- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 October 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S6W-08907 and S6W-08908 by Michael Matheson on 15 June 2022, how it reconciles the answer given by the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport in the Parliament on 18 May 2022 that Scottish Water's cash balance is “substantially allocated at any time to investment projects” with the information in the written answers that, during the 2015-21 regulatory period, after spending £348 million from reserves held at the beginning of the 2015-21 regulatory period on projects not delivered in the preceding regulatory period, reserve levels grew to £400 million and, on average, investment spending from reserves was 20% of annual reserves held in any one year.
Answer
Any large infrastructure organisation that provides an essential service requires significant access to cash to maintain its activities and to respond to unforeseen events. Scottish Water’s cash balances each year are largely a function of when the business borrows from the Scottish Government relative to when capital investments are made; unlike similar infrastructure businesses, Scottish Water does not have access to any other credit facilities. Some of that capital investment will be on projects not delivered in the preceding regulatory period. Furthermore, at any point in time Scottish Water has on-going investment projects and hence has contractual commitments with its delivery partners and it must ensure it has sufficient funds to meet those contractual commitments. At 31 March 2022 Scottish Water had contractual capital commitments of £455.6m and at 31 March 2021 this figure was £541.4m, hence my comments in the Scottish Parliament on 18 May 2022 that Scottish Water's cash balance is ''substantially allocated at any time to investment projects''.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 23 September 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 October 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the British Medical Association (BMA) regarding pensions, and what agreements were reached.
Answer
I announced on 4 October that the Scottish Government would be devolving powers to NHS Boards to utilise local flexibilities within NHS Pension arrangements, and offer ‘pension recycling’. This means NHS Boards will have the ability to assist staff affected by annual and lifetime allowance pension taxation issues. This action is intended to support the retention of staff and support service delivery as we approach winter.
Wider issues relating to pensions are a reserved matter and the power to fully resolve deficiencies with the current system are a matter for the UK Government.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 23 September 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 October 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has allocated to NHS boards for the treatment of long COVID in the current financial year.
Answer
All NHS Scotland Boards are providing assessment and support for people with long COVID, delivered across the full range of services provided by our NHS.
In 2022-23, funding of £18 billion is provided for the health portfolio. This substantial investment is already benefitting a range of services that are supporting the needs of people living with long COVID.
In addition, we have established a £10 million ‘Long COVID Support Fund’ and are investing an initial £3 million from the fund over this financial year to enable NHS Boards to continue to develop and deliver the best models of care for their local populations.
For 2022-23, the funding allocations to thirteen of the fourteen territorial Health Boards (NHS Orkney did not request funding), I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09934 on 23 August 2022. 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 .
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 23 September 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 October 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will increase funding for long COVID, in light of the number of people with the condition reportedly having doubled since the announcement of £3 million of funding in 2021.
Answer
£10 million of funding was announced for long COVID in 2021 for a 3 year period, with the first year’s expenditure being £3 million. We will monitor the progress of the initiatives being funded by this investment and use this to inform expenditure in the remaining 2 years to best meet the needs of people living with long COVID.
In 2022-23, funding of £18 billion is provided for the health portfolio. This substantial investment is already benefitting a range of services that are supporting the needs of people living with long COVID.
Around the world, science has begun the work of trying to find an explanation, and treatments, for long COVID. We are investing £2.5 million in 9 Scottish-led research studies through our Chief Scientist Office. These studies aim to improve the understanding of the long-term effects of COVID-19 on physical and mental health and wellbeing in Scotland, and inform clinical interventions to support recovery and rehabilitation.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 23 September 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 October 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has been approached by any director of pharmacy in relation to amending regulations to make it easier to withhold remuneration from pharmacies that opt to close without an adequate reason for doing so.
Answer
The Scottish Government holds routine and ongoing discussions with all Health Board Directors of Pharmacy on a range of operational and policy issues regarding the delivery of NHS Pharmaceutical Care services. These include discussions on any proposed changes to contractual framework arrangements as set out in the Achieving Excellence in Pharmaceutical Care strategy recommendations.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 23 September 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 October 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to undertake a consultation on pension arrangements for doctors.
Answer
The Scottish Government welcomes continued engagement with health service unions in developing appropriate proposals on pension issues. We are currently modelling member contribution rate structures for the NHS Pension Scheme (Scotland) and will shortly be consulting with the NHS Pension Scheme Advisory Board before holding a public consultation on proposals towards the end of this year.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 23 September 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 October 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether pharmacies that close can still receive non-activity-based payments, and how much these are per day.
Answer
All payments as part of the national contractual framework are published annually. The latest iteration can be found at SHOW - Scotlands Health On the Web - Publications, including payments for non-activity based services delivered as part of the Pharmaceutical Services Remuneration Global Sum.
Health Boards can recover remuneration in line with the measures available as set out in the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2009 and the National Health Service (Discipline Committees) (Scotland) Regulations 2006.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 23 September 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 October 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce a power for NHS boards to take over failing pharmacies.
Answer
The Scottish Government is not considering the introduction of powers for Health Boards to take over community pharmacies that are struggling to meet required standards.
Any challenges faced by community pharmacy contractors in delivering existing pharmaceutical care services should be discussed with the Health Boards who will be able to consider actions to support service provision.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 23 September 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 October 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of reports of locum pharmacists in Scotland being offered work elsewhere in the UK by a large pharmacy chain at the same time that the company was closing branches in Scotland due to a shortage of staff.
Answer
The Scottish Government is not aware of any practice by pharmacy chains offering work to Scottish locum pharmacists in other parts of the UK while agreeing to closures across the Scottish pharmacy network.
Neither the Scottish Government or Health Boards are responsible for the terms or contractual arrangements put in place between pharmacy businesses and those who provide a pharmacy locum service.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 23 September 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 October 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the British Medical Association's (BMA) reported view that 10% of the GP workforce could retire by the end of 2022 due to the "punitive" pension system in Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Government is aware of the impact that the UK Government’s pension annual and life time allowances policy is having on the GP workforce in Scotland. There is limited action we can take to mitigate the impact as issues relating to pensions are a reserved matter. We have written to the UK Government on a number occasions to urge them to take action, and we have highlighted our concerns about the risks to delivering in-hours general practice as well as out of hours services.