Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-10592

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) domestic and (b) non-domestic students have worked in pulmonary rehabilitation services in each of the last five years.

Pulmonary rehabilitation services are made up of multidisciplinary teams which can include the following professions: physiotherapists, nurses, occupational therapists, pharmacists and doctors.

All healthcare students require practice placements in a number of settings, which can include pulmonary rehabilitation services, but the Scottish Government does not hold data on the distribution of students across these placements as they are managed by individual universities.

However, the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) collects and analyses data relating to the provision of further and higher education in Scotland and a breakdown of the number of overall graduates from each profession over the past 5 years is available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (BIB number 63608). This is broken down by domicile : Scottish, rUK, EU, international.

Question reference: S6W-10588

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) domestic and (b) non-domestic students working in pulmonary rehabilitation services continue to practice after graduating.

Pulmonary rehabilitation services are made up of multidisciplinary teams which can include the following professions: physiotherapists, nurses, occupational therapists, pharmacists and doctors.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the number of graduates from each profession who work in pulmonary rehabilitation services. However, the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) collects and analyses data relating to the provision of further and higher education in Scotland and a breakdown of the number of overall graduates from each profession over the past five years is available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (BIB number 63608). This is broken down by domicile: Scottish, rUK, EU, international.

Question reference: S6W-10713

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to reduce any reported workforce pressures and unsafe staffing levels in the NHS.

The Scottish Government is taking the necessary steps to support NHS staffing capacity. The Scottish Government is continually in contact with all NHS Health Boards to ensure that services have sufficient support to deal with COVID-19, manage other risks and resume planned services as safely and effectively as possible.

Although Staffing levels across NHS Scotland have increased for ten consecutive years, we are fully aware of the challenges that Boards and frontline staff are experiencing. That is why we announced a £1 billion-backed NHS Recovery Plan and a record £300 million of investment last winter to support Health Boards and their staff.

This includes the 1,000 Health Care Support Workers brought in over the last winter and recent successes that has saw c230 nurses from overseas taken up roles within Boards in Scotland and our commitment to invest a record £11 million in the lifetime of this parliament in further domestic and international recruitment.

We are in the final stages of agreeing a stretching target for international recruitment of nurses, midwives and Allied Health Professionals with NHS Scotland Boards for 2022-23.

Question reference: S6W-10580

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to (a) instruct NHS boards not to use private nursing agencies and (b) establish an in-house government agency for such purposes.

It is important that NHS Boards can call on additional staffing when required, in order to deal with the exigencies of the service. It is for NHS Boards to decide when the additional support represented by agency staffing is required but the Scottish Government is clear that Boards should always make use of NHS bank staff as a first choice and the majority of additional staffing needs are met through NHS Scotland’s well established bank system. These act as, de facto, in house agencies. We have over 35,000 nurses registered on NHS Scotland Staff Banks. It would not be appropriate for the Scottish Government to establish a commercial agency. Combined spending on all agency staff (medical and nursing) remains less than 1% of the overall NHS Scotland budget.

Question reference: S6W-10584

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what work it has done to develop and set up a publicly owned nursing agency to assist NHS boards when they have staffing shortages.

It is important that NHS Boards can call on additional staffing when required, in order to deal with the exigencies of the service. It is for NHS Boards to decide when the additional support represented by agency staffing is required but the Scottish Government is clear that Boards should always make use of NHS bank staff as a first choice and the majority of additional staffing needs are met through NHS Scotland’s well established bank system. These act as, de facto, in house agencies. We have over 35,000 nurses registered on NHS Scotland Staff Banks. It would not be appropriate for the Scottish Government to establish a commercial agency. Combined spending on all agency staff (medical and nursing) remains less than 1% of the overall NHS Scotland budget.

Question reference: S6F-01395

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 September 2022

To ask the First Minister what support the Scottish Government will make available to the reported 372 members of staff affected by the Arjowigiins papermill at Stoneywood in Aberdeen entering administration.

Question reference: S6F-01394

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 September 2022

To ask the First Minister what provision the Scottish Government is making to cope with the anticipated pressures on the NHS this winter.

Question reference: S6F-01387

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 September 2022

To ask the First Minister what the response has been from stakeholder groups regarding the Scottish Government’s proposals to introduce a freeze on rent.

Question reference: S6F-01389

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 September 2022

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to reports that police officer numbers dropped to 16,610 at the end of June, below Police Scotland’s “full officer establishment” of 17,234.

Question reference: S6F-01384

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 September 2022

To ask the First Minister how the recent fall in the value of sterling will affect the finances of the Scottish Government.

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