7. To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the ability of children living in temporary accommodation to access health services, in particular in relation to current levels of treatment from mental health services. (S6O-02694)

Everyone should receive the best possible care and treatment from our health services, including mental health services, regardless of whether they are living in temporary accommodation. Children who are living in temporary accommodation can access local general practice and mental health services, including referrals to child and adolescent mental health services if that is appropriate.

CAMHS is available for all children and young people who meet the agreed referral criteria. For others, community-based mental health support might be the most appropriate form of support. We are providing local authorities with £15 million per year to fund community-based mental health supports and services for children and young people.

A total of 2,265 children are living in temporary accommodation here in the capital, so it is little wonder that, last week, City of Edinburgh Council declared a housing emergency. I have been supporting and working with a number of families living in temporary accommodation who have been unable to register with general practitioners in the capital. Many GPs are operating closed lists and are therefore telling families to go to accident and emergency to access health services.

What review has been undertaken to look at the health services that are available to children who are living in temporary accommodation? If there has not been such a review, will ministers agree to urgently undertake one?

I am not aware of a review having been done—my portfolio area is mental health, and I can assure Miles Briggs that children are able to access CAMHS even when they are staying in temporary accommodation.

Local authorities have statutory obligations to assess the needs of the household—not the needs of children in particular—and that encompasses assessing people’s health needs. If there is difficulty in registering with a GP, as Miles Briggs narrates, the health board has a role in ensuring that everybody can access general practice services. Should he have examples of where that has not been the case, I would be more than happy to take that up with him outside the chamber, if he writes to furnish me with the details.

An important strand of ensuring that mental health services are accessible to young people involves ensuring a high standard of community-based mental health support, which the Minister referred to. Will she provide an update on the steps that the Scottish Government is taking to support community-based mental health services?

The £15 million of annual funding that I referred to has enabled local authorities to put in place more than 300 community services across the country for children, young people and their families. Local authorities report that more than 45,000 people accessed those supports in the second half of 2022. The services focus on prevention and early Intervention, and they provide support for positive mental health and wellbeing, as well as with emotional distress. Easy accessibility is a core principle of community services, and many of the supports are accessed through self-referral.

Members across the chamber will be familiar with young people who have struggled to access mental health support. The Government made a commitment that 10 per cent of NHS expenditure would be dedicated to improving mental health, but that target is still not being met—in fact, funding is currently £180 million adrift in cash terms. How does the Minister justify that? How will she ensure that people can access mental health services, given that the Government is so far off meeting the target?

The Deputy Presiding Officer:

The focus of question 7 is, of course, children who are living in temporary accommodation.

I am happy to address the question. We have made a commitment, in this session of Parliament, to ensure that 10 per cent of the entire health budget is spent on improving mental health and that 1 per cent of that is spent on CAMHS.

Although challenges undoubtedly remain, we see positive signs of improvement in CAMHS as a result of the Government’s action. The waiting list for first-time appointments has been reduced by almost a third in the past year, and the number of children who waited more than 18 weeks decreased by two thirds in the same period.

National performance against the 18-week CAMHS standard is at the third-highest level to have been achieved since the quarter that ended in June 2017. The median wait time for CAMHS is 11 weeks, which means that way more than half of children who are referred for CAMHS appointments see a CAMHS specialist within the 18-week target.