- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 3 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how many people living with HIV in Scotland are not engaging with care or specialist HIV services; what research it has conducted into the reasons for this, and what funding is available to support programmes that are aimed at their re-engagement.
Answer
The latest data on people living with HIV in Scotland and not attending for HIV treatment and care can be found in Public Health Scotland’s HIV in Scotland surveillance report, which is available at: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/hiv-in-scotland/hiv-in-scotland-update-to-31-december-2023/. It is important to note that changes to service delivery during and since the COVID-19 pandemic mean that the reported proportion of diagnosed individuals receiving treatment may be an under-estimate and work is underway to ensure the accuracy of this reporting.
The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that people living with HIV receive the care and support they need, and we are working with partners across public service and the third sector to ensure that this happens. Our HIV Transmission Elimination Delivery Plan sets out our approach to ensuring equitable access to high quality care and treatment.
Through our Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults we are funding a number of projects offering peer support and practical assistance which can help people living with HIV to stay well and engage or re-engage in care.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 3 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what review of cancer screening has been carried out regarding women who have been potentially exposed to diethylstilbestrol (DES), broken down by age range.
Answer
The Scottish Government, along with the other UK nations, relies on advice about screening programmes from the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent expert advisory group. The UK NSC is not currently considering a targeted screening proposal for those who have been exposed to diethylstilbestrol. It has also not received a request or proposal to do so during its annual call for topics to consider.
However, in line with the UK NSC’s current recommendations, all women aged between 50 to 70 years old are invited for breast screening every three years. In addition, those aged between 25 and 64 are invited for routine cervical screening every 5 years. The individual may be invited for more regular cervical screening or until they are aged 70 if previous results have found changes that need to be monitored.
The Scottish Government does not hold any information about the numbers of women who have been found to have cancer through those screening programmes and who may also have been prescribed diethylstilbestrol.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 25 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 21 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how many college and university course places have been developed to date to help address any skills shortages in the renewables industry workforce.
Answer
Our education and skills system is already adapting in response to the transition to net zero with colleges and universities acting as key anchor points for research, innovation, and training.
Due to the depth, breadth and variety of interrelated programmes of teaching for net zero skills run by both colleges and universities, it is not possible to provide an exact figure for courses specifically designed for and only catering to skills shortages in the renewables industry workforce at this stage.
A range of work is underway to help address need. For example, the Energy Skills Partnership, Built Environment - Smarter Transformation (BE-ST) Innovation Centre and the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland, all funded by the Scottish Funding Council, support colleges and universities in developing their capability, capacity and curriculum pathways for the transition to net zero.
SFC have been leading collaborative regional pathfinders, in both the North-East and the South of Scotland, which have identified a range of important best practices for institutions which will help improve the system and ensure provision is more responsive to Scotland’s strategic skills needs.
A number of sector-based initiatives are also in place to inform system improvement. For example, the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC) is taking forward crucial work that will help both industry and the public sector to identify and address future skills and workforce gaps.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 25 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 19 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how many new skilled workers the renewables industry estimates will be needed for renewable energy and grid upgrade projects.
Answer
The Scottish Government is aware of a number of reports that set out the potential opportunities for workers in the renewable energy and electricity grid sectors. For example Robert Gordon University research suggests that there could be between 7,000 and 33,000 offshore renewables sector jobs in the North East of Scotland by 2030 while SP Energy Networks suggest that there could be between 40,000 and 80,000 jobs in 2035 in Scotland in electricity networks and related infrastructure.
Independent analysis prepared by EY to better understand our energy requirements as we transition to net zero suggests that with the right support, there could be almost 80,000 low carbon energy production sector jobs in Scotland in 2050.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 November 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 14 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what support it will make available to fully fund and protect hospice care services, in light of the increase in national insurance contributions in the UK Budget and any impact of the Agenda for Change on hospice budgets.
Answer
The Finance Secretary wrote to the Treasury on 31 October seeking urgent clarification on the increase to employer national insurance contributions.
We are clear that this change must be fully funded so that there is no impact on our frontline services. Clarity must be provided before we set our budget in just a few weeks’ time. We also need clarity on whether funding will cover the full extent of organisations delivering public services.
We will continue to work with the hospice sector to consider opportunities to deliver pay parity with Agenda for Change for independent hospices.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 November 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 21 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the number of people who are not aware of a Do Not Resuscitate order being placed on their medical notes, including in relation to next of kin and power of attorney holders.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 21 November 2024
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 13 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how it notifies public sector bodies of the centrally funded eCommerce shared service for procurement and finance systems; what measures it has in place to encourage uptake, and what steps it will take to reduce the overlap in spending on external IT systems and consultancies when a centralised option is available at no or minimal cost.
Answer
The eCommerce Shared Service provides a joined up suite of procurement tools to drive excellence, consistency and best practice within public procurement. The tools include the Public Contracts Scotland advertising portal (PCS mandated for all public bodies in advertising procurements £50k and over), PCS-Tender, PECOS P2P, PECOS Content management (PCM), eInvoicing. All or elements of the Service are used by all Scottish public bodies to enable and support their end to end procurement processes.
The eCommerce Shared Service is promoted via established stakeholder groups and at various events to represent and endorse the Service to public bodies. Appendix 1 shows the number of public bodies that currently use the Service.
Spending decisions on IT Systems and Consultancies is a matter for public bodies, however the eCommerce Shared Service works with public bodies to promote and drive uptake of these systems.
Appendix 1
System | Public Bodies |
Public Contracts Scotland | Mandated for all public bodies advertising procurements £50k and above |
Public Contracts Scotland-Tender | 126 |
PECOS P2P | 57 |
PECOS Content Management | 106 |
eInvoicing | 35 |
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 13 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds regarding the number of public sector bodies that have chosen to use their own procurement and finance IT systems or consultancies instead of the centrally funded eCommerce shared service, and how much each body has spent annually since 2020 on these alternative systems and consultancy services.
Answer
A report on public bodies data, including spend on different corporate functions in 2022-23, will be published on 15 November 2024 on the Scottish Government website, but this does not include information on bodies that have chosen to use their own procurement and finance IT systems or consultancies instead of the centrally funded eCommerce Shared Service. That information is not held centrally. We are engaged with public bodies via various forums where opportunities are identified to promote and drive uptake of the eCommerce tools. Detailed below is a list of how many public bodies currently use the eCommerce Shared Service.
System | Public Bodies |
Public Contracts Scotland | Mandated for all public bodies advertising procurements £50k and above |
Public Contracts Scotland-Tender | 126 |
PECOS P2P | 57 |
PECOS Content Management | 106 |
eInvoicing | 35 |
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 13 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what the total amount spent by the public sector has been on IT systems and consultancy services, specifically in the areas of procurement and finance, in each year since 2020, also broken down by public sector body, and how this expenditure compares with the availability of the centrally-funded eCommerce shared service that can reportedly be used by these bodies at no or minimal cost.
Answer
A report on public bodies data, including spend on different corporate functions in 2022-23, will be published on 15 November 2024 on the Scottish Government website, but this does not include the total amount spent by public bodies on IT systems and consultancy services specifically relating to procurement and finance systems. This is a matter for individual public bodies and is not held centrally. Whilst we do not hold this data we do monitor use of the eCommerce systems across the Scottish public sector and identify opportunities to promote and implement the tools available as part of the eCommerce Shared Service.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 12 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment has been made of the reported decline in the reading age of pupils in schools.
Answer
The Scottish Government takes into account a broad range of data and evidence when considering priorities to improve and support literacy including reading.
For example, Scotland’s performance in the PISA (Reading) international survey in 2022 was above the OECD average and higher than 24 other countries. 9.6% of students in Scotland performed at “PISA Level 5” or better in reading, which is defined by the OECD as top performers, and above the OECD average of 7.2%.
The most recent Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels (ACEL) data for literacy showed that 73% of primary school pupils achieved the expected Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Level for literacy, the highest figure on record. The poverty related attainment gap in primary literacy was the narrowest on record.
The focus remains on improving further, and the answer to S6W-30944 on 12 November 2024 provides a summary of the action being taken to support reading and literacy in schools. 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.
