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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-27301

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 May 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in relation to the recommendations of the Broomielaw District Regeneration Framework by Austin-Smith:Lord for Glasgow City Council, which were approved by the local authority in June 2019, including (a) that Transport Scotland establishes an M8 Transformation Board in partnership with the Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council, (b) the removal of the William Street on ramp to the M8 westbound, (c) the removal of the Bothwell Street off ramp and flyover from the M8 eastbound, (c) the reconnection of William Street and Bothwell Street via a new bridge across the M8 cutting and (d) the reconnection of Argyle Street underneath the Kingston Bridge approach spans at Anderston Cross, with an updated entrance portal to Anderston railway station.

Question reference: S6W-27302

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 May 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported long-term costs involved in maintaining the M8 inner ring road section through Glasgow, as well as reported negative environmental and social impacts on the urban neighbourhoods of inner city Glasgow, whether Transport Scotland is considering taking any action on a long-term sustainable plan for declassifying the M8 through Glasgow that could save money and improve the quality of life in Glasgow.

Question reference: S6W-27300

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 May 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 21 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it is not emulating the approach of the Danish Energy Agency by taking a 20% state ownership share in the development of new offshore wind farms.

Question reference: S6W-27030

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 7 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in the last five financial years, how much was allocated to the General Dental Service budget in total, and how much of the yearly allocation was spent, broken down by financial year.

Figures in the following table show the gross General Dental Services budget and respective spend for the previous four financial years.

Information on 2023-24 spend is not available at this time and will be published as part of the overall Scottish Government consolidated accounts to be laid in Parliament later this year.

	19-20	20-21	21-22	22-23	23-24
	£'m	£'m	£'m	£'m	£'m
Budget documents	416.6	428.6	431.0	469.0	476.2
Total spend	439.4	423.5	449.4	502.2	Not Available

Budget figures do not include funding provided in each financial year for contractor uplifts or, for 2021-22, additional consequential funding applied to support the dental sector’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic however these are included in spend.
Activity in 2019-20 was significantly restricted due to the enforcement of stringent Infection Prevention Control guidance to reduce COVID-19 transmission.

Question reference: S6W-27029

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 7 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether patients receiving their free NHS dental check-up may be charged for receiving verbal advice on dental health and toothbrushing during their appointment.

In introducing dental payment reform from 1 November, we have rightly sought to place greater focus on preventive treatment, including detailed clinical advice on the importance of self-care for good oral health.

During routine check-ups, and where a dentist deems it clinically appropriate, an individual may receive enhanced preventative advice as part of a treatment plan. This must include a physical demonstration of toothbrushing techniques and has been introduced to better support individuals in maintaining their own oral health between appointments. This activity attracts a claimable fee for dentists – to cover the costs of their time and any equipment used to teach patients – and therefore there is a related charge for those patients who are not eligible for free NHS dental care.

Question reference: S6W-26941

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 3 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is permissible for the emergency vehicles operated by Glasgow Street Aid to use blue lights.

Question reference: S6W-26903

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 2 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of the Adult Eating Disorder Service in Glasgow, and whether it plans to continue funding the originally temporary government-funded posts at the service that are reportedly due to end in the coming months.

The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting and improving eating disorder services across Scotland and ensuring everyone receives the best possible care and support from our health services. It is essential that someone who is diagnosed with an eating disorder receives a thorough assessment and gets the right care and treatment for every aspect of their illness as soon as possible.

That is why in 2023-24, we directly allocated £55.5 million to Health Boards via the Mental Health Outcomes Framework. The Framework aims to enable continued improvements to mental health services, including eating disorder services, in line with the aims of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy Mental health and wellbeing strategy - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) and associated specifications and standards.

Whilst this Government sets the strategic policy direction for mental health workforce development within NHS Boards, the direct recruitment of staff and operational decisions about individual services are the responsibility of each NHS Board. Workforce and service planning is conducted by Health Boards according to the needs of their populations.

Question reference: S6W-26958

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 1 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to rapidly emulate the national roll-out of pay-as-you-go mobile in/out public transport ticketing, which was launched in April 2024 in Denmark by Rejsekort and Rejseplan with vendor FAIRTIQ, in order to meet its climate change and modal shift targets.

The Scottish Government is committed to enhancing smart integrated ticketing and has set out its intention to develop a new national integrated ticketing system for public transport in Scotland, across all modes of transport, to enable a system that can used for all elements of a journey.

To support delivery of this, the recently established National Smart Ticketing Advisory Board (NSTAB) which comprises operators, transport authorities, user groups and technical experts, is set to advise Ministers on the future of smart ticketing in Scotland, including on technological standards to enable smart integration between modes. The NSTAB is currently developing their work programme for the next 3 years.

FAIRTIQ has engaged with NSTAB and will present on their smart integrated ticketing solution at an upcoming board meeting. FAIRTIQ is one example of a ticketing platform provider, and it is expected that NSTAB will consider the full range of options available for Scotland and their respective implications on cost and infrastructure. Any resulting public procurement of a new ticketing system will be required to follow public sector procurement processes to ensure best value for money.

The Scottish Government, NSTAB and stakeholders will continue to work closely together on developing these options, in order to best determine the method of delivering a new national integrated ticketing system.

Question reference: S6W-26893

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 1 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is measuring how often different charging codes are used under the new NHS dental payment reform system.

Independent dentists and dental bodies corporate make claims for items of treatment provided under NHS General Dental Services. As part of the claims process, patient charges, where appropriate, are also recorded. Practitioner Services of National Services Scotland reimburses claims on behalf of NHS Boards, and data on activity is summarised and published under quarterly official statistics by Public Health Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-26867

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 30 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address the reported high level of vacancies for psychiatrist posts.

We are taking forward a number of steps to address issues around vacancy levels for psychiatry posts.

Through the Psychiatry Working Group we are actively looking at how we can better support the recruitment and retention of psychiatrists in NHS Scotland.

We also continue to work with NHS Education for Scotland and The Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland to encourage medical students to consider a long-term career as a psychiatrist. This work includes the ‘Choose Psychiatry’ campaign, undergraduate taster sessions and improved psychiatric placements at Foundation level. 10 additional Core Psychiatry posts were created in 2022, followed by another 15 in April 2023. As part of this year’s expansion we will be adding a further 12, along with 2 extra run-through training posts in both Intellectual Disability and Child & Adult Psychiatry (16 posts in total).

Recruitment into Core Psychiatry has improved drastically in recent years. With the exception of one unfilled post in 2020, 100% of entry level posts have now filled for the fourth consecutive year (up from 63% in 2018).

The most recent publication of Mental Health Workforce data (5 March 2024) shows that under this Government and since 2007, the number of Psychiatrist Consultants across All Specialities in NHS Scotland has increased by 16.7% to 527.0 whole time equivalent posts.