- Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
-
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
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
-
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: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2022
-
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: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 November 2022
-
Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) GP and (b) hospital appointments have been missed in each of the past five years, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
Part (a) The Scottish Government does not hold data on missed GP appointments. Individual GP practices are responsible for their own appointment arrangements.
Part (b) Information on consultant led new outpatient appointments where the patient did not attend is published within Public Health Scotland’s annual acute hospital activity and NHS beds publication. Information can be found in ‘Table 1 – outpatient activity (consultant led).xlsx’ which presents data by NHS Board of Treatment for 2012/13 to 2021/22 (available under the ‘Data files’ heading on this Public Health Scotland web page: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/acute-hospital-activity-and-nhs-beds-information-annual/acute-hospital-activity-and-nhs-beds-information-annual-annual-year-ending-31-march-2022/ ).
In addition, monthly trend information from May 2015 to September 2022 on the number of planned operations typically carried out within an inpatient or day case setting in NHS Scotland, that were cancelled the day before or the day of treatment by NHS Board of treatment (including cancellation reason, cancelled by patient). This information is published within Public Health Scotland’s monthly cancelled planned operations publication (available under the ‘Data files’ heading on this Public Health Scotland web page:
https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/cancelled-planned-operations/cancelled-planned-operations-month-ending-30-september-2022/ ).
The next Public Health Scotland’s monthly cancelled planned operations publication covering October 2022 is due to be published on 6 December.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 November 2022
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how many Ukrainian refugees, who were initially residing on the MS Victoria, have since been moved to long-term accommodation.
Answer
The Scottish Government’s priority is to ensure that displaced people from Ukraine are able to stay in appropriate temporary accommodation and get the right support ahead of moving into safe, sustainable longer-term accommodation.
We do not want people to spend any more time than absolutely necessary in temporary welcome accommodation. That is why, we are taking action to match those on board the ships to longer-term accommodation and private host homes, with matching teams operating on board both ships. We are also supporting guests to secure longer-term accommodation through other means, such as private rental.
At present, the MS Victoria I is accommodating around 1,250 displaced people from Ukraine, including families and children. Further to this, the ship has accommodated many more people over the past four months who have now been matched to longer-term accommodation or supported to make alternative decisions about where they would like to live. More detailed data on the number of people who have moved on from the MS Victoria I will be provided as part of our Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland: statistics publication in due course.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 November 2022
-
Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether there are any plans to remove any Hikvision cameras that are currently being used within the Police Scotland estate.
Answer
Development, management and use of surveillance technology in Scotland is a matter for local partners, including Police Scotland, working in partnership to consider their local needs.
- Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 November 2022
-
Current Status:
Answered by Ben Macpherson on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many incidents of suspected fraud have been referred to Scottish Courts by Social Security Scotland since the organisation became operational, broken down by (a) year and (b) benefit.
Answer
Social Security Scotland carefully considers the information on counter fraud activity that can be placed into the public domain to ensure that any information released does not undermine the ability of Social Security Scotland to prevent and detect crime. We consider that releasing figures for referrals to the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal could be prejudicial to ongoing investigations.
Social Security Scotland regularly publishes information on detected suspected fraud in its Annual Report and Accounts. The most recent Annual Report and Accounts covering the period 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022, were laid before the Scottish Parliament on 7 November 2022 and were also published on Social Security Scotland’s website: Social Security Scotland - Annual Report 2021-2022 .
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2022
-
Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to introducing a Net-Zero Ports and Infrastructure Programme fund, which has been identified by Scottish Renewables as key for supporting strategic port infrastructure and developing offshore renewable projects.
Answer
We recognise the importance of strong port infrastructure to support our offshore renewable ambitions. One of the primary recommendations of the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council’s (SOWEC) Strategic Infrastructure Assessment (SIA) for Offshore Wind was the creation of a Scottish Floating Offshore Wind Port Cluster. The SIA made clear that the sector must work collaboratively to help focus activity and investment in Scottish ports.
New ScotWind leaseholders have joined existing Scottish offshore wind developers in signing up to a Collaborative Framework Charter, agreeing to work jointly together to build a pipeline of supply chain work. 24 developers have agreed to work together in the development and delivery of this Collaborative Framework. Through this grouping, i ndustry, enterprise agencies, and Scottish Government are working together to develop a Strategic Investment Model (SIM) which will support the recommendations of the SIA.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2022
-
Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) repossessed and (b) empty dwellings have an unoccupied exemption from council tax, and how many have had that exemption for (i) six months or more, (ii) 12 months or more and (iii) two years or more.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2022
-
Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many repossessed dwellings have received an exemption from council tax in each month since May 2016.
Answer
The information requested is available as a snapshot at September each year as detailed in the following table.
Sept 2016 | Sept 2017 | Sept 2018 | Sept 2019 | Sept 2020 | Sept 2021 | Sept 2022 |
495 | 430 | 384 | 433 | 245 | 160 | 295 |