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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-19625

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 28 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the finding in a recent Royal College of Radiologists report that just 10% of clinical directors in Scotland think that they have enough radiologists to deliver safe and effective patient care, compared with a UK average of 24%.

The Scottish Government actively supports health boards across Scotland to plan locally for service need and service delivery.

From September 2006 to March 2023 we have increased the Consultant Radiologist workforce from 223.5 whole time equivalent (WTE) posts to 358.9 WTE – a 60.6% increase.

In March 2022, we published the National Health and Social Care Workforce Strategy, which sets out a long-term vision for achieving a sustainable health and social care workforce. In that Strategy we committed to developing and publishing workforce projections to support long-term planning both for service delivery and service reform.

Question reference: S6W-19269

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 14 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many times it has been notified of a cyber-attack on a public body or educational institution since August 2021.

Between 1 August 2021 and 21 June 2023, the Scottish Government has been notified of 19 cyber incidents on public sector organisations under our Notifiable Scottish Public Sector Cyber Incidents Policy and Procedure. Cyber incidents notified do not however necessarily equate to cyber attacks.

The Scottish Government will not provide further details. The organisations that report cyber incidents under the Notifiable Scottish Public Sector Cyber Incidents procedure reasonably expect these details to be treated as confidential. Disclosure of these to a wider audience would undermine this confidentiality and adversely affect the openness with which organisations currently report incidents and participate in the reporting process.

Question reference: S6W-19274

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 14 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that mobile phones will soon be replaced by landlines across the prison estate, what the cost of the scheme to provide mobile phones to people in custody has been since it was announced in April 2020.

Question reference: S6W-19273

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 14 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many mobile phones have been confiscated from prisoners and offenders in HMP and YOI Grampian in each month since January 2022.

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

The following table provides the number of SPS issued mobile phone handsets that have been confiscated at HMP & YOI Grampian, each month, from 1 January 2022 to 20 June 2023:

2022	Number Confiscated

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 (up until 20 June)	3

Question reference: S6W-19275

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 13 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the commitment in its 2021-22 Programme for Government to support 2,000 women who have had a career break to return to the workplace; how much has been invested in the scheme in total to date, and how many women in total have been supported.

Question reference: S6W-19279

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work that it is doing in partnership across the UK to explore the safe use of artificial intelligence (AI) in health and social care.

Question reference: S6W-19270

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 4 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported comments by the chief executive of NHS Grampian that the NHS board expects to remain in financial deficit for the next five years.

The Scottish Government continues to prioritise investment in frontline services and provided an increase of over £730 million to NHS Boards in the 2023-24 budget, taking total investment in NHS Grampian to over £1.1 billion – an increase of almost 94% since 2006-07.

Additionally, we are providing a further £200 million to NHS Boards to support financial sustainability and address financial challenges in year. NHS Grampian will receive over £17 million as part of this support.

We will continue to work with all Health Boards, including NHS Grampian, to address financial and workforce pressures across the system. Our Sustainability and Value programme has been established to deliver essential reform and sustainable services that are fit for the future, whilst prioritising patient safety .

Question reference: S6W-19278

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 4 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the overarching screening recovery route map in remobilising cancer screening services following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Each of the cancer screening programmes are monitored by their respective Programme Boards, who report to National Screening Oversight (NSO). NSO is responsible for system wide oversight of the quality and effectiveness of the programmes and subsequently reports to the Scottish Screening Committee (SSC). Regular updates are provided at the SSC meetings regarding recovery and overall performance of the screening programmes.

All of the programmes are now operating in line with pre-COVID performance, and we continue to work with the organisations that oversee screening in Scotland to ensure full capacity is recovered and maintained.

Question reference: S6W-19277

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 4 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to NHS boards to tackle waiting times for colposcopy.

To support scope based diagnostics we have published an Endoscopy and Urology Diagnostic Recovery and Renewal Plan which is backed by a £70m investment. The plan focuses on key areas such as: Balancing Demand and Capacity; Workforce Training and Development; Infrastructure; and Innovation and Redesign.

In recognition of the pressures on Colposcopy services specifically, we have provided over £660,000 of additional funding to NHS Ayrshire & Arran, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, NHS Highland, NHS Lothian and NHS Tayside to support activity and free up capacity nationally.

This funding was used to enhance capacity through recruitment and additional clinics, including at weekends, to allow increased activity and to reduce demand.

Question reference: S6W-19276

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 3 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish its response to the Scottish Mental Health Law Review, which completed its final report in September 2022.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19494 on 28 June 2023 which confirmed that the Scottish Government response to the Scottish Mental Health Law Review was published on Wednesday 28 June. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .