Scottish Public Affairs Update – September 2023

Scottish Government 

Psychological Therapies and Interventions Specification; Waiting Times Standard definitions; and Core Mental Health Standards published

The Scottish Government has published the Psychological Therapies and Interventions specification, which sets out

• What people should expect if they need a psychological therapy or intervention
• What services and teams should do to improve the delivery of psychological therapies and interventions

The specification provides clear definitions for 'Psychological Care' and 'Psychological Practice', with the seven outcomes explaining what people should expect when receiving psychological practice.

The range of psychological care and practice delivered by the workforce in Scotland is described in detail in the updated Scottish Psychological Therapies Matrix – more interactive than its predecessor and allowing clinicians to draw on the most up-to-date evidence for psychological therapies.

Public Health Scotland has published updated guidance on Psychological Therapies and Interventions Waiting Times Standard Definitions, to reflect the new specification. The document provides guidance on the scope of the Psychological Therapies and Interventions Waiting Times Standard for staff that are employed by Health Boards (NHS) and who deliver psychological therapies and interventions through HSCPs and hospitals.

The Standard states that 90% of people should start psychological treatment or intervention within 18 weeks of referral. This document sets out what constitutes psychological therapies and interventions (by services, teams, individuals, or digitally), defines the clock start and clock stop times and specifies how the waiting time from referral to treatment start (RTT) is to be calculated and reported to Public Health Scotland for publication.

Core Mental Health Standards have also been published. Designed to be aspirational about what good mental health services should look like, the Scottish Government recognises that some of the standards may take longer for services to fully deliver in the face of ongoing systems pressures, so is taking a phased approach to the measurement and implementation of the standards. This will include a pilot examining the feasibility of implementing the current set of standards which will inform any future refinements.

BPS has welcomed the publication of all, as they should bring increased clarity and consistency for both service users and staff. Underpinning their success, however, is addressing the current challenges around data collection, monitoring and analysis.

The recent Audit Scotland report into accessing adult mental health services in Scotland flagged current data challenges and noted that waiting times are only part of the picture and do not tell us about how services are improving patients' lives. A common approach to data collection will allow for more meaningful, timely data, which can be used for benchmarking purposes and sharing best practice across health boards and services.

BPS also highlights the need for clinicians to be given the necessary support, so that additional work brought about by the new requirements does not detract from their core clinical role supporting patients, or increase their workload overall.  

Scottish Government Programme for Government 2023-24

The Programme for Government is published every year at the beginning of September and sets out the actions the Scottish Government will take in the coming year and beyond. It also includes the legislative programme for the next parliamentary year. 

On 5 September, the Scottish Government published its Programme for Government 2023 to 2024. Cross-cutting government objectives include the transition to Net Zero; work to meet the Scottish Government's child poverty targets; Keeping The Promise; and the incorporation of human rights treaties into Scots law, as far as possible within devolved competence. 

The First Minister also issued accompanying mandate letters to each Cabinet Secretary, setting out their 2023/24 objectives / how these priority commitments will be delivered over the financial year ahead: https://www.gov.scot/collections/policy-priority-agreements. 

Children and Young People's Mental Health and Wellbeing Joint Delivery Board: final report published 

This final report summarises the work of the Children and Young People's Mental Health and Wellbeing Joint Delivery Board (JDB), which was co-chaired by COSLA and Scottish Government. A related newsletter has also been published. 

The JDB ran from Spring 2021 to Spring 2023 and focused on eight 'deliverables' in areas including community-based, crisis and neurodevelopmental support, CAMHS, support for children and young people in vulnerable situations, 3-5 year olds, education and training and mental health communications. Work undertaken has been underpinned by Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) and is aligned to the Promise.

Following the conclusion of the JDB, as well as the associated Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Programme Board, COSLA and Scottish Government have formed a new combined Strategic Board. 

This Board will have a strategic overview of mental health work spanning preconception, the perinatal period, parent-infant relationships, early years (up to 5), children and young people (5-24 year olds or 26 years for care leavers), their families and carers - with a particular focus on the most vulnerable groups. Work is underway to set up the new Joint Strategic Board together, with an anticipated commencement later in the year.

New Perinatal and Infant Mental Health (PIMH) Advisory Group

Further details on the successor to the working group of the Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Programme Board (PB) – including remit, governance and membership – can be found here.

Children, Young People and Families Outcomes Framework: Core Wellbeing Indicators – National Reporting Children and Families Analysis: September 2023

This report presents headline findings, key socio-demographic breakdowns and time series data, where available, based on the set of 21 Core Wellbeing Indicators which forms part of Scotland's Children, Young People and Families Outcomes Framework. It establishes an initial baseline, against which progress can be measured in future years, and provides a benchmark national picture of the current status of wellbeing of children, young people and families in Scotland. Children's Services Plans and annual reports will incorporate these indicators at local level, as data becomes available over time.

Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy

On 29 June, the Scottish Government launched its Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy. BPS has responded to previous drafts of the Strategy and issued this article on the day of launch.

BPS will continue to inform the Scottish Government's work on developing the Strategy's associated Delivery Plan and Workforce Action Plan – both of which are due for publication autumn 2023. We sit on the Scottish Government Mental Health and Wellbeing Workforce Advisory Group, which advises the government on the development of the Workforce Action Plan.

National Care Service

This summer, the Scottish Government held a series of regional events across Scotland as part of its on-going work to co-design the National Care Service. Read the report which covers feedback on Valuing the Workforce theme. 

Co-design work will continue over the next 18 months, working with people with lived experience of accessing or delivering community health and social care.

The second National Care Service National Forum will take place in Glasgow on Monday 30 October, providing an update on progress in the development of the National Care Service. See more information on the event page.    

The Scottish Parliament will vote on the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill in January 2024.

Scottish Government publishes factsheet on research exploring impact of rape myths on jury decision-making

The Scottish Government has published a factsheet setting out research exploring the impact of rape myths on jury decision-making in cases of rape and attempted rape. 

The Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill contains a proposal to develop and conduct a time limited pilot of single judge rape and attempted rape trials. This factsheet provides more information on the independent academic research into rape myths, and summarises the main evidence considered, including research referred to within the Lady Dorrian Review, as well as research published subsequently.

Open consultations

Scottish Government consultation: Alcohol minimum unit pricing - continuation and future pricing

The Scottish Government is consulting on whether Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) should be continued as part of the range of policy measures in place to address alcohol related harm, and, in the event of its continuation, the level the minimum unit price should be set going forward. 

Member views would be most welcome as we consider responding. Please contact [email protected] by 8 November 2023.

Scottish Government consultation: A Human Rights Bill for Scotland

The Scottish Government is consulting on its plans to bring a new Human Rights Bill to the Scottish Parliament.

The Scottish Government's high-level objectives for the Bill include recognising and including the right to a healthy environment; and ensuring so far as possible that law, policy and decision-making by Scotland's public authorities and services contributes to the advancement of the full range of international human rights standards contained in the Bill. The Bill aims to incorporate into Scots law, within the limits of devolved competence:

• The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR); 
• The Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW); 
• The Convention of the Rights of Disabled Persons (CRPD); and 
• The International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).

The government aims to introduce the Bill to Scottish Parliament in time for it to be voted on before the end of the current parliamentary session in 2026. 

BPS is currently drafting our consultation response. The final response will be available to view from early October 2023. 

Recent BPS consultation responses

Scottish Parliament Criminal Justice Committee Call for Views on the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill

BPS responded to the Scottish Parliament's Criminal Justice Committee Call for Views on the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill.

Measures proposed in the Bill include:

• Creating the office of Victims and Witnesses Commissioner for Scotland
• Embedding trauma-informed practice in criminal and civil courts
• Increasing availability of special measures for vulnerable witnesses and parties in civil court proceedings
• Removing the not proven verdict
• Creating a new sexual offences court 
• Providing automatic life-long anonymity for victims of sexual offences
• Giving complainers in sexual offence cases an automatic right to independent legal representation when an application is made to introduce evidence about the complainer's character
• Giving power to the Scottish Ministers to carry out a pilot of rape trials conducted by a single judge without a jury.

Scottish Parliament

Legislative programme for the 2023-24 parliamentary year

The Programme for Government 2023 to 2024 confirmed that fourteen bills are set to be introduced during the 2023 to 2024 parliamentary year: 

• Agriculture 
• Budget (No. 3) 
• Cladding Remediation 
• Education 
• Electoral Reform 
• Gender Representation on Public Boards Remedial Action 
• Housing 
• Human Rights 
• Judicial Factors 
• Land Reform 
• Misogyny 
• Scottish Aggregates Tax 
• Scottish Languages 
• Social Security (Amendment) 

Scottish Government Bills currently in Parliament

• Bankruptcy and Diligence 
• Children (Care and Justice) 
• Circular Economy 
• National Care Service 
• Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland 
• Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) 
• Regulation of Legal Services 
• Trusts and Succession 
• Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform 
• Visitor Levy 
• Wildlife Management and Muirburn

Learning Disability, Autism and Neurodiversity Bill

The Scottish Government is in the process of preparing the public consultation on the Bill, to launch later this year; which will be followed by work to draft the content of the Bill. It is considering definitions and who this Bill should be for; the potential role for a Commission /Commissioner; and assessing where there are gaps in the attainment of rights and in the provision of rights.

Get in touch

For further information on any of the above, or to discuss wider BPS public affairs and policy work in Scotland, please contact [email protected].