- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2023
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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 support the development of a Level 7 advanced clinical nurse specialist job description, and what impact any such work has had on supporting national consistency.
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: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2023
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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
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 January 2023
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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.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville 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 Bòrd na Gàidhlig.
Answer
The matter of strike action is a for Bòrd na Gidhlig to consider and to ensure that any vital services to the Gaelic community continue to be supported.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 7 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-13542 by Humza Yousaf on 20 January 2023, whether the e-learning module for non-executive board members on the Public Sector Equality Duty and the Equality Act is mandatory.
Answer
The eLearning module, “Equality and the Role of Board Members in Meeting the Public Sector Duty”, is available through NHS Education for Scotland. While this is not a mandatory module, it is recommended to all Board Members. This was promoted to NHS Board Chairs in July 2022 and all NHS Board members and staff can access the module.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 7 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of expenditure for the £1,067.300 million (fiscal resource) allocated to Social Care Support and NCS Delivery in the draft Scottish Budget 2023-24.
Answer
The 2023-24 budget confirms our ongoing commitment to invest in social care and increasing the sustainability of the sector ahead of implementation of the National Care Service.
The 2023-24 Stage 1 budget presented, at level 4, a total investment of £1.2 billion in Social Care support and National Care Service (NCS) delivery. This total represents a social care spending increase of over £800 million compared to 2021-22, demonstrating that we are well ahead of our trajectory to increase spending by 25% (£840 million) over the life of the Parliament.
The £1.1 billion expenditure line supports a number of areas including an additional £100 million for adult social care pay up to £10.90 per hour, £344 million of existing funding to support pay, £124 million for care at home investment, £60 million for the Carers Act and funding to support inflationary uplifts for Free Personal Nursing Care Rates. We note the Report on the Financial Memorandum published on 1 December by the Finance and Public Administration Committee and are currently revising the NCS Financial Memorandum. This will provide more detail on expected spend in 2023-24 and beyond.
- Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 7 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how many potholes have been repaired in each of the last five years.
Answer
Transport Scotland, through its Trunk Road Operating Companies and Design Build Finance Operate (DBFO) Concessionaires, is responsible for the management and maintenance of the strategic trunk road network, including motorways. Repair of potholes on all other roads is the responsibility of the local authorities.
The Scottish Government fully funds the inspection and repair of all potholes that present, or could present, an immediate hazard to trunk road users. These are defined as Category 1 defects within the term maintenance contract, which also sets 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 with permanent repairs required 28 days. The following table shows the number of Category 1 potholes identified and repaired in each of the last five whole years.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 7 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has an assurance process to ensure that health and care digital innovations are developed in an ethical, standards-based way, and, if this is the case, how much was spent on creating it.
Answer
An Accelerated National Innovation Pathway has been established to standardise and facilitate the adoption of health and care innovations. The Scottish Health Technology Group also supports standardisation by providing robust governance and advice. Digital technologies are required to meet clinical safety standards such as Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) and compliance with MHRA regulations.
Scotland’s first Data Strategy for health and social care will articulate further national principles and deliverables around the ethical use of data. The strategy is due for publication this year
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 7 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government when the next Climate Justice Fund independent evaluation will be conducted and concluded, and whether it will include analysis of (a) the £2 million loss and damage funding announced around COP26 and (b) the £5 million loss and damage funding announced at COP27.
Answer
The next evaluation is planned for the end of the current funding cycle (to March 31 2026) and will include all funding that has been allocated from within the Climate Justice Fund. The evaluation will cover whether or not the funding has achieved it’s strategic objectives, and whether the Fund as a whole is continuing to demonstrate best practice in delivering climate justice against the three pillars of justice that were adopted following the previous evaluation.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 7 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-13349 by Mairi McAllan on 10 January 2023, whether it is the case that it can now confirm how much funding will be allocated to the Climate Justice Fund in financial year 2023-24, and, if it is not the case, whether it will provide a draft figure, prior to final budget allocations being made, of how it expects to allocate for this purpose.
Answer
I can confirm that budget for the Climate Justice Fund is currently expected to be £6m for Financial Year 2023-24 subject to parliamentary approval of the budget.