- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what actions were required to be undertaken by NHS Grampian in order to achieve a supported NHSScotland Design Assessment Process (NDAP) report for The Baird Family Hospital and The ANCHOR Centre Project.
Answer
The NDAP process was an iterative process undertaken over a number of months, involving the NDAP Team from NHS Scotland Assure, the NHS Grampian Project team, key stakeholders, Graham Construction and their design team. The NHS Grampian Project team worked through each of the NDAP issues with stakeholders, until a design solution that met the needs of all parties was achieved and evidenced, in line with appropriate standards and guidance. This led to a ‘supported’ NDAP Report.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what reviews have taken place to ensure that the NHSScotland Design Assessment Process (NDAP) action plan for The Baird Family Hospital and The ANCHOR Centre Project, which was undertaken in 2019, has been completed.
Answer
The NDAP process does not use the term, or produce an ‘action plan’. The process results in essential and advisory recommendations at the end of each of each Business Case stage which must be developed by the Board. The Board will submit evidence or a commitment to address the recommendations prior to their NDAP report achieving a ‘verified’ status.
NHS Grampian received the supported NDAP report for the Full Business Case stage of the Baird and ANCHOR project on 3 July 2020. This was followed up confirming the commitment from NHS Grampian to complete and close out all required actions. A tracker was developed which included all the required actions and the work to agree and close out the actions was carried out with NDAP and Graham Construction until May 2021. The actions were confirmed as closed by the NDAP team on 18 May 2021.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has provided, or is in discussion regarding the provision of, additional funding for any redesign of The Baird Family Hospital and The ANCHOR Centre.
Answer
There have been no material changes to the design of either the Baird Family Hospital or the ANCHOR Centre agreed to date. An important part of any large capital project however, is the ongoing testing and refinement of the design, in particular the mechanical and electrical aspects. This process, informed by a range of internal and external experts and subject to independent review led by NHS Scotland Assure, is intended to provide assurance of compliance with the most up to date standards and also that learning from recent large projects is incorporated appropriately.
The Scottish Government liaise closely on an ongoing basis with NHS Grampian to ensure that any emerging pressures on the project are managed appropriately and this includes the outcomes and recommended action arising from the design review processes. The report on the recent NHS Scotland Assure Review of the ANCHOR Centre Construction stage is expected shortly and any associated action will be reported to the next NHS Grampian Board meeting 6 April 2023.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether the report of the NHSScotland Design Assessment Process (NDAP) for The Baird Family Hospital and The ANCHOR Centre Project, which was undertaken in 2019, will be published.
Answer
The Scottish Government do not publish NHSScotland Design Assessment Process (NDAP) reports, but they are available on request from the Health Board.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what reviews have been undertaken to ensure that the quality of drinking water at The Baird Family Hospital and The ANCHOR Centre is in line with Scottish Water's legal responsibility to maintain a wholesome water supply.
Answer
Information relating to the design of the water systems for both The Baird Family Hospital and The ANCHOR Centre was submitted to Scottish Water in December 2022 and notification was received on 28th February 2023, confirming that the application complied with the guidelines in the current edition of Water for Scotland. The design of the water systems is in line with the principles of relevant guidance, including Scottish Health Technical Memorandum (SHTM) 04-01 Water Safety for Healthcare Premises (Part A relates to design, installation and testing). The design also meets requirements set out in the Scottish Water Byelaws; Water Supply Regulations; HSE Approved Code of Practice (L8) and relevant British Standards.
The design of the water system was also subject to an interim design review by NHS Scotland Assure and a series of observations were made by the review team which were addressed by the design team as part of the close out process for the interim review.
Furthermore, no new health facility in Scotland can open until NHS Scotland Assure have indicated that they are satisfied with the facility; this includes checking the safety of drinking water. The Baird Family Hospital and The ANCHOR Centre will be subject to this extensive process of review, prior to it opening to patients.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 14 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is, as it applies to Scotland, to the WSP publication, A Review of Noise Guidance for Onshore Wind Turbines: Project Report, published in October 2022 on behalf of the UK Government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15610 on 14 March 2023. 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
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 14 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will update its guidance on noise limits and amplitude modulation, as recommended in the WSP publication, A Review of Noise Guidance for Onshore Wind Turbines: Project Report, published in October 2022 on behalf of the UK Government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
Answer
We welcome the research conducted by WSP on behalf of the UK Government.
The Scottish Government contributed financially to the research project and will continue to work with the UK Government on next steps following the publication of the report.
Until such time as new guidance is produced, ETSU-R-97 should continue to be followed by applicants and used to assess and rate noise from wind energy developments.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 24 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 8 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government when it first learned of reports that avian flu could be transferred to seals, and whether any monitoring of seals has since taken place.
Answer
In December 2021 the Animal Disease Policy Group (ADPG), which includes a range of avian influenza experts and representatives from UK administrations, agreed to collect and store samples from non-avian wildlife through the existing Diseases of Wildlife Surveillance (DoWS) scheme for retrospective testing. This would allow a better understanding of the epidemiological situation regarding influenza viruses in non-avian wildlife species while limiting the pressure on veterinary resource or the National Reference Laboratory (NRL) Weybridge allowing the prioritisation of testing of wild birds and poultry. ADPG took the decision in July 2022 to commence the retrospective testing of stored samples of mammal carcasses at the NRL. The samples had been collected as part of routine wildlife surveillance in 2021 and 2022. In February 2023 it was reported to Scottish Government that four seals from Scotland have returned positive findings of HPAI H5N1 from this retrospective testing programme.
Despite these findings, the risk of the H5N1 strain to non-avian species, including humans, remains low. The positive identification of HPAI in mammals remains an unusual event and available genomic surveillance data, reported by APHA in the UK, indicates that there is no widespread mammalian adaption of the virus.
Scottish Government continues to monitor the UK and international situation regarding HPAI in avian and non-avian wildlife. Since the beginning of 2023, APHA have moved to a system of real-time testing through the GB wildlife surveillance scheme of mammalian samples collected including seals.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Clare Haughey on 7 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what support is being provided to local authorities to support (a) breakfast and (b) after school clubs that may otherwise face closure due to financial constraints.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not provide specific funding to local authorities to support breakfast and after school clubs which are struggling financially. Local authorities have flexibility to allocate the total financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities. In 2023-24 local authorities have autonomy to allocate over 93% - £12.5 billion – of the funding provided by the Scottish Government, plus all locally raised income.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 March 2023
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 8 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how the Scottish Budget 2023-24 will support the economic development and prosperity of the north east.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 8 March 2023
