- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 28 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 8 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether private sector contractors in the Scottish Water framework agreement are allowed to sub-contract.
Answer
As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, and the Scottish Government does not hold the information, I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:
Scottish Water framework contractors are permitted to sub-contract work if they require additional resources/capability to deliver the works or if specific expertise is required.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 28 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 8 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether the budget for private contractors providing services for Scottish Water was overspent in 2024-25, and, if so, by how much, and what the reasons were for the overspend.
Answer
As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, and the Scottish Government does not hold the information, I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:
Scottish Water (Regulated) Contractor P&L expenditure for 2024-25 was £31.7m against a Budget of £30.7m. The actual costs include £4.0m unbudgeted proactive leakage recovery costs so therefore the underlying variance is favourable.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 25 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 8 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on pulmonary rehabilitation in each year since 2021.
Answer
We recognise that pulmonary rehabilitation is an important element in managing respiratory disease and it is already a key recommendation for all appropriate patients in NICE clinical guidelines, which we expect all NHS Boards to follow.
The Scottish Government has not provided any specific funding to NHS Boards for pulmonary rehabilitation. We provide NHS Boards with baseline funding, and it is for each individual NHS Board to determine how they utilise the resources provided by the Scottish Government to best meet the needs of their local populations.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 25 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 8 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-30699 by Jenni Minto on 11 May 2024, whether it will provide an update on when it will commission work on the national audit programme for respiratory conditions.
Answer
In 2023, the Scottish Government provided Public Health Scotland with funding to undertake a scoping exercise with a view to developing a respiratory audit programme. However, due to current fiscal challenges, it has not yet been possible to progress this work further.
We recognise the importance of having access to meaningful data in relation to respiratory services and we are carefully considering the best way that this can be achieved going forward.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 25 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 8 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on whether it is on track to deliver all the recommendations of the Respiratory Care Action Plan before the end of the current parliamentary session.
Answer
The Scottish Government’s Respiratory Care Action Plan (RCAP) sets out our priorities from 2021 to 2026 for driving improvement in the prevention, diagnosis, care, treatment and support of people living with respiratory conditions. A number of areas included in the RCAP are broad priorities requiring continuous work rather than finite commitments that can be completed.
We have undertaken action against every area of the Plan.
To give just some examples, significant steps have been taken on preventing respiratory disease with the launch of the Cleaner Air for Scotland Strategy, Warmer Homes Strategy and the refreshed Tobacco Action Plan that have their own specific recommendations and targets, and all of which embed respiratory prevention into wider Scottish Government policy.
In 2024, we published the Quality Prescribing Strategy for Respiratory: A Guide for Improvement 2024-2027 that sets out our ambitions for better access to respiratory care. This can be found here --https://www.gov.scot/publications/quality-prescribing-strategy-respiratory-guide-improvement-2024-2027
The Centre for Sustainable Delivery based at the Golden Jubilee National Hospital is developing national patient pathways for respiratory conditions including severe asthma, COPD and sleep apnoea. This work aligns closely with the commitments in the RCAP.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 28 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 8 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government which companies are included in the framework agreement for contractors providing services for Scottish Water.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-22818 on 23 November 2023. 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: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 28 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 8 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of any problems with Scottish Water’s Old Meldrum project; if so, what issues have arisen, and what the (a) original and (b) final cost of the work was.
Answer
As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, and the Scottish Government does not hold the information, I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:
Scottish Water’s in-house capital project delivery team was asked to deliver a project to provide capacity for growth at Oldmeldrum Wastewater Treatment Works. The project involved cleaning of an existing aeration ditch, replacement of its mechanical rotors and installation of an innovative secondary treatment unit. The renewal of the aeration ditch was delivered successfully, but the innovative element of the project was found not to be suitable in combination with the existing treatment process at the site. The forecast cost of the project was £3.3 million and the final cost was £3.9 million.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 28 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 7 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Young Lives vs Cancer research, The Cost of Waiting, which states that almost one in two households with a child or young person with cancer had to use their savings, and three in five borrowed money, following a diagnosis, what consideration it has given to how such outcomes align with its child poverty reduction targets.
Answer
Eradicating child poverty in Scotland is a national mission and Mr Swinney’s top priority as First Minister.
We fully appreciate how difficult a cancer diagnosis is for young people and their families. We are committed to making sure the necessary support is available to all who need it, when they need it.
Our Child Disability Payment is designed to mitigate some of the additional costs of caring for a disabled or terminally ill child or young person. It is available to children and young people from the ages of 3 months to 18 years old, who have care and/or mobility needs as a result of a disability.
The Child Disability Payment has paid out over £1 billion to families with disabled children to date.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2025
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 8 May 2025
To ask the First Minister when the landslip shelter on the A83 at the Rest and Be Thankful will be complete.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 8 May 2025
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 28 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 6 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of disability benefit waiting times, in light of the Young Lives vs Cancer research, The Cost of Waiting, which states that almost half of young cancer patients in Scotland finish their active treatment before receiving a decision on their disability benefit application.
Answer
There are a number of factors that impact on how long it takes Social Security Scotland to make a decision on disability benefit applications, including the time taken to gather the supporting information required to make a decision on an application.
Social Security Scotland has a dedicated application route for terminally ill children and young people, and anyone in Scotland diagnosed with a terminal illness by their healthcare professional can apply for disability benefits under Special Rules for Terminal Illness. Published data shows that applications under the Special Rules for Terminal Illness are currently processed within three working days for Child Disability Payment and two working days for Adult Disability Payment.
The most recent official statistics for Child Disability Payment show Social Security Scotland has made decisions on new applications almost twice as fast as in the previous financial year: Social Security Scotland - Child Disability Payment: high level statistics to 31 December 2024.
The latest Adult Disability Payment official statistics publication shows Social Security Scotland has made faster decisions on applications over the last year, with average processing times decreasing significantly in the last ten months, when compared to the previous financial year: Social Security Scotland - Adult Disability Payment statistics to 31 January 2025
