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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-33343

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 23 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support it provides to 18- to 25-year-olds to attend day appointments for cancer treatment.

Health Boards are expected to support patients and their families in identifying and accessing available support. Financial support for travel is available for patients and authorised escorts, according to eligibility criteria and medical requirements, through schemes such as the Patient Travel Expenses Scheme (PTES) and the Highlands and Islands Travel Scheme (HITS).

Scottish Government has funded Young Lives Vs Cancer to provide practical advice and emotional and financial support to young people diagnosed with cancer and their families. This includes advice on potential welfare benefits as well as direct grants.

Further to this, we are working in partnership with Macmillan to improve the service we offer patients with cancer through the Transforming Cancer Care Programme (TCC). This partnership with Macmillan is worth £27 million and is the first of its kind in the UK. The programme ensures that every patient with cancer in Scotland has access to a specialist key support worker, who can provide emotional, financial, and practical support.

Question reference: S6W-33344

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 23 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported concerns that funding measures announced in its draft Budget 2025-26 do not go far enough to address the challenges facing children and young people with cancer.

The dedicated Cancer Strategy for Children and Young People in Scotland 2021- 2026 was published in 2021. This strategy emphasises the Scottish Government’s commitment to improving the distinct care and support services required for children and young people with cancer. Scotland is the only UK-nation to have in place a cancer strategy dedicated to children and young people with cancer.

Our draft Budget 2025-2026 includes a record £21 billion investment in health and social care services, including for services for children and young people with cancer.

Question reference: S6W-33001

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 23 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide multi-annual funding for (a) long COVID and (b) myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) services in NHS boards.

The draft budget published on 4 December 2024 includes new investment of £4.5 million to deliver new specialist support across the country for long COVID, ME, Chronic Fatigue, and other similar conditions.

The funding commitment is for 2025-26 only at this stage. As the Cabinet Secretary outlined in his letter to the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee on 4 December 2024, “the Scottish Government operates an annual budget due to the single year settlement from the UK Government”. The UK spending review in the spring will provide much needed clarity on future funding levels which will help to inform our budget setting and move spending onto a more sustainable path. We would recommend that the question of a multi-year commitment is revisited after the UK Government spending review.

Question reference: S6W-33345

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 23 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish an evaluation of the outcomes of the Collaborative and Compassionate Cancer Care – The Cancer Strategy for Children and Young People in Scotland 2021-2026.

Implementation and evaluation of the Collaborative and Compassionate Cancer Care The Cancer Strategy for Children and Young People in Scotland 2021–2026 is managed by the Managed Service Network for Children and Young People with Cancer (MSN CYPC).

Consideration will be given to an evaluation of the delivery of this strategy as it continues into 2026. Recommendations and actions are continually reviewed by MSN CYPC and the 2023-24 MSN CYPC Annual Report has been published on the MSN CYPC website – www.msncypc.Inhs.scot.

Question reference: S6W-33346

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 23 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to renew the Collaborative and Compassionate Care – The Cancer Strategy for Children and Young People in Scotland 2021-2026.

The delivery of the Cancer Strategy for Children and Young People in Scotland 2021- 2026 continues to be taken forwards by the Managed Service Network for Children and Young People with Cancer (MSN CYPC) into 2026.

The progression of actions in the strategy are regularly reviewed by MSN CYPC and will inform any future national strategy approach required to ensure that children and young people with cancer will have access to the best possible treatment and care.

Question reference: S6O-04258

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the public inquiry into the investigation of Emma Caldwell's murder.

Question reference: S6W-32999

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what long COVID referral pathways are in place for people with long COVID who have symptoms of myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).

Question reference: S6W-33000

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 21 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether there is a single clinical pathway in every NHS board for people with long COVID.

Question reference: S6W-32834

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 21 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what flood prevention schemes were approved, and at what cost, broken down by local authority, in each financial year from 2007-08 to 2024-25.

In 2016, an agreement was reached between Scottish Ministers and COSLA on a new strategic funding plan for flood protection schemes. This agreement ensures that from 2016 to 2026, a minimum of £42 million per annum is allocated for flooding capital grants within the local government settlement. Information is provided below on the schemes funded under that agreement.

In December 2015, SEPA published the first set of Flood Risk Management Strategies for the period 2015-2021, which included 42 prioritised flood protection schemes. 40 of these were eligible for Scottish Government funding. While work was expected to start on these schemes, their completion was not expected within the six-year timeframe.

Table 1 Flood Protection Schemes under construction
Scheme	(ii) Properties protected	(i) Completion Date	(iii A) Initial cost (£ million) (1)	( iii B) Estimated final cost (£ million) (2)
Hawick	970	2025	37.4	78.6
Campbeltown	770	2025	9.3	15.2

Schemes (b) under development are as follows:

Table 2 - Schemes under development 4 will commence construction in 2025 2 have been legally confirmed as required under the FRM Act (2009) and are undergoing further development and detailed design towards construction. 5 have begun the legal notification process towards confirmation.
Scheme	Stage	(ii) Properties protected	(iii A) Initial cost (£ million) (1)	( iii B) Estimated Final Cost of Scheme (2)
Milnathort	Construction start 2025	79	1.9	0.9
Mill Burn Millport	Construction start 2025	124	1.1	1.7
Kilmacolm – Glenmosston Burn	Construction start 2025	Not held	0.5	0.5
Comrie	Construction start 2025	189	15.7	40.0
Dumfries - Whitesands	Confirmed (3)	166	18.9	37.5
Quarrier’s Village	Confirmed (3)	60	0.2	0.2
Dumbarton - Gruggies Burn	Legal notification complete (4)	370	14.5	20.0
South Kinross	Legal notification complete (4)	Not held	3.2	15.1
Musselburgh	Legal notification complete (4)	2500	8.9	95.9
Bridge of Allan	Legal notification complete (4)	Not held	4.4	17.0
Newton Stewart/ River Cree	Legal notification complete (4)	270	7.5	19.1
(1) Note: Initial costs as provided by local authorities in 2016-17. (2) Note: Final Scheme costs are the latest estimates provided by local authorities. Differences between these latest estimates and initial cost estimates arise as a result of inflationary pressures and because flood protection schemes are put forward for prioritisation at various stages of their development to fit with Flood Risk Management Planning cycle set out in the FRM Act. Costs are revised over time as designs are finalised and more detailed investigations are carried out and as new information emerges. Schemes will only be taken forward for construction if they receive the necessary statutory and regulatory approvals, so the expected completion date is not yet known. More detailed information on each of the schemes can be obtained from the relevant local authorities whose responsibility it is to develop and deliver flood protection schemes and who are best placed to answer specific questions on each of the schemes. (3) Note: Formally confirmed under Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act (2009). (4) Note: Notification (first stage towards legal confirmation) complete under Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act (2009) 8 of the 40 schemes initially eligible have been withdrawn from the cycle one funded programme (2 voluntarily and 6 because they failed to meet the notification deadline of 31 March 2024). 1 is no longer required.

Question reference: S6W-33002

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 21 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to question S6W-04192 by Maree Todd on 22 November 2021 and S6W-18221 by Jenni Minto on 5 June 2023, what progress has been made on (a) the review by the Scottish Deans Medical Education Group of the online learning module on myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and (b) its introduction into medical school curriculums.

a) The Scottish Deans Medical Education Group, now known as the Leads for Undergraduate Medicine Scotland (LUMES), reviewed the module and found the contents valuable.

b) We understand that rather than implementing stand-alone modules, medical schools in Scotland seek to integrate ME/CFS education throughout the existing medical curriculum.

Embedding relevant knowledge across the curriculum seeks to ensure that students encounter the condition in various contexts, including neurology and general practice.

We are advised that LUMES considers that incorporating the module’s key learning outcomes into institutions’ current teaching methods better aligns with existing educational strategies. This approach is in line with other conditions, to ensure graduates have a comprehensive and cohesive learning experience and develop a holistic perspective.