- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 June 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 29 July 2020
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has decided not to proceed with recruitment for a third cohort of the shortened midwifery programme.
Answer
The shortened midwifery programme was a pilot designed to meet short term workforce shortage in the North of Scotland. This is only one of the education programmes which supplies newly qualified midwives to the North of Scotland. Our latest workforce projections suggest that it is unnecessary to commission a third cohort at this stage and we will continue to monitor the progress of the current two cohorts on the pilot programme. This will be kept under review as we work in partnership with our health and care services and universities to assess midwifery workforce requirements and pre-registration education provision across Scotland in the coming months.
Midwifery is a controlled subject and in December 2019 we announced an increase to student intake of 5% in 20-21 bringing the commissioned number for 20-21 to 270. This is over 65% greater than the commissioned number in 2014, and almost 50% more than in 2016, the year in which students who most recently entered the workforce commenced their studies.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 July 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 28 July 2020
To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in the development of incineration facilities to deal with clinical waste disposal.
Answer
Tradebe Healthcare opened its clinical waste treatment site at Bellshill in December 2019 to support the national clinical waste contract. A small portion of clinical waste will be sent to England or Wales for high temperature treatment that is not available in Scotland.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 July 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 28 July 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the comment by Jeane Freeman on 20 May 2020 that the Barnett consequentials it has received from “the additional resource that the UK Government has committed to care home work…will go to care home work in Scotland” (Official Report, c. 31), whether it will confirm how much has been received; how much it has allocated to the Lothian parliamentary region, and how this will be distributed in that area.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-29601 on 23 June 2020, this sets out the current position. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx
Detail of funding for the Lothian parliamentary region is set out in the following table.
Health & Social Care Partnership | Share of funding (£m) |
East Lothian HSCP | 0.9 |
Edinburgh HSCP | 4.1 |
Midlothian HSCP | 0.8 |
West Lothian HSCP | 1.6 |
Total | 7.5 |
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 July 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 28 July 2020
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on introducing a bursary for paramedic students similar to the £5,000 for students in England that the UK Government announced in January 2020.
Answer
The Scottish Government provides a package of support for paramedic students that is worth more than the £5,000 announced by UK Government. We provide free tuition for eligible undergraduate students where paramedic students in England are expected to pay up to £9,250 per year in tuition fees. In addition we provide funding for placement expenses, uniforms, disclosure and health checks.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 June 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 27 July 2020
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to concerns that some people are ignoring the mandatory requirement to wear a face covering on public transport, and how it is monitoring and enforcing this requirement
Answer
Since 22 June 2020, compliance of wearing face coverings by passengers on public transport in Scotland has been high. Transport Scotland officials continue to work closely with operators across all travel modes to monitor and encourage appropriate passenger behaviours and compliance.
The powers are in place, through the legislation, for fixed penalty notices to be issued, if required, to enforce compliance.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 July 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 27 July 2020
To ask the Scottish Government what guidelines will apply to international students who plan to arrive in autumn 2020 regarding (a) quarantine requirements and (b) and other methods to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and what discussions it has had with universities regarding this.
Answer
Scotland’s college and universities remain welcoming and open places for staff and students from across the world. Staff and students will have to comply with guidance for residents or visitors travelling to the UK. Those travelling from a country not yet exempt from quarantine requirements should complete a passenger locator form and self-isolate for 14 days. These provisions will be reviewed on a 3 weekly basis. Students who are travelling to Scotland from overseas should check the Scottish Government website for the latest advice.
We have worked in partnership with universities, trade unions and student representatives to develop guidance (published 29 June) for universities, which sets out the measures institutions can take (including physical distancing) to operate safely. Universities and colleges are playing a vital role in communicating directly with, and supporting international students in relation to this and other matters throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 July 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 27 July 2020
To ask the Scottish Government how many prescriptions for opioids have been issued in each week since 1 April 2019.
Answer
The Prescribing and Medicines: Dispenser Payments and Prescription Costs Analysis 2019 annual report, published on 23 July 2019 provides general data on opioids prescribed in 2018-19. This can be accessed via https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Prescribing-and-Medicines/Publications/2019-07-23/Prescription_Cost_Analysis_2019.xlsx .
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 July 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 27 July 2020
To ask the Scottish Government whether it issued any new guidance on the prescribing of opioids for pain relief during the COVID-19 pandemic, and what discussions it had with (a) doctors' representatives and (b) other health organisations regarding this.
Answer
The Scottish Government has not issued any new guidance on the prescribing of opioids for pain relief during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Scottish Government’s “Quality Prescribing for Chronic Pain – A Guide for Improvement” covers the period 2018 – 2021 and Scottish Government is in the process of drafting an update, a process which includes discussion with and input from doctors’ representatives, patients and other health organisations.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 July 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 27 July 2020
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many dental practices remain closed to NHS patients due to the cost of reopening and insufficient financial support.
Answer
Management information collected by the Chief Dental Officer indicates that as of 12 July 2020, 929 practices, from a total of 1024, had reopened. The majority of remaining practices have a confirmed date for reopening and practices are required to certify to their NHS Board that they are fully compliant with current guidance, which is delivered by NES through the ‘practice recovery toolkit’, before reopening. No NHS Board has informed SG that financial concerns are the reason for not having reopened.
The financial support measures are in place to ensure the health and safety of all patients and staff attending dental practices as they reopen remains the primary consideration and in taking a phased approach the government is seeking to balance the overall risk of infection with the needs of patients to be seen by dentists and ensure dental practices are funded appropriately throughout.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 July 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 27 July 2020
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many dental practices remain closed or are only open part-time due to a lack of key worker status for dentists and their teams.
Answer
The government cannot designate whole workforces or entire groups of staff as key workers as the decisions on eligibility for key worker childcare are taken locally, in line with guidance published on the Scottish Government website.
Management information collected by the Chief Dental Officer indicates that as of 12 July 2020, 929 practices, from a total of 1024, had reopened. The majority of remaining practices have a confirmed date for reopening and practices are required to certify to their NHS Board that they are fully compliant with current guidance, which is delivered by NES through the ‘practice recovery toolkit’, before reopening. NHS Boards are working proactively with the small number of practices whose opening date is still outstanding.