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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-00842

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 February 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 February 2022

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the report by Andrew Webster QC into the handling by Scottish Borders Council of school assault allegations, in particular those relating to the abuse of vulnerable children in the Tweeddale Support Unit.

Question reference: S6F-00832

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 21 February 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 February 2022

To ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet.

Question reference: S6F-00816

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 February 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 February 2022

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to the recent report on the Scottish Crofting Commission.

Question reference: S6F-00815

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 21 February 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 February 2022

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on the reported view from Common Weal that action is needed to address weaknesses in social care provision due to it being in a critical state, not fit for purpose, underfunded, rationed, fragmented, centralised and risk averse.

Question reference: S6F-00809

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 21 February 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 February 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-00808

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 February 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 February 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-06163

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding renal cancer, what the average waiting time has been (a) for diagnosis and (b) from diagnosis to the start of treatment, in each year from 2017.

The exact data requested is not held. The Cancer Waiting Times data does not report on average waits, however median waits are reported. The information below is for urological cancers and is provided both for 62-day and 31-day standard. The 62-day standard refers to ‘urgent’ referrals only and waiting times are from ‘urgent’ referral to the start of their first treatment for a newly diagnosed cancer. The 31-day standard is for ‘all’ referrals and waiting times are from the decision to treat to the start of their first treatment for a newly diagnosed cancer. Please note: the waiting times for 62-day and 31-day standards are not comparable as both standards refer to different cohorts of patients.

The Median length of wait between referral to first treatment (62-day standard) for urology cancers in 2017 was 49 days, 47 days in 2018, 45 days in 2019, 39 days in 2020 and 44 days in 2021.

The Median length of wait between decision to treat and first treatment (31-day standard) for urology cancers in 2017 was 12 days, 13 days in 2018, 11 days in 2019, 8 days in 2020 and 11 in 2021.

To note the median values for the year 2021 are based on the data that has already been published i.e. data for the months of January- September 2021.

Question reference: S6W-06124

Asked by: Colin Beattie, MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review and reconsider the Control of Entry arrangements for community pharmacy services, in light of reported calls that this may provide a fairer, equal and transparent process for applicants whereby local interests and needs are prioritised over competitor interests.

The Scottish Government is committed to developing and implementing within this parliamentary term a revised contracting framework for community pharmacy NHS pharmaceutical services, underpinned by a review of existing Control of Entry, funding arrangement and introduction of a Performers List for the Pharmacy profession, as outlined in Achieving excellence in pharmaceutical care: a strategy for Scotland strategy.

Any future amendments to the regulations will uphold the necessity for successful applications to be granted around set criteria. These include neighbourhood requirements, the adequacy of existing pharmaceutical services in an area (from registered pharmacy premises), and the necessity or desirability of to secure adequate pharmaceutical services in an area.

Question reference: S6W-06122

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many diagnostic procedures were carried out annually on average in the five years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and how many procedures it anticipates will be carried out in total in each year of the NHS Recovery Plan.

Information on the number of diagnostic procedures performed in NHS Scotland is available on the Public Health Scotland website and can be found in the Acute Hospitals and Finance Cost Books . However, the activity data published for radiology in the Finance Cost Books is reported with elective and emergency totals combined, which does not allow us to report on elective diagnostics activity disaggregated. Further, the Acute Hospitals publication only publishes activity data on particular endoscopy tests, therefore it cannot give us a complete picture for endoscopy activity. Data on the ongoing waits of diagnostic procedures can be found in the PHS Diagnostics publication .

We have provided £29 million to support an increase in diagnostic procedures by 78,000 during the current year and expect diagnostic capacity to increase by at least 90,000 procedures per year by the end of the NHS Recovery Plan in 2025/26. This equates to 29,000 additional CT scans, 24,000 MRI scans and 25,000 additional endoscopy procedures by the end of the Plan.

Question reference: S6W-06129

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) average and (b) longest waiting time has been for patients requiring a colposcopy, following a routine cervical cancer screening exam, in each year since 2018 to date, also broken down by NHS board.