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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-07323

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 22 April 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 9 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many day services for people who have a learning disability are currently open, and how many hours of service they are delivering as a percentage of commissioned delivery.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of day services to adults with learning disabilities, their families and carers. Last year, I wrote to local authorities, encouraging services to re-open in line with Covid-19 guidance as soon as possible.

Decisions about individual services are made, and service-level data is held, by local authorities. The Scottish Government maintains regular contact with local authorities to encourage and support the re-opening of services.

Further to a recent meeting with representatives of unpaid carers, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care has undertaken to write to COSLA to ask for an audit of adult day care and respite services in every local authority i.e. which services have re-opened, which have only partially opened (or opened with reduced capacity), and why.

Question reference: S6W-08127

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 5 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that the highest ever number of medical students have been told that there are no places for them in NHS junior doctor training in 2022.

Oversubscription to the UK Foundation Training Programme occurs on an annual basis as a result of there being more applicants than available places. The rate of oversubscription is influenced by various factors, the most prominent of which being changes made by the UK Government to the Shortage Occupation List. These changes mean that overseas applicants are eligible to apply to the programme, and can outperform UK graduates when competing for an established place.

However, regardless of the extent to which the programme is oversubscribed, there has to date been a UK-wide intergovernmental commitment to ensure all UK medical school graduates are able to secure a place on the Foundation training programme if they are eligible and wish to do so. This is essential in order to ensure that medical school graduates are able to achieve full GMC registration, which takes place after trainees complete the first year of Foundation training.

The Scottish Government will therefore continue to fund Scotland’s share of oversubscribed places in 2022. Discussions remain ongoing with NHS Education for Scotland regarding the number of required places, and funding will be provided to ensure that every eligible Scottish medical school graduate is given the opportunity to enrol in the UK Foundation Training Programme.

Question reference: S6W-07321

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 22 April 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 3 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to respond to the findings of the Fraser of Allander Institute research programme into the socio-economic outcomes for people who have a learning disability and their family carers, included in the report, Invisible no more.

The Scottish Government ambition is that everyone who wishes to is able to access fair and sustainable employment, which is why we have committed to at least halving the employment gap between disabled people and the rest of the working age population by 2038.

Employability has a pivotal role to play in supporting these commitments, ensuring those further from the labour market, including people who have a learning disability, have access to the right support at the right time to move towards, into and to sustain work. In partnership with Local Government, we have made clear our joint aim of delivering person-centred services that are inclusive and accessible.

The Fraser of Allander Institute report highlights the importance of monitoring and evaluation, which we agree with. We currently have a longstanding programme of evaluation on Fair Start Scotland, and have recently commenced a formal, independent and robust evaluation of No One Left Behind and the Young Person’s Guarantee, which we anticipate will cover a multi-year period.

In addition to this, we routinely collect data across our services about people with disabilities and their outcomes, including follow-up after 12 months to measure sustainment. As we move forward with our No One Left Behind approach, we are also taking into account learning from what has worked well in other areas, and where we can make improvements.

The report’s findings mention the visibility of people with learning disabilities in the data reporting under Fair Start Scotland. We have mainstreamed this through our recently published Employability Shared Measurement Framework, which covers activity under the No One Left Behind approach. This will allow us to better measure the reach of our services for people with learning disabilities, and the opportunities and outcomes we are supporting them to access.

Furthermore, in line with our commitment to person-centred services, the experience of users is a critical measure of success, which is why it has such a prominent role in our Shared Measurement Framework. As part of this programme of evaluation work outlined above we will consider opportunities to evaluate the experiences and outcomes of those with learning disabilities, where possible.

In addition to the socio-economic findings, we recognise from ‘Invisible No More’ that more must be done to understand the gaps in the existing data sources. To address this we are undertaking an exercise to assess the data collected across Scotland relevant to people with learning disabilities and autistic people. This will inform the development of a data action plan that Scottish Government and its partners will take forward to improve the data across a number of topics, including employment.

Question reference: S6O-01046

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent report by the charity, Magic Breakfast, showing that four in 10 Scottish schools have no breakfast provision at all and that breakfast provision in Scotland reaches the fewest disadvantaged pupils per school of any UK nation.

Question reference: S6W-07755

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 01 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 22 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what consultation it undertook with (a) optometrists and (b) audiologists prior to the publication of the National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care in Scotland.

In delivering the National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care, we worked in consultation with a wide range of stakeholders across Health and Social Care including the CoSLA as co-producers to agree the scope and content.

This included on-going engagement with representatives of the allied health professions via relevant senior professional advisers seconded to the Scottish Government, and through our staff and trades union partnership working.

On 8 February 2022 a draft of the Strategy was presented to the Professional Advisory Group, Chaired by the Deputy Chief Medical Officer with members representing Optometry and Audiology. Feedback from professionals at that meeting was subsequently incorporated into the draft Strategy, in anticipation of its subsequent publication.

Further stakeholder engagement will take place as we plan to publish yearly updates to the National Workforce Strategy. These will take into account progress and new developments, in support of its long-term ambition to deliver recovery, growth and service transformation.

Question reference: S6O-00997

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact on its Covid Recovery Strategy of its future plans for contact tracing.

Question reference: S6T-00640

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the reported recent outbreak in cases of hepatitis in children across Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-07319

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 March 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 24 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance has been delivered to the providers of day services for individuals who have learning disabilities regarding re-opening safely as COVID-19 restrictions are eased.

Covid-19 guidance regarding the provision of building-based day services, which includes services specifically for adults with learning disabilities, was published on 16 November 2020 and has been regularly updated. I wrote to the health and social care sector on 7 June 2021 encouraging the re-opening of day services. Subsequently a letter was issued in December 2021 by the Deputy Chief Medical and Nursing Officers to the care at home, building-based day services and supported housing sector highlighting measures that should be taken to minimise the risk of COVID-19, including the Omicron variant. Letters have since been sent to inform staff on policies related to self-isolation and meeting with other households.

Question reference: S6W-07322

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 March 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 24 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it is monitoring access to day services provision for adults who have learning disabilities as COVID-19 restrictions are eased.

The Scottish Government works in partnership with the Care Inspectorate, which maintains information on the operating status of social care services including day services. Decisions regarding access to day services are made at a local level by the relevant Health and Social Care Partnership, in line with Covid-19 Guidance issued by the Scottish Government. Services should undertake a risk assessment prior to re-opening, involving the Local Authority, Health Protection Support Teams and the Care Inspectorate. The Scottish Government is in regular contact with HSCPs and Local Authorities and encourages them to open services in line with Covid-19 Guidance where possible.

Question reference: S6O-00935

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to support local authorities in providing adapted housing.