- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 July 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 29 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on developing the new NHS app in each year since 2022.
Answer
As set out in the answer to question S6W-35981 on 31 March 2025, delivery of the health and social care online app for Scotland is being taken forward by NHS Education Scotland (NES) as part of the wider Digital Front Door programme. The majority of costs to date have been on mobilising the team required and developing the Outline Business Case. NHS NES staff have participated in the Civtech Challenge, which has allowed NES to understand what is required to develop the app in a way that integrates into Scottish Government plans to digitise postal communications. More information about this can be found at: https://www.civtech.scot/civtech-9-challenge-8-secure-individualised-and-effective-communications-channel.
The bulk of development costs on the online app specifically will be incurred from 2025-26 onwards, as part of the indicative programme budget for 2025-26 set at £12 million.
The Scottish Government has provided NES with the following funding for the Digital Front Door Programme:
Scottish Government has also awarded no contracts associated with this work, although NES, as the delivery partner, did spend £210,000 from their allocated budget on a contract to develop the Outline Business Case and further contracts will be awarded by NES as they move into this delivery phase. There has been no budgetary overspend compared with projections to date.
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/questions-and-answers.
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 July 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 29 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported finding in the Final report of the evaluation of the impact of the Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray that the fund has only safeguarded 120 jobs in two years, what further action it will take to prevent any significant job losses in the energy sector.
Answer
The Just Transition Fund (JTF) created and safeguarded at least 230 jobs in its first two years of operation, alongside the provision of more than 750 training places and it leveraged over £34 million in additional investment. The fund also supported innovative technologies such as EV battery recycling and offshore green hydrogen; it invested in improved environmental outcomes, for instance through the Findhorn Watershed project; and it invested in communities with our participatory budgeting approach, benefitting projects in ecovillages, adaptation and local climate assemblies.
These are some of the initial impacts of the JTF, and we expect job numbers and other key outputs to increase as projects continue.
In addition, the Scottish Government, in partnership with the UK Government, has launched a new Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund to help support offshore workers transition to roles in sustainable energy sectors. The new Fund forms part of a wider toolkit of support available for Scotland’s offshore oil and gas workers, including an industry-led Energy Skills Passport. These initiatives reflect our commitment to ensuring a just transition for Scotland’s valued and highly skilled offshore oil and gas workers.
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 July 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the reported comment by Scottish Trans that "there is now significant uncertainty, following the Supreme Court ruling, on whether trans women who are able to breastfeed can access protection under section 13(6)(a) of the Equality Act if they experience discrimination because of this".
Answer
Scottish Government does not provide legal advice to external parties and any questions about reported comments by Scottish Trans should be re-directed to that organisation.
The Scottish Government has invested an additional £11m in the past seven years to support new mothers to achieve their breastfeeding goals, with babies in Scotland now being breastfed for longer than ever before.
The Equality Act 2010 provides protection for breastfeeding mothers in public. In Scotland, section 1 of the Breastfeeding etc (Scotland) Act 2005 provides that it is a offence deliberately to prevent or stop a person in charge of a child from feeding milk to that child in a public place or on licensed premises, unless the child, at the material time is not lawfully permitted to be in the public place or on the licenced premises otherwise than for the purposes of being fed milk.
In addition, we are providing funding of over £1.1m to organisations working to promote LGBTQI+ equality in Scotland in 2025-26 demonstrating our commitment to protecting the rights of every LGBTQI+ person in Scotland.
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 July 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 29 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government when the planned NHS app will be available to patients in the North East Scotland region, and what services it will offer.
Answer
As described in the NHS Scotland Operational Improvement Plan (https://www.gov.scot/publications/nhs-scotland-operational-improvement-plan/pages/1/) and the answer to question S6W-35982 on 28 March 2025, the health and social care online app rollout will begin in Lanarkshire in December 2025 with an initial release (a minimum viable product approach), working with NHS Lanarkshire. The plan for rollout to the whole country, including the North East Scotland region, is currently being drafted in consultation with key partners including NHS Boards. The draft plan is scheduled to be approved and published in September 2025. 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: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 24 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many dedicated palliative care inpatient beds there have been in each of the past five years, broken down by acute hospital.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold this data centrally. However, Public Health Scotland (PHS) publishes limited provisional information relating to ‘Acute hospital activity and NHS beds information’ in their annual and quarterly reports, relevant information from that publication is set out in the following table.
It should be noted that palliative care can be delivered in other acute specialties as well.
'-' denotes no data | | | | | |
Average Available Staffed Beds Palliative Medicine specialty |
Indicator | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24p |
All Locations of Treatment | 126 | 103 | 100 | 106 | 101 |
NHS Ayrshire & Arran | - | - | - | - | - |
NHS Borders | 9 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 7 |
-Borders General Hospital | 9 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 7 |
NHS Dumfries & Galloway | 8 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 9 |
-Castle Douglas Community Hospital | 0 | - | - | - | - |
-Dumfries & Galloway Royal Infirmary | 8 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 9 |
-Galloway Community Hospital | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
-Mountainhall Treatment Centre | - | 0 | 0 | - | - |
NHS Fife | 23 | 22 | 19 | 20 | 15 |
-Adamson Hospital | - | - | - | - | 0 |
-Cameron Hospital | - | - | - | 0 | - |
-Queen Margaret Hospital | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 4 |
-St Andrews Community Hospital | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
-Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy | 10 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
NHS Forth Valley | - | - | - | - | - |
NHS Grampian | 20 | 15 | 17 | 19 | 19 |
-Aberdeen Royal Infirmary | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
-Glen O'Dee Hospital | 0 | - | - | - | 0 |
-Insch & District War Memorial Hosp. | 0 | - | - | - | - |
-Inverurie Hospital | - | - | - | - | 0 |
-Roxburghe House | 19 | 15 | 17 | 19 | 19 |
-Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
-Varis Court | 0 | - | - | - | - |
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
-Queen Elizabeth University Hospital | - | - | - | - | 0 |
-Royal Alexandra Hospital | 0 | - | - | - | - |
-West Glasgow | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
NHS Highland | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
-Caithness General Hospital | 0 | - | - | - | 0 |
-Dunbar Hospital | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
-Portree Hospital | 1 | 0 | - | - | 0 |
-Wick Town and County Hospital | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
NHS Lanarkshire | - | - | - | - | - |
NHS Lothian | 30 | 23 | 15 | 17 | 15 |
-St Columba's Hospice | 30 | 23 | 15 | 17 | 15 |
NHS Orkney | - | - | - | - | - |
NHS Shetland | - | - | - | - | - |
NHS Tayside | 30 | 27 | 30 | 32 | 32 |
-Ninewells Hospital | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
-Perth Royal Infirmary | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
-Royal Victoria Hospital, Dundee | 20 | 17 | 19 | 20 | 19 |
NHS Western Isles | - | - | - | - | - |
Source: https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/29059/table-4-beds-2023-24.xlsx
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 July 2025
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 13 August 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the letter of 11 July 2025 from its Director of People to the human rights charity, Sex Matters, whether it will provide further details of the consultation that is referred to; when it anticipates that the consultation will start; who will be consulted; how long the consultation will run for, and whether the results will be published in the public domain.
Answer
Answer expected on 13 August 2025
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 10 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many psychiatric care units there have been in each of the past six years, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally. The member is welcome to review the latest Mental Health Inpatient Census 2024 which can provide an overview of beds available, and occupied by, ward type for NHS Scotland mental health facilities. NHS Assure may also hold relevant ward-level information.
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 June 2025
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 18 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the rural affairs secretary has had with agricultural organisations regarding any increases in production costs as a result of new transmission infrastructure.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 18 June 2025
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 30 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 9 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many secondary schools are currently running the Equally Safe at School programme, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
Our Equally Safe at School (ESAS), developed by Rape Crisis Scotland and Zero Tolerance, applies a whole school approach to inequality and gender-based violence in schools. Please see a breakdown in the following table of how many secondary schools are currently signed up to ESAS, broken down by local authority area.
Aberdeen City Council | 5 |
Aberdeenshire Council | 2 |
Angus Council | 9 |
Argyll and Bute Council | 2 |
City of Edinburgh Council | 21 |
Clackmannanshire Council | 3 |
Dumfries and Galloway Council | 4 |
Dundee City Council | 2 |
East Ayrshire Council | 5 |
East Dunbartonshire Council | 4 |
East Lothian Council | 4 |
East Renfrewshire Council | 5 |
Falkirk Council | 5 |
Fife Council | 5 |
Glasgow City Council | 9 |
Highland Council | 13 |
Inverclyde Council | 1 |
Midlothian Council | 3 |
Moray Council | 8 |
North Ayrshire Council | 4 |
North Lanarkshire Council | 5 |
Orkney Islands Council | 4 |
Perth and Kinross Council | 5 |
Renfrewshire Council | 13 |
Scottish Borders Council | 4 |
South Ayrshire Council | 1 |
South Lanarkshire Council | 6 |
Stirling Council | 5 |
West Dunbartonshire Council | 2 |
West Lothian Council | 5 |
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 30 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 9 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what (a) it is doing to combat coastal erosion at Montrose, with reference to dredging and (b) its position is following the 2021 publication of the Dynamic Coast report, Adaptation and Resilience Options for Montrose Bay.
Answer
The Scottish Government continues to support Angus Council to address the erosion issues affecting the sand dunes in Montrose through the Coastal Change Adaptation Fund.
Dredging license applications from Montrose Port Authority have been carefully considered by the Scottish Government ensuring that most dredged material is deposited within Montrose Bay and the dredged material remains in the same coastal circulation cell.
We continue to progress our Dynamic Coast project and between 2022-23 and 2025-26 Angus Council have received almost £730,000 from Scottish Government’s Coastal Change Adaptation Fund: £290,000 in direct distribution and £440,000 to fund a case study to improve the flood resilience of sand dunes at Montrose.
