- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2025
-
Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 22 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what recent action it has taken to improve the prevention and monitoring of malnutrition and dehydration.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 22 May 2025
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 April 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 8 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to ensure that all NHS boards have met the implementation date for the Pathway of Maternity Care clinical guidance.
Answer
In February the Scottish Government published the new Pathway of Maternity Care Clinical Guidance and Schedule, which describes the core care that women and their babies should receive. The Pathway supports the Best Start ethos of maternity care, which emphasises a 'whole-person', individualised care approach which takes account of women’s specific needs and circumstances.
We have instructed NHS Health Boards to align their services with the Pathway by April 2025. NHS Boards will be asked to report the status of implementation of the Pathway in their area as part of a national maternity services monitoring framework which will be issued shortly.
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 April 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 7 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to publish any data received to date from the ongoing Fracture Liaison Service audit.
Answer
In line with all newly commissioned audits, Scottish Government expects the Fracture Liaison Services (FLS) audit to take time to collect, analyse and develop high-quality, standardised data across NHS Boards in order to drive improvements and support clinical decision making.
Public Health Scotland is responsible for the delivery of the FLS audit and has no developed data to publish currently.
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 April 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 7 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made with the implementation of the miscarriage framework, and what action it is taking to ensure that all NHS boards will be able to facilitate the pathways outlined.
Answer
The Delivery Framework for Miscarriage Care in Scotland has 34 actions/deliverables. Actions have been prioritised for implementation effective from 1 April 2025, with immediate action expected to be delivered in the first 6 months, short term in the first fifteen months and medium term within two years. NHS Boards will be asked to report on their progress towards implementation, aligned to the above timescales. The Scottish Government announced funding of £1.5 million in the financial year 2025-2026 to help Boards implement the Framework.
To further assist NHS Boards with implementation the Scottish Government published a national progesterone pathway, extensively updated the miscarriage information available on NHS inform and published information leaflets for women and their partners.
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
-
Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 7 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work that it is doing to improve women’s health outcomes.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 7 May 2025
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that women seeking an abortion are informed of all the treatment options that they are legally entitled to.
Answer
The 2022 Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) Sexual Health Standards set out that patients should have access to information on both medical and surgical abortion to enable an informed choice of abortion method.
Information on available methods of abortion is available on the NHS Inform website and the websites of individual Health Boards. The Scottish Government continues to work with Scottish Abortion Care Providers (SACP) to improve the information provided to patients, both in written patient information and the information shared during consultations with healthcare staff.
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its commitment to improve access to abortion services, whether it will provide a surgical service for women seeking an abortion in their second trimester of pregnancy and, if so, when it will do so.
Answer
As a priority, the Scottish Government is working with Health Boards and other key stakeholders to ensure that all patients can access abortion services up to the legal gestational limit within Scotland. A new Task and Finish Group is now being set up by the NHS Scotland Planning and Delivery Board to agree the best way to implement a service(s) for patients seeking an abortion between 20-24 weeks.
The Task and Finish Group will recommend to the Planning and Delivery Board the best option(s) for that service. As part of this work, they will consider whether any service(s) provided should offer surgical or medical abortions.
The Scottish Government is also taking forward work to improve surgical abortion provision across Scotland and remains committed to providing funding to support staff training to allow Health Boards to provide later stage abortions.
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 April 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that women seeking an abortion are able to access their legal right to a surgical procedure, in light of reports that some are having to travel to England for this.
Answer
The Scottish Government expects Health Boards to offer patients a clinically appropriate abortion method. The 2022 Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) Sexual Health Standards set out that patients should have access to information on both medical and surgical abortion to enable them to make an informed choice of abortion method. The Scottish Government’s 2021 Women’s Health Plan had an aim that ‘all women will have a choice about how and where they access abortion care’.
While most Health Boards can offer surgical abortions to a certain gestation, the Scottish Government is working with the Scottish Abortion Care Providers network, the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists to improve access for clinicians to surgical abortion training at all gestations. The Scottish Government has also committed to pay for training for any clinician who wishes to provide later stage abortions.
The Women’s Health Champion has been discussing with Health Board Chief Executives issues around contraception and abortion, including ensuring access to early surgical abortion. The Scottish Government will soon be presenting information gathered from Health Boards to Chief Executives to help inform discussions about where surgical abortion provision could be increased.
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 April 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 28 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that apprentices have equitable access to learning opportunities, and what its response is to reports that some roofing apprentices in East Ayrshire have a two-hour journey to and from college for training.
Answer
We are committed to ensuring that apprentices have equitable access to learning opportunities regardless of their background or circumstances. This commitment is reflected through various policies and initiatives aimed at promoting equality, diversity and inclusion.
Recognising the challenges apprentices in remote and rural areas face, the government remains committed to working with training providers, employers and local authorities to improve accessibility. While apprentices in East Ayrshire do not qualify for the rural uplift supplement, we acknowledge that travel costs can be a barrier for young people. To support them we continue to offer free bus travel for those under 22 years of age, to encourage the early adoption of bus travel and to expand access to social, education and employment opportunities, including apprenticeships.
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 April 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 28 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how it has engaged with the construction sector in East Ayrshire to determine the demand for roof slating and tiling apprenticeship opportunities in the area, in light of reports that the National Federation of Roofing Contractors was unable to get a course re-established at Ayrshire College because it did not meet the requirement set out in the final report of the Skills Delivery Landscape Review, Fit for the Future: developing a post-school learning system to fuel economic transformation, that “to use resources to best effect, and to ensure funding and provision can be aligned to need (not just demand), then there must be a clear articulation of the areas that are a national priority”.
Answer
Skills Development Scotland has operational responsibility for delivery of apprenticeships in Scotland, including assessment of demand. There are currently 3 different pathways linked to the roofing sector (embedded within Modern Apprenticeship Construction frameworks).
Ayrshire college, as with all of Scotland’s colleges, is responsible for its own course provision and operational decisions. Scotland’s colleges work with the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) to ensure that education provision meets local and regional requirements. SFC has delivered on various asks from the college sector to help invest funds more effectively, including giving colleges a more flexible way to invest in vital changes to curriculums so they can meet local and national skills needs.
The Scottish Government funding for apprenticeships prioritises Construction frameworks. The construction and related occupational grouping accounted for the highest number of Modern Apprenticeship (MA) starts and MAs in training in 2023-24. MA allocations are also informed by consultation with employers through demand statements from Sector Skills Organisations and bodies, Industry Leadership Groups, Skills Investment Plans, and Regional Skills Assessments.
