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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6W-11904

Asked by: Kaukab Stewart, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 9 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether a boundary map has been issued in relation to the Clyde Green Freeport bid, and, if so, when this map will be made available to the public.

Question reference: S6W-11929

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 9 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the new £50 million fund for bringing homes back into use has been allocated, broken down by local authority area.

Since the Scottish Government's £50m Ukraine Longer Term Resettlement Fund was launched on 22 September 2022, there has been two successful applications:

Aberdeen City Council has been awarded up to £6.150m for up to 500 void properties on 28 October 2022.

North Ayrshire Council has been awarded up to £0.486m for up to 30 void properties on 6 October 2022

This follows on from a pilot project, where we awarded £5m to North Lanarkshire Council for the refurbishment of up to 200 homes on 6 July 2022.

My officials are continuing to work closely with Local Authorities and Registered Social Landlords as they come forward with other proposed projects.

Question reference: S6W-11986

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-11985

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-11503

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 8 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what support it can provide to healthcare assistants who wish to become qualified nurses.

The Scottish Government supports our healthcare support workers (HCSWs) to train to become registered nurses while remaining in the workforce in their local NHS Board area. The Open University offer this pathway and Scottish Government provides £10,000 backfill funding to NHS Boards per student for each of the three years of study. For the 2022-23 academic year, the Scottish Government has increased the target number of Open University places by 12% to 123 places.

The Scottish Government also provides support to enable HCSWs to undertake a HNC Healthcare Practice programme by providing £8,000 in backfill funding to NHS Boards per student per year. Completion of the HNC programme can lead students to progress to nursing or allied health pre-registration degree programmes, on which there may also be the opportunity for advance entry to year 2.

On behalf of the Scottish Government, and as part of their review of career pathways, NHS Education for Scotland have produced a Development and Education Framework for Bands 2-4 nursing, midwifery and allied health professional HCSWs. The framework is available at the following link: https://www.nes.scot.nhs.uk/our-work/health-and-care-support-worker-development-programme/

This ongoing work has focused on a national framework as a ‘Once for Scotland’ approach which outlines the knowledge, skills and behaviours required to enable HCSWs to deliver safe, effective and person centred care. The framework also provides information on how to progress into a registered practitioner role, including as a nurse.

Question reference: S6W-11691

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 8 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how the reported £5 million reduction in GP practices sustainability payments for 2022-23 will impact GP services budgets in (a) Lanarkshire and (b) Forth Valley.

The Scottish Government recognised in 2021 that partial implementation of the pharmacotherapy and community treatment and care services, on a national level, meant that general practice was facing a difficult winter without all of the support Scottish Government and the BMA had agreed it should have in 2018. £1,765,382 and £823,388 were allocated to GP Practices in Lanarkshire and Forth Valley GP Practices as sustainability payments in 2021-22.

This year, GP practices in Lanarkshire and Forth Valley will receive £1,172,236 and £549,074 in Sustainability Payments this year in addition to their regular funding (Global Sum and Income & Expenses Guarantees) of £81,651,926 and £38,245,691 respectively, to which an uplift will be applied backdated to April 2022.

We also now have more than 3,220 healthcare professionals recruited to support general practice and are committed to investing at least £170 million a year on growing primary care multi-disciplinary teams.

Question reference: S6W-11693

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 8 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to address the lack of dental spaces for new NHS patients in Inverclyde, in light of reports that every practice in the area is closed to new patients.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all communities within Scotland, including NHS patients in Inverclyde, can access a NHS dentist.

We have provided over £150 million of financial support to date to maintain the capacity and capability of NHS dentistry and agreed further funding into the new year to address the cost of living crisis.

From April 2022 we have re-introduced a system of fee per item payments that incentivises NHS dental teams to see patients. Public Health Scotland statistics (link attached) show that these measures have increased patient examination appointments and are comparable to pre-pandemic levels, allowing more patients to be seen and dental practices to begin to register more patients as they work through the pandemic backlog.

Public Health Scotland - Monthly Statistics - Dental Activity

NHS registration is significantly higher in Scotland than the rest of the UK, with more than 95% of the population registered with a NHS dentist.

Question reference: S6W-11689

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 8 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many water quality tests have been conducted by (a) SEPA and (b) Scottish Water in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-11497

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 8 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to S6W-10871 by Humza Yousaf on 27 September 2022, whether the Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme priority area benchmark descriptors have been used consistently since 2019.

Question reference: S6W-11506

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 8 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it plans to take to improve the treatment and care for patients with inflammatory breast cancer.

The Scottish Cancer Network (SCN) has engaged collaboration from clinical staff across Scotland to draft a National Clinical Management Pathway for all breast cancer patients, to achieve consistent care across Scotland. The CMP is currently in draft and out for consultation and is expected to be launched in 2023.

The Scottish Cancer Network is hosted by NHS National Services Scotland. The Network is a dedicated national resource to support and facilitate a ‘Once for Scotland’ approach to cancer services which will assist in enabling equitable access to care and treatment across Scotland.