 The next item of business is a statement by Angela Constance on accountability for delivering the national mission to reduce drug deaths and improve lives. The minister will take questions at the end of her statement and so there should be no interventions or interruptions. I call on Angela Constance, minister, up to 10 minutes please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. The loss of life in Scotland from drug-related deaths is as heartbreaking as it is unacceptable. Every drug death is a tragedy leaving families, friends and loved ones looking for answers and support. I offer my condolences to everyone who has been affected by a drug death and I reaffirm my commitment to work across Government, Parliament and beyond to deliver the national mission to save and improve lives. The impact of problematic drug use is far reaching and can cause harm in every aspect of life. That is why our national mission needs to be far reaching through an all-government, all-scotland approach with shared accountability at each and every level. People with drug problems often experience complex needs and require support from more than one service, and consequently lines of accountability can be complex. Over the lifetime of this Parliament, we will ensure effective accountability is in place through the establishment of the national care service, which will have responsibility for alcohol and drug services. It will provide a single structure for accountability, better oversight of delivery and further integration of community health and social care will provide better joined up and person-centred services. We cannot wait until the full establishment of the national care service and that is why we are taking action now to improve accountability at all levels. The national mission is backed by an additional investment of £50 million per annum. A 67 per cent increase since 2014-15, and we are now investing over £140 million in drug and alcohol services. Of this additional £50 million, over £20 million is invested through integration authorities for health and social care, plus an additional £10 million to support the implementation of MAT standards. Transparency and reporting remain key to the success of the national mission, and that is why I am asking integration authorities to account for those funds more thoroughly by increasing the frequency of their reporting from annually to quarterly. In May 2021, we opened four new funds to invest in recovery, local support, children and families, and other service improvements. We have committed up to £18 million a year on a multi-year basis to provide security for third sector grass-roots and advocacy organisations, which are often at the forefront of saving lives. That approach enables me to account for that investment and ensure that it is made in ways that will deliver the national mission. While accountability to Government and Parliament is essential, I have also been working with COSLA to support local areas to improve accountability within alcohol and drug partnerships. We have agreed eight recommendations with COSLA to improve strategic planning and are testing new tools to enable local areas to review and improve accountability with appropriate external validation. Let me be clear that local lived experience panels are also core and central to the planning and development of local services. We are also working with Public Health Scotland to improve the use of local evidence through data sets such as DAISY. We are also developing a local performance framework that will set out clear expectations across the national mission and will provide transparency and enable us to measure progress at a local level. Earlier this year I announced phase 1 of the new treatment target to ensure that more people with problematic opiate use are accessing life-saving community treatment and Public Health Scotland will publish quarterly data on progress to ensure that people receive the protection of treatment or recovery that is right for them. We set integration authorities the ambitious target of embedding the medication assisted treatment targets by April this year. Local progress from each health and social care partnership is being evaluated by the MATS support team and a report will be published in June to coincide with my update to Parliament and the report will be a collision of operational procedures, data and crucially lived experience evaluation undertaken by peer researchers. In November last year I set out my expectations to increase the number of people accessing residential rehab. I have responded to calls for more transparency and accountability by working with Public Health Scotland to track the number of placements. This gives me a clear line of sight on how the residential rehab money is being spent and I am committed to increase the number of publicly funded placements by more than 300 per cent so that by 2026 at least 1,000 people every year are publicly funded for their rehab placement. Alongside that we have published good practice on the pathways needed to ensure people are prepared for rehab and receive the support they need after the treatment and rehab is complete. As a result my expectations could not be clearer. In the first nine months of the last financial year ADPs funded 326 placements with an investment of around £2.2 million from the £5 million allocated to them to fund both placements and aftercare. I am heartened by this progress but I expect these numbers to continuously improve as we actively work with areas where the data shows both to ourselves and government but also to local populations that access is most challenging. Our priority must always be to prevent the tragedy of drug deaths and each and every death is one to many that devastates families and communities. I am determined that we learn every lesson from every death so that services are improved to better meet the needs of our citizens who are at risk of dying. When a child or vulnerable adult dies chief officers for public protection play a key role in ensuring that we learn vital lessons from these tragic events. I intend to do what is necessary so that the same chief officers take on a new accountability to ensure that lessons are learnt and changes made from the reviews of all drug-related deaths. Therefore, I will be setting out clear expectations to ensure consistency in how these reviews are carried out as well as issuing guidance and training for all those involved. The drug deaths task force have a strong interest in this area of work and may make further recommendations in their forthcoming report this summer. We already published quarterly suspected drug deaths management information from Police Scotland in addition to the annual national statistics report from National Records Scotland. We are investing a further £592,000 to improve the national drug-related death database. The leadership provided by directors of public health will enable us to use this unparalleled amount of information to best effect to deliver meaningful change. I have also taken action to improve the accountability of the national mission at Scotland level. I have provided a renewed focus for the national mission implementation group to provide scrutiny, challenge and advice to the Scottish Government and the wider sector. This includes advice from international experts. The second year of the national mission is focused on delivery on the ground and where it matters most. I need this group to provide robust scrutiny and advice to ensure that we are delivering for those that need it most. I will also be publishing a national mission plan in the summer, which sets out plans for implementing the mission over the course of the remaining four years. The plan will include an outcomes framework that will enable us to better monitor the impact that we are having on prevention and early intervention, the reorientation of a system of care and treatment recovery and trauma informed, as well as supporting families and communities. Professor Alan Miller as chair of the national collaborative for people with lived and living experience will bring forward the vision for integrating human rights into national policy at a local and national level both at service design and on delivery. The collaborative will contribute to developing monitoring and accountability mechanisms based on the internationally recognised human rights to be included in the forthcoming human rights bill. Human rights and the national collaborative provide a way of holding the government both locally and nationally to account of making sure that people who use drugs can participate in decision making which affects them of exposing stigma and discrimination and of asking tough questions and demanding clear answers. More than ever before we are reforming services providing practical as well as financial support gathering and publishing more information so that we can challenge ourselves and each other at all levels to foster responsibility for and accountability to people with drug and alcohol difficulties who, like you or I, are entitled to services that meet their needs. This is a key part of getting it right for everyone. Thank you minister. The minister will now take questions on the issues raised in her statement and I intend to allow around 20 minutes for questions after which we will move on to the next item of business. It would be helpful if those members who wish to ask a question were to press the request to speak buttons now and I call on Sue Webber. Thank you Deputy Presiding Officer and I'd like to thank the minister for advance sight of the statement and we welcome this statement to the Government's approach to tackling this national shame. With 1,339 drug-related deaths in Scotland in 2020 it is clear that the national mission sent by the Government desperately needs to succeed. First, I'm glad there is more detail on spending and accountability and I thank the minister for looking at how accountability can be improved at all levels. Accountability is key to making real progress real progress on the ground but further clarification is needed on who is ultimately responsible for ensuring the consistent implementation of the MAT standards. We've got the First Minister we have the drugs minister the drugs death task force alcohol and drug partnerships and now the national mission implementation group so I have one straight forward question who is ultimately accountable for delivering the national mission and how are all these groups working together to tackle our national shame. More specifically time and time again I speak to people who have been on methadone for over two decades they are desperate to come off methadone and on to a more modern and safe opiate replacement and MAT standard 2 states that all people should be supported to make an informed choice on what medication to use for MAT and the appropriate dose. I know of us before minister but what can the Scottish Government do to ensure that their movement to safer replacement therapies let move it all. Minister. Thank you very much and I appreciate those comments from Ms Webber improving clarity and providing more detail about the accountability and the investments that we are implementing to provide change on the ground is of crucial importance. Of course the whole reason was to demonstrate how across the piece that we are improving accountability both at a national and a local level. The purpose of the national mission implementation group is to give oversight and advice as opposed to responsibility. Responsibility will always of course rest with this Government including myself but it is important to stress also that integration authorities have a legal responsibility to plan and deliver treatment and recovery services but we all have to recognise that they can't do this alone that they must work with others they must provide adequate support to alcohol and drug partnerships and of course alcohol and drug partnerships must be engaging and working with the lived and living experience community and voluntary organisations so ultimately I would never for a minute remark from my responsibilities or the responsibilities of this Government but accountability is shared we are accountable to ourselves and to each other and we all have a responsibility to hold ourselves and each other to account. In terms of the final point that Ms Webber makes it is important to recognise that methadone is a treatment internationally recognised treatment it should not be stigmatised it should not ever be our only offer to anyone, people by and large need a holistic range of care and treatments and Buvedal is of course shown much success it was first implemented in Scotland after looking at trailblazing work in Wales during the pandemic in our prison again Buvedal doesn't suit everyone but it offers huge opportunities to release people to get on with their daily life and release them from a daily trip to the chemist thank you I thank the minister for a vast sight of her statement we agree that accountability is crucial and the Government must face scrutiny over their progress on tackling Scotland's appalling record on drug fatalities the minister is on record as stating that the mat standard should be implemented not just embedded but implemented in a year it gives me no satisfaction to say that this commitment is heading for failure so will the minister rather than provide generalised statements commit to publishing progress standard by standard ADP by ADP to allow for proper scrutiny and accountability and the minister's statement stresses the importance of transparency will the minister ensure that a full and detailed breakdown on drug and alcohol services will be published in one place and made easily accessible as recommended by Audit Scotland who described current information as incomplete disparate and inconsistent and finally Audit Scotland recommend that the national drug and alcohol target waiting time of 28 days is too long will the minister commit to action to amend this minister thank you very much I'm grateful to Ms Baker education assisted treatment standards are a significant undertaking they are not a tick box exercise and that's why I did indeed commit to embed or implement by April this year but that will have to be followed up by improving the standards and also sustaining the standards this isn't a tick box exercise I want to see far more evidence collected other than people showing me their operational procedures and that's why we are evaluating local progress from each health and social care partnership that progress is being evaluated and yes of course it's looking at their operational standards and their policy and procedures but crucially it's also looking at data and I think the third strand of our accountability and evaluation of progress at a local level is the work that's currently being done with the peer researchers because this always has to be testing how services are delivered and received by those who need them and by those who these services are meant to serve and I'm conscious of time and that I have in detail answered written parliamentary questions outlining that I will indeed ask for my commitment to report and be back on my feet in this chamber in June with a report that will look at the national picture but it will also cover area by area we will be able to report on the progress of each standard but that will also be followed up by a more in-depth report in the summer which isn't just looking at whether a standard has been met or not area by area but it's looking at the criteria for meeting each of those standards area by area so I want to reassure Ms Baker that there is a substantial amount of work going on right now to gather up-to-date evidence on the progress that is being made but also the further work that we will have to pursue over the lifetime of the national mission and the point about Audit Scotland and publishing spending in one place I agree with and the whole purpose of moving to match standards isn't a recognition that waiting time treatment targets is not the best measurement I call Collette Stevenson to be followed by Douglas Ross Thank you I very much welcome the content of today's statement and thank the minister for advance sight of it Can the minister outline how the Scottish Government is working with stakeholders local authorities, ADPs and the third sector to improve local governance in services and can she also confirm how best practice from across the country will be used to drive improvements in the service Minister Presiding Officer, as I intimated in my statement we have agreed eight recommendations with COSLA and essentially that's about improving partnerships but also include health boards, local authorities police and third sector partners both in terms of the need for all of those partners to work together but also to ensure that health boards are taking on their responsibilities to give appropriate support to integration authorities and subsequently to alcohol and drug partnerships too As I also mentioned that we are currently testing some self-assessment tools and again that's all about governance, strategic planning quality improvement financial planning as well as accountability and that should be rolled out next month but it's important to say that as well as peer review and the new layers on structures between my officials and ADPs that there is also scope for external validation to ensure that the right actions are taken to improve local governance and also Public Health Scotland are doing a range of work in this area as well and we are mapping the contributions of partners to this work and that includes investments also I call Douglas Ross to be followed by Bob Doris On Monday I'll publish the final proposals for the right to recovery bill which I'm taking through this Parliament 77% of the respondents to the consultation on that bill were in support Can the minister tell us if the Scottish Government will give its support to this bill which has been drafted by frontline experts and those with lived experience who know what's needed to tackle Scotland's drug deaths? Minister As I have said to Mr Ross in a number of occasions now that his bill when he brings it forward and when we can see the detail of it will absolutely be given a fair and sympathetic hearing I know there are a range of views expressed on the bill I'm not going to jump in and either give a blank check a rosy endorsement or indeed an unfair criticism to something that I've not seen but I do look forward to seeing the detail I have met Mr Ross in the past to discuss this and to candidly discuss some of the issues that I would hope to see reflected in the bill if he brings it forward will we be given a fair and sympathetic hearing by this Government? I call Bob Doris, followed by Paul Sweeney. Presiding Officer the minister mentioned health and social care partnerships. I anticipate Glasgow's partnership would have a key role should NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde be able to final and proceed with its safe consumption facility planned in 2016 and I pay tribute to Paul Sweeney who has lodged an associated matter was the minister able to raise resolving the legal uncertainty over safe consumption facilities when she attended the UK Government's national drug summit last week and what other matters were discussed? Minister I did indeed intend the UK Government drug summit last week I was invited and I think I was the only representative there from a devolved nation I am of the view that it is important to engage and discuss matters even with those people that you have quite fundamental disagreements about issues that I raised directly with the UK Government are issues that I have raised in the past in terms of the misuse of drugs act I would like to see that reformed if the UK won't reform it I would wish them to devolve it so we did indeed once again discuss matters such as safe drug consumption members will be aware that as a Government we are also pursuing our own activities and actions in terms of what we can do within our own legal powers but we also discussed issues in and around regulation for pill press regulation I recently met with the national crime association and it's a national crime agency and it's an area that I'm pushing to make progress on I think they're willing I'm just keen for them to go a bit faster I call Paul Sweeney to follow by Gillian Martin Thank you Deputy Presiding Officer and I thank the minister for his statement but it has left me rather underwhelmed the minister has said repeatedly that establishing over those prevention centres in Scotland is a priority and an essential tool to tackling the drug death crisis in our midst yet today's set piece statement on drug deaths there isn't a single mention of the Government's work so far on delivering these over those prevention centres in Scotland and she'll know that yesterday I launched my member's bill consultation that seeks to establish these OPCs in Scotland but I must ask why has it been left to opposition members to drive the pace of these reforms when we both agree on the need of it and when are we likely to see genuine tangible updates and progress from the Government on delivering over those prevention sites under its own competence Minister I made a commitment to this Parliament about improving accountability and governance and while issues in and around governance may not excite everyone but they are crucially important this is a shared agenda we all have our individual responsibilities we all have our part to play and I actually consider it crucial a crucial part of the national mission that we hold ourselves in each other to account both locally and nationally in terms of safer consumption rooms Mr Sweeney is right there is very strong support for those right across this Parliament the evidence in my view as is his is clear and compelling and the only debate now is how they are actually delivered and I am sure Mr Sweeney is aware that the Scottish Government is leaving no stone unturned right now to deliver clinically and legally safe consumption facilities within our powers and I will continue to pursue that activity within our own powers because at the end of the day I do not want to be asking the UK Government for permission because it is quite clear to me that they are not going to reform the misuse of drugs act it is quite clear to me that certainly to medium term we are not going to come to agreement with the UK Government over safe consumption facilities I think that is a matter of regret when even Mr Ross is of the view that the Conservatives shouldn't stand in the way of a pilot so the consensus is strong in Scotland but we are engaged with our partners we will leave no stone unturned within our own powers and that is the route I am following I appreciate that Mr Sweeney has an alternative proposal and as with other legislative proposals they will always be given a fair and sympathetic hearing Before I call the next member I would just point out that I have six more members that I would hope to call and perhaps time is not as it was ten minutes ago and therefore I would make a plea for succinct questions and minister succinct answers I do appreciate that there is a lot of ground to cover but we can see if we can fit everybody in I called Julian Martin to follow him back Alex Cole-Hamilton I would like to ask the minister about drug testing schemes where substances can be tested for rogue ingredients that could lead to extreme harm or even death, it is my understanding that licences to facilitate this can be given by the UK Government with the City Council What is the minister's position on this? As I have stated to Parliament before I am fully supportive of the work that has been done to implement drug checking facilities in Scotland The task force funded some initial research projects by Stirling University around the development of drug checking programme and I am pleased that the first application for the three prospective sites will be submitted to the Home Office in the next month It is very encouraging to see the project in Bristol receive a licence and I would very much hope that the Home Office will likewise see the benefits of these facilities being introduced in Scotland I made that very point to Mr Maltthouse when I met him last week Alex Cole-Hamilton The minister knows that Liberal Democrats want her to succeed in this regard and that is our good wishes to that It is encouraging in the statement to see the direction of travel towards rehab but these services need to be sustainable even when occupancy drifts below 50% but before people can access rehab they need to be stabilised first and foremost and the minister and I have many times discussed the need to address the gap in stabilisation services that didn't feature in today's statement I wonder if she could now update the chamber as to where we are on stabilisation Minister I would like to state that the statement was about governance and accountability and some of the nuts and bolts in and around that but like him I am a supporter of stabilisation services they are not necessarily easy to run they are also expensive and they are separate to residential rehabilitation and those abstinence based programmes but there does need to be links between the relevant services and of course some of the work regional and national commissioning in the residential rehabilitation sector is quite germane to that in that the work that we are doing through Scotland Excel will help to establish that the level of need at different geographies across the country but it is an area that we are very focused on I would be grateful if the minister can provide an update as to how she will ensure that the views of recovering users, families and associated charities continue to be taken on board Minister Absolutely Governance and accountability is not just about data important though that is or policies and procedures all of these activities need to be informed and consistently by the views of people with lived and living experience and much of the work that we have done around accountability has actually been in response to what we have heard from people with drug and alcohol problems their families and indeed those organisations and advocates who are representing them so we are continuing to for example report on a quarterly basis around our investments in residential rehab we will commit to six-monthly reporting on match standards we are increasing financial security there is of course the treatment target and there is the work that we are doing to improve governance both in terms of accountability at a national and a local level I call Sandish Gohani to be followed by Julian Mackay Drug deaths is our national shame I welcome the minister talking about data and accountability with each drug death now being investigated but I am upset that this information is not already available as it is so vital I would like to ask the minister once the investigation into a drug death has been concluded what is the mechanism that will allow the lessons learnt to be translated into action to save lives in the future minister there is part of this area that I feel very strongly about and always struggle with because when we talk about learning the lessons it trips off the tongue very easily but can sound really really trite and I know from my background as a professional social worker about also another portfolio in this government that there is guidance out there that sets the very clear parameters when the death of a child should be investigated or indeed a vulnerable adult and there is guidance around the process in which that should be done and how the information should be shared etc and I think as a minimum we should have the same for the reporting of reviews into drug related deaths so it is something that will be doing some further work and consultation on. I am keen that we get this absolutely right. I am also very conscious that these reviews can be really important for families who are seeking answers so this is an area that I feel very strongly about it's an area that politicians we can sound a bit trite on but it is an area that I want to ensure that we can make a difference on Julian Mackay to be followed by Ruth Maguire I thank the minister for advance sight of her statement and I welcome her commitment to improving consistency of drug death reviews as she said it will improve data collection allow national trends to be established and most importantly it will give families answers and ensure that they have certainty in the process Will the minister commit to taking any necessary action to ensure that there is consistency across Scotland in how drug death reviews are being carried out and ensure that these are carried out in as many cases as possible? Yes and following on from my answer to Sandish Gilhane Ms Mackay makes an important point about consistency because while most areas currently do reviews of drug deaths they are all done in a different fashion and there isn't always that visibility of the review process or indeed the outcomes either at a local or national level but I again have an open mind I think is a minimum the new procedures that we put in place should reflect at least what is in place for child deaths or under vulnerable adult procedures but I do have an open mind and if she has further suggestions about how we can strengthen our resolve and approach in this area she would be very welcome to share them Ruth Maguire I welcome the minister's statement and the clarity around accountability Can I ask how as part of that important accountability we can ensure that services are flexible enough to meet people where they are and enable them to participate fully in the decision making which affects them? As I intimated earlier integration authorities have very clear legal responsibilities in this area to plan and provide services but it is clear that they can't do this alone we also need greater clarity and support around the role and function of alcohol and drug partnerships and that whole range of partners need to be involved whether that's voluntary organisations and we need to see more terms of meaningful partnership with voluntary organisations at that very local level and of course the MAT standards is another vehicle in which improved partnership working will be driven and I think the other aspect of MAT standards which Ms Maguire I know will be interested in is how it helps us make systemic changes to prevent people being bounced around from addiction, homeless and mental health services and this is work that we are embarked upon right now as we are investing in reforming services like never before in terms of drug and alcohol services but our longer term vision isn't around the national care service which will provide that single structure for accountability and with the further integration of community health social care we will be able to provide better joined up and person-centred services Thank you minister that concludes the statement and we will move on to the next item of business prior to which there will be a very short pause to allow front bench teams to change positions should they wish