– in the Scottish Parliament at on 17 May 2023.
Gordon MacDonald
Scottish National Party
6. To ask the Scottish Government how many front-line police officers have been trained to use, and equipped with, naloxone. (S6O-02241)
Angela Constance
Scottish National Party
The Scottish Government recognises the vital role that emergency services play in providing and improving our response to drug overdoses. To date, 10,300 officers have been trained to use and been equipped with naloxone kits.
As of today, Police Scotland has recorded 201 administrations of naloxone, which shows how crucial the Intervention is in helping to tackle preventable deaths. I want to thank each and every officer who has carried and administered life-saving naloxone.
Gordon MacDonald
Scottish National Party
The roll-out of naloxone to front-line police officers began at last year’s international overdose awareness day. Naloxone is an emergency first-aid treatment for use in potentially life-threatening overdose situations. When will the Cabinet secretary see the results of the use of naloxone on the figures for overdose deaths?
Angela Constance
Scottish National Party
Many factors contribute to reducing overdose deaths, and the national statistics are published every year in the summer months. There have been 201 recorded incidents of police officers having administered naloxone, and they have done that in a wide variety of circumstances and locations. On all but seven occasions, the individuals survived their ordeal. On most occasions when the individual did not survive, the officer suspected that the person was deceased prior to police arrival, but the officer administered naloxone to give them the best possible chance of survival.
Once again, I thank Police Scotland for its leadership in the area and its front-line officers for playing their part to save lives.
An intervention is when the MP making a speech is interrupted by another MP and asked to 'give way' to allow the other MP to intervene on the speech to ask a question or comment on what has just been said.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
