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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-23578

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 11 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-19273 by Angela Constance on 14 July 2023, how many mobile phones have been confiscated from prisoners in HMP and YOI Grampian in each month since the scheme was first introduced on the prison estate.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

Introduced on 1 July 2020 during the COVID-19 global pandemic, restricted prison issue mobile phones provided those in our care with the ability to maintain contact with family and friends during an extremely difficult and challenging period.

SPS purchased 15,317 mobile phone handsets before the provision was withdrawn on 31 July 2023.

The following table provides the number of SPS issued mobile phone handsets that were confiscated at HMP & YOI Grampian, each month, from when mobile phones were introduced on 1 July 2020 to when the provision was withdrawn on 31 July 2023:

Month	Number Confiscated
2020
July	4
August	27
September	30
October	33
November	38
December	21

2021
January	5
February	14
March	10
April	14
May	23
June	16
July	18
August	27
September	14
October	14
November	32
December	3

2022
January	14
February	11
March	15
April	19
May	21
June	22
July	32
August	20
September	19
October	20
November	28
December	25

2023
January	30
February	27
March	27
April	30
May	10
June	21
July	29

Question reference: S6W-22993

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Emma Roddick on 24 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether any research has been undertaken into the possible reasons for fertility rates in Scottish cities being "substantially lower than cities in England and Wales with comparable age and student profiles", as highlighted in its publication, A Scotland for the future: opportunities and challenges of Scotland's changing population.

In November 2022, we published the report ‘Attitudes to family formation in Scotland’ . The purpose of this study was to update the evidence base with regards to attitudes to family formation and ideal family size, to formulate a current and more nuanced picture with regards to fertility in Scotland. The Ministerial Population Taskforce is currently considering next steps for this strand of work, including comparing this position to other countries, in both urban and rural areas.

Question reference: S6W-22994

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Emma Roddick on 24 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the actions outlined in its publication, A Scotland for the future: opportunities and challenges of Scotland's changing population.

Since publication, the Ministerial Population Taskforce has taken forward a range of priority commitments from the Population Strategy, including the forthcoming Addressing Depopulation Action Plan, Talent Attraction and Migration Service, updating the evidence base on attitudes to family formation, and building new links across government and between stakeholders about issues relating to population and demography.

The Strategy continues to guide our approach to population across Scottish Government, and the purpose of the Taskforce is to drive cross-government delivery from the range of portfolios relevant to the Strategy actions. Minutes from Taskforce meetings, detailing work undertaken, are publicly available on the Scottish Government website.

Question reference: S6W-22914

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the additional £12 million of funding for the expansion of the Hospital at Home service will be made available to NHS boards.

Question reference: S6W-22754

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 21 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the implementation of the delayed discharge and hospital occupancy action plan, in light of reports that the number of patients waiting at least 24 hours in A&E is 200 times higher in 2023 than before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Action Plan reflects on the strong evidence of what we know works and builds on the firm foundations of best practice to reduce delayed discharges and overall hospital occupancy and reasserts the Scottish Government’s commitment to responding to the many challenges that still exist over the coming winter.

On 24-hour delays, while we absolutely need to work to reduce these instances, it is important to emphasize that these figures represent a fraction (0.6%) of all attendances to Emergency Departments in this period. The patients experiencing these waits will, in the main, be those who require admission and are waiting for a bed in a ward. They will have been triaged and seen by a doctor.

Question reference: S6W-22753

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 21 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the announcement of NHS Scotland's menopause and menstrual health workplace policy, what action it is taking with stakeholders across the (a) public, (b) private and (c) third sector to improve employers' awareness of menopause and menstrual health.

The NHSScotland Menopause and Menstrual Health Policy launched on 31 October 2023. Whilst the policy was written specifically for NHS Scotland, the supporting resources, including line managers guidance and workplace adjustment guidance, are intended for use more widely across a variety of employment sectors and are available on the National Wellbeing Hub which is accessible to the public.

With the publication of the Policy and Supporting Documents having recently taken place, work can now commence on promoting the policy more widely amongst employers across all sectors.

Question reference: S6W-22915

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 21 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking with NHS 24 to ensure that the Breathing Space webchat channel provides a reliable service for users, in light of reports of repeated incidents of the channel crashing and being offline for repairs.

Breathing Space is operated by NHS24 to provide free and confidential support for people experiencing low mood, depression and anxiety. The phone line operates between 6pm-2am on weekday evenings and from 6pm Friday to 6am Monday. The web chat is available Monday to Friday from 6pm to 2am and on Saturday and Sunday from 4pm to 12 midnight. Around 9,500 people are supported by Breathing Space each month, which is typically split between around 95% accessing the helpline and 5% using the web chat function.

The technical issues affecting the Breathing Space web chat function over the last few weeks have now been fully resolved, and NHS24 has assured Scottish Government that if has robust monitoring plans in place to ensure any future issues are identified, and resolved, quickly.

During the period of disruption to the web chat service, the Breathing Space phone lines were unaffected; users were advised via the Breathing Space website that the telephone service remained available. Those with pressing mental health issues also continued to have 24/7 access to the Mental Health Hub through NHS24’s 111 service.

Question reference: S6T-01635

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of it being three weeks since Storm Babet, whether it will provide an update on the support that it is making available to the affected communities in Angus, Aberdeenshire and Dundee.

Question reference: S6W-22197

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 9 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when it plans to announce the long-term formal governance structure to replace the Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Programme Board, which disbanded in March 2023.

Following the planned conclusion of two previous governance structures, the Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Programme Board and the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Joint Delivery Board, the Scottish Government and COSLA have agreed to progress this work through a new combined strategic board. This new strategic board will retain a strong focus on perinatal and infant needs and ensure that there is good integration with provision for older children, young adults and families. Embedding an equity led approach is also a key part of this work. We are currently working with key partners to agree membership.

The first meeting of the new strategic board is planned for later this year. Further information will be available on the Scottish Government website in due course.

Question reference: S6W-22234

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 6 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to figures from the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland showing that in 60% of cases where someone is detained for compulsory mental health care and treatment, there was no mental health officer consent, in light of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 requiring that both a doctor and a mental health officer should be responsible for emergency detentions.

The Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 provides for rigorous safeguards in respect of individuals’ human rights. Sometimes compulsory treatment needs to be carried out on an emergency basis and consent from a Mental Health Officer (MHO), in addition to authorisation from a medical practitioner, plays an important safeguarding role in these cases.

However, the 2003 Act also recognises that there may be occasions where the urgency of the situation is so great that it would not be practicable for such consultation to take place. In such cases, the practitioner must inform hospital managers who must then inform the Mental Welfare Commission and notify the relevant authority of the reasons why it was impracticable to consult and seek the consent of an MHO.

Whilst we acknowledge that for some of the 60% of cases mentioned the urgency of the case will explain the lack of MHO consent, we also recognise that MHO capacity is a contributing factor. While it is the responsibility of Local Authorities to ensure they have the appropriate levels of MHOs in place, the Scottish Government felt it was necessary to intervene, and since 2019, we have provided additional funding, as well as working with COSLA and other partners to progress a range of actions to improve workforce capacity and MHO training.

In this financial year we have made available an additional £3.71 million to local authorities to build additional MHO capacity. This will help reduce the number of emergency detentions taking place without the additional safeguard of MHO consent.

The Mental Health and Capacity Reform Programme considers how we can update and modernise mental health and capacity legislation to better reflect international human rights standards regarding safeguards. We will continue to work closely with the Mental Welfare Commission on this.