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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-21016

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S6W-17748 and S6W-17799 by Michael Matheson on 18 May 2023, whether it will provide an update on what steps are being taken to address any regional variation in survival and access to surgery for ovarian cancer.

As stated in response to S6W-17748, this analysis predates improvement work that has been undertaken across all cancer regions, but the situation clearly requires continued prioritisation and close attention.

The Deputy National Clinical Director and Scottish Government officials have recently met with the clinical leads for ovarian cancer for the Northern Cancer Alliance and South East Scotland Cancer Network to discuss the survival dataset and a meeting with the West of Scotland Cancer Network is being scheduled.

In terms of access to surgery, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde are increasing dedicated theatre capacity at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary site for the gynaecology oncology team.

Question reference: S6W-20850

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 14 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to open drug checking services in Scotland.

We are committed to delivering drug checking facilities in Scotland and we are currently waiting for further information from the Home Office around their acceptable criteria for these facilities. This is required to inform the license applications being developed in Scotland.

In the meantime we continue to support local city leads as they produce their plans for implementing drug checking facilities and once the acceptable criteria has been clarified we anticipate license applications, seeking permission from the Home Office for drug-checking facilities in Scotland in Dundee, Aberdeen and Glasgow, to be submitted in the coming months.

If those applications are approved by the Home Office, we would work with those cities who are committed to implementing drug checking facilities to have them established as quickly as possible.

Question reference: S6W-20849

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 14 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has applied to the Home Office for approval for drug checking services.

It is not for the Scottish Government to apply for Home Office licenses to establish Drug Checking in Scotland.

The application process requires specific information provided by the pilot cities of Dundee, Aberdeen and Glasgow. Therefore, the organisations must submit applications in order for permission to be granted to establish these facilities in these areas.

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering drug checking facilities in Scotland and have highlighted our desire to introduce these facilities to the Home Office and the UK Government has indicated they are open to discussing this.

Question reference: S6W-20702

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 13 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of (i) specialist and (ii) generalist social care workforces to deliver palliative care to rural and remote areas.

An underlying principle of the new National Strategy for Palliative and End of Life Care for Scotland being developed will be equitable and timely access to palliative care as needed, by each person of any age, living with any illness, in all places.

The Strategy Steering Group has established a number of working groups to address priorities, including a Workforce, Education, Training and Resources Working Group, to support the workforce and ensure care is delivered by a multi-disciplinary and multi-agency workforce that is trained, skilled, valued and supported.

Question reference: S6W-20701

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 13 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to ensure that people in rural and remote communities know what palliative care is and how to access it.

We are currently developing a new Palliative and End of Life Care Strategy with an overarching aim that everyone in Scotland receives well-coordinated, timely and high-quality palliative care around death and bereavement support based on their needs and preferences.

We are currently reviewing what we know about people’s understanding and experience of palliative care, including in rural and remote communities, which will inform a public health approach to improving understanding of, and access to, palliative care. A Public Health Palliative Care Working Group has been set up to develop and take forward key actions in relation to this.

Question reference: S6W-20700

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 13 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many NHS staff currently make up the palliative care workforce, and what the figures were in each year since 2018, broken down by the number of (a) generalists and (b) specialists.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. The funding and commissioning of specialist and general palliative and end of life care services, including workforce planning and allocating resources for staffing, is a matter for Integration Joint Boards. A wide range of specialist and generalist staff in hospitals, care homes, primary care, social care, hospices and the third sector, will be involved in providing palliative care to people and their families.

Question reference: S6W-20699

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 13 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what is being done to address any access challenges in delivering palliative care to rural and remote areas.

An underlying principle of the new National Strategy for Palliative and End of Life Care for Scotland will be equitable and timely access to palliative care as needed by each person of any age, living with any illness, in all places.

As part of this work we are reviewing the information and evidence we have, and need, to develop the strategy. This includes gathering data on current and projected needs for palliative care at a population level, mapping services and support across Scotland, and building on our understanding of people’s experiences of palliative and end of life care.

The outputs of this work will give us a clearer picture of the delivery and accessibility of palliative care across Scotland, including in remote and rural areas, and will allow us to develop evidence-based actions to ensure that people have equitable access to general and specialist palliative care if and when they need it, regardless of where they live.

Question reference: S6T-01524

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 September 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to keep people safe, in light of reported concerns about the spread of new variants of COVID-19.

Question reference: S6W-20620

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 11 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much was spent on the Pain Management Task Force and its subsidiary committees in 2021-22, and what the money was spent on.

Question reference: S6W-20619

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 11 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide additional funding to chronic pain services, in light of the reported closure of pain relief clinics during the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting increase in waiting times for appointments.

The 2023-24 Scottish Budget delivers record funding of £19 billion including increases in funding for community and primary care health services such as GP practices where the vast majority of people with chronic pain seek support. Detail on how funding has been used specifically for the assessment and treatment of chronic pain would require to be requested from NHS Boards. NHS Boards and healthcare professionals locally have responsibility for both service delivery and people’s care.

After being temporarily paused in March 2020, chronic pain services started to resume in September 2021 as part of the planned remobilisation of services. Referrals are now back to pre-pandemic levels and we’re working with all health boards to understand the challenges and improvement opportunities to address longer waiting times as boards deal with extremely challenging circumstances.