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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-18706

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 05 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 13 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it met its target of 78,000 additional diagnostic procedures in 2022-23, as outlined in its NHS Recovery Plan.

Our £1 Billion backed NHS Recovery Plan aims to continually increase capacity for outpatients.

We are seeing improvements in diagnostic waiting times, and we continue to prioritise those referred with an urgent suspicion of cancer for scope-based diagnostic tests.

Further statistics on additional inpatient and day case activity in 2022-2023 will be released alongside the NHS Recovery Plan update this autumn.

Question reference: S6W-18384

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 9 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many full-time equivalent (a) primary and (b) secondary school teachers have been employed in Scotland in each of the last 10 years.

Question reference: S6O-02357

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 June 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of the reportedly rising number of people of working age who are economically inactive are inactive as a result of NHS waiting lists or long COVID.

Question reference: S6W-17852

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to improve occupational therapy staffing levels in the NHS.

Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) Staffing levels in Occupational Therapy have increased by 19% or over 400, from 2161.4 at September 2007 to 2573 at December 2022. Overall, NHS Scotland’s staffing levels are up by around 28,900 WTE. This is a 22.7% increase, from 127,061.9 WTE at September 2006 to 155,926.9 WTE at December 2022).

In March 2022, the Scottish Government published the National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social care, which sets out our long term vision for achieving a sustainable health and care workforce, alongside the action we are taking now to support the training, attraction and recruitment of staff, including allied health professionals. This includes a commitment to investing over £11 million in the current parliament, in international recruitment activity, and the provision of some £22 million in 2022-23 to local authorities, to support the employment of additional staff including occupational therapists.

Question reference: S6W-18262

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 2 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the updated estimated cost is for works on the A83 Rest and Be Thankful long-term solution.

The Scottish Government is absolutely committed to an infrastructure solution to address the landslip risks at the A83 Rest and Be Thankful. I share the urgency communities and businesses place on maintaining and improving connectivity of this vital route, which is why we are progressing measures for the short, medium and long term in tandem.

On 2 June 2023 the preferred route for the permanent, long-term solution at the Rest and Be Thankful was announced consisting of an online option with a 1.4 kilometre long debris flow shelter. Accompanying this announcement, the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges Stage 2 Assessment Report was published and includes the current estimated cost of the preferred option which is approximately £405 million - £470 million (at 2023 prices).

Question reference: S6W-18265

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 2 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the updated estimated cost is for works on the A83 Rest and Be Thankful medium-term solution.

I share the urgency communities and businesses place in maintaining and improving connectivity of this vital route, and remain absolutely committed to ensuring continuity of access to Argyll and Bute so that the region remains open for business.

A detailed programme and procurement strategy to deliver the improvements to the Old Military Road as quickly as possible is currently being developed and it is expected that the improvements will be carried out on a phased basis starting later this year. The cost estimate will be updated as part of this work.

Question reference: S6W-17850

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 2 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what support it will provide to the occupational therapy workforce, in light of a proposed registration fee increase of 20%.

As stated in the answer to question S6W-17851 on 31 May 2023 the Scottish Government has no role in setting the levels or assessing the impact on individuals of registration fees for the regulated health professions. These functions are within the statutory authority of the governing councils of the independent UK regulators, including the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).

The Scottish Government recognises the unwelcome additional burden that higher fees will place on registrants, especially during the current financial climate. However, we acknowledge that the HCPC - as a registrant-funded independent regulator - is facing the same cost pressures as other organisations, including other regulators that have also raised their fees.

Occupational Therapy is one of the professions included in the Scottish Government's Agenda for Change (AfC). Following acceptance by all Unions, the 2023-24 Pay Deal was implemented, with both uplift and additional payment, in the April pay run. This pay deal came after Agenda for Change took difficult decisions to find this money within the health budget, confirming its commitment to supporting AfC staff, particularly during a cost of living crisis.

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

Question reference: S6W-18263

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 2 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether there will be any difficulty securing tenders for the long-term solution on the A83 Rest and Be Thankful, in light of the reported issues with the A9 dualling programme.

Design and assessment work on both the medium and long-term solutions are progressing at pace. We also continue to explore methods to reduce the timescales to bring forward these improvements as soon as possible, whilst continuing to maximise the availability of the existing A83.

Clearly market conditions have changed in the past few years - the pandemic, Brexit and inflationary pressures have all played their respective parts in changing the procurement and delivery landscape across Government. However, we will continuously review the impact of current inflationary pressures and market conditions for both the medium and long-term measures.

Question reference: S6W-18039

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 1 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Royal College of Nursing report, The Nursing Workforce in Scotland, and whether it will implement in full the recommendations set out in the report.

Question reference: S6W-18032

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 31 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will increase the number of student places available on nursing courses at Scottish universities.

The target intake for funded places on nursing and midwifery undergraduate programmes has increased for 10 consecutive years. Recognising that undergraduate programmes are not the single solution to developing and increasing the workforce, the Scottish Government has agreed with Higher Education Institutions, NHS Boards and other key partners, to maintain the target intake of 4,837 (4536 nursing and 301 midwifery) for 3 years. Funded places will continue to be monitored annually whilst we work collaboratively with those partners to maximise the places that are filled and explore alternative pipelines into these critical professions such as earn as you learn routes and apprenticeships.