- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 7 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many doctors are currently assigned to Drug Treatment and Testing Order services, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
Drug Treatment and Testing Orders (DTTOs) are focused on drug treatment as the primary means of reducing offending behaviour, by reducing or eliminating drug dependency. DTTOs allow drug testing and regular court reviews as features of a community disposal, and their effective delivery involves ongoing medical and other support services.
Where DTTOs are available, their supervision is a matter for local authorities, working in collaboration with relevant health services to ensure that support and treatment is provided, and arrangements vary by local area. The Scottish Government therefore does not hold the information requested.
However, in response to the Drug Deaths Taskforce Report and as noted in the cross government action plan published on 12 January, the Scottish Government will carry out a review of DTTOs, community payback orders and other community sentencing options to assess how they have been used, their outcomes and whether they are the most effective mechanism to support an individual’s recovery and reduce recidivism rates. The aim is to report in spring 2023.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Clare Haughey on 7 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will increase the funded childcare entitlement to the equivalent of 50 hours a week.
Answer
Since August 2021 the Scottish Government has funded 1140 hours of high-quality early learning and childcare (ELC) for all eligible children. Scotland is the only part of the UK to offer 1140 hours a year of funded ELC to all three- and four-year-olds - and eligible two-year-olds regardless of whether their parents are in work or not, putting children first. If families paid for this offer themselves, it would cost them around £5,000 per eligible child per year.
We have already set out ambitious plans to expand our childcare offer further this Parliament. The Strategic Childcare Plan published last October explained how we will approach building a system of school age childcare, offering care before and after school and in the holidays, and developing an offer to provide funded early learning and childcare to all one- and two-year-olds, starting in the course of this Parliament with families who will benefit most.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 7 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in relation to the Building Safety Register.
Answer
The Scottish Government has committed to introduce a Register of Buildings by the end of this Parliament. The Register of Buildings will hold information on buildings that have been assessed though the Cladding Remediation Programme. Single Building Assessment reports and remediation activity will define the information that needs to be held in the Register. As this work progresses we are developing the information base for the Register.
- Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-13230 by Lorna Slater on 20 December 2022, over what period the data used for the modelling by Zero Waste Scotland was collected from local authorities.
Answer
The data used was the last full year of data prior to modelling, wherever possible. This was not always available and, in those circumstances, Zero Waste Scotland agreed with the Local Authority the most appropriate data to be used. The model was then handed over to the Local Authority, allowing updates to be made if more appropriate or recent data became available.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government when the (a) First Minister, (b) Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, (c) Minister for Higher Education and Further Education, Youth Employment and Training and (d) Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants' Rights last visited an independent school.
Answer
Ministers have not yet had an opportunity to visit any independent schools this parliamentary session, although a visit that I had to postpone due to parliamentary business will be re-scheduled shortly.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 7 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recommendation in the paper, Transforming Nursing, Midwifery and Health Professions’ Roles: Review of Clinical Nurse Specialist and Nurse Practitioner Roles within Scotland, whether it has commissioned NHS boards to review all clinical nurse specialist roles by undertaking to establish the numbers of nurse specialists who map across to the new definition outlined in the paper.
Answer
The Scottish Government is currently working with NHS Education for Scotland to identify a workplan for the next phase of the Transforming Roles Programme. This involves agreeing priority actions and implementing outstanding recommendations from the ‘Transforming Nursing, Midwifery and Health Professions’ Roles: Review of Clinical Nurse Specialist and Nurse Practitioner Roles within Scotland’ publication.
At a time of significant system pressure, this priority setting is to be undertaken as part of wider considerations in collaboration with the Scottish Executive Nurse Directors Group in Spring 2023.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 7 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it (a) has made and (b) plans to make of the number of buildings that are used (i) for the provision of residential care, (ii) for sheltered housing, (iii) as a place of assembly, entertainment or recreation, (iv) as a hospital and (v) as shared multi-occupancy residential complexes and have been identified as having combustible cladding materials that will require remediation.
Answer
The Scottish Government expects duty holders, including local authorities and the NHS, to deliver a safe environment for all users including the building types in question. The Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 requires that duty holders carry out a fire safety risk assessment of relevant premises to identify any risks to the safety of persons caused by fire, including the risk posed by combustible cladding.
The ban of combustible cladding that came into force on 1 June 2022 through the Building (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022 applies to new buildings, conversions and to existing buildings where the external wall cladding system is being replaced. The regulations do not apply retrospectively to existing buildings.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 7 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recommendation in the paper, Transforming Nursing, Midwifery and Health Professions’ Roles: Review of Clinical Nurse Specialist and Nurse Practitioner Roles within Scotland, what work it has undertaken to explore how to position education for both the nurse practitioner/ advanced nurse practitioner and clinical nurse specialist/ advanced clinical nurse specialist within the education and career pathway.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14269 on 7 February 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: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 27 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 7 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact of the Public and Commercial Services Union industrial action, on 1 February 2023, on the work of Architecture and Design Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Government discussed with Architecture and Design Scotland the effect of the Public and Commercial Services Union industrial action on 1 February 2023. There was no significant impact on its business.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 27 January 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 7 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many civil servants employed by Architecture and Design Scotland are working on its Climate Action Towns project, and what the total cost of this civil service resource has been for each year since the project began.
Answer
Architecture and Design Scotland staff are not civil servants, however their pay and conditions are analogous with Scottish Government civil servants.
The Climate Action Towns project commenced in September 2021. The number of Architecture and Design Scotland staff working on the Climate Action Towns project is as follows:
Year | Staff numbers | Staff cost (£) |
2021-22 | 4 | 94,000* |
2022-23 | 5 | 228,000 |
*commenced from Sept 2021.