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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

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Question reference: S6W-07451

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 18 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 29 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-05936 by Maree Todd on 14 February 2022, whether it will provide a breakdown of the funding by NHS board area.

The breakdown of the additional funding provided to Health Boards for Breastfeeding Initiatives since 2018/19 is as follows:

	In £m				Total spend per board
HEALTH BOARD	2018- 19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22

NHS Ayrshire and Arran	0.09	0.12	0.12	0.07	0.40
NHS Borders	0.05	0.08	0.08	0.05	0.25
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	0.02	0.03	0.03	0.05	0.13
NHS Fife	0.05	0.08	0.06	0.07	0.25
NHS Forth Valley	0.04	0.05	0.05	0.04	0.18
NHS Grampian	0.02	0.02	0.04	0.05	0.14
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde	0.19	0.13	0.17	0.19	0.68
NHS Highland	0.07	0.03	0.06	0.06	0.21
NHS Lanarkshire	0.05	0.06	0.04	0.03	0.17
NHS Lothian	0.07	0.10	0.12	0.12	0.42
NHS Orkney	0.03	0.03	0.04	0.06	0.15
NHS Shetland	0.03	0.04	0.05	0.06	0.18
NHS Tayside	0.08	0.09	0.11	0.11	0.38
NHS Western Isles	0.02	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.05

TOTAL	0.79	0.86	0.98	0.96	3.58

Funding has also been provided to Third Sector partners and for other nationally-led projects during this time period. Third Sector partners work in collaboration with NHS Boards and HSCPs to establish local peer support models.

Annual funding is provided to NHS Boards through the Outcomes Framework allocation to deliver a range of core services, including for breastfeeding. The value of this allocation, by Board, for each of the four years is set out below:

In £m - Outcomes Framework
	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	4.1	3.9	4.4	4.7
NHS Borders	1.2	1.1	1.3	1.4
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	1.6	1.6	1.7	1.9
NHS Fife	4.0	3.8	4.2	4.5
NHS Forth Valley	3.4	3.2	3.5	3.8
NHS Grampian	6.6	6.3	7.0	7.5
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	16.9	16.1	17.3	18.4
NHS Highland	3.4	3.2	3.5	3.8
NHS Lanarkshire	6.4	6.1	7.1	7.6
NHS Lothian	10.5	10.0	10.9	11.6
NHS Orkney	0.5	0.4	0.5	0.5
NHS Shetland	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5
NHS Tayside	6.0	5.7	5.9	6.4
NHS Western Isles	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.6
National Services Scotland	0.3	0.3	0.4	0.4
Scottish Ambulance Service	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
NHS Education Scotland	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
NHS 24	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
National Waiting Times Centre	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
State Hospital	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
NHS Health Scotland	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
PHS	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Healthcare Improvement Scotland	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

Total	66.2	62.9	68.9	74.1

The table below is funding for community services in Scotland since 2019 by Board. This is comprised of investment in specialist Community Perinatal Mental Health, Infant Mental Health and Maternity/Neonatal Psychological Interventions. This combined with other investment including Mother and Baby Units, the Wellbeing for Wee Ones campaign, training, workforce and the Perinatal Mental Health Managed Clinical Network makes up the full £16m spend.

	£m
Ayrshire & Arran	0.06
Borders	0.21
Dumfries & Galloway	0.28
Fife	1.15
Forth Valley	0.33
Grampian	1.17
Greater Glasgow & Clyde	1.93
Highland	0.72
Lanarkshire	1.58
Lothian	2.07
Orkney	0.09
Shetland	0.07
Tayside	0.77
Western Isles	0.04
Total	10.46

Question reference: S6O-00908

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6O-00888

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what additional funding is being provided to restore and enhance rural health services.

Question reference: S6W-06252

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to extend the Transvaginal Mesh Removal (Cost Reimbursement) (Scotland) Bill to apply to the use of mesh during other medical procedures, such as hernia operations.

The Scottish Parliament unanimously backed the Transvaginal Mesh Removal (Cost Reimbursement) (Scotland) Bill on 25 January 2022. The Bill will now proceed to Royal Assent with the reimbursement scheme opening as soon as practically possible thereafter.

The Bill focussed solely on reimbursement for the removal of mesh that was inserted transvaginally for Stress Urinary Incontinence and Pelvic Organ Prolapse, the two procedures that, in Scotland, have been subject to a halt since September 2018. This is in light of the specific circumstances surrounding transvaginal mesh removal, as set out in the Policy Memorandum that accompanies the Bill. There are therefore no plans to extend the reimbursement scheme to include mesh used in other sites such as hernia repair.

Question reference: S6O-00793

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 February 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what additional support and resources it will provide for its actions across government to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Question reference: S6W-05936

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 14 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding has been committed to supporting breastfeeding in each of the last five years and, of that, how much has been committed to supporting mothers with post-natal mental health issues.

We provide £2.3m per year to NHS Boards to support the 2011 Maternal and Infant Nutrition Framework Action Plan which includes a range of breastfeeding support activities and interventions.

We have additionally provided more than £6m over the past four years to NHS Boards and third sector partners to improve the quality of breastfeeding support.

In 2019, the Scottish Government established the Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Programme Board to oversee the delivery of improved perinatal and infant mental health services in Scotland. Since then we have invested over £16 million in perinatal and infant mental health, including specialist community perinatal services, Mother and Baby Units and services provided by the third sector such as peer support, counselling and befriending.

Details are as follows:

		2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2121-22
Maternal and Infant Nutrition	Allocated	£2.3m	£2.3m	£2.3m	£2.3m	£2.3m
Breastfeeding Projects	Actual	£0	£1.6m	£1.9m	£1.8m	£1.4m

Question reference: S6W-05427

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 21 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assistance is available to Stena Line in light of the potential impact of staff absences on sailings from Cairnryan over the Christmas and new year period.

The Scottish Government approved an application from Stena Line for a critical workers exemption to allow essential workers to volunteer to leave self-isolation and return to work. Workers in businesses and organisations providing vital public services can volunteer to leave self-isolation and return to work, in certain limited circumstances, to allow vital services to continue. Exemptions are possible where staff shortages are in danger of putting essential functions and services at risk.

On 29 December, a priority system was reintroduced for workers in critical sectors, including maritime transport, to access PCR tests. This allows people who meet the criteria, including key Stena Line staff, to access priority slots within the online booking system.

Question reference: S6W-05426

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 21 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will designate Stena Line ferry services from Cairnryan as a vital service, and therefore exempt from the 10-day self-isolation rule if staff are fully vaccinated and have a negative lateral flow test, in order to ensure those services continue to operate.

The Scottish Government recognises the critical importance of the Stena Line ferry service from Loch Ryan Port to Belfast. On 22 December the Scottish Government approved an application from Stena Line for an exemption to allow their essential workers to volunteer to leave self-isolation and return to work. Under the critical workers exemption process, before a staff member who is a close contact of a positive case can return to work there are a number of requirements they must adhere to, including having had their second COVID-19 vaccination more than 14 days previously and have evidence of a negative PCR test.

Question reference: S6F-00677

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 January 2022

To ask the First Minister whether she will provide an update on the delivery of LOT 1 of the R100 programme.

Question reference: S6W-05423

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 13 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the role that the Scottish National Resilience Centre in Dumfries will play in the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The National Centre for Resilience (NCR) whilst an independent body is fully funded by the Scottish Government, and works closely with it. In the past its remit had focused on natural hazards, but early in the pandemic it adapted its efforts into health resilience - bringing to bear its existing work on recovery to the particulars of the emerging threat.

The NCR was already working with the Scottish Government’s Resilience Development Service (ScoRDS) on recovery as the pandemic began. In collaboration with ScoRDS it had held a series of national workshops where policymakers, practitioners, and academics shared their experiences and the challenges faced when supporting communities through recovery from significant disruptive events. An initial findings paper was published. That laid very firm groundworks for recovery across sectors, and has also placed the NCR in an excellent position to continue to support those sectors.

Building immediately on this work, and following participation in the Scotland responders’ Covid lessons group in the summer of 2020, the NCR identified a need to help responders understand an evidence-based approach in order to not only recover, but to build back better. It used its networks to connect with the third sector responders and SG policy teams, to gain a clear understanding of new issues arising, and also how existing challenges were being amplified by the pandemic.

As a result, a series of symposiums were hosted - bringing together senior leaders in response organisations, academia, and policy teams in order to engage and identify cross sector ways to help find and deliver practical solutions, to improve and mitigate reported issues. Full reports on these symposiums were shared with all participants and have been published on the NCR website.

The NCR has also conducted literature reviews, looking at areas such as mutual aid and the role of the third sector through the lens of the pandemic, as well as mapping changes in policy in Scotland over the last ten years. Reports on these reviews will be published on the NCR website. Its staff and researchers continue to engage in a spectrum of activity across Scotland and the UK in support of the recovery from the pandemic, but also to understand how the pandemic has affected other aspects of resilience.

The Chair of the NCR Steering Group has also been invited to attend the Royal Society of Edinburgh's Post Covid Future Commission's Resilience Roundtable event on 19 January.

In summary, the NCR has been building its understanding and knowledge of the effect of the pandemic on its relevant audiences, as part of its ongoing strategic objectives. It has been seeking ways to collaborate and work together across sectors in order to provide robust evidence to inform policy. It has fostered ways to provide a gateway to networks of academics for government and responders, and it has identified the challenges and barriers that need to be addressed to promote and adopt the concept of evidence-based transformational change, in order to build back better across the wider resilience sector.