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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: S6W-30635

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has reviewed what other NHS boards can learn from the pilot initiative in NHS Grampian that is focused on improving training for migraine management and promoting public awareness of migraine treatment options in community pharmacies, and what steps it is taking to assess the case for continuing this work.

The Migraine Trust were awarded £85,675 in 2022-23 through the Scottish Government Neurological Care & Support Framework, for work upskilling community, primary and secondary care pharmacists across NHS Grampian to help people with migraine manage their symptoms and treatments more effectively.

The Scottish Government funded an additional £135,501 in 2023-24 to further embed this work locally, and to partner with other Health Boards to extend the reach of pharmacists trained and increase care and support for people living with migraine based on the blueprint NHS Grampian approach.

We understand that a further six NHS Boards are working towards adopting this model of migraine care in future, including NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Lothian & NHS Tayside who have project teams in place with plans to undertake work with support from the NHS Grampian/Migraine Trust project team.

An eLearning programme for NHS Education for Scotland’s platform TURAS has been developed through the project. This comprises a suite of training materials available for all pharmacists and pharmacy teams in Scotland to access.

The project in Grampian has forged links with Robert Gordon University’s School of Pharmacy and Life Sciences with the aim of helping to shape students’ learning, towards create a sustainable change to the way migraine care is given.

We receive regular progress updates from the Migraine Trust and myself visited the project in August. We are discussing options with the Migraine Trust for further adoption of this approach to delivering care for people with migraine.

Question reference: S6W-29383

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 19 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider adding medical receptionist staff who work in a GP surgery to the category of "persons excusable as of right" for jury duty.

Court operational matters, including the system and arrangements for jury service, fall within the remit of the independent Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service.

Jury service is an important civic duty, and I am grateful to all those who undertake it.

The Scottish Government currently has no plans to review the list of “persons excusable as of right” for jury duty as set out in Schedule 1 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Scotland Act 1980.

It is the view of the Scottish Government that the pool of potential jurors should be as wide as possible, to ensure that an accused person is being judged by their peers from all walks of life. This also prevents the burden of jury service falling on a narrower section of society than can reasonably be helped.

However, it is recognised that there will always be people who have difficulty in serving as jurors. Therefore, in addition to those eligible to be excused as of right as set out in statute, individuals may also apply for excusal.

Clerks of Courts will be as sympathetic as they can to requests for excusal, and will consider, amongst other things; commitments at work, the cancellation of which would cause abnormal inconvenience - while at the same time balancing the need to have sufficient numbers of prospective jurors from which to ballot a jury.

Question reference: S6W-29384

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 18 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has carried out any form of review exercise regarding the impact of medical receptionist staff who are employed at a GP practice having to attend jury duty, both in terms of the ability of surgeries to manage a high volume of patient phone calls and digital triage requests.

Question reference: S6W-29385

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government on how many occasions people who are employed as medical receptionist staff in GP practices have been cited for jury service in each financial year from 2018-19 to 2023-24, and so far in 2024-25, also broken down by (a) local authority and (b) NHS board.

Question reference: S6W-29386

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government on how many occasions staff employed as medical receptionists in a GP surgery have applied to be excused from jury duty, and what the total number is of such requests that have been (a) accepted and (b) declined, in each financial year from 2018-19 to 2023-24, and so far in 2024-25, also broken down by (i) local authority and (ii) NHS board.

Question reference: S6O-03526

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 May 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 June 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to Police Scotland to tackle violent crimes in local communities.

Question reference: S6W-26736

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 26 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-26211 by Neil Gray on 2 April 2024, whether the total of 19 positions that have reportedly been advertised on the recruitment portal, Oriel, for August 2024, is the maximum number of radiology training places for 2024, and, if this is the case, for what reason the number of training places is not higher.

The recruitment round has not yet closed for 2024. The 19 positions currently advertised on the recruitment portal is a provisional figure and is therefore subject to potential change.

The number of posts advertised per year by NHS Education for Scotland is determined by two factors: i) the number of vacant posts, due to trainees completing training, resigning from post or undergoing an inter-deanery transfer, and ii) whether any additional posts have been created. The number of posts which are available for new applicants to apply for varies annually due to trainees working on a part-time basis (and therefore taking longer to complete training and vacate their post).

Question reference: S6W-26211

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 2 April 2024

The number of medical training places is calculated by the training year they are advertised/filled rather than by financial year. Most posts start in August to September of each year, with a smaller number from a subsequent recruitment round starting in February. The figures quoted in the following table are specific to training years, with data for 2024 not yet available.

Year	Posts Advertised	Posts Filled
2019	26	26
2020	39	39
2021	34	34
2022	37	37
2023	36	36

Question reference: S6W-26053

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 22 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in the event that a person is unable to meet the financial costs of renewing a guardianship order for a family member, what support is available to safeguard the welfare and financial interests of the family member.

Eligible individuals may qualify for legal aid to help cover the costs associated with legal representation and court fees involved in renewing a guardianship order. Legal aid is means-tested, and eligibility criteria apply.

Organisations such as Citizens Advice Scotland and the Scottish Legal Aid Board provide financial assistance and support services to individuals and families facing financial difficulties in legal matters, including guardianship renewals.

Local authorities may provide guidance to individuals who are unable to afford the costs of renewing a guardianship order. Social work departments or welfare services within the local authority can offer support and advice on available resources.

Under Section 57(2) of the Adults with Incapacity (AWI) (Scotland) Act 2000, if a guardianship order (or renewal) is deemed necessary by the local authority and no application has been made or is anticipated, the authority must initiate the application process.

Question reference: S6W-26050

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 22 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications were made to renew guardianship orders in financial year (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21, (c) 2021-22, (d) 2022-23 and (e) 2023-24 to date; of these, how many (i) were successful, (ii) were unsuccessful and (iii) are still to be decided, and whether it can provide a breakdown of these figures in relation to submissions to support people with a learning disability.

The number of applications for renewal of guardianship orders for the years requested (statistics from the Office of the Public Guardian) are in the following table:

2019-20	830
2020-21	634
2021-22	936
2022-23	1165
2023-24 to date	1294

The number of renewals that were unsuccessful is as follows:

2019-20	6
2020-21	9
2021-22	5
2022-23	2
2023-24 to date	0

The Office of the Public Guardian do not record how many applications are granted, how many are still to be decided and whether an application is in relation to someone with a learning disability.