Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-31198

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 21 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will ensure that any upcoming inspections of maternity services account for any local discrepancies between safe staffing requirements under the common staffing methodology and current staffing levels, so that the quality of care can be evaluated in this context.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS)’s Healthcare Staffing Programme monitors NHS Boards’ compliance with the Common Staffing Method. The HIS Healthcare Staffing Operational Framework sets out HIS’s methodology for monitoring compliance. The HIS Healthcare Staffing Programme forms part of the HIS Safe Delivery of Care (SDoC) inspections, both in terms of pre-inspection activity and as part of the onsite inspection team. The SDoC inspection methodology is used for the current acute hospital inspection programme and will therefore also be applied to the maternity inspection programme when it commences from January 2025.

Question reference: S6W-31202

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what specific actions it will take in the event that any gaps are identified between safe staffing requirements and actual staffing levels across NHS boards.

The Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019: Overview - Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019: overview - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) commenced on April 2024, the Act places duties on Health Boards to ensure that at all times suitably qualified and competent individuals are working in such numbers as are appropriate for the health, wellbeing and safety of patients, the provision of high-quality care and the wellbeing of staff.

Under the Act, there is a Duty on Health Boards to submit a report on how they complied with their legislative requirements. Following this, Scottish Ministers must publish these reports alongside setting out how they have taken into account and plan to take into account, in their policies for the staffing of health service, the information included in the combined report. The first Health Board Annual Reports are due 30 April 2025.

Question reference: S6W-31201

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether there is evidence that vacancies advertised in maternity services align with the workforce plans of NHS boards for midwifery.

Whilst the Scottish Government sets the strategic policy direction for the NHS in Scotland, operational matters including staffing requirements are in the first instance the responsibility of the relevant NHS board. Recruitment is a matter for health boards who will take into account turnover, retention, absence rates and budgets when making recruitment decisions. This can mean that vacancies fluctuate across boards and by specialism. It is for health boards to ensure safe and effective staffing levels, and recruit to these to provide services.

Question reference: S6W-31203

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether the number of vacancies for midwives in Scotland meets the (a) needs of maternity services and (b) workforce plans of NHS boards, and what the evidence base is for its calculations, in light of reports that many recent midwifery graduates, educated in line with Scottish Government commissioning numbers, are seeking employment outside of Scotland.

Whilst the Scottish Government sets the strategic policy direction for the NHS in Scotland, operational matters including staffing requirements are in the first instance the responsibility of the relevant NHS board. Recruitment is a matter for health boards who will take into account turnover, retention, absence rates and budgets when making recruitment decisions. This can mean that vacancies fluctuate across boards and by specialism. It is for health boards to ensure safe and effective staffing levels, and recruit to these to provide services.

Question reference: S6W-30601

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 7 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the implementation of the recommendations of the Independent Review of the Skills Delivery Landscape.

Post-School Education and Skills Reform is a 10-year transformation programme developed in light of James Withers’ Independent Review of the Skills Delivery Landscape, and which will help us to achieve the ambitions set out in the Post-school education, research and skills - purpose and principles - gov.scot (www.gov.scot),

This is one of the first and one of the largest programmes of public service reform to get underway, with five main strands of work currently progressing at different stages of development and preparation towards implementation.

For instance, we are taking forward legislation to deliver simplification of the funding body landscape as part of the 2024-25 legislative programme and have also commenced work on skills planning across government and with key partners.

Change of this magnitude requires careful collaboration with a wide range of delivery partners and will not happen overnight.

At my latest appearance at the Education, Children and Young People Committee on 4 September 2024 I reiterated my commitment to continue to update that Committee on progress with post-school reform at the appropriate times. Our programme to reform post-school education and skills is progressing well, and I expect to be providing a further update early in 2025.

Question reference: S6W-30680

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 31 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide (a) a breakdown of the cost to partners to kennel XL Bully dogs and (b) the total cost to the public to kennel XL Bully dogs since the ban was announced in January 2024.

The information requested is not held by the Scottish Government. These are operational matters for Police Scotland and local authorities.

The Scottish Government has ongoing dialogue with a range of partners regarding implementation of the new safeguards on XL Bully dogs.

My officials are continuing to engage with Police Scotland, local authorities, Scottish SPCA and other key dog welfare stakeholders about the impact of enforcing and implementation of the new safeguards, including ongoing consideration of kennelling provision and demand.

Question reference: S6O-03892

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what steps it is taking to eliminate long waits in A&E departments across Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-30482

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 22 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-29929 by Mairi Gougeon on 24 September 2024, how a Scottish Forestry scheme allowing applicants to access a reduced public grant alongside the Woodland Carbon Code will comply with (a) its additionality investment test and (b) international definitions.

The new category under the Forestry Grant Scheme for projects to receive lower levels of grant intervention is designed specifically to help projects meet the requirements of the Woodland Carbon Code investment test for additionality. By reducing the amount of grant funding, a project is better able to demonstrate that revenues from carbon credits are needed for the project to be financially viable. The Woodland Carbon Code additionality test is consistent with additionality tests applied by other leading carbon standards globally.

Question reference: S6W-30401

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 18 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-30096 by Siobhian Brown on 1 October 2024, when it expects to complete the engagement with stakeholders to review the occasional licence fee.

As set out in the Scottish Government’s response to question S6W-30400 on 18 October 2024, planned engagement with stakeholders will commence in the next few months. No timescale has been set for concluding this work, but this would be agreed in discussion with said stakeholders.

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-30400

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 18 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-30096 by Siobhian Brown on 1 October 2024, whether it is giving consideration to implementing a scalable fee structure, particularly in relation to events such as the 152nd Open Golf Championship.

As noted in the answer to PQ S6W-30096, planned engagement with stakeholders will commence in the next few months. This will include assessing the various views offered in the responses received to the previous Scottish Government consultation on occasional licence policy.

As noted in the ‘Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 - fee review: consultation responses’ document on the Scottish Government website, some respondents suggested a scalable fee structure. i.e. the level of the occasional licence fee should be dependent on the size of the event.

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

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