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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: S5O-04168

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5O-04149

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will fully fund the recent teachers' pay settlement to be delivered by councils in 2020-21.

Question reference: S5F-03948

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 February 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 February 2020

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to support young people dealing with mental health issues.

Question reference: S5O-04084

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 30 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether trunk road improvements have the potential to reduce harmful emissions and improve air quality.

Our roads projects are subject to robust and comprehensive environmental assessments, which are published as part of the statutory procedure for road schemes. Trunk road improvements do have the potential to reduce harmful emissions and improve air quality, whether this is by reducing congestion, optimising traffic flow or by taking traffic away from town centres, as is the case with the A77 Maypole Bypass.

Question reference: S5W-26998

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 29 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to answer to question S5W-24062 by Jeane Freeman on 8 August 2019, whether it will provide an update on the progress of its National Falls and Fracture Prevention Strategy, and when it expects the document to be published.

Question reference: S5O-04024

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what legal and other advice it has received regarding the implementation of the Referendums (Scotland) Bill.

Question reference: S5W-26590

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 9 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many rheumatology (a) consultant and (b) specialist nurse vacancies there are, broken down by NHS board, and what steps it is taking to help the boards (i) fill these posts and (ii) increase the number of training opportunities.

Consultants with a specialty of Rheumatology working in NHSScotland have increased by 45.8% (from 39.7 WTE as at Sept 2006 to 57.9 WTE as at Sept 2019.)

NHS Boards use a variety of recruitment methods to fill posts, including recruitment outwith Scotland, in other parts of Europe, and overseas.

Consultants’ starting salaries in Scotland can be over £2,000 more than in England, and we still offer job security through our continued no compulsory redundancy policy.

The Scottish Shape of Medical Training Transition Group (SSoTTG) makes annual recommendations to Scottish Ministers, after due consideration of any compelling evidence submitted by stakeholders on core, run through, and specialty training numbers. This year, in 2019, there was a request for a further 3 posts. After further consideration 2 extra posts were recommended to be added to the 2020 recruitment round and a third post will be added in 2021. This brings the total of Specialty Training posts added to training establishments between 2014-2020 to 361. The establishment of Rheumatology is 21 in total.

Clinical nurse specialists provide a valued contribution to patient care, including supporting people with rheumatic conditions. Since 2015, the Scottish Government has invested £2.4 million on a recurring basis to support NHS Boards to improve specialist nursing services. NHS Boards make the decision on where to prioritise this funding based on local need. NHS Grampian used this funding to appoint a new Rheumatology Clinical Nurse Specialist. I expect NHS Boards to ensure that people with rheumatic conditions have access to a range of professionals to provide the appropriate management of their condition.

We are investing £40 million for 2,600 extra nursing and midwifery training places over this Parliament.

The whole time equivalent for Rheumatology consultant vacancies by NHS board can be seen in the following table:

Consultant Rheumatology Vacancies By NHS Board (WTE)

NHS Board	Vacancies (WTE)
NHS Scotland	8.8
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	1.0
NHS Borders	-
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	1.0
NHS Fife	1.8
NHS Forth Valley	1.0
NHS Grampian	-
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde	1.0
NHS Highland	-
NHS Lanarkshire	1.0
NHS Lothian	2.0
NHS Orkney	-
NHS Shetland	-
NHS Tayside	-
NHS Western Isles	-

Source: Scottish Workforce Information Standard System (SWISS)

Information regarding numbers of rheumatology nurse vacancies broken down by NHS Board is not centrally held by ISD or NES.

Question reference: S5W-26591

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the findings concerning vacancies by the British Society for Rheumatology in its report, Specialist Nursing in Rheumatology: the State of Play.

I expect all NHS Boards to ensure that people with rheumatic conditions have access to a range of professionals to provide the appropriate management of their condition. Clinical nurse specialists provide a valued contribution to patient care, including supporting people with rheumatic conditions. Since 2015, the Scottish Government has invested £2.4 million on a recurring basis to support NHS Boards to improve specialist nursing services. NHS Boards make the decision on where to prioritise this funding based on local need. NHS Grampian used this funding to appoint a new Rheumatology Clinical Nurse Specialist.

We have sought to retain more specialty nurses. The number of student nurse and midwife places has increased for the seventh year by 7.6%. This is an extra 283 places, equating to 4,006 entry places. This is part of a wider package of measures to accelerate the supply of newly qualified nurses and midwives, including an increase in the nursing and midwifery student bursary to £8,100 in 2019-20 and £10,000 in 2020-21. As well as training new nurses and midwives, we’re encouraging former nurses and midwives to return through our Return to Practice Scheme; to date around 600 have enrolled for this course, of which almost 430 have completed.

Question reference: S5W-26594

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it provides to NHS boards regarding succession planning for specialist posts.

Workforce planning is a statutory requirement and was established in NHSScotland in 2005 with HDL (2005) 52: National Workforce Planning Framework 2005 - Guidance, which provided boards with a base for establishing workforce planning as a key element of the wider planning systems within NHSScotland. The guidance was revised in 2011 with the Chief Executives Letter - CEL 32 (2011).

All NHS health boards are required to develop workforce plans, as well as using workforce workload tools. These are used to assess if service redesign or changes in skill mix are required to best meet the needs of their population.

Specifically, as described in CEL 32 (2011), these plans should describe the characteristics of the current workforce (i.e. baseline data), how any supply data can inform workforce forecasting and to identify what options can be implemented in managing future supply.

Question reference: S5W-26592

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 17 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with NHS Education for Scotland regarding promoting the study of rheumatology at (a) undergraduate, (b) postgraduate and (c) professional medical training level.

There has been no recent discussions between the Scottish Government and NHS Education for Scotland (NES) regarding promoting the study of rheumatology. However, following the annual assessment of supply & demand for Rheumatologists, the Scottish Government has increased the Rheumatology establishment to 23 as of 2020. The assessment involved input from NES, Medical Royal Colleges and Specialty training boards regarding supply, demand and factors such as less than full time working.

NES has operational oversight for the recruitment, placement and quality assurance of all medical specialties in Scotland, and works with Health Boards, GP Practices and Medical Royal Colleges to effectively carry out this role. In fulfilling its role, NES will publicise and promote training opportunities available in any given location. In terms of rheumatology, promotion is largely focused around the exposure to the specialty through training posts in rheumatology units and in relation to local, regional and national specialty-focussed learning events.

Outwith formal training programmes, NES also provides a range of continuous professional development (CPD) training materials for doctors in specific autoimmune conditions and joint diseases, as do the British Society for Rheumatology. Learning and development in medical practice does not finish when a doctor completes their medical training, and all doctors have a professional obligation to reflect on their skills and knowledge and undergo CPD.