³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

The following table provides the information requested, with narrative included where appropriate:

The National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group will make recommendations to Ministers on the most appropriate use of the £1m annual investment in suicide prevention in order to support the Actions in the Action Plan.

Decisions on the most appropriate use of the £3million funding over the course of this Parliament to support the Action Plan, including the development of refreshed mental health and suicide prevention training, will be informed by the deliberations and recommendations of the National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group.

The National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group will make recommendations to Ministers on the most appropriate use of the £1m annual investment in suicide prevention in order to support the Actions in the Action Plan.

As stated in the new Suicide Prevention Action Plan, the training is to be developed by May 2019. Detail on this, including categories and groups of NHS staff who should be prioritised for the training, will be considered by the National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group, which will make recommendations to Ministers on detail. In the meantime, a range of existing training on suicide prevention is already available to NHS Boards.

As indicated in the answer to question S5W-18333 on 5 September 2018, detail on this will be considered by the National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group, which will make recommendations to Ministers on detail. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at .

The Scottish Government will fund the creation and implementation of refreshed Mental Health and Suicide Prevention training by May 2019 and will support delivery across local authorities. To date, 18 local authorities have received this Scottish Mental Health First Aid Training. By the end of the academic year 2019/20 all of the remaining local authorities will be offered the training which will complement the range of mental health strategies that are already in place within schools and local authorities.

HIV Scotland has submitted a business case which is still under consideration. The interim funding provided to HIV Scotland has been extended to cover this period.

The Scottish Government is clear that one person being made homeless is too many, particularly in households which include children.

That is why preventing and ending homelessness and transforming temporary accommodation are key priorities for the Scottish Government. It is also why we established the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group (HARSAG) last year, with Shelter Scotland as a member, to help us identify the solutions to homelessness.

HARSAG published its final set of recommendations in June 2017 and we have accepted all of their 70 recommendations in principle. These call for more focus on preventing the need for temporary accommodation in the first place, reducing demand through effective prevention measures, and improving outflow or move-on by increasing appropriate options for accommodation. This is an important set of proposals which we will explore further with local authorities and other partners to help ensure we reduce the numbers of children going into temporary accommodation.

Scotland’s strong homelessness rights already mean households, including those with children, are placed in temporary accommodation while they wait for appropriate, sustainable permanent accommodation. The vast majority (80%) of households with children or pregnant women are given temporary accommodation in social rented housing, which is generally of good quality and covered by the Scottish Housing Quality Standard. We also continue to work with local authorities to ensure that all temporary accommodation is the same standard as permanent accommodation.

While temporary accommodation provides an important safety net in emergency situations, we want time there to be as short as possible. In October last year, we also reduced the period from 14 to 7 days that families with children and pregnant women are in unsuitable temporary accommodation, except in exceptional circumstances.

To underline our commitment to transforming temporary accommodation, we have allocated £21 million of the £50m Ending Homelessness Together Fund to help local authorities accelerate towards rapid rehousing and Housing First, to minimise the use of temporary accommodation.

All courses of Initial Teacher Education are accredited and approved by the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) as the independent, regulatory body for the teaching profession. The GTCS only grant accreditation if they are satisfied that the content of courses adequately prepare student teachers to meet the requirements of the Standard for Provisional Registration (SPR). The GTCS Standards for both Provisional and Full Registration include a requirement for teachers to demonstrate an awareness of barriers to learning, recognising when to seek further advice in relation to all leaners’ needs.

The Scottish Government has funded the development and publication of an Autism Toolbox. This provides information on the identification, support and planning of learning for children and young people with autism. Through the recently published ‘Scottish Strategy for Autism: Outcomes and Priorities 2018-2021’ the Scottish Government has also committed to deliver on a range of actions to increase awareness and understanding of autism for staff working in education. These include building on the Autism Toolbox to ensure teachers and the education workforce have access to resources to help them better support autistic children; and to work with universities to explore how we can further increase awareness of autism in teacher education.