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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6W-32356

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on what the impact of using paper patient notes in hospitals is on (a) patient outcomes and (b) mortality.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. This is a matter for individual NHS Boards. However, the digitisation of records remains a strategic priority and the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring all healthcare staff have access to the right information at the right time to ensure that the best care possible can be provided.

The Scottish Government encourages all health and social care organisations to move from paper to electronic record keeping and sharing as this improves efficiency and supports transfers of care between different parts of the health and care system. Our ambitions and priorities for electronic record keeping, sharing of records, and improving access to health and care data for both staff and people who use services are set out in our Digital Health and Care and Health and Social Care Data strategies.

Question reference: S6W-32358

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care last met the (a) chair, (b) chief executive and (c) board of NHS Grampian.

Both Ministers and Scottish Government officials are in regular contact with senior representatives of all NHS Boards, including NHS Grampian.

The Scottish Government has been working very closely with NHS Grampian in relation to the recent pressures on local services. I attended a meeting with the Board leadership team, including the Chair and Interim Chief Executive, and local elected representatives on 29 November 2024 to discuss the Board’s operational resilience plan and cover the actions underway to resume business as usual at the earliest opportunity.

Question reference: S6W-32355

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many hospitals still use a paper patient note system.

The Scottish Government does not request this information from hospitals regarding their individual systems and therefore does not hold it.

Although the Scottish Government sets the regulatory guidelines as to how long health records should be retained, and when they should be destroyed, the responsibility for the overall conduct and management of patient records sits with NHS Boards directly. Therefore, to obtain information regarding the format of individual hospital records, the member should request it via the individual NHS Boards.

Question reference: S6W-32320

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many court sittings were cancelled due to a lack of resources at Aberdeen courts in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-32321

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many cases were handled by Aberdeen courts in each of the last five years, broken down by court type.

Question reference: S6W-32378

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 19 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many child protection cases have involved fabricated induced illnesses over the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-32050

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 18 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with SEPA regarding the potential impact of closing its 24-hour call centre and replacing it with an automated system for responding to significant environmental incidents.

The Scottish Government and SEPA meet regularly to discuss policy and governance matters. Although the Scottish Government has been acutely aware of SEPA’s change plans for their call centre, this is an operational matter for SEPA.

SEPA has not raised any emerging risk, or issue with significant implications, for it's operation or governance with regards to changes to the 24-hour call centre.

We understand decisions around the call centre align with SEPA’s wider plans for organisational transformation and Public Sector Reform.

Question reference: S6W-32035

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with VisitScotland regarding the impact of new pylon infrastructure on tourism.

Question reference: S6T-02254

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Scottish Information Commissioner letter to it expressing "disappointment’" in the way that it complied with Decision 193/2024, regarding legal advice that it received.

Question reference: S6W-31818

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 11 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment has been made of the current living grant for trainee educational psychologists, in light of the £15,000 grant introduced in 2018 having not been adjusted for the reported 25.96% increase in the cost of goods and services, and how it plans to ensure that the grant remains sufficient to attract and retain high-quality trainees in the educational psychology profession.

Since 2018, the number of education psychologists in training has more than doubled from a total of 29 in 2016-2017 to over 76 in 2023-2024. This is due to the continued investment Scottish Government in partnership with COSLA make to deliver the training programme for educational psychologists which has risen to nearly £2m per year.

The living costs grant for educational psychologist trainees, in addition to tuition fee funding, is not income assessed and does not need to be repaid. Most post-graduate students studying other subjects are eligible for a £6,900 living costs loan for the duration of their course.

Since 2022, work has been undertaken by Scottish Government, COSLA officials, supported by the National Scottish Steering Group for Educational Psychologists (NSSGEP) and Dundee University, to establish a 3-year doctorate model of training. This package equates to £29,000 per student, per annum, for the duration of the 3-year training programme.