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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: S6F-01743

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 January 2023

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to reports that dozens of people living in Scotland with no recourse to public funds are being made homeless and forced to sleep rough on the streets or in cars.

Question reference: S6F-01740

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 January 2023

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-13449

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it has done to ensure that it captures primary healthcare workforce data to inform policy-making and any service changes.

The Scottish Government see good accessible workforce data as a key tool for effective future planning within the Primary Healthcare Workforce. We have a number of ways in which we do this.

In General Practice, Public Health Scotland published workforce planning data through the General Practice Workforce Survey in November 2022 that gives us access to the latest General Practice workforce wte data, this is followed by the General Practice Workforce and Population Survey that gives us accurate headcount data across General Practice, published most recently in December 2022.

Workforce data on general dental practitioners is published by NES biannually, the latest data was published in December 2022.

The Centre for Sustainable Delivery intends to publish a report on workforce planning for the eyecare workforce by end March 2023.

Reporting arrangements are in place to monitor progress of Health and Social Care Partnerships against their Primary Care Improvement Plans (PCIPs). This includes progress on establishing Multi-Disciplinary Teams. Further information is provided in our annual statistical publication that published in March 2022.

Question reference: S6W-13448

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has introduced an annual survey of the general practice workforce.

Question reference: S6W-13459

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many NHS boards used the supplied funding to host an international recruitment lead.

Question reference: S6W-13429

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its commitment to "collate new or better use existing data sources" in relation to secondary breast cancer.

The National Cancer Quality Steering group have overseen the development of a newly proposed QPI on 'Recurrence Following Breast Cancer Treatment' in 2022. This proposal contains 3 parts - i) local recurrence (or new cancer) following conservation surgery; ii) local recurrence (or new cancer) following mastectomy; and iii) any recurrence (or new cancer) in same breast, axilla or distant site after surgical treatment.

This QPI, along with the other revisions have recently been subject to a public engagement exercise and all comments received via this process are due to be discussed at a further Breast Cancer QPI Formal Review meeting later in January prior to final agreement.

Further to this, the Scottish Government continues its dialogue with Public Health Scotland, NHS England and the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership alongside breast cancer specialists and the charity Breast Cancer Now regarding data collection for secondary breast cancer.

Question reference: S6W-13419

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Cancer Research UK report, Cancer in the UK: Deprivation and cancer inequalities in Scotland.

The Scottish Government continues to focus on tackling disparities in deprived areas by ensuring equitable access to cancer services through the actions in our National Cancer Plan. We recognise that the impact from the COVID-19 pandemic may have exacerbated inequalities within screening. A key Ministerial priority is reducing inequalities in access to and uptake of screening programmes. That is why we committed up to £2.45 million to the Screening Inequalities Fund to build a programme of evidence-based, sustainable and scalable projects that tackle inequalities in a systemic way.

Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services (RCDS) have been established across three NHS Boards to date which have a key role in delivering earlier diagnosis and improving patient care. The First Minister recently announced an additional two RCDS’ are being developed.

Additionally, the development of national clinical management pathways through the Scottish Cancer Network will help reduce variation across Scotland, across the entirety of the pathway. In parallel, the first optimal cancer diagnostic pathway, led by the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) was launched in December 2022, and is being funded by £3 million from the Scottish Government’s Detect Cancer Earlier (DCE) Programme.

Question reference: S6W-13458

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has introduced in every NHS board area new (a) national target measures to promote recruitment through apprenticeships and (b) employability programmes, and what the focus of any such programmes has been.

I refer the member to the Scottish Government’s second Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan which committed to offering up to 500 apprenticeship opportunities across NHS Scotland in 2022/23.

NHS Boards deliver a wide range of employability programmes, following the ‘No One Left Behind’ overarching approach which is place-based, needs-led and person-centred. Programmes delivered in 2022-23 have focused on a wide range of groups, including: young people at risk of long-term unemployment, care leavers, veterans and service leavers, and lone parents over the age of 25.

Question reference: S6W-13413

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what work it is doing to support research into the discovery of new antibiotics, non-antibiotic solutions and new combinations of medicines.

The Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office (CSO) supports funding schemes for applied health research across the range of health challenges including prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. Applications are assessed through independent expert review with funding decisions based on the recommendations of independent expert research committees. Currently funded projects include an investigation of a novel class of antibiotic and on targeting antibiotic use.

In addition, CSO contributes financially to a range of National Institute for Health & Care Research funding schemes so these are open to applications from researchers in Scotland. These schemes can also consider applications for research relating to infectious diseases with funding recommendations made following independent expert review.

CSO also invests through NHS Research Scotland in a range of clinical research infrastructure to support Health Boards to host and participate in clinical studies and trials, including an Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Network to support the delivery of studies in this area.

The Scottish Government has also agreed, in principle, to join a new payment and evaluation model for new antimicrobial products, led by National Institute for Health & Care Excellence and NHS England. Frameworks are set to be finalised and in place by end of March 2023, at which point, all four nations will collectively decide on the new products that will be awarded contracts. If this new model is successful, we hope it will help to address supply chain issues by incentivising industry research and development into new antimicrobials.

Question reference: S6W-13445

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what work has been undertaken to model a sustainable cancer workforce by collecting and improving data on the cancer workforce to support sustainable workforce planning.

As committed to in the National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care, we have been undertaking a data collection exercise to inform future decisions about workforce investment. This work is being led by the Scottish Cancer Network, which is engaging with local boards and professional representatives.

A final report, including recommendations, will be provided to the National Oncology Taskforce in the first quarter of 2023. The Taskforce is made up of NHS Board Chief Executives and Medical Directors, and will seek national solutions to ensure the longer term resilience of oncology services in Scotland.