- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 11 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 December 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether Scottish Ambulance Service staff transporting critically ill premature babies from NHS Lanarkshire to NHS Grampian will be expected to make the journey without a break.
Answer
As has been established practice for many years, the staff and vehicle required to move critically ill patients is determined based on circumstances and clinical need. Our specialist neonatal transfer service (ScotSTAR) will transfer those babies by air or road in specialist ambulances equipped to care for neonates.
ScotSTAR will be introducing a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) which will have variations between emergency and scheduled/planned transfers. NHS Grampian will be on the outer limits for drivers but expectation would be that the journey will be done without a break.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 December 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what services are currently being offered to treat children and young people living with long COVID, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-21151 on 19 September 2023. 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/questions-and-answers .
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 December 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many children and young people are currently living with long COVID.
Answer
The best available data about long COVID prevalence among children and young people comes from the Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) 2022 (respiratory chapter) , published in December 2023, which reported on people who had ever had long COVID. This data shows that 4% of children aged 0-15 were reported to have ever had long COVID. This is the lowest prevalence rate among all age groups shown in this survey. In January 2024, a breakdown will be published to distinguish between people who were currently experiencing, and had ever experienced, long COVID.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 December 2023
To ask the Scottish Government where any paediatric long COVID services are available.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-21151 on 19 September 2023. 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/questions-and-answers .
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 December 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the comment by the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health during the members’ business debate on motion S6M-11352 on 6 December 2023, in relation to the publication of the new palliative care strategy in 2024, that she “would love to give a more precise indication” and “will go back to [her] officials to get the date”, whether it will provide the publication date for the strategy.
Answer
The Scottish Government aims to publish our new palliative and end of life care strategy for consultation in Spring 2024.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 December 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to data that reportedly shows that the number of excess deaths in Scotland is 10.1% higher than the pre-pandemic five-year-average.
Answer
We do not recognise the source of the data you refer to that shows excess deaths in Scotland to be 10.1% above average.
National Records of Scotland (NRS) report the age-standardised rate of excess deaths to be 6% and 1% above expected levels for the first quarter (Q1) and second quarter (Q2) of 2023 respectively, and 4% below expected levels for the third quarter (Q3).
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 11 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by George Adam on 21 December 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether cabinet secretaries and ministers have ever paid for personal usage of government-issued (a) mobile phones and (b) other electronic devices, and whether any sums involved have ever exceeded £50 in the course of a month.
Answer
I can confirm that no Cabinet Secretary or Minister has accrued charges due to the personal usage of their government issued mobile phone or other electronic devices.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 11 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by George Adam on 20 December 2023
To ask the Scottish Government which cabinet secretaries and ministers have government-issued (a) mobile phones and (b) other electronic devices.
Answer
On appointment, ministers are offered electronic equipment to assist them in carrying out their official duties. I have included table which outlines the devices used by each of the ministers.
Minister | Ministerial Role | SG Laptop | SG Tablet | SG Mobile | SG Mi-Fi |
Humza Yousaf | First Minister | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Shona Robison | Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Angela Constance | Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Neil Gray | Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Mairi McAllan | Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Mairi Gougeon | Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Angus Robertson | Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Michael Matheson | Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Shirley-Anne Somerville | Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Jenny Gilruth | Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Siobhian Brown | Minister for Victims and Community Safety | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Natalie Don | Minister for Children, Young People and Keeping the Promise | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Richard Lochhead | Minister for Small Business, Innovation, Tourism and Trade | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Fiona Hyslop | Minister for Transport | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Elena Whitham | Minister for Drugs and Alcohol Policy | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Tom Arthur | Minister for Community Wealth and Public Finance | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Maree Todd | Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Emma Roddick | Minister for Equalities, Migration and Refugees | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Graeme Dey | Minister for Higher Education, Further Education and Minister for Veterans | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Gillian Martin | Minister for Energy and the Environment | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Jamie Hepburn | Minister for Independence | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Joe FitzPatrick | Minister for Local Government Empowerment and Planning | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Jenni Minto | Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Paul McLennan | Minister for Housing | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Patrick Harvie | Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenant’s Rights | Yes | No | Yes | No |
George Adam | Minister for Parliamentary Business | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Christina McKelvie | Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development | Yes | No | No | No |
Lorna Slater | Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity | Yes | No | No | No |
Dorothy Bain KC | Lord Advocate | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Ruth Charteris KC | Solicitor General | Yes | No | No | No |
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 19 December 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the UK National Screening Committee's recommendation in June 2022 that a national targeted lung cancer screening programme be implemented across the four home nations, for what reason this programme has not been rolled out to date in Scotland, and when this screening programme will commence.
Answer
The Scottish Government welcomes the UK National Screening Committee’s (UK NSC) recommendation that the four nations should move towards implementing a targeted lung screening programme for those aged 55-74 with a history of smoking. However, the roll-out of any screening programme is a complex undertaking, and the UK NSC acknowledged in its recommendation that there remain a number of significant issues that must be worked through before a full programme of lung screening can be implemented. Scotland is a member of the four nations group established to explore some of these issues, and has also established its own targeted lung cancer screening Scottish Expert Advisory Group (SEAG).
The SEAG’s remit is to provide the Scottish Government with advice on the scoping, implementation, establishment and delivery of a targeted lung cancer screening programme. The first stage of this work is underway and will support development of an evidence-based assessment of timescales for design and implementation.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 19 December 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what resources are available for patients with (a) dystonia and (b) other conditions due to neurological illness.
Answer
We are working to implement the commitments of our Neurological Care and Support – National Framework for Action 2020-25 , to improve the provision of co-ordinated health and social care and support, develop sustainable workforce models and ensure high standards of person-centred care.
Whilst the Framework is not condition specific, it covers issues affecting people with all types of neurological conditions, including dystonia.
Despite the disruption to health and social care services during the pandemic, we have sustained our efforts to deliver the commitments of the Framework, awarding £2.6 million since October 2020 to fund innovative projects working to improve outcomes for people living with neurological conditions. A midpoint progress report was published in July 2022.
The Scottish Government has been further working in partnership with NHS24 to update accessible public-facing information about dystonia , and other neurological conditions, for the NHS Inform website.