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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6W-26198

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 26 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of the fluoride varnish aspect of the Childsmile programme, and whether it plans to continue with this element of the scheme.

Specific evaluations of the Childsmile programme are undertaken by the University of Glasgow. Publications can be viewed online at https://www.gla.ac.uk/ .

More broadly, the National Dental Inspection Programme (NDIP) monitors the general oral health of children in Scotland. The latest NDIP statistics published in October 2023 showed that 82% of P7 children have no obvious decay, compared with 53% in 2005. In addition, the difference in the percentage of children with no obvious decay in the most and least deprived areas decreased from 26.3 percentage points in 2009 to 16.1 percentage points in 2023.

This shows the success of our flagship Childsmile Programme. Fluoride varnish is a key element of Childsmile and there are no plans to remove this aspect of the programme.

Question reference: S6W-26195

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 26 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what criteria dental providers must meet to benefit from the Scottish Dental Access Initiative.

In order to receive a grant under the Scottish Dental Access Initiative, prospective applicants must set out their intention to i) establish a new practice or ii) extend an existing practice within designated geographical areas. Designated areas are defined by Scottish Government with reference to overall availability of General Dental Services. Once granted, SDAI funding is monitored to ensure ongoing compliance with a number of conditions which the grantee agrees to when signing the grant offer letter. These include.

Maintaining the number of NHS patient registrations at the time of offer of the grant (if purchasing or extending an existing practice);
Registering, or causing to be registered, at least 1,500 NHS patients per grant-aided surgery, and;
At least 80 per cent of the practice’s income should derive from General Dental Services.

For further information on all the areas included in the grant and for all other listed conditions, please see attached link here: https://www.scottishdental.nhs.scot/nhs-pcad20232-revised-scottish-dental-access-initiative-25-april-2023/

Question reference: S6W-26197

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 26 March 2024

To as the Scottish Government, further to the financial incentives for dentists to open new practices in remote and rural areas, what support is available for dentists who are already operating in remote and rural areas.

Question reference: S6W-26105

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 26 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the response by the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy to the question on a competitive shipbuilding financing guarantee programme during the ministerial statement on Ferguson Marine on 5 March 2024, whether it will provide a substantive response regarding whether it will introduce a competitive shipbuilding financing guarantee programme in Scotland, similar to that of the Turkish national investment bank, Türk Eximbank.

The UK Government introduced the Shipbuilding Credit Guarantee Scheme in July 2023.

The scheme provides a partial guarantee to a lender making a loan to a ship-buyer or operator, so that new vessels, or refits, retrofits or repairs of existing vessels can be procured from UK shipyards.

It can provide partial guarantees covering up to 80% of the risk to lenders for a maximum repayment period of up to 12 years.

The scheme is in its infancy, and it would be prudent to evaluate its impact in time before considering any potential alternative schemes in Scotland.

Question reference: S6F-02995

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 March 2024

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government is doing to expedite the restoration of the Glasgow School of Art, in light of it being nearly a decade since the first fire.

Question reference: S6W-26107

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Emma Roddick on 20 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates that the equality impact assessment for the proposed anti-racism observatory will be completed, and how it is ensuring that all communities affected by racialisation and racism will have an equal opportunity to participate in the (a) assessment and (b) development of the observatory.

Scottish Government officials are continuing to work with the design advisory group to establish the Anti-Racism Observatory for Scotland (AROS). The design advisory group is providing expert support ahead of a procurement process that will select a host for AROS.

This is an important step forward in our journey to a fairer Scotland for all, and will build upon the Anti-Racism Interim Governance Group’s participatory research work with over 500 individuals from racially minoritised communities across Scotland.

We are committed to completing an equality impact assessment before AROS is established. We will engage with stakeholders to examine the evidence available and understand the impacts that may be felt by communities.

The establishment of the Anti-Racism Observatory is one part of our wider strategic approach to tackling racism. We continue to work with all our partners and stakeholders to achieve our ambition of eradicating racism in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-25983

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 18 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government which financial institution has provided the Bank Refund Guarantee (BRG) for the two new vessels for the Little Minch routes between Uig, Lochmaddy and Tarbert that are under contract at Cemre Marin Endustri in Turkey.

Question reference: S6W-25921

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 14 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting patients who are on waiting lists for cancer diagnostic tests or cancer treatment.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting people at all stages of a potential or confirmed cancer diagnosis. We are investing in the Single Point of Contact programme so that people with a suspicion, or a diagnosis of cancer, are at the heart of all decisions and actions involving them. There are currently 12 pilot projects across Scotland testing ways of working that improve communication and provide early and ongoing support. A scalability assessment is underway which will outline how best we can scale up and expand the reach of the programme.

In addition to this, Scotland’s first Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services (RCDSs) – established within existing NHS infrastructure – are operational in NHS Ayrshire and Arran, NHS Dumfries and Galloway NHS Fife, NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Borders. These are providing primary care with access to a new referral pathway for patients with non-specific symptoms suspicious of cancer. Patient navigators are embedded in RCDSs, supporting patients and their families from the point of referral while they wait for tests and results.

We are also currently working in partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support to improve the service we offer people affected by cancer through the Transforming Cancer Care Programme (TCC). This joint partnership is the first of its kind in the UK and ensures that every person with cancer in Scotland has access to a key support worker, who can provide emotional, financial and practical support to those who need it throughout their experience of cancer care.

Question reference: S6W-25923

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 14 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to increase awareness of the signs and symptoms of cancer among any demographics that may be less likely to seek medical help or engage with clinical services.

We know that the earlier cancer is diagnosed the easier it is to treat and even cure which is why we continue to invest in our Detect Cancer Earlier (DCE) Programme. The Programme takes a whole-systems approach to earlier detection and encompasses primary care, secondary care, public education, data, innovation and screening.

The DCE Programme works closely with the Scottish Cancer Coalition, to support awareness raising efforts and uses social channels to promote joint content and messages where possible.

Detect Cancer Earlier’s latest public campaign – Be The Early Bird - launched on
‎ 6 March 2023 and ran for four weeks, aiming to reduce fear of cancer and empower those with possible symptoms to act early. Following successful independent evaluation, the campaign re-ran in September 2023 to prompt health-seeking behaviour, targeting those aged 40+ from areas of deprivation.

In parallel to the campaign, a DCE roadshow visited communities across Scotland to reinforce key messages – this resulted in over 6,700 engagements with the target audience.

Question reference: S6W-25920

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 14 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what steps it is taking to improve the pathway from primary care to diagnostic tests for patients with suspected cancer.

A clinical refresh of the Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer is underway to help ensure those with symptoms suspicious of cancer are put on the right pathway at the right time. These Guidelines have been developed for primary care clinicians to aid clinical decision making for those that require urgent specialist investigation.

Meanwhile, a new primary care cancer education platform – Gateway C – has been procured in NHS Scotland to provide innovative, and tailored information to support earlier cancer diagnosis efforts and enable effective decision-making. The first modules to be included on the platform will be launched in Spring 2024.

Scotland’s first Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services (RCDSs) – established within existing NHS infrastructure – are operational in NHS Ayrshire and Arran, NHS Dumfries and Galloway NHS Fife, NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Borders, providing primary care with access to a new referral pathway for patients with non-specific symptoms suspicious of cancer.

The University of Strathclyde has completed a two year evaluation of Scotland’s first RCDSs showing that the services are achieving what they set out to do – find cancer – while delivering a high standard of care for primary care and patients at speed.

Two test beds continue to pilot chest x-ray AI in NHS Scotland, to help identify those with a suspicion of lung cancer following a chest x-ray, often requested by primary care clinicians. This work aims to reduce the time from primary care referral to the urgent suspicion of cancer (USC) diagnostic pathway commencing.