- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 30 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many of its agencies or directorates have been relocated or opened outside of the Lothian region since 2007, and how many are in the West Scotland region.
Answer
Three agencies have been opened outside of the Lothian region since 2007 with no relocations during this time. There is one Agency located in the West Scotland region.
There have been multiple changes to Scottish Government Directorates over the last 15 years. Available data would not provide accurate assessment of the number of Directorates relocated or opened outside of the Lothians over the period.
Directorates particularly in DG Net Zero and DG Communities continue to be located outside of the Central Belt in locations close to their stakeholders and operations.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to mark Coeliac Awareness Week, which runs from 15 to 21 May 2023, and what strategies it has in place to raise awareness of the condition.
Answer
The Scottish Government welcomes the work of organisations like Coeliac UK who are already undertaking communications work to increase awareness and knowledge of coeliac disease. We supported their messaging on Coeliac awareness week by sharing their twitter campaign raising awareness of lesser-known symptoms of the disease.
NHSinform.scot provides clear and accessible information on Coeliac Disease including, symptoms, causes, diagnosis, and treatment.
- Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what steps are being taken to improve access to clinical trials for women diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
Answer
The NHS Research Scotland (NRS) Cancer Network is funded by the Scottish Government to increase, support and sustain clinical trial activity in cancer care within NHS Scotland. The fundamental aim of NRS Cancer is to support the recruitment of cancer patients into clinical research and to thereby contribute to improving the quality of cancer care for patients across Scotland, including those diagnosed with ovarian cancer. https://nhsresearchscotland.org.uk/research-areas/cancer
The Scottish Government also works with Cancer Research UK to support the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres (ECMC's) in Glasgow and Scotland. These are part of a UK-wide ECMC Network of 18 adult centres and 11 paediatric locations https://www.ecmcnetwork.org.uk/ Glasgow’s Adult ECMC and Paediatric ECMC, together with Edinburgh’s Adult ECMC receive around £1 million annually to help doctors and scientists develop the cancer treatments of the future for both adults and children, including in ovarian cancer. The funding is split 50:50 Scottish Government / Cancer Research UK
On 13 February 2023 we published an Independent Report on Improving Equity of Access to Cancer Clinical Trials. We will be working closely with the cancer research community here to prioritise the report’s recommendations.
https://www.gov.scot/publications/improving-equity-access-cancer-clinical-trials-scotland/
- Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address any regional variation in access to treatment for ovarian cancer.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17748 on 18 May 2023. 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: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 30 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government when it last discussed with UK ministers any impact of the Public Order Act 2023 on free speech and the right to protest in Scotland.
Answer
The right to public assembly is an important human right that the Scottish Government is committed to uphold.
We have no plans to extend the provisions in the Public Order Act 2023 which create new offences and new police powers relating to protests in England and Wales. In May 2022, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans wrote to the Minister of State for Crime, Policing and Probation and confirmed that the Scottish Government would not be requesting that any of the provisions in the Public Order Bill be extended to Scotland.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of Coeliac Awareness Week, which runs from 15 to 21 May 2023, what steps it is taking to tackle under-diagnosis of coeliac disease, in light of reports that more than 30,000 people in Scotland with the condition are undiagnosed.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17929 on 30 May 2023. 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/questions-and-answers .
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of Coeliac Awareness Week, which runs from 15 to 21 May 2023, what steps it is taking to reduce the time that it takes to receive a diagnosis for coeliac disease, in light of reports that it can currently take 13 years.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17929 on 30 May 2023. 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/questions-and-answers .
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether chronic urinary tract infections (UTIs) will be included as a priority in any future version of its Women's Health Plan, in light of a new National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) review that recognises the experiences of chronic UTI patients and the issues that they face when seeking specialised care.
Answer
The Women’s Health Plan: A plan for 2021 – 2024 aims to reduce health inequalities and improve health outcomes for women and girls. The Plan focusses on a specific set of priorities and whilst chronic urinary tract infections are not specifically mentioned in the priorities for this iteration of the Plan we do recognise that many women are significantly affected by the condition.
The Women’s Health Plan is one part of much wider picture when it comes to the Scottish Government’s work to improve the health and wellbeing of women and girls. As part of our £70m Endoscopy and Urology Diagnostic Recovery and Renewal plan national urology referral and management pathways for visible and non -visible haematuria in adults were published in August 2021 supporting clinicians to make the appropriate referrals for urinary tract infections at the right time.
The priorities for any future Women’s Health Plan are not yet determined. Future aims and priorities will be developed in collaboration with women and girls, including our lived experience stakeholder group, clinical experts and relevant stakeholders alongside the most up-to-date evidence base.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 30 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will investigate establishing a fund for Scotland similar to the UK Government's Safer Roads Fund, and, if so, whether it will be on a similar scale, in light of the UK Government investing £47.5 million in its fund.
Answer
Road safety remains an absolute priority for the Scottish Government. We remain determined that we continue to make investments which supports our Road Safety Framework to 2030, which sets out our vision for Scotland to have the best road safety performance in the world by 2030. This includes an ambitious long term goal where no one is seriously injured or killed on our roads by 2050.
The Scottish Government budget for 2023-24 includes over £31 million for road safety. This has been allocated to areas such as our Trunk Road Casualty Reduction Programme, our Safety Camera Programme, work to expand 20 mph areas in communities across Scotland and a Road Safety Improvement Fund which will support councils to reduce casualties and risks on their roads.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 30 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of young people in the Highlands and Islands region have received a card through the Young Persons’ (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel Scheme as of May 2023, broken down by local authority.
Answer
As at the end of the day 30 April 2023, there were 40,969 cardholders under the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme in six local authority areas across the Highlands and Islands Region. Uptake against the estimated eligible population in each local authority area is as follows.
Argyll & Bute: 54.3%
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar: 46.6%
Highland: 46.4%
Moray: 54.9%
Orkney: 49.5%
Shetland: 66.7%
Cardholder data is supplied by the National Entitlement Card Programme Office (NECPO). NECPO supports the 32 local authorities by assisting with the integration of various national and local public services on the National Entitlement Card (NEC) and are the joint controller with local authorities of this data. The figure includes travel products collected from the Transport Scot Pass Collect mobile app.