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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.

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Question reference: S6W-11395

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that any reduced capacity in the cancer services workforce is not limiting patient choice and equitable access to treatment.

Cancer remains a priority for the Scottish Government with NHS Scotland continuing to prioritise urgent suspicion of cancer (USC) referrals and delivering high-quality care, in the safest possible way, to those who need it most. We’re continuing to invest in cancer pathways to improve waiting times, including through up-skilling nurses and have begun testing the use of Single Points of Contact in cancer pathways to support patients from the point of referral.

In addition, we have stood up a National Oncology Taskforce of NHS Board Chief Executives and Medical Directors to seek national solutions to ensure long term resilience of oncology services in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-11392

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it will accelerate clinical research and development to encourage participation in clinical trials for people living in remote and rural areas.

The Scottish Government is committed to tackling health inequalities and providing access to the highest quality of care for all. We work across the clinical research system to ensure sponsors of clinical studies understand their ethical and legal responsibilities, including increasing equitable access to clinical trials. We recognise the benefits of innovative approaches to the future of clinical trials, including the opportunities presented by increased use of data and digital technologies, and learning from the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Question reference: S6W-11398

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many midwives there have been in the NHS in (a) Scotland and (b) each NHS board area, in each year since 2016, broken down by (i) headcount and (ii) full-time equivalent terms.

Question reference: S6W-11354

Asked by: Gillian Mackay, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the current waiting time is for a paediatric audiology appointment in NHS Highland.

Question reference: S6W-11224

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 1 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10960 by Angus Robertson on 22 September 2022, whether the money being spent on the referral to the Supreme Court is from the £20 million set aside for preparations for an independence referendum.

Question reference: S6W-11286

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 1 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has determined what support will be given to the Scottish Council on Global Affairs in 2022-23.

Question reference: S6W-11519

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 October 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 1 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to support the 530,000 people who will reportedly need to either (a) quit or (b) not take up smoking by 2034 to meet its tobacco-free generation target, as projected by the Non-Communicable Disease Prevention Coalition in its report Non-Communicable Disease Prevention: Mapping Future Harm.

The Scottish Government are developing an expert group that will be reporting on smoking cessation services early next year. We are also committed to working with our NHS cessation coordinators and pharmacy colleagues across Scotland to refocus and remobilise these services to ensure we are reaching those in our communities who are in most need of support to quit.

In addition, next year we will publish a refreshed Tobacco Action Plan which will include a range of evidence-based interventions with an emphasis on reducing smoking and vaping among children and young people.

Question reference: S6W-11344

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 1 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it raised any concerns at a (a) ministerial and (b) official level with CMAL about preferential treatment in procurement relating to Ferguson Marine Engineering Ltd (i) before and (ii) following the broadcast of the BBC programme, Disclosure: The Great Ferries Scandal.

Procurement for vessels 801 and 802 was the responsibility of CMAL. Scottish Ministers were not aware of any potential impropriety in CMAL’s procurement process.

Following the Disclosure Scotland allegations, Scottish Ministers asked the Permanent Secretary to speak with the Auditor General on this matter and we welcome confirmation that Audit Scotland will be looking at the substance of the allegations and deciding if further audit work is required.

Question reference: S6W-11384

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients have had an emergency presentation for cancer in each year since 1999.

PHS collate data on Direct Cancer Referrals. This includes self, GP or NHS24 referral to A&E or other, where the signs and symptoms are consistent with the cancer diagnosed as per the Scottish Referral Guidelines. Data on these patients are only available from PHS from 2010 onwards as outlined in the following table.

Table 1: Number of direct cancer referrals 1,2,3 on the 31 day pathway since data-set began

Reference Date Year	Number of Referrals
2010	2693
2011	2912
2012	3001
2013	2975
2014	2810
2015	2660
2016	2596
2017	2772
2018	2927
2019	3107
2020	3002
2021	2922

_{Source: Cancer Waiting Times Datamart, Public Health Scotland (PHS)}

_{Data extracted: October 2022}

_Notes:

1. _{Cancer registration is a dynamic process: the data presented here may differ from other published data relating to the same time period.}

2. _{Cancer types for which data are recorded: breast, cervical, colorectal, head and neck, lung, lymphoma, melanoma, ovarian, upper GI, and urological.}

3. _{Direct referral to hospital includes self, GP or NHS24 referral to A&E or other.}

Question reference: S6W-11394

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with industry to inform the development of its new cancer strategy.

We held a public consultation for the new cancer strategy from 12th April – 7th June. Anyone who wished to submit a response was welcome to through Citizens Space, this includes members of the public, professionals working with cancer services, and organisations. The results of the consultation will be published shortly and will feed into the development of the next cancer strategy.

Early insights from the initial consultation report show that organisations in the cancer sector welcome a long-term strategy with broad overarching aims to help achieve structural changes in the delivery of cancer care.