Questions and answers

Question reference: S6F-01013

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 April 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-07936

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the letter from the Water Industry Commission to Scottish Water of 3 February 2022 regarding water charges for 2022-23, what its position is on any action being taken by the Water Industry Commission on the matters raised in the letter that may result in Scottish Water raising water charges above the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) for 2023-24, in light of the potential impact that this may have in increasing costs for households while forecasts of CPI inflation remain high.

Scottish Water’s Board is responsible for setting charge levels with approval from the Water Industry Commission for Scotland. Scottish Water takes both maintaining critical services, and affordability, into account when setting charges.

The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting people facing issues paying their water bills. The maximum discount for the water charges reduction scheme (available to households which are in receipt of council tax reduction) has increased to 35% - up from 25% and I refer the member to the answer to S6W-06329 on 10 March 2022 for further information on measures to assist domestic customers.

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

Question reference: S6W-07968

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 08 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to publish data on performance against clinical prioritisation, to enable greater transparency on how NHS boards manage waiting lists, and if this is the case, when it will do so.

We are committed to being open and transparent about data on waiting times performance, including against the Clinical Prioritisation Framework, that was developed to provide guidance to all NHS Boards around prioritising their planned care waiting lists throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Data that is published on Waiting Times performance is subject to continual review, development and quality assurance by PHS, the holders of this data.

PHS plans to publish statistics on Clinical Prioritisation for the first time early September 2022, this will be specific to patients waiting for treatment as an inpatient or day case who are covered by the Treatment Time Guarantee.

PHS, with support from the Scottish Government, will continue to work with NHS Boards to improve the completeness and quality of the data to ensure the data is sufficiently robust to be released as official statistics on the scheduled date.

Question reference: S6W-07935

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether Scottish Water is under any regulatory obligation from the 2021-27 final determination of charges to raise its charges to the limit of the average charge cap set for the period.

As required under the Water Industry (Scotland) Act 2002, the scheme of charges will be set by Scottish Water’s Board, with approval from the independent economic regulator the Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS). The scheme is subject to the cap across the 2021-27 period (CPI+2%) imposed by WICS’s Final Determination of charges and must be consistent with meeting the Ministerial Objectives.

Question reference: S6W-07862

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made on the work to make an informed policy decision on the contribution of North Sea production to the global climate emergency and to Scotland’s economy, security and wellbeing, as outlined in the Scottish Government and Scottish Green Party Shared Policy Programme, and at what specific stage this work is currently at.

As part of the Bute House Agreement with the Scottish Green Party, the Scottish Government has committed to undertaking a Programme of Work and analysis to better understand our energy requirements as we transition to net zero and how this aligns with our climate change targets and the goal of the Paris agreement to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels. This work is detailed in the Scottish Government’s response to question S6W-03953 on 25 October 2021.

The Programme of Work’s evidence base and some of its initial outputs will feature in the Scottish Government’s draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan (ESJTP) which will be published in Autumn 2022. The ESJTP will consider the whole energy system as part of the strategy and indicate the change required in electricity generation, heat, transport and all energy demand across Scotland.

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

Question reference: S6W-07852

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government on how many occasions it has met its cancer treatment time guarantee in each year since 2012.

Information on NHS Scotland performance against the 62 and 31-day standards has been published by Public Health Scotland (PHS).

Information on NHS Scotland performance from 2012 to Q1 2020 is available on the Information Services Division site, which has since become part of PHS, located here: Latest Publications | ISD Scotland

Public Health Scotland has since June 2020 published quarterly breakdowns, located here: Publications - Public Health Scotland

Question reference: S6W-08000

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 25 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-07650 by Mairi Gougeon on 4 April 2022, what steps were taken to ensure that any required agricultural expertise was represented on the board of South of Scotland Enterprise.

South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE) advertised for four new Board members in Autumn 2021. Applicants were asked to demonstrate evidence of their skills, knowledge and experience in one of three areas: land based industries; governance/strategic management; or digital transformation. On 15 February 2022, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy announced the appointments, with two of the successful candidates having extensive expertise in land based industries. In addition, two existing members of the Board have knowledge of agricultural matters.

Question reference: S6W-07849

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 25 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have accessed alcohol-related rehabilitation services in each year since 1999.

The Scottish Government only holds this information from 2019/20 onwards.

In November 2021, we published a report which presented the findings of a survey of the 20 residential rehabilitation providers across Scotland which were identified in a previous mapping exercise. This report contained data on the numbers of people accessing residential rehabilitation for problem alcohol use in 2019/20 and 2020/21. For 2019/20, providers reported a total of 1,601 placements in residential rehabilitation across Scotland, of which 51% were primarily for alcohol. For 2020/21, providers reported a total of 1,164 placements, of which 52% were primarily for alcohol. This data refers to all placements from all funding sources.

We have tasked Public Health Scotland with producing a quarterly report on statutory funded placements. The first of these reports published in November 2021 found that between 1st April 2021 and 30th September 2021 there were a total of 96 (45%) placements for problem alcohol use.

The next report will be published on 26 April 2022 and will cover the period of October to December 2021.

Question reference: S6W-07864

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the findings of the work to make an informed policy decision on the contribution of North Sea production to the global climate emergency and to Scotland’s economy, security and wellbeing, as outlined in the Scottish Government and Scottish Green Party Shared Policy Programme, will be published.

Question reference: S6W-07793

Asked by: Emma Roddick, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 25 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether ministers have visited the Penumbra Edinburgh Crisis Centre, and whether it has any plans to support similar services being established across Scotland to bridge the gap between emergency and community mental health care.

The integration of care across emergency and community mental health services is vital to ensure that anyone in crisis receives continuous, compassionate care.

At the end of last year, the Government appointed the former chief executive of Penumbra, Nigel Henderson, as National Lead for suicidal crisis responses, with responsibility for driving forward the National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group (NSPLG)’s recommendations on suicidal crisis responses. The NSPLG’s recommendations did not prescribe a fixed model for crisis support, but highlighted the need for people in crisis to receive Time, Space and Compassion wherever they present – be that in statutory services, front line services, and across our communities.

In taking forward this work, the National Lead has established an action group, which includes a range of statutory and third sector partners, including Penumbra; he is also engaging with statutory partners and communities. This engagement is focussed on identifying models of good practice (including pathways between services), that reflect the diversity of people and places in Scotland, This learning will inform a Scotland wide programme to further embed compassionate crisis responses right across our communities.

The Edinburgh crisis centre is an example of an established crisis support service. There are other community based services, such as the recently established Neuk in Perth. A Ministerial visit has not taken place to either service, however good engagement is happening at official level to ensure learning is shared.

Finally, the Government’s national Distress Brief Intervention programme is a world-leading example where compassionate support is provided for people in distress within their communities; with direct referrals from emergency services, where appropriate. The Government’s investment in alternatives to emergency care will also ensure that every GP practice has access to a mental health and wellbeing service by 2026, with 1,000 additional roles.

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