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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-02092

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on investment in research and coordinated care services to support those living with long Covid.

Question reference: S6W-15618

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 21 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with (a) Transport Scotland and (b) East Ayrshire Council regarding any potential risks on the A76 at Mauchline that may have been heightened by recent housing developments.

Transport Scotland, acting on behalf of the Scottish Ministers, is a statutory consultee in the planning process for all planning applications that have the potential to impact the performance and safety of the Trunk Road Network.

East Ayrshire Council consulted Transport Scotland on two separate planning applications for residential developments in Mauchline on the A76. Both planning applications were supported by detailed transport appraisals, the outcomes and recommendations from which were accepted by Transport Scotland. Following extensive dialogue with the developer regarding the proposed junction accesses onto the A76 trunk road, and submission of Road Safety Audits, Transport Scotland responded to the planning authority on both applications recommending approval subject to a number of conditions.

Question reference: S6W-15617

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of Scotland's preparedness for any future pandemics.

Question reference: S6W-15608

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it is assisting NHS boards in their action to tackle any staff shortages in the South Scotland region.

While NHS Boards hold the direct responsibility for staffing, we are providing direct investment to assist boards, including those in the South Scotland region, in growing and retaining their workforce. This has included funding to support the recruitment of up to 750 nurses, midwives, and allied health professionals from overseas before April 2023.

In addition, our National Workforce Strategy sets out the actions we will take in partnership with Boards to plan, attract, train, employ and nurture the health and social care workforce.

Question reference: S6W-15615

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether its work to prepare Scotland for any future pandemics is conducted (a) across Scottish Government portfolios and (b) alongside the work of other governments in the rest of the UK.

Preparation for outbreaks of infectious disease is an ongoing part of health protection. That work is led by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care but the breadth of response required to respond to pandemic events is laid out in the 2022 Strategic Framework Update for COVID-19 and the four-harms approach to decision-making used by the Scottish Government for the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Scottish Government regularly engages with the UK Government and the other Devolved Administrations on a range of risks including pandemic preparedness. The Scottish Government works closely with the cross-government Pandemic Disease Capabilities Board to keep Scotland’s readiness up to date.

Question reference: S6W-15616

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to prepare Scotland for any future pandemics.

The Scottish Government continues to work with its partners and key stakeholders, including Public Health Scotland, health boards, and across the Four Nations to prepare Scotland to identify and respond to future infectious disease and pandemic threats. This work builds on existing health protection approaches, including the 2011 UK Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Strategy , and a now enhanced respiratory surveillance programme.

National preparedness arrangements include stockpiles of clinical consumables, PPE, medicines, a contract for access to a pandemic influenza vaccine – and a national pandemic influenza service at 4 Nation level to distribute antivirals. NHS Boards have pandemic flu plans based on guidance – and are also expected to plan locally on a multi-agency basis with Resilience Partnerships and/or HSCPs. The Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Act 2022 was passed last year, giving the Scottish Government new powers to respond to public health emergencies. This includes provisions for education, higher and further education, care services, housing, justice.

The Scottish Government established the Standing Committee on Pandemic Preparedness to bring together scientists and technical experts to advise the Scottish Government on the future risks from pandemics and how best to approach these. The final report will be presented later this year.

Question reference: S6W-15607

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the current average waiting time is for a gynaecological consultation in (a) Scotland and (b) each NHS board, and how it plans to reduce these waiting times.

Statistics relating to the waits patients experience for a new outpatient attendance and inpatient or day case appointment at NHS Board and specialty level are published by Public Health Scotland (PHS) up to 31 st December 2022 and can be found using the following links:

New Outpatients - https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/18024/newop_feb23.xlsx

Inpatients/Daycases - https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/17838/ipdc_feb23.xlsx

The statistics published in the tables above include the median and 90th percentile waits in days for:

New outpatients waiting (‘1.1 Table’)
New outpatients seen (‘1.2 Table’)
Inpatients/day cases waiting (‘2.2 Table’)
Inpatients/day cases seen (‘2.1 Table’)

We continue to work intensively to clear long waits, which have been exacerbated by the impact of the global pandemic and are determined to provide NHS Boards with support necessary to drive improvements. This includes targets announced in July 2022 to address the backlog of planned care, maximising theatre productivity, optimising Golden Jubilee National Hospital capacity, and the delivery of the £1 billion NHS Recovery Plan to support sustainable improvements and new models of care, such as the National Treatment Centre Programme.

We are also working with the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CFSD) and boards to embed regional and national working to ensure that long waiting patients can access treatment more quickly.

Question reference: S6W-15606

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to increase the number of acute care beds for people who require short-stay specialised beds.

There has been a significant, long term move towards procedures carried out as day-cases and reducing lengths of stay, to the benefit of patients meaning less time spent in hospital.

This includes significant progress in the delivery of same-day discharge arthroplasty, allowing patients to be safely discharged home on the same day as their procedure, increasing capacity within Orthopaedics.

The Centre for Sustainable Delivery will enable us to see 140,000 new outpatients each year, an increase of 55,500 procedures per year by the end of this plan - a 20% increase over pre-Covid levels – and Specialty Delivery Groups have been set up to drive opportunities across regions on same day surgery, for example in gynaecology pathways.

Question reference: S6W-15513

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 16 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it will (a) set out the (i) remit of and (ii) reporting mechanisms available to the newly-appointed Women’s Health Champion, and (b) provide the contact details for the role, to enable MSPs and other relevant bodies to arrange meetings with and ask questions of them.

The remit of the Women’s Health Champion is to drive change and share best practice and innovation in the improvement of health services and health outcomes for women. Professor Glasier will work with partners in the NHS and across the public and third sectors to drive forward the ambitions, aims and actions in the Women’s Health Plan. Professor Glasier’s particular priorities were set out in the recently published report on progress and include specialist menopause services, menstrual health with a focus on endometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome, and heart health.

The Champion is a member of the Women's Health Plan Implementation Programme Board which has been established to oversee and drive the delivery of the Plan.

Professor Glasier is scheduled to attend the next Women’s Health Cross Party Group on 22 March 2023. In addition a number of introductory meetings with both individuals and organisations have already taken place, with more arranged for the coming weeks. Any requests should be directed to womenshealthchampion@gov.scot.

Question reference: S6O-02051

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to increasing the income threshold for free school meal eligibility for families not currently covered by any free school meal entitlement.