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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-22128

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 October 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish its new palliative care strategy, in light of it initially being due in 2021.

Question reference: S6W-22123

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 October 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish its Diet and healthy weight: monitoring report 2023 update.

The Diet and Healthy Weight Monitoring report was not published in 2022 and, as set out at the time, we have engaged with users to decide on the future of this publication. An announcement will be made shortly informed by the outcome of user engagement. Most of the data previously included in the Diet and Healthy Weight Monitoring report is now presented in the Scottish Health Survey with the remaining few indicators available in other publications. Results from the 2022 Scottish Health Survey will be published on 5 December 2023. Data for the indicators on sales of soft drinks with added sugar, confectionery, biscuits, cakes and pastries are available on the Food Standards Scotland website and type 2 diabetes prevalence is available in the Scottish Diabetes Survey report.

Question reference: S6W-22127

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 October 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 24 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the 46 recommendations in the 2018 report, An Investigative Review into the process of establishing, managing and supporting Independent Reviews in Scotland, have been implemented.

Professor Britton’s 2018 Investigative Review gave 46 recommendations regarding the process of establishing, managing and supporting Independent Reviews in Scotland.

We accepted and agreed with the vast majority of her conclusions and recommendations. The recommendations have already been reflected in a number of inquiries and reviews established in recent years. We are also developing guidance to support inquires and reviews that will build upon Professor Britton’s recommendations and hope to publish that soon. The Scottish Government is also working on a handbook that will clarify and enhance the support that government can offer to independent inquiries.

This work has been fully informed and benefited from Professor Britton’s work and recommendations. All reviews and inquiries in recent years have also benefitted from Professor Britton’s work.

Question reference: S6W-21675

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 September 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 5 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether patients in Scotland can now view their bloodwork online, and, if so, for what reason there was reportedly a significant delay to this happening compared with England and Wales.

In Scotland, we have some instances where test results are available for patients already, including for those remote managing a condition through My Diabetes My Way and Patients Know Best (Renal). Learning from these digital tools will inform the development of the Digital Front Door for Scotland. The Digital Front Door is not currently a live service but will provide people with the ability to access, view and monitor their own information including medical records and test results over time. We expect the Digital Front Door to be available by the end of this parliamentary term.

Question reference: S6O-02558

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has undertaken any evaluation of the relative economic benefits of small modular nuclear reactors compared with other forms of energy provision.

Question reference: S6W-20792

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported announcement by the UK Government in June 2023 of funding for the national roll-out of a targeted lung cancer screening programme across England, what plans it has in place for the roll-out of a national lung cancer screening programme in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has welcomed the recommendation of the UK National Screening Committee (NSC) that the UK nations should move towards implementing a programme of lung screening for those between 55-74 with a history of smoking. However, careful consideration and planning is required given the complexities of rolling out such a programme – the complexities of implementation were acknowledged by the NSC and resulted in the establishment of a four nations expert Lung Task Group.

The Scottish Government has now established a Scottish Expert Advisory Group (SEAG), which will assess the specific challenges and opportunities for a Scottish lung screening programme. The SEAG met for the first time in August, and represents an important first step in ensuring that a Scottish programme is developed with long term sustainability and effectiveness at its heart.

We have also provided funding for LungScot, the University of Edinburgh’s study into the feasibility of targeted lung health checks for high risk individuals. This work will support the considerations of the SEAG.

It is important to note that the complexity of the challenge means a national screening programme will take years rather than months to implement. However, lung cancer remains a national priority, which is why we have a dedicated chapter in our £114.5m National Cancer Plan, and last December we redesigned lung cancer diagnostic services to help ensure patients receive faster access to treatment.

Question reference: S6O-02535

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 September 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports of significant issues in transporting prisoners from custody to court.

Question reference: S6O-02501

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 September 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported plans by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to reduce the number of community link workers embedded in GP practices in deprived areas of Glasgow by one third, due to Scottish Government funding cuts.

Question reference: S6O-02479

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 August 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has conducted any analysis of how many deaths on the A9 could have been prevented if it had been fully dualled.

Question reference: S6W-19888

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 July 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 8 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has assessed the impact of any lack of investment in tackling any staff shortages, in chronic pain services in secondary care, on GP practices and the number of GP referrals to secondary care.

The latest data published by Public Health Scotland (13 June 2023) suggests that referrals to a chronic pain clinic are now back to levels seen prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the quarter ending 31 March 2023, 5,049 patients were referred, an increase of 5.5% on the previous quarter, when 4,787 patients were referred. Referrals are up by 4.3% compared to a year earlier, when there were 4,839 during the quarter ending 31 March 2022. The number of direct encounters for GPs is typically between 1.5 million and 1.8 million per month, and analysis via statistical process chart demonstrates that there has been no change in activity outwith normal variation for the period of March 2021 to April 2023.

Through the ‘Framework for Pain Management Service Delivery – Implementation Plan’ we are promoting a more consistent approach to specialist services in each Health Board; we have invested in a new Pain Service Managers’ Network. This group is working through shared issues faced by specialist pain services such as resourcing and financial challenges and identifying opportunities to solve these through sharing of best practice and different ways of working. We have also established a national working group to make recommendations on how to reduce variation in the support that is provided in different local areas and improve how care for people with chronic pain is coordinated across community, primary and specialist services.

Additionally, we have carried out a review of the Scottish National Residential Pain Management Programme to help remobilise the service impacted during the pandemic, improve the quality of referrals from local Health Boards, and continue to explore how to widen access to highly specialist care from across Scotland. Funding for this service from the Scottish Government is over £600,000 this financial year 2023-24.