- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 13 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a full list of the participants in the Ministerial Taskforce on Nursing and Midwifery.
Answer
Scottish Government officials are currently identifying representatives according to the draft terms of reference and will proactively publish the agreed membership in due course. There may also be opportunity to extend the participants list further as the meetings progress if required.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether the disabled driving assessment centre at Astley Ainslie Hospital in Edinburgh is the only centre in Scotland where disabled driving assessments can take place, and, if this is not the case, where the other assessment centres are located.
Answer
The Scottish Driving Assessment Service is the NHS service which covers Scotland, and all driving assessments are carried out at the SMART Centre at the Astley Ainslie Hospital in Edinburgh, which is where the service’s static assessment rigs and fleet of adapted vehicles are based. The Centre is operated by NHS Lothian on behalf of the other NHS Boards.
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 24 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Memorandum of Understanding between NatureScot and Hampden & Co, Lombard Odier Investment Managers and Palladium, in addition to investment from public funds, what specific matters it anticipates any private investment will be spent on.
Answer
Private investment resulting from the Memorandum of Understanding will support woodland expansion, peatland restoration and enhancement of other habitats. It will pay for all capital costs, though we anticipate that land managers involved will also apply to existing grant schemes such as the Forestry Grant Scheme.
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 24 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between NatureScot and Hampden & Co, Lombard Odier Investment Managers and Palladium confers any guarantees or preferred status to this consortium of companies in relation to public funds and grants for the area set out in the MOU, and, if so, whether it will provide details of this.
Answer
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) does not confer any guarantees or preferred status to the partners and allows NatureScot to work and enter agreements with other parties, both in the locations identified in the MOU and across Scotland. MOU signatories will not have exclusive access to land managers and external parties will still be able to submit applications for public funds and grants. The usual processes and policies for public grants will apply.
- Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that there is adequate (a) weekend and (b) evening ambulance cover in rural Stirlingshire, in light of recent reports that there has been no cover at two ambulance stations.
Answer
Ensuring the adequate availability of ambulance resources throughout Scotland is an operational matter for the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS).
The Service advise that there is no truth to any report of there being no cover at ambulance stations in Stirlingshire.
We are determined to continue to support the Scottish Ambulance Service to ensure resources are in place across the country to ensure they maintain a fast and effective response to our most seriously ill patients.
Our continued increased investment has seen a record 540 additional staff join the service since 2021, with further recruitment underway.
- Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to introducing a minimum standard or an implementation strategy for basic facilities across all NHS boards, to provide all doctors with places and time to rest and sleep, access to nutritious food and drink, and the tools needed to do their job, as recommended in the General Medical Council report, Caring for doctors Caring for patients, published in November 2019.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15841 on 24 March 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: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 24 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how much wealth it estimates will be extracted from (a) the local areas for investment and (b) Scotland as a result of the returns expected on investment flowing from the Memorandum of Understanding between NatureScot and Hampden & Co, Lombard Odier Investment Managers and Palladium.
Answer
Rather than extracting wealth, this partnership will deliver responsible investment in both the pilot project areas and Scotland more widely.
Financial matters relating to the pilot cannot be determined until detailed investment cases for projects have been discussed and produced with land managers.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of GP practices are using personal lists.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold that information: while patients can always request to see a particular GP, it is up to GP practices how they facilitate this and GP practices are not required to share this information with their Health Boards or the Scottish Government.
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 24 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what other models to achieve natural capital investment in Scotland were examined before NatureScot agreed a Memorandum of Understanding with Hampden & Co, Lombard Odier Investment Managers and Palladium, and whether it will publish any assessment of alternative models that it undertook.
Answer
The Scottish Government has increased public investment and support in our natural capital through a variety of methods. This includes the £65 million Nature Restoration Fund, and the Facility for Investment Ready Nature in Scotland (FIRNS) that was launched in February this year. However, the Global Biodiversity Framework that was agreed at COP15 last year identified leveraging responsible private finance as a key target, and in Scotland alone it is estimated that there is a finance gap of £20 billion to meet nature-related outcomes.
For the purposes of this agreement, NatureScot entered into discussions with Hampden & Co., Lombard Odier Investment Managers and Palladium and mutually agreed that a Memorandum of Understanding would best define the ways of working and respective roles of parties, as is commonplace.
- Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the comments in the Expert Working Group report, 48-hour maximum working week (without averaging) for Junior Doctors in Scotland, that there is neither a consistent set of standards, nor an implementation strategy, across all NHS boards to establish such uniform standards to facilitate the spread of best practice in relation to staff wellbeing and combating fatigue.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15841 on 24 March 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 .