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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-30502

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 22 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what plans NHS Scotland has to (a) undertake modelling of the blood cancer care workforce and (b) develop national standards for staffing and facilities.

NHS Scotland health care workers supporting those with blood cancer are from a wide range of professions, often supporting patients with other conditions too. There are no plans to model a blood cancer care workforce specifically.

National standards for staffing and facilities providing services are set by guidance such as the Staff Governance Standard. This applies to all staff employed by NHS Scotland Boards. It provides a system of accountability for the fair and effective management of all staff and requires all NHS Boards to demonstrate that staff are: well informed; appropriately trained and developed; involved in decisions; treated fairly and consistently, with dignity and respect, in an environment where diversity is valued; and, provided with a continuously improving and safe working environment, promoting the health and wellbeing of staff, patients and the wider community.

Question reference: S6W-30503

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 22 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many blood cancer clinical nurse (a) specialists are currently employed within NHS Scotland and (b) specialist vacancies there currently are, and what its position is on the development of a new blood cancer support role, with a clinical nurse specialist informed job description.

The information requested on (a) how many blood cancer clinical nurse specialists are currently employed within NHS Scotland and (b) specialist vacancies there currently are, is not centrally collected.

The information requested on what the Scottish Governments position is on the development of a new blood cancer support role is that it is for Boards to determine roles and job descriptions to deliver services they feel required to meet their local population needs.

Question reference: S6W-30483

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 07 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 22 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it will provide to Police Scotland to enable the investigation of the reported increase in incidences of online crime, including attempts to defraud individuals.

Question reference: S6W-30505

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 22 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to ensure that blood cancer is routinely included as a distinct category alongside solid tumours when reporting on key metrics such as prevalence, healthcare utilisation and other appropriate benchmarks.

Question reference: S6W-30504

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 22 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to consult with (a) the UK Government and (b) health ministers from other devolved administrations on co-ordinating national cancer registries in the collection, analysis and reporting of blood cancer data.

The key group responsible for co-ordinating the national cancer registries of all the UK nations, as well as the Republic of Ireland, is the UK and Ireland Association of Cancer Registries (UKIACR). Achieving consistency and comparability in the collection, analysis and reporting of cancer data are among the UKIACR’s Terms of Reference. The Director of the Scottish Cancer Registry represents Scotland on this group.

The UK and Ireland cancer registries all adhere, where possible, to the recommendations of the European Network of Cancer Registries (ENCR).

Question reference: S6W-30398

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 15 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what overspend or extra fees have arisen with the 10-year NHS waste management contract that was awarded to Tradebe Healthcare in 2019, which was initially estimated to cost £10 million per year, and what the final estimated cost of the contract is.

Question reference: S6W-30397

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 15 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on the clinical waste budget in each year since 2019.

The Scottish Government does not spend directly on disposal of clinical waste. However, funding for additional costs associated with delivering clinical waste services was allocated to NHS National Services Scotland to cover resilience measures as detailed in the following table.

	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24
Total revenue	£0	£381,300	£1,316,931	£981,037	£0

In addition, £6.9m was allocated for the purchase of the Hassockrigg Eco Park and equipment. This was done to increase the resilience of the system for disposing of NHS clinical waste and to secure its long-term future following the decision of the site’s administrator to serve notice to vacate the site on Cliniwaste Limited and to place the site for sale on the open market.

Question reference: S6T-02122

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 September 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to council leaders withdrawing support for its National Care Service Bill.

Question reference: S6W-29395

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 30 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 30 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government on what dates it has met with the independent advisers on the Scottish Ministerial Code to discuss the recommendations of the Hamilton Report since it was published in March 2021.

Question reference: S6W-29394

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 30 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 25 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to S6W-28676 by Kate Forbes on 27 August 2024, what its position is on whether its answer represents a reversal of its previous position of considering changes to the Scottish Ministerial Code and the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers, as recommended by the Hamilton Report in March 2021.

The Scottish Government set out in June 2021 its plan for implementing the recommendations of James Hamilton’s report, alongside the recommendations of the reports by Laura Dunlop QC and the Scottish Parliament Committee on the Handling of Harassment Complaints. Implementation was delivered through the Continuous Improvement Programme, which was reported regularly to the Scottish Parliament’s Finance and Public Administration Committee. The final report on the Continuous Improvement Programme was provided in January 2023, and with the agreement of the Committee, the programme was then concluded and activities were absorbed into ongoing work. In line with previous commitments, the Scottish Government considered matters relating to Special Advisors, including the Code of Conduct for Special Advisors, which is reserved to UK Government. The Scottish Government has no plans to ask the UK Government to make changes.