in relation to a number of recommendations made by the Deer Working Group (DWG) in their 2020 report. The responses are currently being analysed and an update will be provided in due course.
The Scottish Government’s future legislative programme will be set out as part of the upcoming Programme for Government in due course. In the meantime we are working on those DWG recommendations that do not require primary legislation through the Strategic Deer Board. .