- Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 March 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Christina McKelvie on 16 April 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the implementation of Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) standards, including whether it has any plans to extend the deadline for implementation.
Answer
The Scottish Government has a commitment to provide an update to Parliament on the implementation of the MAT Standards every six months.
I will update Parliament on progress in June and this will coincide with the publication of the 2023-2024 National Benchmarking Report, which will be published by Public Health Scotland.
The Scottish Government is committed to the timelines previously agreed by Scottish Ministers and Public Health Scotland and for full implementation of all ten MAT standards by April 2025.
- Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 20 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that hundreds of sex offenders have been able to change their name in the past two years, what it can do to ensure the safety of the public, particularly in areas like EH14 and EH54, which reportedly have the joint highest number of sex offenders registered across Edinburgh and West Lothian.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 20 March 2024
- Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 8 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to his letter of 10 January 2024, when the Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants’ Rights will attend the multi-agency meeting with Transport Scotland, West Lothian Council, Winchburgh Developments Ltd and Network Rail to further discuss a proposal for a railway station in Winchburgh.
Answer
I am answering the question as this topic now falls into my Ministerial portfolio.
As the Member is aware, the Scottish Government’s understanding of the station proposal is that it is and has always been a developer led station, as outlined in Winchburgh Developments Ltd.’s original Masterplan.
My understanding is that West Lothian Council is responsible for the organisation and invitations for the multi-stakeholder meeting, as set out in the Council Motion from its meeting on 30 May 2023 and I will consider my attendance once I have had an opportunity to fully familiarise myself with the matter.
I can confirm, the Scottish Government welcomes the collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach and I and my officials in Transport Scotland will continue to support the process of exploring options for the delivery of a new station at Winchburgh.
- Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 14 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has for any major rail development projects beyond the end of 2024.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 14 March 2024
- Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 8 February 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the most recent Police Scotland Officer and Staff Numbers statistics showing the number of police officers in Police Scotland's Edinburgh division.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 8 February 2024
- Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 19 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 31 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what the outcomes have been of its £270,000 of funding for the provision of prehabilitation through the eight Maggie’s Centres across Scotland; how many patients have been supported with prehabilitation to date; whether it will provide a breakdown of the different types of cancers that the centres have dealt with, and, in the event that a patient cannot access a Maggie’s Centre, what provision is in place to ensure that there is equity of care across Scotland.
Answer
A report detailing the impact of the initial pilot by Maggie’s can be found here .
From November 2021 to December 2023, 2494 people affected by cancer have been supported via Maggie’s.
During the initial pilot phase, people with 34 different cancer types, including those with multiple cancers, attended the prehabilitation workshops. 59% of attendees were people affected by prostate and bowel cancers. The trend is similar in the period from April to December 2023, however those affected by breast and lung cancers make up a larger percentage of attendees than in the pilot phase.
77% of those providing feedback said the prehabilitation workshops delivered by Maggie’s had a positive impact on their health engagement. In addition, more than 90% said they felt better able to make positive changes to their physical activity, emotional well-being, and diet/nutrition.
The prehabilitation website referred to in response to question S6W-24556 on
25 January 2024 is available to those who prefer to source information online, and a Scottish Health Technology Assessment is in progress to help Scottish Government understand the potential for digital solutions to delivering prehabilitation. Finally, in collaboration with NHS Education Scotland, a training plan is in development that will support national scale up of the Maggie’s workshops via other willing providers.
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: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what is being done to improve access to prehabilitation for less survivable cancers, especially in areas of deprivation.
Answer
Cancer remains a national priority for the NHS and Scottish Government which is why we published a ten year strategy in June 2023, focused on improving cancer survival and providing equitable access to treatment. The strategy and plan take a comprehensive approach to improving patient pathways in cancer from prevention and diagnosis through to treatment and post-treatment care.
The evidence base for prehabilitation specifically for each of the less survivable cancers is currently limited. Work is underway to improve this, particularly with respect to upper gastrointestinal and lung cancers. Learnings from the prehabilitation currently being delivered under the Transforming Cancer Care Programme in association with our findings from the Single Point of Contact and Improving the Cancer Journey initiatives will provide opportunities to target areas of deprivation with early interventions. As such, efforts are being made to exploit these opportunities and progress screening, assessment and timely prehabilitation interventions across Scotland.
- Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the publication of its Scottish Cancer Strategy for Scotland 2023-2026, how much funding has been committed specifically to prehabilitation, and when it will be allocated to NHS boards.
Answer
Up to £1 million was allocated in 2023 for prehabilitation to NHS boards via the Transforming Cancer Care programme. This has been distributed via the Regional Cancer Networks through regionally agreed prioritisation processes.
£80,000 was allocated to Maggie’s in 2023 to embed their pilot of universal prehabilitation at all eight Maggie’s Centres in Scotland, building on our previous investment to develop this programme of £270,000 in 2021.
- Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to urgently provide equitable access to prehabilitation, especially for patients with a less survivable cancer.
Answer
The Cancer Action Plan 2023-2026 sets out our ambitious programme of work to ensure access to cancer prehabilitation.
The Scottish Government is working with experts across health and social care to ensure timely access to all services providing the multi-modal, tiered and personalised interventions that make up prehabilitation. This includes developing the frameworks to screen, assess and signpost people affected by cancer to the relevant services as soon as possible. A national website has been created in partnership with those with lived experience to provide universal and accessible information and advice. A new primary care cancer education platform for NHS Scotland that will feature prehabilitation advice will also go live early 2024 to enable effective decision-making and support earlier diagnosis efforts.
Prehabilitation is a key part of the Optimal Cancer Diagnostic Pathways and Clinical Management Pathways (CMPs) that have been developed for Lung Cancer and the CMP for Adult Brain Cancers, also in development. The Scottish Government has also provided £350,000 to develop and implement universal prehabilitation workshops for the Maggie’s Centres. Further funding has been allocated to support each board area to adopt the nationally provided tools to reinforce care pathways, directly benefiting those affected by cancer, including less survivable cancers.
- Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that patients who require targeted and specialised prehabilitation, as stated in its report, Key Principles for Implementing Cancer Prehabilitation, are accessing prehabilitation, and what the outcomes are for these patients.
Answer
The Centre for Sustainable Delivery is leading improvement and pathway redesign work via their Macmillan National Improvement Advisor for Cancer Prehabilitation. This will see core outcome measures agreed for use across Scotland, and introduce processes for data collection and reporting.
Some targeted and specialised prehabilitation has been developed within NHS settings and further services are being developed with funding from the Macmillan and Scottish Government’s Transforming Cancer Care programme to ensure people can access the right care in the right place at the right time.
