Seòmar agus comataidhean

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

Criathragan Hide all filters

Displaying 1079 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-35298

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 10 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-27708 by Jenni Minto on 29 May 2024, when it plans to make a final decision on the long-term roll-out of A&E department opt-out HIV and blood borne virus testing (a) in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, (b) in other areas regarded by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) as having a "high" prevalence of HIV and (c) across Scotland.

Work is ongoing to establish whether Emergency Department (ED) opt-out testing for blood borne viruses would be acceptable, deliverable and cost-effective in areas of higher diagnosed prevalence, or across the whole of Scotland. Two of the pilot projects commenced later than originally planned, meaning that the evaluation process has not yet been completed. There has also been an extension to the Scottish Government-funded academic research on missed opportunities for blood borne virus testing, which will provide valuable information to inform future funding decisions.

An options appraisal is in development, which will be carefully considered alongside other potentially beneficial testing interventions.

Question reference: S6W-34467

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 6 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what quality standards are required to be met by any providers used by Social Security Scotland to supply letters in an accessible format.

Social Security Scotland recognises that clients can have complex and varied accessibility needs. Letters are available in a number of different languages and formats, including Braille, easy read and large print.

Before letters are changed to an alternative format, all letters are created using standard templates, in line with the Social Security Scotland style guide.

The Social Security Scotland style guide provides guidance on plain English terms and inclusive language for commonly used technical terms, such as using “benefit” or “award” over “assistance.”

Letter templates are designed using the Social Security Scotland style guide and Digital Scotland Service Standard. Templates are tested throughout the design cycle and aim to meet a Flesch Reading Ease of between 70 to 80, equivalent to school grade level 8 or reading age 9 - 11 years.

Social Security Scotland use accessible fonts, colours, and formatting options such as headings and lists to set out blocks of text for ease of reading.

Social Security Scotland work with external service providers who deliver translation services and letters in Braille and large print, in line with industry standards by following UK Association for Accessible Formats guidelines, which is the standard for UK transcribed documents.

Question reference: S6O-04429

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the experience of support staff in schools.

Question reference: S6W-35184

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 5 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients were on waiting lists for orthopaedic surgery (a) in total and (b) for over a year, in each of the last five years.

Public Health Scotland's (PHS) Stage of Treatment (SoT) publication provides statistics on the length of time patients wait to be seen as a new outpatient or admitted for treatment as an inpatient or day case. The latest publication release contains data up to quarter ending 31 December 2024

Statistics relating to the total number of ongoing waits and the number of waits with a wait length over 52 weeks by specialty from 31 December 2019 can be found in the ‘Waits over 52 weeks’ data table in sheets ‘Table 3.1.1’ for new outpatient appointments, and ‘Table 3.2.1’ for inpatient or day case admissions:

Stage of treatment waiting times - Inpatients, day cases and new outpatients quarter ending 30 December 2024 - NHS waiting times - stage of treatment - Publications - Public Health Scotland

Longer trend information can be found in the following tables:

New outpatient appointments (‘1.6 Table’): https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/31761/newop_mar25.xlsx

Inpatient or day case admission (‘2.6 Table’): https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/31760/ipdc_mar25.xlsx

Question reference: S6W-35185

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 5 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients were on waiting lists for rheumatology services (a) in total and (b) for over three months, in each of the last five years.

Public Health Scotland's (PHS) Stage of treatment (Sot) Publication provides statistics on the length of time patients wait to be seen as a new outpatient or admitted for treatment as an inpatient or day case The latest publication release contains data to quarter ending 31 December 2024

Longer trend information can be found in the following tables:

New outpatient appointments (‘1.6 Table’): https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/31761/newop_mar25.xlsx

Inpatient or day case admission (‘2.6 Table’): https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/31760/ipdc_mar25.xlsx

Question reference: S6W-35186

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 5 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients were on waiting lists for physiotherapy (a) in total and (b) for over three months, in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-35027

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 4 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish the results of the consultation on homecare medicines services, and any resulting recommendations.

In April 2023, the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer (CPO) announced an Independent Medicines Homecare Review in response to reports of failings in the standards of care provided across Scotland and the increasing demand for medicines homecare provision.

The CPO will be publishing the Homecare Medicines Review before the end of March. In terms of next steps, the CPO has met with NHS National Procurement to discuss what actions can be taken forward within their remit and what actions require further consideration through a task and finish group. The group will be established shortly and will be chaired by a Director of Pharmacy and a Director of Nursing. The Group will help to outline the next steps and timescales around this.

Question reference: S6W-35183

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 4 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what work it is undertaking to address the needs of the reported 1.7 million people in Scotland with a musculoskeletal (MSK) condition.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that people living in Scotland with musculoskeletal conditions can access the best possible care and support.

We expect health care professionals and NHS Boards to deliver high quality person-centred care to those living with musculoskeletal conditions in line with best practice guidance. The NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) clinical guidelines on management of musculoskeletal conditions is available on its website and can be found at: Musculoskeletal conditions | Guidance and guideline topic | NICE . The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) guideline on management of musculoskeletal conditions is available on its website at: www.sign.ac.uk and at following search link: Search Results.

The Scottish Government has commissioned the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) to manage a Rheumatology Specialty Delivery Group, which includes nominated multi-disciplinary representation from all Health Boards providing Rheumatology services.

Scottish Government officials and the CfSD national planned care team meet monthly with the Chief Operating Officer and Acute Directors from all mainland Health Boards to review performance and delivery across all Planned Care specialities, including rheumatology. Meetings with the island health boards are generally on a bimonthly basis.

Question reference: S6W-35182

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 3 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients were on waiting lists for physical activity programmes (a) in total and (b) for over a year, in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-34293

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when it will update the Social Security Scotland IT system to address the reported issue with carer support payment being treated as income for council tax purposes.

These issues are not caused by Social Security Scotland systems. They are being caused by the way DWP systems are sharing information about Carer’s Allowance and Carer Support Payment awards, which is impacting a small number of carers’ wider support including Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction and Universal Credit. We are engaging with DWP who are continuing to investigate. DWP have issued advice to Local Authorities and Universal Credit staff setting out how to access the correct data to administer their benefits. Any carers who are experiencing problems or have any concerns with their Housing Benefit or Council Tax Reduction should contact their local authority, or contact DWP for any concerns with their Universal Credit, who can investigate their award and correct any issues.