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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6W-15312

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 6 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it will support NHS boards that have outsourced Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and other services to bring any such services back in-house.

Patient care and service delivery are the statutory responsibility of local healthcare providers. NHS Boards are responsible for working with their partners to plan and provide health services which meet the needs of their populations. Use of the independent sector has been an option open to all Health Boards to help address short-term capacity issues and is an operational decision for them.

However, through Scottish Government investment, we continue to engage and support Boards to build their workforce and implement the National CAMHS Service Specification. The Scottish Government allocated around £40 million to improve CAMHS and Neurodevelopmental services for children and young people in 2021-22, and has invested £46 million in 2022-23 via the Mental Health Outcomes Framework to improve the quality and delivery of mental health and psychological services for all. The priorities for the funding this financial year have been to continue delivering improvements in CAMHS, psychological therapies, eating disorders and neurodevelopmental services for children and young people, as well as ongoing innovation and service reform.

As a result of our investment over recent years, CAMHS staffing has increased significantly. NHS Education for Scotland (NES) publishes quarterly statistics on the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) workforce. The publication on 6 December 2022 showed, as of September 2022, the CAMHS community staff Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) was 1259 compared to 900.3 WTE in March 2021, when significant investment in CAMHS was made. This represents a 39.8% increase.

Question reference: S6W-14849

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with bus companies regarding the incorporation of towns in (a) Dumfries and Galloway and (b) the Scottish Borders Council areas into routes from major Scottish cities to the rest of the UK.

As I highlighted in my answer of S6W-14847 on 6 March 2023, bus services operate in an open de-regulated market, decisions about the incorporation of towns on service routes to major cities is a matter solely for the bus companies and local authorities. However, given the importance of bus services in rural areas, I strongly encourage operators and local authorities to work together to ensure that connectivity is protected and maintained.

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

Question reference: S6W-14848

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the ability of residents in (a) Dumfries and Galloway and (b) the Scottish Borders to travel to major cities in the UK using public transport.

A detailed analysis of public transport accessibility for the residents of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders was undertaken as part of the South West Transport Study ( swsts-inital-appraisal-case-for-change-including-appendices.pdf (transport.gov.scot) and Borders Transport Corridors Study ( borders-transport-corridors-pre-appraisal-report.pdf ).

The assessment included consideration of public transport accessibility, both by bus and rail, to a range of key employment, health and education destinations within the region and also to major towns and cities in Scotland and the north of England. In both cases, the assessment used a number of metrics, including the outputs from a bespoke analysis tool using Geographic Information System software to assist with the task.

Further details of both these assessments can be found respectively in Sections 5.5 of the South West Scotland Transport Study report and Section 3.5.10 of the Borders Transport Corridors Study report.

The outcomes of this work were then taken forward in to the Second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2), which was published on 8 December 2022. The above projects were designed as advanced studies for each of these STPR2 regions and were, in fact, two of only three regions in Scotland to benefit from this advanced work. The outcomes were subsequently refined and updated to comprise the STPR2 Case for Change reports for each region, potential interventions were then subjected to more detailed assessment during the STPR2 appraisal process.

Question reference: S6W-14847

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will seek a commitment from bus companies to reinstate or establish routes from towns in (a) Dumfries and Galloway and (b) the Scottish Borders Council areas to improve connectivity between these areas and the rest of the UK.

Most bus services across Scotland operate in an open de-regulated market and have done so since the 1980s. Scottish Ministers do not have the power to intervene directly in the provision of local services. This is solely a matter for individual bus operators who use their own commercial judgement on service routes, frequencies, and vehicle types. However, where there is a social need for bus services which are not provided commercially, local authorities, such as Dumfries & Galloway or Scottish Borders Councils can subsidise these at their discretion.

The Scottish Government is committed, in partnership with operators and local authorities, to looking at ways of ensuring that everyone has accessible public transport regardless of where they live. We have established a taskforce with stakeholders from across the bus sector and local government to explore what practical solutions we can deliver to help improve bus services across the country.

Question reference: S6W-14701

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much the redevelopment of Troon railway station will cost; by what date the work will be completed, and whether it will retain a staffed ticket office.

Question reference: S6W-15311

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 2 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many NHS boards currently outsource services to the private provider, Healios, and which services are outsourced.

Question reference: S6W-15310

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 2 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the outsourcing of mental health services to private companies.

Question reference: S6W-15309

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 1 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether NHS boards moving from paper-based appointment and diagnostic evidence gathering systems to online systems is a helpful and deliverable step towards reducing backlogs in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), particularly in instances where backlogs predate the COVID-19 pandemic.

Question reference: S6O-01921

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 February 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact on its ongoing targets to tackle child poverty of any reduction in local government funding.

Question reference: S6W-13684

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 23 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans are in place to deal with any disruption to transport in the South Scotland region caused by flooding.

Climate change will increase both the intensity and frequency of storms, flooding and high winds. The recent impact of flooding on our roads and railway is a reminder of the need to adapt our transport network to the effects of severe weather.

Action has been taken but Transport Scotland has identified the need for climate change mitigation and adaptation as a central plank in the National Transport Strategy which sets out the vison for the next decades.

Transport Scotland’s Road Operating Companies are required to undertake a series of activities aimed at improving journey time reliability by minimising the risk of unplanned disruption to the operation of the trunk road network. The Transport Scotland Manual for the Management of the Risk of Unplanned Network Disruption provides direction to Operating Companies on managing and mitigating the effects of disruptive events, such as those caused by weather events like flooding. The manual requires Operating Companies to develop and implement disruption risk processes which are informed by the formal recording of all previous events, as they occur. This includes severe weather related events such as high winds, flooding, snow and ice.