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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-15606

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to increase the number of acute care beds for people who require short-stay specialised beds.

There has been a significant, long term move towards procedures carried out as day-cases and reducing lengths of stay, to the benefit of patients meaning less time spent in hospital.

This includes significant progress in the delivery of same-day discharge arthroplasty, allowing patients to be safely discharged home on the same day as their procedure, increasing capacity within Orthopaedics.

The Centre for Sustainable Delivery will enable us to see 140,000 new outpatients each year, an increase of 55,500 procedures per year by the end of this plan - a 20% increase over pre-Covid levels – and Specialty Delivery Groups have been set up to drive opportunities across regions on same day surgery, for example in gynaecology pathways.

Question reference: S6W-15883

Asked by: Siobhian Brown, MSP for Ayr, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to reflect the urgency of climate (a) mitigation and (b) adaptation in the final versions of Scotland’s Fisheries Management Plans.

Fisheries Management Plans (FMPs) are being developed by the Scottish Government in line with the Fisheries Act 2020, and will be published by the end of 2024, as set out in the Joint Fisheries Statement. The 21 Scottish-led FMPs will reflect the urgency of climate mitigation by outlining the policies the Scottish Government is developing to ensure sustainable fisheries. These policies include measures to reduce bycatch and entanglement, such as the Future Catching Policy.

FMPs will also be an important tool for climate adaptation, because FMPs will state the maximum sustainable yield for a stock, where this is available, and include an overview of the health and location of a stock over time. FMPs will be revisited at least every six years, which will support management of our fish stocks as the marine environment changes.

The development of the FMPs will include discussions with our core stakeholder Fisheries Management and Conservation (FMAC) Group. We will also be addressing climate change from a fisheries perspective through the FMAC Climate Change Subgroup and we aim to develop a work programme in partnership with concrete actions for the industry, the Scottish Government, academia and others to take in order to mitigate the impacts fishing has on climate change .

Question reference: S6W-15784

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it will next publish a Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland: statistics report.

Question reference: S6W-15517

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with the Office of the Public Guardian, in light of the reported delays for processing power of attorney submission requests, and whether it anticipates an improvement in processing times in the near future.

This question relates to functions that are the responsibility of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) which the Office of the Public Guardian for Scotland (OPG) is a part of. The SCTS is an independent body corporate and as such it is not directly answerable to the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government has regular engagement with SCTS where a range of issues are discussed. The SCTS capital budget allocation will increase from £8 million in 2022-23 to £12.7m in 2023-24. This will include funding to replace the OPG IT system, which will help improve processing times for PoA applications.

Question reference: S6W-15550

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how many households living in fuel poverty have received information about any support schemes available, broken down by local authority area.

Since 2015, 663,670 households have accessed the Home Energy Scotland advice service in the following local authority areas:

Local authority	Cumulative Distinct Properties
Local authority	2015-2016	2016-2017	2017-2018	2018-2019	2019-2020	2020-2021	2021-2022
Aberdeen City	4,426	4,500	4,518	4,311	4,599	4,098	5,336
Aberdeenshire	5,358	5,187	4,991	5,049	4,964	4,208	6,824
Angus	1,670	2,010	1,919	1,928	1,892	1,828	3,087
Argyll & Bute	2,189	2,172	2,332	2,987	2,652	2,811	3,029
Clackmannanshire	500	699	739	831	884	693	746
Dumfries & Galloway	2,408	2,345	2,941	3,003	3,502	4,133	4,833
Dundee	2,024	2,769	2,543	2,811	2,702	2,859	3,835
East Ayrshire	2,182	1,891	2,209	2,033	2,176	2,552	3,153
East Dunbartonshire	1,140	1,234	1,149	1,074	1,371	1,330	1,611
East Lothian	1,778	1,994	1,954	2,017	1,928	1,482	2,484
East Renfrewshire	1,249	1,255	1,144	1,054	1,395	1,304	1,470
Edinburgh	11,537	10,218	9,429	9,438	9,425	8,869	11,437
Falkirk	1,841	1,967	1,962	1,558	1,821	1,874	2,172
Fife	6,612	6,726	6,669	5,959	5,726	5,110	7,893
Glasgow	6,444	7,099	7,287	6,409	7,850	8,685	8,440
Highland	6,716	7,686	7,568	6,520	5,231	4,931	5,988
Inverclyde	1,204	1,533	1,515	1,108	1,552	1,542	1,307
Midlothian	1,766	1,713	1,629	1,614	1,748	1,366	2,218
Moray	1,648	1,901	2,005	1,739	1,781	1,519	2,442
Nah-Eileanan Siar	1,524	939	928	991	921	864	839
North Ayrshire	2,054	1,717	2,050	2,029	2,342	2,525	3,319
North Lanarkshire	3,660	3,704	3,709	3,375	3,865	4,095	4,500
Orkney	1,570	553	543	473	525	614	806
Perth & Kinross	2,333	2,752	2,677	3,076	3,600	3,293	4,373
Renfrewshire	2,278	2,345	2,102	1,848	2,504	2,315	2,401
Scottish Borders	2,345	2,559	3,823	3,489	2,976	2,407	3,709
Shetland	838	268	667	515	539	696	851
South Ayrshire	2,219	1,974	2,630	2,561	2,571	2,962	3,575
South Lanarkshire	4,392	4,577	4,343	4,090	4,965	4,864	5,690
Stirling	1,033	1,269	1,182	1,280	1,521	1,382	1,674
West Dunbartonshire	1,120	1,247	986	839	1,040	1,079	1122
West Lothian	3,138	3,020	3,321	2,669	2,401	2,238	3,848
Totals	91,196	91,823	93,464	88,678	92,969	90,528	115,012

Since 2017 householders contacting Home Energy Scotland have been asked whether their home is hard to heat or they are worried about their bills. Householders living in or at risk of fuel poverty may also have received advice from other publicly funded advice services. We do not hold sufficiently comprehensive data to enable a comparison with the statutory definition of fuel poverty in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-15508

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it promotes the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of NHS staff local to their area in primary care, and what guidance it provides to NHS boards on (i) attracting and (ii) retaining (A) medical and (B) non-medical staff from local candidate pools.

Responsibility for service delivery, including recruitment and retention of medical and non-medical staff in primary care, sits locally with Health Boards and health and social care partnerships and their GP practices.

The Scottish Government recognises that in order to attract health and social care staff locally, it is important that locally accessible training opportunities are provided at an early stage. The NHS Scotland Youth Academy host regional huddle groups that are focused on raising awareness and attracting young people/parents into health and social care careers.

Question reference: S6W-15617

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of Scotland's preparedness for any future pandemics.

Question reference: S6W-15539

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates all of the recommendations made by Sir Lewis Ritchie in his 2018 report, Independent External View of Skye, Lochalsh and South West Ross Out of Hours Services, will be fully implemented.

Question reference: S6W-15585

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish its proposed new cancer strategy.

Question reference: S6W-15566

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 17 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any additional costs that could be incurred by the hospice sector as a result of the recent NHS Pension Scheme review.

The costs of the NHS Pension Scheme (Scotland) for employers are determined by the quadrennial scheme valuation. The latest valuation, the 2020 valuation, is currently in progress and will determine the new employer contribution rate effective from 1 April 2024. There are many variables which can impact the final result of the valuation, not least the SCAPE discount rate which is still to be confirmed by HM Treasury, therefore it is too early to predict the impact on employer costs at the present time.