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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: S6W-28105

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 25 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-27677 by Jenny Gilruth on 4 June 2024, whether it will clarify what the (a) format and (b) anticipated timing is of its consideration of the Teacher Induction Scheme.

Question reference: S6W-28123

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 21 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it recognises the use of the value of prevented fatality (VPF) approach as a suitable calculation to quantify the impact of public policy, and, if so, whether it has used a VPF approach to assess the potential impact of the proposed overnight closure of the minor injury units in Huntly, Fraserburgh and Peterhead.

Question reference: S6O-03639

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 June 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the education secretary last met with Aberdeenshire Council, and what was discussed.

Question reference: S6W-28046

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 June 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 14 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-24804 by Jenni Minto on 5 February 2024, how much of the £190 million of funding from the Primary Care Improvement Fund in 2023-24 was provided to each NHS board for the development of Community Treatment and Care (CTAC) services.

While the Scottish Government are responsible for the strategic direction of the NHS, territorial Health Boards and Integration Authorities are responsible for delivering services in their areas, including the amount spent on each of the service areas delivered by the Primary Care Improvement Fund (PCIF). Integrated Authorities must work closely with local communities and other stakeholders to ensure that Primary Care Improvement Plans address specific local challenges and population needs while taking into account the guidance in the GP contract and accompanying MoUs as well as amended regulations.

Question reference: S6O-03616

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 June 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support schools in rural communities.

Question reference: S6W-27864

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 7 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration Scottish Forestry has given to allocating funds from the Strategic Timber Transport Fund to support the full reopening of Aboyne Bridge.

Scottish Forestry maintains very close working relationships with the relevant Local Authority and timber businesses in this region. Whilst we are aware of the closure of the Aboyne Bridge, and there have been discussions with local forest businesses around the implications of further deterioration on the adjacent Dinnet Bridge, Scottish Forestry has not received a request from the Local Authority for support towards reopening the Aboyne Bridge currently.

Scottish Forestry recently awarded £101,000 from the Strategic Timber Transport Fund to support £202,000 of improvements to the nearby B976 Birsemore to Dinnet Bridge Road through collaboration with Aberdeenshire Council.

Question reference: S6W-27677

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has plans to review the Teacher Induction Scheme to ensure that it is fully equipped to serve the needs of schools in rural areas.

Question reference: S6W-27674

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 3 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what it anticipates the impact will be of Aberdeenshire Council reportedly receiving only 20 of the 44 newly qualified secondary school teachers it requested for the coming school year.

We recognise there is a challenge around the recruitment of teachers in certain geographical areas and in certain subjects. It is for this reason that we have manually allocated Preference Waiver Payment (PWP) probationers this year. Manually allocating PWPs will ensure those probationers are placed in the areas who have the most difficulties in securing probationers.

I recently met with Aberdeenshire Council to discuss their concerns about teacher recruitment and probationer allocations. The Council indicated that they welcomed the approach taken to probationer allocations this year, which has resulted in an increase on the number of PWPs allocated compared to last year.

Question reference: S6W-27692

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 3 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on what the current waiting times are for hearing aids, broken down by NHS board.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on waiting times for hearing aids centrally.

Statistics on audiology waiting times are included within Public Health Scotland’s (PHS) 18 weeks referral to treatment (RTT) publication but this does not include specialty-level data. This publication is based on a dataset that collects information on waiting times for complete patient pathways from initial referral to first treatment.

Question reference: S6W-27693

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 3 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it provides to each NHS board for audiology services.

The Scottish Government provides policies, frameworks and resources to NHS Boards to deliver services that meet the needs of their local population. We are providing an increased investment of half a billion for NHS boards in 2024-25, taking funding to over £14.2 billion - an increase of almost 3% in real terms. An investment of £30 million is also being provided and will target reductions to the national backlogs that built up throughout the pandemic, including audiology.

However, it is NHS Boards and healthcare professionals locally who have responsibility for service delivery and patient treatment. Therefore details of the funding NHS Boards have allocated to audiology services is held locally.