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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: S6W-23535

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 04 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Emma Roddick on 12 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with LGBT Health and Wellbeing regarding its New Scots strategy.

The Scottish Government is currently working with our partners at COSLA and the Scottish Refugee Council to refresh the New Scots strategy and we are undertaking a series of engagement events to enable both refugees and people seeking asylum to inform the strategy refresh. The first phase of the engagement work began in November and involved refugee leaders and organisations with expertise in supporting people seeking asylum and refugees. A representative from LGBT Health and Wellbeing attended one of these events.

The second phase, focused on those with lived experience, is currently underway and is being coordinated by Scottish Refugee Council on behalf of New Scots partners. It will run until the end of February 2024. This phase includes providing funding to enable local groups to run events which can be tailored to the needs of their specific groups and communities, for example to enable groups to run an event in their community language or to ensure that vulnerable groups have a ‘safe space’ to speak openly. LGBT Health and Wellbeing are liaising with the Scottish Refugee Council to contribute to this lived experience work.

Question reference: S6W-23538

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 04 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 12 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with NHS Ayrshire and Arran in relation to recruitment and retention of medical staff, particularly at University Hospital Ayr.

The Scottish Government maintains an ongoing dialogue with all health boards to discuss performance and issues such as workforce arising across the system. The last series of quarterly Biannual Performance reviews with each of the territorial health boards, including NHS Ayrshire and Arran concluded in September 2023.

In addition, the Centre for Workforce Supply (CWS), at NHS Education for Scotland (NES), throughout October and November 2023, attended by Scottish Government officials, held medical insight meetings with each individual health board - including NHS Ayrshire and Arran. Commissioned by the Scottish Government, the aim of these were to better understand medical workforce gaps; scope out whether international recruitment could help with filling vacancies; identify any innovative supply initiatives currently underway; and understand what centralised support from the Scottish Government or the CWS could help Health Boards.

Question reference: S6W-23552

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 12 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it is meeting its commitment to reduce food waste by one third by 2025.

Question reference: S6W-23534

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 04 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 12 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the use of text messaging to communicate with patients when using NHS services.

Text messages have been used routinely and positively for many years in NHS Scotland. Scottish Government’s Information and Risk Assurance Team has been working extensively with Health Boards and other NHS delivery partners in assessing the proportionality of using text messages for different purposes, including appointment reminders, medication adherence, health education, and remote monitoring.

The benefits often identified across different NHS organisations include reduction in non-attendance, improved patient engagement, increased adherence to treatment plans, and cost-effectiveness. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) have previously stressed the importance of wording text messages appropriately and advice was given during the COVID-19 pandemic on messages not adding unnecessary confusion and being easy to read. We also recognise that the use of text messages is limited by critical privacy and security requirements and potential for misinterpretation.

The national Connect Me programme has been well received in allowing patients to report information like blood pressure readings via text message to receive feedback based on their condition. Alongside web and mobile app access, this importantly supports public choice in how they engage with NHS services whilst reducing the need for unnecessary appointments.

Question reference: S6W-23473

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 12 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the findings of the Nurofen report, Gender Pain Gap: Index Report: Year 2, published in November 2023, including the finding that the gender pain gap has widened since the previous report, from 7% to 11%.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that anyone living with pain is able to access the best possible care and support. Through our commitment to implementing our Pain Management Service Delivery Framework we are seeking to amplify the voices of people who may face inequality on the basis of their sex. We will work collaboratively with other partners to ensure there are appropriate pathways for women with pain and painful conditions.

Question reference: S6W-23380

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 12 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care last met with families affected by cystic fibrosis.

I have Ministerial portfolio responsibility for access to new medicines in Scotland. Accordingly, as you know, I met with you on 6 December 2023 together with representatives of Scottish cystic fibrosis (CF) families to listen to their concerns directly.

In addition, the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer (CPO) engages with representatives of Quest for a Cure, a patient group who represent Scottish CF families, and the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

Question reference: S6W-23408

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 12 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how (a) many potholes have been reported on the trunk road network and (b) much has been spent on repairing potholes, in each year since 2007, also broken down by geographical area.

Transport Scotland, through its four Trunk Road Operating Companies and five Design Build Finance Operate (DBFO) Concessionaires, is responsible for the management and maintenance of the strategic trunk road network, including motorways. The repair of potholes on all other roads is the responsibility of the local authorities.

Category 1 potholes are defined within the term maintenance contract as those that present, or could present, an immediate hazard to trunk road users. They are typically detected during driven safety related inspections. The following table shows the number of Category 1 potholes recorded since 2013 broken down by operational area. A map showing these operational areas can be found here . Data between 2007 and 2013 is not available.

	South East	South West	North East	North West	AWPR	M77 DBFO	M6 DBFO	M8 DBFO	M80 DBFO	Grand Total
2013-14	0	718	0	2154		114	114		8	3108
2014-15	453	1435	204	2673		81	101	100	4	5051
2015-16	646	2011	1010	4136		89	80	215	4	8191
2016-17	598	1982	1596	3925		110	47	189	6	8453
2017-18	890	4231	2258	5155		95	94	119	18	12860
2018-19	709	4066	1384	5095		116	38	49	4	11461
2019-20	717	4872	1468	5115		106	35	61	0	12374
2020-21	678	3999	2153	5566	2	213	52	31	1	12695
2021-22	785	2181	1510	4864		134	105	23	7	9609
2022-23	879	2371	1689	3073	21	140	86	48	19	8326

The Scottish Government fully funds the inspection and repair of all Category 1 potholes and the term maintenance contracts set out strict timescales for their repair. Following identification of Category 1 pothole defects, the Operating Companies are required to make the defect safe by 6am the following morning, preferably by completing a permanent repair. Where this is not possible then a temporary repair is required within the same timescale and permanent repairs are required within 28 days.

Road maintenance works are undertaken by our contractors under a term-maintenance contract, the current version of which is known as the Network Management Contract. This contract commenced in 2020 in the South units and in 2022 in the North units. Prior to this, the 4G Operating Company Contract was in place, under which arrangements, Category 1 defect repairs were funded from commercially sensitive monthly lump sums. We cannot, therefore, provide expenditure on Category 1 defect repairs from the previous contract. Similarly, the costs for defect repairs conducted by the DBFO contractors is included within their wider service charge and so it is not possible to extract or provide these costs. Expenditure under the Network Maintenance Contract for previous financial years is provided in the following table.

Unit	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
North East			£440,650
North West			£1,351,727
South East	£314,571	£745,003	£585,680
South West	£472,008	£570,657	£777,523

Question reference: S6W-23343

Asked by: Ash Regan, MSP for Edinburgh Eastern, Alba Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 12 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what work it is undertaking to support the expansion of local community energy projects.

The Scottish Government continues to make good progress towards our target of securing 2GW of community and locally owned energy by 2030.

Our Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) has supported communities across Scotland looking to develop local community energy projects.

To date, CARES has advised over 1,000 organisations, offered funding of over £61 million to over 800 projects, and helped support the direct installation of 58.6 MW of renewable energy. This has included supporting a wide range of projects such as community owned wind and hydro, decarbonising community buildings, installing solar PV on faith buildings, developing community action plans, innovation studies, and helping local communities invest in commercial renewable energy projects.

Notably, the CARES Off-Electricity Grid Communities Fund, which will run until March 2024, has supported remote communities to decarbonise and future-proof their existing local independent electrical grids that are not connected to the national electricity grid. Through this fund, we have awarded significant funding to support the Isle of Eigg to increase its renewable energy generation and capacity through the installation of additional solar panels and storage batteries; and Knoydart to support its Network Enhancement project.

Question reference: S6W-23233

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 12 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether the location of manufacturing of advanced medicines or medicinal products is taken into account in the NHS Scotland procurement process.

Question reference: S6T-01699

Asked by: Dr Alasdair Allan, MSP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 December 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the letter from the UK foreign secretary to the constitution secretary, what its response is to reports that the UK Government may withdraw Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office support for Scottish Government overseas meetings.