- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 February 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 14 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that volunteers and the third sector are included in plans for the future workforce of the proposed National Care Service.
Answer
Scotland’s volunteers and third sector workers are critical to the health and wellbeing of our people, places and communities. We recognise the skills, kindness and commitment of workers and volunteers.
The Scottish Government are undertaking a co-design approach to inform NCS Future Workforce policies. We continue to engage with representatives of the workforce, including those in the third sector, to confirm their position and to ensure policies benefit the workforce.
Our Lived Experience Experts Panel (LEEP) is open to those with lived experience of accessing or delivering social care support, to allow them to be involved in co-design work - including volunteers and those working in the third sector. Registration is via the Scottish Government Website, gov.scot.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 February 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 14 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether children’s services will be included in the proposed National Care Service.
Answer
The model of shared accountability agreed for the National Care Service means that Scottish Ministers, Local Authorities and NHS Boards will each have their own responsibilities to fulfil within a new national framework.
We will continue working with COSLA and other key partners to consider how NCS benefits and system improvements can be offered to both adults and children consistently across Scotland.
The Scottish Government priority is to ensure the consistent availability and high-quality of joined-up support for those children and families who need it, wherever they live in Scotland.
We will continue working towards improving outcomes for children and families, and the workforces who care for them. There is consensus across The Scottish Government, Local Government and other partners, to collaboratively advance an agenda of improvement beyond any system reform.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 February 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 14 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential number of users of single-use vapes who may return to tobacco products once the proposed ban on single-use vapes is introduced, and whether it plans to propose a ministerial statement on this issue.
Answer
The Scottish Government is currently preparing a suite of impact assessments to consider the effect of the proposed measure on various communities and will be available before regulations are laid.
We recognise arguments raised in the four nations Creating a smoke free generation and tackling youth vaping consultation that disposable vapes are a useful aid to support quitting smoking but are also appealing to children. The case for action is therefore finely balanced. However, we are persuaded that action is necessary in respect of disposable vapes, due to not only environmental issues but also the low price and convenience of these products. Adults will still have access to non-disposable vapes to support smoking cessation, but banning disposables will reduce access for children while also dealing with the environmental impact of these products.
A ministerial statement on the smoke free generation and tackling youth vaping policy measures will take place following the introduction of legislation to UK Parliament.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 February 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 14 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that the provisions in the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019, which is due to commence in April 2024, particularly any provisions related to volunteers in care services, are reflected in its plans for the future workforce of the proposed National Care Service.
Answer
Under the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019, service providers who engage workers or volunteers will have responsibility for ensuring any person providing a caring service receives appropriate training and support to perform their role, as they do now. This will continue under the National Care Service.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 February 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 12 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how much has been spent on taxi journeys for pupils travelling to school in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not collect information on the amount spent by local authorities on taxi journeys for pupils travelling to school.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 February 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 11 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the number of non-compliant vapes currently being sold in Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold this data centrally, it is up to individual Local Authorities to enforce legislation around non-compliant nicotine vapour products through Local Trading Standards Officers.
To support the enforcement of the legislation around the sale and purchase of Nicotine Vapour Products (vapes), Local Authorities receive an additional £1.34m. Each Local Authority decides how these funds are spent locally.
Officials meet regularly with The Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland (SCOTSS) and receive regular updates on any actions taken by trading standards, including enforcement for a failure to comply with legislation around the sale and purchase of these products.
We also meet regularly with HMRC, who work alongside Border Force to take action to tackle the import of illicit vaping products at the border.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 February 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 11 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it will allocate to each local authority for its trading standards department to enforce the proposed (a) ban on single-use vapes and (b) raising of the tobacco age of sale, and whether it plans to propose a ministerial statement on these issues.
Answer
Government officials have been engaging closely with Trading Standards to receive their feedback on the draft legislation for the proposed ban on single-use vapes. Officials are carrying out a Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment to understand the potential impacts including costs on businesses and public bodies.
On raising the age of sale for tobacco, a UK-wide impact assessment has been undertaken which considers the costs of enforcement for local authorities. We engage regularly with the Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland (SCOTSS) on the enforcement of existing legislation and will continue to engage with them through implementation of the Bill.
A ministerial statement on the smoke free generation and tackling youth vaping policy measures will take place following the introduction of legislation to UK Parliament.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, 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 action it is taking to bring empty properties back into use for housing.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 14 March 2024
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 February 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 6 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how many local authority wards have a population of over 15,500 residents, broken down by (a) local authority and (b) population.
Answer
I have asked Janet Egdell, Chief Executive of National Records of Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:
Of the 355 wards in Scotland, 162 had a population over 15,500 as at 30 June 2021. The following table shows the number of electoral wards with a population over 15,500, by local authority.
Number of electoral wards with a population over 15,500, by local authority, as at 30 June 2021
Local authority | Number of wards with over 15,500 residents | Number of wards with up to 15,500 residents | Total number of wards |
Scotland | 162 | 193 | 355 |
Aberdeen City | 11 | 2 | 13 |
Aberdeenshire | 6 | 13 | 19 |
Angus | 4 | 4 | 8 |
Argyll and Bute | 0 | 11 | 11 |
City of Edinburgh | 17 | 0 | 17 |
Clackmannanshire | 0 | 5 | 5 |
Dumfries and Galloway | 0 | 12 | 12 |
Dundee City | 8 | 0 | 8 |
East Ayrshire | 2 | 7 | 9 |
East Dunbartonshire | 3 | 4 | 7 |
East Lothian | 5 | 1 | 6 |
East Renfrewshire | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Falkirk | 8 | 1 | 9 |
Fife | 15 | 7 | 22 |
Glasgow City | 23 | 0 | 23 |
Highland | 1 | 20 | 21 |
Inverclyde | 0 | 7 | 7 |
Midlothian | 3 | 3 | 6 |
Moray | 1 | 7 | 8 |
Na h-Eileanan Siar | 0 | 11 | 11 |
North Ayrshire | 4 | 5 | 9 |
North Lanarkshire | 12 | 9 | 21 |
Orkney Islands | 0 | 6 | 6 |
Perth and Kinross | 3 | 9 | 12 |
Renfrewshire | 6 | 6 | 12 |
Scottish Borders | 0 | 11 | 11 |
Shetland Islands | 0 | 7 | 7 |
South Ayrshire | 2 | 6 | 8 |
South Lanarkshire | 10 | 10 | 20 |
Stirling | 2 | 5 | 7 |
West Dunbartonshire | 2 | 4 | 6 |
West Lothian | 9 | 0 | 9 |
Source: Electoral Ward Population Estimates, published by National Records of Scotland.
The population of each ward is published in ‘Electoral Ward Population Estimates’,
on the National Records of Scotland website: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/population/population-estimates/2011-based-special-area-population-estimates/electoral-ward-population-estimates
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 23 February 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 5 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking now to plan and prepare for maintaining hepatitis C elimination once it has been achieved, in light of the acknowledgement in its recent Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Action Plan of the importance of working to maintain elimination once it has been achieved.
Answer
Public Health Scotland is responsible for ongoing surveillance of hepatitis C and will monitor achievement and maintenance of the elimination target in Scotland. This intelligence, combined with expert advice such as through the Scottish Health Protection Network’s Viral Hepatitis Group, will be used to inform an effective, flexible and evidence-based approach to maintaining elimination. It should also be noted that some of the key interventions for hepatitis C elimination, such as such as injecting equipment provision, will continue to be important for preventing other blood borne viruses and health outcomes.
