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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6O-01458

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 October 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it anticipates that the Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Act 2022 will make this year's bonfire night safer for communities.

Question reference: S6F-01384

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 September 2022

To ask the First Minister how the recent fall in the value of sterling will affect the finances of the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S6O-01323

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it is assisting GP practices in Aberdeenshire to fill vacant GP and health practitioner posts.

Question reference: S6W-09686

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 July 2022
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address long waits for planned care.

We know that long waits have grown as a result of the pandemic, which is why we now need to focus on treating people that are waiting too long for treatment. That is why I am announcing a new set of targets for NHS Scotland to address the backlog of planned care, including some of the most ambitious targets in the UK. The targets are to eliminate:

two year waits for outpatients in most specialities by the end of August 2022
18 month waits for outpatients in most specialities by the end of December 2022
one year waits for outpatients in most specialities by the end of March 2023
two years waits for inpatient / daycases in most specialities by the end of September 2022
18 month waits for inpatient / daycases in most specialities by the end of September 2023
one year waits for inpatient / daycases in most specialities by the end of September 2024

These targets are very ambitious and will require a strong focussed approach to successfully achieve them. However it is important to note that a small number of patients will be unable to have their procedure within these timeframes for personal or clinical reasons.

Patients will be offered appointments as local to them as possible but some may be offered alternatives outwith their local health board area to reduce waiting times, for example, the Golden Jubilee University National Hospital or at National Treatment Centres as they become operational over the next year.

The approach will build on the success of the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CFSD), which was established to drive innovation and introduce new ways of delivering care that will create additional capacity for inpatient, day case and outpatients.

The National Clinical Prioritisation Framework was also updated last month to provide flexibility in managing waiting lists, to ensure any patient waiting over two years is prioritised and treated, as well as those who require urgent clinical care.

Funding for the new drive will come from the £1 billion allocated for the NHS Recovery Plan.

Question reference: S6O-01218

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the cervical screening programme.

Question reference: S6O-01167

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it is monitoring and tracking the outcomes of the roll-out of school counsellors.

Question reference: S6O-01047

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the report, A Just Transition? The Voices of Oil and Gas Workers.

Question reference: S6W-08009

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 April 2022
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Maree Todd on 8 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish its consultation on proposals for mandatory calorie labelling in out-of-home settings, as set out in its Out of Home Action Plan published in September 2021.

Question reference: S6O-00924

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it is making the streets safer for women and girls.

Question reference: S6W-07357

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 March 2022
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Humza Yousaf on 11 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what progress it has made towards publishing a National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care.

Today we have published Scotland’s first National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781804350058

We have worked, in partnership with our co-producers COSLA and extensively engaged with Stakeholders from across Health and Social Care to develop the Strategy.

The Strategy outlines our shared vision for the workforce, a sustainable, skilled workforce with attractive career choices where all are respected and valued for the work they do.

This vision supports our tri-partite ambition of Recovery, Growth and Transformation of our Workforce. In the strategy we look at the whole workforce journey and how we can plan for, attract, train, employ and nurture our Health and Social Care Workforce. This is the first time we have articulated a workforce strategy for our Health and Social Care workforce in this way.

We acknowledge the challenges the pandemic has brought not only for our services but also for our workforce and that is why that is why through this strategy we seek to embed a new long-term approach. The strategy expressly commits to increasing our understanding of demographic change in demand for services and details actions we will take to further understand how we can use this information to achieve a more sustainable, skilled workforce and how we can make careers, at all levels, in health and social care more attractive.

The Strategy recognises that although we have seen continued growth in our workforce for the last 10 consecutive years, we know that growth in the workforce alone will not deliver the services the people of Scotland need now and will need into the future. Our tripartite aim supports our NHS Recovery Plan and recovery of our Social Care services and workforce.

The Strategy sets out the actions we will take in partnership with the workforce to achieve our vision.

One such action is to publish our indicative projections for the Health and Social Care Workforce growth later this year. This will allow us to expressly incorporate evidence from 3 year Workforce Plans (which will also be published in due course by Health Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships) and the forthcoming revised Medium-Term Financial Framework. We will review these projections annually and as more evidence becomes available.

We will review the strategy and progress on the actions therein, annually and in line with any further considerations and evidence which emerges.