I want to write to Clare Haughey
Did you mean fracking speaker:Clare Haughey?
Clare Haughey: The cabinet secretary will be aware that Shawfield stadium in my constituency is the only licensed greyhound racing track in Scotland, and no racing has taken place there since the start of the Covid pandemic. Given my concern about the welfare of greyhounds that have been raced at Shawfield previously, I hope that there is no return to racing. Can the cabinet secretary confirm exactly when...
Clare Haughey: .... However, the comprehensive plan that we published today will enable us to make up for lost time and, alongside our Covid recovery strategy and our plans to tackle child poverty, it will put us on track to keep the Promise by 2030. Before I progress, I thank all the carers, workforce, agencies and stakeholders who work hard to provide the best environment for our children and young people...
Clare Haughey: ...to hold Scotland, including the Scottish Government, to account. I am grateful to the members of the board for taking on that task and I welcome the scrutiny that they will bring. To enable us to track progress, we will establish a new Promise collective, which will support alignment and cohesion of activities. That group will ensure alignment across funded delivery and improvement...
Clare Haughey: ...to change; the plan sets out work that is already under way and work that we will take forward at pace. The past two years have been unprecedented, and publishing the plan today brings us back on track to deliver the range of actions and commitments that will help us to keep the Promise by 2030.
Clare Haughey: ...the biggest drivers of poor mental health and poverty. They need to own that. [ Interruption .] No, I will not take an intervention. Donald Cameron accused the Scottish Government of not being on track to deliver the 800 mental health workers mentioned in action 15 of the strategy. I assure Mr Cameron that we are on track to have 800 mental health workers in place by the end of the 2022...
Clare Haughey: ...the proportion of people who are waiting longer than 18 weeks has gone up over that time. That is why the Scottish Government is directing enhanced improvement support to the boards that are not on track to meet the standard. In our transition and recovery plan, which was published on 8 October, we set out a number of actions to progress improvement in access to CAMHS. They include the...
Clare Haughey: ...deal with some of the difficulties and issues that Mr Whittle raised. We are also committed to ensuring that there is a counsellor available to each secondary school in the country, and we are on track for that to be delivered by autumn this year. In addition, mental health first aid training is available to teachers and other appropriate staff in schools. Mr Whittle asked about engagement...
Clare Haughey: ...Government has commissioned the University of Glasgow, in collaboration with the Samaritans and the Scottish Association for Mental Health, to undertake a Scottish mental health and wellbeing tracker study. That study will track mental health participants for the next year, and provide a Scotland-specific insight into the impact of the pandemic and lockdown restrictions on the population....
Clare Haughey: ...the additional workers under action 15 of the mental health strategy. The most recent figures were published in May and further figures will be published in August. We are certainly keeping close track of those. We are working hard with our colleagues in health boards and integration joint boards to ensure that we get the workers in those key target areas as quickly and appropriately as we can.
Clare Haughey: ...health and achieving greater progress and pace in the integration of health and social care. We will use the plans to monitor performance regularly in order to ensure that NHS boards remain on track to deliver the agreed commitments and milestones. Once they are agreed, the plans will be published on the websites of individual boards over the summer. We will continue to work closely with...
Clare Haughey: ...standards across Scotland. That is why we set up a new mental health delivery board, which I chair and which had its second meeting this week. The board will oversee improvement activity and will track performance. Boards have been asked to put in place improvement plans by April, setting out clear milestones over the next two years.
Clare Haughey: ...help at the right time, without being subject to unnecessarily long waits. That work will be overseen by a new mental health delivery board, which I will chair, that will ensure that progress is tracked regularly and that any obstacles are addressed quickly. The board will drive the actions that are set out in the programme for government delivery plan. I will report on progress to...
Clare Haughey: .... I, and my ministerial colleagues, look forward to working with him to build on Eric Fraser’s many achievements. Eric Fraser’s report on veterans’ health and wellbeing recognises the strong track record in Scotland of ensuring that veterans are given the best possible treatment, care and support. It also sets out 18 recommendations for strengthening and enhancing Scotland’s...
Clare Haughey: ...next month, when it will look at how we might revise CAMHS provision so that people can more quickly access the services that they need, and so that those who need specialist services can be fast tracked to be seen by them.
Clare Haughey: ...benefits. Although good progress has been made on several of the objectives that are promoted by the Gordon’s fightback campaign, work is still required in other areas. One of those is the fast tracking of benefits. It is simply not acceptable that people with terminal diagnoses of illnesses such as MND should have to wait long periods before receiving the Department for Work and...