- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many short-term let businesses currently operate in Scotland.
Answer
Since short-term lets as a category have not previously been subject to regulation, there are no official statistics on the size of the sector. However, there are a variety of data sources which can provide indirect evidence of how the sector has evolved in recent years, particularly with the growing prevalence of on-line platforms. This is discussed in Section B of our Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment: Short-term lets: business and regulatory impact assessment - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
Our licensing scheme will provide data on the number, type and location of short-term lets in Scotland. Licensing authorities must maintain a public register of applications for short-term lets licences which they are required to share with the Scottish Government on a quarterly basis. The Scottish Government will amalgamate licensing authority data to produce a national report. This national report on short-term let activity in Scotland will close a significant gap in knowledge that currently exists.
- Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to meet the psychological support needs of teenagers and young adults, aged 13 to 24, with cancer in (a) the Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley constituency, (b) Ayrshire and Arran and (c) Scotland.
Answer
I refer the member to S6W-12515 on 8 December 2022 which outlines the national steps taken by the MSN to ensure there is sufficient psychological support for children and young people with cancer. 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: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government when the evaluation of the Scottish Targeted Enhanced Recruitment Scheme for GPs will be completed, and when the findings will be published.
Answer
The evaluation of the Scottish Targeted Enhanced Recruitment Scheme for GPs or GP Speciality Training bursary (GPST bursary) was led by Scottish Government Scottish Clinical Leadership Fellows in collaboration with NHS Education for Scotland (NES). The evaluation is expected to be completed by Spring 2023. The evaluation was instructed to inform policy consideration and was not conducted on the basis that it would in future become a publication. Nevertheless, once the evaluation is completed, consideration will be given to the publication of the final evaluation report.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what criteria it provided to local authorities to determine the short-term let licensing scheme fees, and whether it can intervene if it considers fees are unreasonably high in particular local authority areas.
Answer
Licensing fees must not be set at a level greater than the amount necessary to recover establishment and running costs. Guidance to licensing authorities on setting licence fees is contained within Chapter 3 of our short-term lets licensing guidance part 2: Supporting documents - Short term lets - licensing scheme part 2: supplementary guidance for licensing authorities, letting agencies and platforms - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
Guidance sets out that licensing authorities are expected to have regard to minimising licence fee costs. It also encourages licensing authorities to offer lower fees for home sharing and home letting licences than for secondary letting. However, the exact fee levels are a matter for licensing authorities, and will likely depend on a number of factors such as volume of short-term let activity in their area, approach to physical property inspections and geography.
Licensing authorities must review their fees from time to time to ensure that revenue from fees remains in line with the running costs of the licensing scheme, as required by Paragraph 15(2)(a) of schedule 1 to the 1982 Act, as inserted by the Licensing Order.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many working groups have been established by (a) the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care and (b) supporting ministers, in each of the last five financial years, broken down by the (i) total costs incurred in running these bodies, including expenses and (ii) number that have (A) formally completed their work and ceased to exist and (B) not met in the last six months but still exist.
Answer
The breakdown of the information requested is not held centrally the collation of this information would incur disproportionate costs.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of primary schools are signed up to the Daily Mile scheme, broken down by (a) local authority area and (b) Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation data zones.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold data broken down by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, however, the data is set out below highlighting what percentage of primary schools are signed up to the Daily Mile initiative.
Aberdeen City | 38% |
Aberdeenshire | 40% |
Angus | 53% |
Argyll and Bute | 39% |
City of Edinburgh | 54% |
Clackmannanshire | 76% |
Dumfries and Galloway | 56% |
Dundee City | 86% |
East Ayrshire | 38% |
East Dunbartonshire | 39% |
East Lothian | 44% |
East Renfrewshire | 71% |
Falkirk | 37% |
Fife | 20% |
Glasgow City | 52% |
Highland | 51% |
Inverclyde | 41% |
Midlothian | 53% |
Moray | 29% |
Na h-Eileanan Siar | 86% |
North Ayrshire | 26% |
North Lanarkshire | 53% |
Orkney Islands | 32% |
Perth and Kinross | 50% |
Renfrewshire | 39% |
Scottish Borders | 25% |
Shetland Islands | 50% |
South Ayrshire | 77% |
South Lanarkshire | 23% |
Stirling | 34% |
West Dunbartonshire | 69% |
West Lothian | 52% |
- Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason rural connectivity has reportedly not received more priority when funding has been allocated.
Answer
Despite telecoms legislation being wholly reserved to Westminster, the Scottish Government continues to prioritise significant funding for digital connectivity. We are investing over £600 million in the R100 contracts that are currently delivering gigabit capable broadband connections across rural Scotland at pace. Through the Scottish 4G Infill programme, we are investing £28.75m to deliver 4G infrastructure and mobile services in up to 55 notspots across Scotland with 30 masts currently live in rural and island areas.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to reports that more than half of people seeking psychological therapy in the NHS Highland area experience waits of more than a year.
Answer
We have been working with NHS Highland on an improvement plan for long-term, sustainable improvement to Psychological Therapies and we appreciate the hard work that the Director of Psychology and supporting staff in NHS Highland are doing to clear backlogs.
We recognise that performance in NHS Highland is not satisfactory. Long waits are unacceptable and we are continuing to offer tailored support to Boards, including NHS Highland, in the form of support from the Scottish Government Principal Psychology Advisor, Quality Improvement Advisor, Data Analyst and policy support. We are monitoring progress on this closely.
To help ensure that services deliver and measure Psychological Therapies in a more standardised way across Scotland, a new National Specification for the delivery of Psychological Therapies and Interventions is currently under development, with a consultation publication date of Winter 2022.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the comments from the Chair of the British Medical Association's (BMA) Scottish general practitioners committee that "we are now looking at serious issues of patient safety and staff safety" and that GPs are "exhausted, burnt out and cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel".
Answer
Addressing the wellbeing needs of the Health and Social Care workforce is now even more crucial than it was prior to Covid-19 and is key to both retaining our GP workforce as we press ahead with our commitment to increase the GP population in Scotland by at least 800 additional GPs by 2027.
Staff wellbeing is front and centre of our efforts to support the recovery of health and social care services. If we want our NHS and social care to provide the best care for us, we need to make sure we take care of them. The NHS Recovery Plan highlights that the recovery of staff is intrinsic to our collective ambitions for renewing our NHS, and highlights measures to support the physical, mental and emotional needs of the workforce.
- Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on delivering Action (a) 46 and (b) 47 in the Cancer Strategy for Children and Young People in Scotland 2021–2026.
Answer
The Cancer Strategy for Children and Young People in Scotland is delivered by the Managed Service Network for children and young people with cancer (MSN CYPC). A progress update will be provided by the MSN as part of its annual reporting.
To support the MSN CYPC strategy and review of psychological support for Children and Young People with cancer, which actions 46 and 47 refer to, the Scottish Government has commissioned the Scottish Cancer Network to work with the MSN in delivering a workforce review. An initial review on three allied health professional (AHP) specialities is underway.
Additionally, the Scottish Government committed to a National Allied Health Professions (AHP) Workforce and Education Policy Review. The review will consider whether or not policy for AHP education provision is congruent to the current and future needs of our students and the future health needs of the people of Scotland. It will also consider the actions necessary to deliver a national education and workforce plan for AHPs, giving full consideration of all aspects of workforce measurement, planning and education needs for the future.