- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government when the evaluation of the Scottish Targeted Enhanced Recruitment Scheme for GPs will be completed, and when the findings will be published.
Answer
The evaluation of the Scottish Targeted Enhanced Recruitment Scheme for GPs or GP Speciality Training bursary (GPST bursary) was led by Scottish Government Scottish Clinical Leadership Fellows in collaboration with NHS Education for Scotland (NES). The evaluation is expected to be completed by Spring 2023. The evaluation was instructed to inform policy consideration and was not conducted on the basis that it would in future become a publication. Nevertheless, once the evaluation is completed, consideration will be given to the publication of the final evaluation report.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the comments from the Chair of the British Medical Association's (BMA) Scottish general practitioners committee that "we are now looking at serious issues of patient safety and staff safety" and that GPs are "exhausted, burnt out and cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel".
Answer
Addressing the wellbeing needs of the Health and Social Care workforce is now even more crucial than it was prior to Covid-19 and is key to both retaining our GP workforce as we press ahead with our commitment to increase the GP population in Scotland by at least 800 additional GPs by 2027.
Staff wellbeing is front and centre of our efforts to support the recovery of health and social care services. If we want our NHS and social care to provide the best care for us, we need to make sure we take care of them. The NHS Recovery Plan highlights that the recovery of staff is intrinsic to our collective ambitions for renewing our NHS, and highlights measures to support the physical, mental and emotional needs of the workforce.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) adults and (b) children have been admitted to hospital with a primary diagnosis of asthma in NHS (i) Greater Glasgow and Clyde and (ii) Ayrshire and Arran in (A) 2011, (B) 2016, (C) 2020, (D) 2021 and (E) 2022 to date.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-11872 on 24 November 2022. 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: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Clare Haughey on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken since the recommendations were made by the National Review of Care Allowances Group.
Answer
The Scottish Government continues to work closely with COSLA to find a way forward on the introduction of a Scottish Recommended Allowance for foster and kinship carers.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many short-term let businesses currently operate in Scotland.
Answer
Since short-term lets as a category have not previously been subject to regulation, there are no official statistics on the size of the sector. However, there are a variety of data sources which can provide indirect evidence of how the sector has evolved in recent years, particularly with the growing prevalence of on-line platforms. This is discussed in Section B of our Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment: Short-term lets: business and regulatory impact assessment - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
Our licensing scheme will provide data on the number, type and location of short-term lets in Scotland. Licensing authorities must maintain a public register of applications for short-term lets licences which they are required to share with the Scottish Government on a quarterly basis. The Scottish Government will amalgamate licensing authority data to produce a national report. This national report on short-term let activity in Scotland will close a significant gap in knowledge that currently exists.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to reports that more than half of people seeking psychological therapy in the NHS Highland area experience waits of more than a year.
Answer
We have been working with NHS Highland on an improvement plan for long-term, sustainable improvement to Psychological Therapies and we appreciate the hard work that the Director of Psychology and supporting staff in NHS Highland are doing to clear backlogs.
We recognise that performance in NHS Highland is not satisfactory. Long waits are unacceptable and we are continuing to offer tailored support to Boards, including NHS Highland, in the form of support from the Scottish Government Principal Psychology Advisor, Quality Improvement Advisor, Data Analyst and policy support. We are monitoring progress on this closely.
To help ensure that services deliver and measure Psychological Therapies in a more standardised way across Scotland, a new National Specification for the delivery of Psychological Therapies and Interventions is currently under development, with a consultation publication date of Winter 2022.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of primary schools are signed up to the Daily Mile scheme, broken down by (a) local authority area and (b) Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation data zones.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold data broken down by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, however, the data is set out below highlighting what percentage of primary schools are signed up to the Daily Mile initiative.
Aberdeen City | 38% |
Aberdeenshire | 40% |
Angus | 53% |
Argyll and Bute | 39% |
City of Edinburgh | 54% |
Clackmannanshire | 76% |
Dumfries and Galloway | 56% |
Dundee City | 86% |
East Ayrshire | 38% |
East Dunbartonshire | 39% |
East Lothian | 44% |
East Renfrewshire | 71% |
Falkirk | 37% |
Fife | 20% |
Glasgow City | 52% |
Highland | 51% |
Inverclyde | 41% |
Midlothian | 53% |
Moray | 29% |
Na h-Eileanan Siar | 86% |
North Ayrshire | 26% |
North Lanarkshire | 53% |
Orkney Islands | 32% |
Perth and Kinross | 50% |
Renfrewshire | 39% |
Scottish Borders | 25% |
Shetland Islands | 50% |
South Ayrshire | 77% |
South Lanarkshire | 23% |
Stirling | 34% |
West Dunbartonshire | 69% |
West Lothian | 52% |
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 25 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6T-00960 by Lorna Slater on 15 November 2022, in relation to the Minister’s statement on the figure relating to Scotland having 25% of Europe’s offshore wind potential that "Ministers became aware of the issue on Tuesday 8 November [2022]", and in light of correspondence indicating that Scottish Government officials were aware of an issue with the 25% figure in October 2020, what investigations it has carried out to understand for what reasons officials were aware that the 25% figure was inaccurate prior to 8 November 2022 and did not alert Ministers, and what the outcomes were of any such investigations.
Answer
We have accepted that the 25% figure for offshore wind potential is dated. The figure has been used widely and was included in a UK Government report in 2013. In relation to the Freedom of Information requests associated with the These Islands report, we recognise that there was correspondence between officials about the use of the statistic in late 2020, and we are now undertaking a further examination of our records, alongside work to provide an updated estimate.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 25 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6T-00960 by Lorna Slater on 15 November 2022, and the Minister’s statement that the figure relating to Scotland having 25% of Europe’s offshore wind potential "was first set out in a 2010 publication, and it is now outdated", what its response is to the suggestion that the 25% figure was also inaccurate in 2010.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-12355 on 8 December 2022. 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: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 25 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 8 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6T-00960 by Lorna Slater on 15 November 2022, and the Minister’s comment that the figure relating to Scotland having 25% of Europe’s offshore wind potential was "outdated", what it has done to (a) review previous data and announcements regarding net zero policies to validate and ensure their accuracy and (b) assess and make any changes to its processes to ensure that such claims are based on evidenced data in the future.
Answer
The Scottish Government has accepted that the 25% figure for offshore wind potential is dated. We are undertaking an examination of our records and have initiated work to quantify Scotland’s offshore wind potential. Once this work has concluded we will consider which legacy documents may need to be updated.