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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-09001

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of overall spend NHS boards will be expected to save in each year from 2022-23 to 2024-25.

Each financial year, NHS Boards are typically required to deliver a level of efficiency savings to deliver financial balance. Efficiency savings are how health boards ensure they are making the best possible use of public money and every penny of efficiency savings stays with the health boards.

We are working closely with all NHS Boards to address financial pressures facing the system, whilst ensuring that patient safety and Covid recovery remain the priority.

Question reference: S6W-09030

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many whole-time equivalent staff NHS Fife requires to fulfil all of its vacancies.

The number of vacant posts in each NHS Board can be found on the NHS Education for Scotland (NES) website: NHSScotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence

To ensure all Health Boards including NHS Fife have sufficient capacity planning guidance has been issued to support the production of new Three Year Workforce Plans, supported by local systems’ workforce data.

As part of this all Health Boards must consider local population health needs and projected service demand, using that information to assess current staffing capacity and any relevant staffing gaps.

At national level, we will use this intelligence to inform new staffing projections for health and social care, which will be published in the coming year as part of the National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care.

Question reference: S6W-08999

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the overall capital and revenue budget allocated to NHS Fife has been in each of the last 10 years.

Board’s baseline revenue allocations are set out annually in the Scottish Budget, as published on the Scottish Government’s website. In addition, resource and capital spending limits are reported in Board’s annual accounts, which are published on their websites.

Over the period from 2013-14 to 2022-23, NHS Fife’s baseline resource budget has increased by almost 39% (£209.9 million) .

In addition to baseline capital funding, significant additional investment has been provided to NHS Fife to fund infrastructure projects, including £20.5 million for the National Treatment Centre Orthopaedics Unit.

Question reference: S6W-09038

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 20 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage an increase in trade union membership in the social care sector.

The Scottish Government has a long standing commitment of improving Fair Work across Scotland. We are actively working with our partners in Local Government, COSLA, Trade Unions and the third and independent sectors to support and encourage Effective Voice within the Adult Social Care Sector. This includes ways we can support people to access Trade Union membership through an improved awareness and access of Trade Unions. It is the responsibility of Trade Unions to build their membership through their usual channels, and we are supportive of the efforts which Trade Unions are undertaking to do this’

Furthermore, we continue to support the Fair Work and Trade Union Modernisation Fund, committing to support unions in embedding the Fair Work Framework in Scotland’s workplaces. This funding has enabled unions to work proactively, and to build upon ongoing efforts, to tackle precarious work, and organising for Fair Work in less unionised sectors.

Question reference: S6W-09031

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 17 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many hours of social care provision have been provided each year by the Fife Integration Joint Board (IJB).

The total number of hours of social care provided each year by integration joint boards is not held centrally.

Public Health Scotland publish the Experimental Statistics publication: “Insights into Social Care: Statistics for Scotland” which includes some information on the number of hours of social care provided by different Health and Social Care Partnerships. This includes the number of hours of home care provided by Fife HSCP in each quarter since Q4 2017-18. This release is publicly available via the following link:

https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/insights-in-social-care-statistics-for-scotland/insights-in-social-care-statistics-for-scotland-support-provided-or-funded-by-health-and-social-care-partnerships-in-scotland-201920-202021/home-care/

Question reference: S6W-09032

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 17 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much it pays local authorities annually for each local authority-funded care home place.

The Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. As such, the vast majority of funding is provided by means of a block grant as part of the annual local government finance settlement. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including any funding for local authority-funded care home places, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

Question reference: S6W-08998

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many NHS boards are currently subject to special measures.

In Scotland, NHS Boards are subject to the NHS Board Performance Escalation Framework which has a five stage escalation process. There are currently five territorial Health Boards escalated to Stage 3 or above on the framework. These boards are subject to additional scrutiny and are receiving tailored support.

Escalated Boards (as at June 2022)

NHS Board	Current Stage	Primary Factors Influencing Escalation
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	3	? Financial management and position
NHS Borders	3	? Financial management and position
NHS Highland	3	? Financial management and position ? Governance, leadership and culture ? Mental Health Performance
NHS Lothian	3	? Mental Health Performance ? Paediatric Audiology
NHS Tayside	3	? Mental Health Performance

Question reference: S6O-01279

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making to address the reported recruitment and retention problems in the delivery of care at home.

Question reference: S6O-01246

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-08131

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 26 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many people who signed up to help deliver the COVID-19 vaccination programme have now taken permanent roles within the NHS in Scotland.

We are grateful to all those staff who supported the delivery of Scotland's Covid-19 vaccination campaign, a significant number of whom were already employed across primary care services or drawn from substantive roles across NHS Scotland. All those individuals deployed in roles normally undertaken by substantive staff were employed by NHS Scotland for the duration of their involvement.

To enable a sustainable vaccination workforce, funding has been made available to Boards, which enables those on fixed-term contracts to be recruited to permanent posts. The Scottish Government expects Boards to support where possible, the redeployment of staff, to retain the valuable skills and experience that this workforce has developed.