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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.

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Question reference: S5W-05097

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 12 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-03842 by Maureen Watt on 2 November 2016, which services and organisations will have access to the mental health innovation fund.

Question reference: S5W-05096

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 12 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-03842 by Maureen Watt on 2 November 2016, who will be responsible for allocating funding from the mental health innovation fund.

Question reference: S5W-05160

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 8 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many Developing the Young Workforce regional groups will be established, and how many are currently operational.

Question reference: S5W-05162

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 8 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much it will cost to operate the Developing the Young Workforce regional groups each year, also broken down by how much each group will be allocated.

The annual cost when all groups are fully operational will be up to £4.2m. The DYW Regional Groups that have been established are supported with Scottish Government funding over a 3 year period. The following table provides the indicative 3 year budget for each group that has already been established.


	Allocation
REGION	£000
Ayrshire	748
Dumfries & Galloway	580
Dundee & Angus	685
Edinburgh & Lothian	954
Fife	456
Forth Valley	760
Glasgow	969
Inverness	750
Lanarkshire	1003
Moray	378
North East	600
North Highland	465
Perth & Kinross	495
Scottish Borders	450
West	723
West Highland	480
West Lothian	633

Question reference: S5W-05164

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 8 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how the Developing the Young Workforce programme will seek to address gender imbalances in modern apprenticeships.

In response to Developing the Young Workforce recommendations, Skills Development Scotland (SDS) published the Equalities Action Plan for Modern Apprenticeships in Scotland in December 2015. The five year plan outlines the challenges to be addressed and the actions SDS will undertake with partners to improve the participation of under-represented groups within the MA programme. Apprenticeship areas where there are gender imbalances, for example females in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and males in childcare related apprenticeships, will be tackled by the plan. An annual report detailing progress against the plan will be published by SDS early in the new year.

Question reference: S5O-00447

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 7 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how its public information campaign to maximise incomes and benefit take-up will target the estimated 53,000 carers who do not claim carer's allowance.

We want to see incomes maximised for people to receive all the benefits to which they are entitled. There are many benefits reserved to the UK Government, including Carer’s Allowance, where take up could be improved. We plan to run a take-up campaign in 2017-18 to encourage all those entitled to benefits to access them. In the meantime we will continue to run public information activity to ensure people know what benefits are being devolved and when, and are carrying out work to understand what the barriers to take-up are, including user experience panels.

Question reference: S5W-04857

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 5 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-03581 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 4 November 2016, whether it will provide an update on what progress it is making to appoint a commissioner for fair access, and what the deadline for this is.

Question reference: S5W-05002

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 5 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-03842 by Maureen Watt on 2 November 2016, whether it will provide (a) a breakdown of how the £54.1 million over four years to reduce waiting times in mental health services will be spent and (b) details of how each area of investment will be evaluated.

The First Minister announced £54.1 million of funding over 4 years from 2016-17 to improve access to mental health services on 12 January, 2016. Following that announcement this letter provides further information on that package of support and the allocations to NHS Boards.

This package of funding represents the initial announcement of support from within the £150 million awarded to mental health by the Scottish Government to 2015-20. It comprises three specific elements which total £54.1 million over four years and is intended to support the delivery of the LDP access standards for both CAMHS and psychological therapies. The package includes:

An allocation to NHS Boards to increase capacity to deliver services (24.7m);
Support for the development of the mental health workforce to enhance supply and training of workforce to deliver evidence-based therapies, delivered by NHS Education for Scotland (£24.6m);
The delivery of a Mental Health Access Improvement Support Programme, delivered by Healthcare Improvement Scotland (£4.8m).

This package of support has been structured to focus on improving access to mental health services and support for NHS Boards to:

Deliver reductions in waiting times and the achievement of the LDP standard for CAMHS and Psychological Therapies.
Improve access to mental health services in response to the local need identified within the LDP.
Deliver a workforce development plan for mental health workforce.

National published data on access to service and workforce will be used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the investment.

A summary of the funding can be seen in the following table:

Initiative	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	Total
Building Capacity	4,300,000	6,800,000	6,800,000	6,800,000	24,700,000
Workforce Development (CAMHS/PT)	4,500,000	6,100,000	7,000,000	7,000,000	24,600,000
Improvement Support (MHAIST)	1,200,000	1,200,000	1,200,000	1,200,000	4,800,000
Total	10,000,000	14,100,000	15,000,000	15,000,000	54,100,000

Question reference: S5W-05095

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5T-00232

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Scottish Children's Services Coalition warning that Scotland faces a "lost generation" of children with additional support needs.