Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-38226

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 11 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many fishing vessels registered in Scotland participated in the squid fishery in each of the five years up to 2024.

Question reference: S6W-37730

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 11 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether any NHS boards have reported difficulty in commissioning external care providers in each of the last five years, and, if so, what impact this has had on (a) service delivery and (b) waiting times.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. This information would therefore need to be requested from the Health Boards. There have been no national tenders since the pandemic, during which time private hospitals supported with cancer treatment. Whilst the Scottish Government works with Health Boards through planning to make best use of existing NHS resources and capacity, it is for Health Boards locally to determine how they use the private sector and to agree any contractual arrangements. The Scottish Government no longer provides direct funding for planned care for private providers.

Health Boards are encouraged to improve waiting times through engaging with the Centre for Sustainable Delivery, a national unit designed to sustainably improve and transform Scotland's health care system through innovation, collaboration and clinical leadership.

Question reference: S6W-38225

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 11 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-36787 by Mairi Gougeon on 22 April 2025, what the membership is of the co-management group established to develop a squid fishing trial.

The Squid Co-management Group was established for the purpose of bringing industry and eNGOs together to work collaboratively with Scottish Government officials to support a longer-term policy decision on fishing for squid under the North Sea Cod Avoidance Plan (NCAP).

Stakeholder nominations for membership of the Squid Co-development Group were provided by the co-management stakeholder forum Fisheries Management and Conservation Group (FMAC). The first stakeholder Squid Co-management Group meeting took place 1 November 2024.

Question reference: S6W-37729

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 17 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the average weekly number of care-at-home hours delivered has been, and how this compared with assessed need, in each of the last five years, also broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S6W-37725

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether any NHS boards have reported difficulty in recruiting specialist palliative care professionals in the last five years, and what actions it has taken in response.

Question reference: S6W-37726

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting NHS boards to maintain palliative care provision in the context of any wider reported workforce pressures, particularly in remote and rural areas.

Question reference: S6W-37724

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the number of hours of palliative care that have not been delivered due to staff shortages in the last five years, broken down by (a) year and (b) NHS board.

Referral to specialist palliative care services for people living with serious health conditions and/or those who require specialist palliative care when they are dying is based on individualised needs assessments. As a wide range of specialist and generalist staff in hospitals, care homes, primary care, social care, hospices and the third sector are involved in providing palliative care to individuals and their families, and could all be considered as delivering palliative care, it would be challenging to efficiently and effectively gather this data centrally.

Question reference: S6W-37721

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the average waiting time has been for specialist palliative care referrals to be actioned in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

This information is not held centrally.

Referral to specialist palliative care services for people living with serious health conditions and/or those who require specialist palliative care when they are dying is based on individualised needs assessments. As a wide range of specialist and generalist staff in hospitals, care homes, primary care, social care, hospices and the third sector are involved in providing palliative care to individuals and their families, and could all be considered as delivering palliative care, it would be challenging to efficiently and effectively gather this data centrally.

Question reference: S6W-37722

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to reduce waiting times for access to palliative and end-of-life care services across Scotland.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that everyone who needs it can access high-quality palliative care that is right for their circumstances.

The Scottish Government published a draft palliative care strategy ‘Palliative care matters for all’ on 02 October 2024 for consultation. The consultation closed on 10 January 2025. The responses have now been analysed, and the final version of the strategy and analysis report are due to be published in the summer. The strategy will be published alongside a delivery plan, which will set out our approach to ensuring that everyone who needs it can access timely palliative care and care around dying. This work has been closely developed on a partnership basis with key partners, including those with lived experience of receiving palliative care and their families.

Question reference: S6W-37727

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the average referral-to-treatment times for patients receiving palliative care in (a) hospital, (b) hospice and (c) community settings for each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

This information is not held centrally.

Referral to specialist palliative care services for people living with serious health conditions and/or those who require specialist palliative care when they are dying is based on individualised needs assessments. As a wide range of specialist and generalist staff in hospitals, care homes, primary care, social care, hospices and the third sector are involved in providing palliative care to individuals and their families, and could all be considered as delivering palliative care, it would be challenging to efficiently and effectively gather this data centrally.

year	Number of vessels landing squid catch or bycatch, including under 10metre and over 10metre
2020	258
2021	231
2022	228
2023	226
2024	204

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