- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 June 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 9 July 2019
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent in each of the last five years on awareness-raising regarding the appropriate use of disabled car parking spaces; when it last ran a major campaign on this issue; what analysis it carried out regarding the effectiveness of that campaign, and what plans it has for future campaigns.
Answer
In 2015 the Scottish Government undertook an advertising campaign at a cost of circa. £65,000 to highlight the misuse of disabled persons parking places and blue badges; no other spend has been recorded in the period 2014 to 2019. Analysis was undertaken to gauge the overall impact of the campaign which was found to have had a positive impact, including promotion of engagement across a range of social media.
We are committed to undertaking a wide ranging media campaign in relation to the proposed national ban on pavement and double parking being progressed as part of the Transport (Scotland) Bill. The campaign will tackle all forms of inconsiderate parking, including misuse of disabled persons parking places.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 June 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 9 July 2019
To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken, and is taking, to tackle zero hours contracts in social care, in light of reports that a third of the Coalition of Care and Support's member charities have handed back at least one contract in 2018.
Answer
The Scottish Government is strongly opposed to the inappropriate use of zero hour contracts. Our Fair Work Action Plan commits us to work with partners to consider and respond to the recommendations set out in the Fair Work Convention’s Social Care Inquiry Report to ensure that fair work is embedded in the delivery of social care services including the procurement process. This includes the recommendation for key stakeholders to develop and agree appropriate minimum contract standards for the provision of publicly-funded social care services, consistent with the Fair Work Framework and the Scottish Government’s Fair Work First initiative.
Fair Work First asks employers to commit to:
- investment in skills and training
- no inappropriate use of zero hours contracts (for example using zero hours contracts when people are working regular hours; exclusive contracts that stop flexible workers working for other people)
- action to tackle the gender pay gap
- genuine workforce engagement such as trade union or employee association recognition, and
- payment of the real Living Wage
The Fair Work Convention’s report made a number of recommendations relating to fair work and the social care sector and the Scottish Government is working with COSLA and other stakeholders such as the STUC, care providers including the Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland and the Fair Work Convention to finalise the process which will support the implementation of these recommendations.
The Scottish Government has acted to secure improvement in social care and that is why the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport and Councillor Currie, COSLA spokesperson for Health and Social Care, launched a national programme to support local reform of social care on 12 June. The programme contains a commissioning and procurement workstream.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 24 June 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 5 July 2019
To ask the Scottish Government how many people with lung cancer in each of the last five years have been diagnosed with the condition at stage (a) 1, (b) 2, (c) 3 and (d) 4.
Answer
The information requested is publically available in ‘Cancer Incidence in Scotland 2017’, published by Information Services Division in April 2019. This is available via the following link:
http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Cancer/Publications/2019-04-30/cancer_staging.xlsx
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 June 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 5 July 2019
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on social care spend per head in each of the last five years.
Answer
The gross expenditure on social care per person for the last five years is shown in the following table. The figures reflect social care services for all client groups and comprise public expenditure as well as contributions by individuals towards their care.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 June 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 5 July 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the article in The Herald of 17 June 2019 claiming that Scotland's care sector is facing a crisis as a result of council cutbacks and the third sector pulling out of contracts, how many contracts commissioned by public authorities, including councils and NHS board partnerships, have been handed back nationally in (a) 2016, (b) 2017 and (c) 2018.
Answer
This information is not held by Scottish Government but is held locally by integration authorities and local government who are responsible for commissioning and procuring local social care services. The Scottish Government is in regular dialogue with the Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland (CCPS) and Scottish Care on a range of issues, including contracting and sustainability, and they have had a central role in shaping the work that is required to improve the support and care that people require.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 June 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 5 July 2019
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the claim in The Herald of 17 June 2019 that Scotland's care sector is "facing a crisis" as a result of council cutbacks and the third sector pulling out of contracts.
Answer
We are continuing to invest in social care. Over the past decade a significant amount of work and investment has gone into supporting older people and people with disabilities to live well in their own homes for longer.
Integration authorities manage £9 billion of funding that was previously managed separately by health boards and councils. In 2019-20 we are increasing our package of investment in social care and integration to £711 million, an increase of 29% on last year.
We know that change is needed in social care support and that is why on 12 June, the Scottish Government launched a national programme to support local reform of social care support. It is being jointly led with COSLA, whose members are responsible for delivering and procuring these vital public services.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 June 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 5 July 2019
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with care providers to ensure that the social care sector receives adequate funding and resources.
Answer
The Scottish Government is in regular dialogue with the Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland (CCPS) and Scottish Care on a range of issues, including contracting, and they have had a central role in shaping the work that is required to improve the support and care that people require. CCPS and Scottish Care are members of the Ministerial Strategic Group for health and community care (MSG) charged with delivery of joint SG/COSLA review of integration and the reform of adult social care.
The Scottish Government is continuing to invest in integration and social care. In 2019-20 Integration Authorities will manage over £9 billion of funding which was previously managed separately by health boards and councils. We are increasing our package of investment in social care and integration to £711 million, an increase of 29% on last year, underlining our commitment to supporting older people and disabled people and to paying staff the real living wage.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 June 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 3 July 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recent Royal College of General Practitioners report, From the Frontline, how it plans to improve the attractiveness of a career in general practice and reduce the 76% of medical students encountering negativity towards the profession, in order to increase exposure and positivity towards this area of the health service.
Answer
This was a survey undertaken of 3680 people from 30 medical schools across the UK and is not clear how many of them were from Scotland.
The Increasing Undergraduate Education in Primary Care Group, chaired by Dr John Gillies, was set up to make recommendations on increasing undergraduate education in primary care. Currently only around 9% of the clinical curriculum is taught in primary care and the aim of the group was to consider how this could be increased.
The group will publish its report later this summer, setting out its recommendations.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 June 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 27 June 2019
To ask the Scottish Government whether an Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) screen/assessment would result in services being made available to the individuals concerned.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-23801 on 27 June 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 June 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 27 June 2019
To ask the Scottish Government what evidence it has regarding the efficacy of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) screening, and what its position is on whether such screening has potential to be distressing or harmful for those involved.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-23801 on 27 June 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .