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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-27188

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 16 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to introduce a long-term public campaign to attract people into nursing.

Question reference: S6W-27177

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 16 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the First Minister's priority of prevention in health is being delivered.

Question reference: S6W-27190

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 16 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it will set out a timeline for how any issues regarding understaffing of nurses as a result of the common staffing method will be resolved, as raised by the Royal College of Nursing Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-26662

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 April 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 1 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that there are no compulsory redundancies within the college sector.

Operational decisions on pay and staffing matters are the responsibility of individual colleges.

The Scottish Government expects every effort to be made, in consultation with trade unions, to protect jobs. The Scottish Government has been clear that compulsory redundancies should only be considered as a last resort, after all other options have been fully explored in collaboration with trade unions.

Question reference: S6W-26665

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 1 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that colleges across Scotland undertake pay negotiations in the spirit of the Fair Work Framework.

As set out in the Letter of Guidance issued by the Scottish Government to the Scottish Funding Council on 29 March 2024, implementation of Fair Work First must be the guiding criteria to promote fairer work practices for staff within the college sector.

The Scottish Government expects college employers and trades unions to follow Fair Work principles and work together to reach a conclusion to the pay negotiations with a settlement which is both fair and affordable, without the need for further industrial action.

Question reference: S6W-26660

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 1 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what work it has undertaken to encourage school leavers to consider social care as a career pathway.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of encouraging young people to enter the social care workforce, and are working with partners to provide future sustainability to the sector and create additional career choices for those looking to leave education.

This has included a burst of marketing activity which specifically engaged with school leavers in summer 2023, and a careers event held in collaboration with Developing the Young Workforce Forth Valley in October 2023.

Question reference: S6W-26666

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 1 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met trade unions from the college sector, and what was discussed.

The Scottish Government meets with campus unions on a bi-annual basis, and representatives of the college sector in a number of forums regularly, where a range of matters important to the sector are discussed.

We expect college management and unions to work together to do everything they can to reach a pay settlement that is both fair and affordable.

However, while the Scottish Government can have no direct role in these negotiations, we will continue to engage with both management and unions as and when appropriate to do so.

Question reference: S6W-26661

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 1 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what work it has undertaken to encourage small and medium-size companies to consider apprenticeship places as an opportunity to grow their workforce.

Question reference: S6W-26659

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 1 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with (a) COSLA and (b) individual local authorities regarding any role that local government can play in increasing apprenticeship provision for traditional trades.

Question reference: S6W-26918

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 30 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with NHS Scotland regarding how NHS boards record complaints about food provision to patients during hospital stays.

Operational guidance regarding the provision of food is provided to Boards from Health Facilities Scotland (a division of National Services Scotland). Boards carry out quality assurance activity of their catering services through several mechanisms. Patient Experience Surveys are used in all boards, through a variety of methods, and include questions on national measures of quality (which are reported annually to Health Facilities Scotland), alongside additional questions included by the board. Mealtime observations, where the ward service is observed and measured against several topic areas, are used to help to identify areas for improvement. However, some boards do not currently carry out these types of audits. All feedback should be reviewed by the service and used to measure the quality of the service from the patient’s perspective, helping to identify areas for improvement.

Patient Feedback should be considered at several forums, including at the board’s Strategic Hydration and Nutritional Care Group or Food, Fluid and Nutrition Group meetings.

Where patients have complaints, Boards are encouraged to utilise the NHS Complaints Handling Procedure. Where suitable, Boards are encouraged to resolve straightforward complaints at the earliest opportunity, however where this is not possible complaints can be escalated to an investigation stage.