- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 23 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will capture the experience of under 16-year-olds with cancer, and their parents, in a survey, similar to the surveys of those over 16 with the condition.
Answer
The Managed Service Network for Children and Young People with Cancer (MSN CYPC) are currently working with Young Lives vs. Cancer (YLvC) to take forward learning from the NHS England and Picker Institute U16 Cancer Patient Experience Survey, to see if this can be developed for children and young people with cancer in Scotland.
Additionally, the MSN CYPC provides a range of patient experience support services such as the Youth Advisory Forum which provides children and young people with cancer with the opportunity to share experiences with each other as well as identifying gaps and improve the quality of services by providing feedback. The Parent, Carer and Families Forum, also facilitated by MSN CYPC, gives a voice to the youngest children with cancer, and their support networks which enables their views to also be captured.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
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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.
Answer
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.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
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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.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 29 January 2025
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
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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).
Answer
We do not hold information on long COVID referral pathways for patients with a dual diagnosis or presentation of both long COVID and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome(ME/CFS). This is a matter for territorial NHS boards.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 21 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many GPs (a) have been trained to date and (b) are currently being trained on how to diagnose, and manage people with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) in line with the latest NICE guideline.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 January 2025
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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.
Answer
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 |
| | | (iii A) Initial cost (£ million) (1) | ( iii B) Estimated final cost (£ million) (2) |
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| | | | |
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. |
| | (ii) Properties protected | (iii A) Initial cost (£ million) (1) | ( iii B) Estimated Final Cost of Scheme (2) |
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Kilmacolm – Glenmosston Burn | | | | |
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| | | | |
| | | | |
Dumbarton - Gruggies Burn | Legal notification complete (4) | | | |
| Legal notification complete (4) | | | |
| Legal notification complete (4) | | | |
| Legal notification complete (4) | | | |
Newton Stewart/ River Cree | Legal notification complete (4) | | | |
(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. |
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
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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.
Answer
There is no single clinical pathway within every territorial NHS board for the management of symptoms relating to long COVID. NHS boards have indicated that a number of clinical pathways are available depending on the presenting needs of the individual patient.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 21 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to address any (a) outdated professional views on myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and (b) issues around capacity to train staff about ME/CFS, as identified in the report, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) services in Scotland: health board survey - updated analysis, published in November 2024.
Answer
The Health and Social Care Standards set out the expectation that care should be provided by health and social care professionals based on the most relevant evidence, guidance and best practice, as is appropriate to their profession and patient group. In July 2022 we wrote to health boards and GPs to raise awareness of the NICE guidelines and highlight key changes in practice, and these remain the most current national guidelines on the management of ME/CFS.
It is not appropriate for the Scottish Government to comment on the clinical opinion of health professionals.
We expect Health Boards to ensure their staff are appropriately trained and developed for their roles, as per the Staff Governance Standard. The standard complements the training expectations set out in individual professional and regulatory requirements.
We have funded Action for ME and partners to disseminate an online Continuous Professional Development training module on ME/CFS for health and social care professionals. Evaluation data suggests it is significantly improving participants’ ability to diagnose and manage ME/CFS. Recent activity around the module has included a focus on increasing uptake among clinicians.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 21 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many paediatricians (a) have been trained to date and (b) are currently being trained on how to diagnose, and manage children and young people with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) in line with the latest NICE guideline.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
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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.
Answer
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.
