- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Christina McKelvie on 2 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to increase the baseline funding for the drug and alcohol rehabilitation programme in (a) East and (b) South Ayrshire beyond the current allocations, in light of reports of a projected increase to 40 referrals for 2024-25.
Answer
Public Health Scotland (PHS) published a baseline report as part of their interim Evaluation of the Scottish Government Residential Rehabilitation programme in February, where the best available evidence suggested that referrals into residential rehabilitation have been increasing not only in East and South Ayrshire, but across the country since the beginning of the Scottish Government’s National Mission to improve and save lives impacted by substance use.
According to another recent PHS report, the upward trend in placements suggests that the Scottish Government is on track to hit its target of 1,000 people publicly funded to go to rehab by 2026.
The Scottish Government is finalising plans to provide more funding to facilitate this increase in areas where it is most needed. Further details on this will be made available in due course.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 2 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how many homes have been secured for key workers as a result of the £25 million funding scheme, and how much has been spent from the fund to date.
Answer
To date, four affordable homes were approved in Orkney under the demand-led Rural Affordable Homes for Key Workers Fund with no spend drawn down to date. We are currently working with local authorities to progress a number of proposals to support the delivery of more affordable homes for key workers through the fund. We are engaging closely with local authorities and others to promote the use of the fund and to bring forward proposals where there is an identified requirement.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 19 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the findings in the Kidney Care UK report, In-centre Dialysis Transport in Scotland, what plans it has to review non-emergency kidney patient transport to and from in-centre dialysis appointments across Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Government’s role is to set the strategic policy for the NHS in Scotland, NHS Boards are responsible for service delivery and treatment. All Health Boards should consider patient transport needs when they plan and deliver services and must ensure Patients have access to all information on any relevant patient transport (including community transport) and travel reimbursement entitlement.
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 19 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 2 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how many primary schools have physical education teachers based within them, broken down by local authority.
Answer
Primary Teachers are generalists; therefore, they deliver the totality of the Curriculum including PE. Specialist PE teachers are predominantly based in secondary schools.
The table shows the number of Primary schools in each authority with teachers listing Physical Education as their main subject. Head teachers are not included.
Individual teachers may have posts in more than one school. Note that in some local authorities physical education teachers that serve more than one school are recorded as centrally employed rather than allocated to individual schools. Teachers recorded in this way do not appear in the following table.
Primary schools with teachers in post with Physical Education as their main subject taught 2023 - Excludes head teachers.
| | Primary Schools with PE teachers in post |
Aberdeen City | 13 |
Aberdeenshire | 18 |
Angus | 44 |
Argyll and Bute | 9 |
City of Edinburgh | 25 |
Clackmannanshire | 15 |
Dumfries and Galloway | 3 |
Dundee City | 0 |
East Ayrshire | 0 |
East Dunbartonshire | 3 |
East Lothian | 0 |
East Renfrewshire | 1 |
Falkirk | 0 |
Fife | 2 |
Glasgow City | 2 |
Highland | 5 |
Inverclyde | 0 |
Midlothian | 1 |
Moray | 8 |
Na h-Eileanan Siar | 0 |
North Ayrshire | 0 |
North Lanarkshire | 0 |
Orkney Islands | 18 |
Perth and Kinross | 23 |
Renfrewshire | 1 |
Scottish Borders | 33 |
Shetland Islands | 21 |
South Ayrshire | 9 |
South Lanarkshire | 1 |
Stirling | 0 |
West Dunbartonshire | 0 |
West Lothian | 16 |
All local authorities | 271 |
Grant Aided | 1 |
Scotland | 272 |
- Asked by: Elena Whitham, MSP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 19 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 2 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to address any long waiting times for applications to Social Security Scotland, in light of reports that nine children have died while waiting for an application for the Child Disability Payment to be processed.
Answer
Our thoughts are with the families and friends of those who sadly died before a decision could be made on their application.
We know some people waited an unacceptably long time for Child Disability Payment and urgent action was taken to address this resulting in improved processing times.
We aim to process all applications as quickly as possible and have an accelerated application process for people who have a terminal illness diagnoses. We urge anyone who is applying on behalf of a terminally ill child or young person to use this dedicated route and ensure their application is given utmost priority.
While we cannot comment on individual cases, there are a number of factors that impact on how long it takes to make a decision including the time taken to gather information to support an application from a professional such as teachers or health care practitioners. This can take time – but under the DWP, people had to do this themselves – and we know people greatly value this service.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to continue with the fee structure for optometrists, which has been aligned to the dentistry fee structure for the past three years.
Answer
The 2024-25 public sector pay will be determined in due course by the Scottish Government. It is anticipated that this process will also include consideration of the fee position for General Ophthalmic Services.
- Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 2 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what immediate action it is taking to improve certainty for investors in the build-to-rent sector.
Answer
The Scottish Government has ongoing engagement with the Build to Rent sector including through recent Ministerial meetings and the Housing Investment Taskforce. We also continue to work with stakeholders across landlords, tenants and investors as we develop a rent control system that works for Scotland. To support this, we have also established a Private Rented Sector Stakeholder Group which includes representatives from across landlords, tenants, campaign groups and investors.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to sustainably fund Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS) for the long-term, to ensure that it can provide lifeline care and support to children and families in light of the reported rising costs and increased need for its services.
Answer
The Scottish Government is working with NHS NSS, CHAS and Health Boards to improve the sustainability and oversight of funding for CHAS and to develop a long term sustainable funding model.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 2 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what immediate action it will take in response to the reported freeze on Modern Apprenticeships.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-26667 on 2 May 2024. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 2 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how many buildings are listed as category (a) A, (b) B and (c) C, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The information requested is available on the Historic Environment Scotland website at https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/search . A search can be conducted using the filters to specify a category of listed building as well as the local authority area. Guidance on how to use the Historic Environment Scotland portal is available at https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/guidance and https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/portal/docs/designations_search_user_guide.pdf .