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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: S6O-01465

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 October 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the actions that are being taken to recruit teachers in primary and secondary schools.

Question reference: S6W-10965

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 28 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the establishment of the National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Social Care; whether it is on track to be operational by April 2023, and where the staff for the centre will be based, in light of it reportedly being envisaged that it will be a virtual, rather than a physical, centre.

The Scottish Government’s Programme for Government 2021-22 included a commitment to create a centre of excellence for rural and remote medicine and social care, with scoping work starting in 2021-22.

The Scottish Government has been working closely with NHS Education Scotland (NES) over recent months to carry out extensive scoping and consultation with stakeholders. NES has submitted a business case for the Centre that could be operational in Spring 2023. The Scottish Government is evaluating the business case and considering next steps. Decisions about operational matters, including where staff for the centre would be located, will be made in due course.

Question reference: S6W-10773

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 23 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the timeline for the introduction of its Public Health Bill.

Question reference: S6W-10738

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 22 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Public Health Scotland regarding the public health implications of waste accumulation across local authorities as a result of the recent strike action by refuse workers.

Question reference: S6W-10349

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its analysis of the uptake in breast screening appointments since the programme was resumed on 3 August 2020 compared with pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, broken down by breast screening centre.

The following tables 1 to 4 show breast screening uptake from January 2019 to June 2022 for each of the breast screening centres. Uptake is defined as the proportion of eligible patients invited who receive a technically adequate and complete screen. 2019 data is provided as a baseline. Note that table 2 reflects a period when the programme was paused due to COVID-19.

It is important to note that the data provided was collected and used for management purposes for monitoring the recovery of the program and has not been subject to quality checks for official publication. Public Health Scotland publish breast screening programme statistics every year; the last publication was in April 2022 and the next publication is due in April 2023.

Table 1 – Breast screening uptake (% of eligible participants) by screening centre, January to December 2019


Centre	Jan-19	Feb-19	Mar-19	Apr-19	May-19	Jun-19	Jul-19	Aug-19	Sep-19	Oct-19	Nov-19	Dec-19
East of Scotland	80.0	80.3	79.3	80.3	79.4	78.7	76.8	77.8	78.0	79.2	80.2	74.9
North East of Scotland	80.7	86.5	84.7	85.2	83.6	83.5	82.2	84.8	83.3	81.4	80.6	78.8
North of Scotland	75.2	77.1	80.4	80.2	80.6	81.4	79.6	82.1	82.8	82.5	84.5	80.9
South East of Scotland	73.0	72.8	73.2	75.2	75.8	73.8	73.0	77.1	75.4	76.7	79.8	73.9
South West of Scotland	74.8	78.8	81.5	81.2	78.1	74.8	74.2	75.7	75.9	74.9	77.7	72.6
West of Scotland	68.4	71.4	68.5	70.6	65.9	66.6	69.8	54.9	72.6	69.2	70.1	71.5

Table 2 – Breast screening uptake (% of eligible participants) by screening centre, January to December 2020

Centre	Jan-20	Feb-20	Mar-20	Apr-20	May-20	Jun-20	Jul-20	Aug-20	Sep-20	Oct-20	Nov-20	Dec-20
East of Scotland	78.4	79.0	Paused	Paused	Paused	Paused	Paused	87.2	84.4	83.5	77.2	79.5
North East of Scotland	86.0	86.9	Paused	Paused	Paused	Paused	Paused	89.9	75.5	80.1	82.9	81.0
North of Scotland	81.9	82.7	Paused	Paused	Paused	Paused	Paused	85.6	87.2	82.4	87.3	84.4
South East of Scotland	73.3	74.4	Paused	Paused	Paused	Paused	Paused	74.4	76.0	77.6	75.3	74.0
South West of Scotland	77.0	78.4	Paused	Paused	Paused	Paused	Paused	78.0	79.5	81.8	81.4	80.2
West of Scotland	73.3	71.6	Paused	Paused	Paused	Paused	Paused	79.4	81.0	77.0	84.6	79.3

Table 3 – Breast screening uptake (% of eligible participants) by screening centre, January to December 2021

Centre	Jan-21	Feb-21	Mar-21	Apr-21	May-21	Jun-21	Jul-21	Aug-21	Sep-21	Oct-21	Nov-21	Dec-21
East of Scotland	82.7	77.2	84.2	67.3	74.5	75.3	76.4	78.9	80.6	84.2	82.4	85.7
North East of Scotland	81.5	77.0	84.6	84.8	86.5	84.8	83.7	85.5	87.1	85.0	87.0	73.6
North of Scotland	81.1	86.3	84.6	84.9	82.8	83.5	81.9	81.9	85.3	85.1	87.1	85.2
South East of Scotland	75.3	78.1	82.8	81.0	78.0	77.2	76.3	75.5	78.7	76.1	74.0	77.3
South West of Scotland	79.6	81.4	82.7	81.4	80.6	81.9	77.0	77.5	81.5	81.5	80.1	80.5

Table 4– Breast screening uptake (% of eligible participants) by screening centre, January to June 2022

Centre	Jan-22	Feb-22	Mar-22	Apr-22	May-22	Jun-22
East of Scotland	87.2	80.5	76.8	82.4	83.3	75.6
North East of Scotland	83.8	84.4	82.4	85.1	86.2	82.7
North of Scotland	83.0	82.4	78.0	77.0	81.6	86.9
South East of Scotland	74.8	72.9	72.5	72.6	71.8	75.9
South West of Scotland	79.0	77.2	79.1	80.4	82.2	80.4

Question reference: S6W-10743

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the Active Scotland Delivery Group last met, and what was discussed.

Question reference: S6W-10346

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 5 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to S6F-01264 by the First Minister on 23 June 2022 that a women's health champion would be appointed "this summer", whether it will provide an update on the selection process and the date that the appointment will be announced.

A number of candidates are being considered at present to take on the role of the Women’s Health Champion. The Government expects to make an announcement about an appointment soon.

Whilst work is underway to appoint a champion, we have been prioritising improving information and services for women, including launching a new women’s health platform on NHS Inform, initiating new research on endometriosis, and increasing the choices that women have to access contraception at community pharmacies.

Question reference: S6W-10363

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 5 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the total number of women aged between 50 and 70 who have waited more than 36 months for their breast screening appointment in each of the last five years, broken down by breast screening centre.

Question reference: S6W-10348

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 29 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the specific restart date for the breast cancer self-referral scheme for women aged 71 and over.

From 29 August 2022, eligible groups of women over the age of 71 will be able to register for self-referral appointments by contacting their local breast screening service.

Invitations will begin issuing to the eligible groups from 26 September, with appointments commencing from 24 October.

At this stage, the eligible groups being prioritised for self-referrals are women aged 71 to 74 (+364 days), and women over 75 with a history of breast cancer who have completed their hospital follow up. This phased approach allows self-referrals to restart in a way we hope will not unduly impact on waiting times for women aged‎ 50-70 for whom screening is recommended.

The impact of the restart on programme capacity and wait times will be monitored closely. At the same time, the programme will continue to look for opportunities to increase the number of available appointments.

Question reference: S6F-01255

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 June 2022

To ask the First Minister what assessment the Scottish Government has made of reports that incidents of bullying in NHS Scotland have risen by nearly 50% in five years.