Chamber and committees

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: S6W-03977

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 11 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many NHS staff are administering COVID-19 booster jabs, and how this compares with the initial vaccination programme.

We issued standing instructions to health boards as part of the delivery of phase 1 of the Covid-19 vaccinations programme (broadly December 2020 – August 2021), requiring health boards to build a capacity to deploy up to 1,400 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) vaccinators in any given week, subject to scheduling of appointments and supply. We maintain this standing instruction for the current winter seasonal Flu and Covid-19 booster programme which requires up to 1,400 WTE vaccinators to be in place for deployment. Deployment in any given week is determined in coordination with the scheduling of appointments and clinics. The substantive difference between phase 1 and the winter programme is that we co-administer flu and Covid-19 boosters, which allows Boards to administer vaccinations at significantly higher rates. We continue to monitor workforce deployment capacity on a weekly basis through the collation of management information.

Question reference: S6W-03898

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 11 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many additional nursing students it believes will be needed to resolve the reported staffing issues, and how much it believes it will cost to fill these places.

Growing our nursing workforce is crucial and we have steadily increased places on undergraduate nursing courses over 9 consecutive years. Each year we undertake a robust nursing student intakes planning process to determine the target number of nursing students to which Scottish universities should recruit to meet future nursing workforce demands. The process involves significant input from key stakeholders from across the health and education sectors, and uses detailed modelling of current and projected staff and student numbers, including workforce supply and demand for 3-5 years hence, as well as anticipated key service drivers, in coming to a decision.

To address more immediate staffing pressures, the NHS Recovery Plan, which was published on 25 August 2021, commits more than £1 billion of targeted investment for the recovery and renewal of our health service. A key requirement to delivering the Recovery Plan is having the right workforce in place at the right time and it is therefore key that we now develop a new supporting workforce strategy to enable us to do this. We will therefore publish a National Workforce Strategy by the end of this year, which supports remobilisation, recovery and renewal of Health and Social Care Services.

Question reference: S6W-03896

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 11 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the cost is of training a nursing student.

The Scottish Government package of support for Scottish student nurses and midwives is currently at its highest level. The average cost of training a nursing student, over three years of full-time university education, is £55,000. This comprises:

Teaching grant and tuition fee payments to the university;
£10,000 non-means tested, non-repayable annual bursary payments to the student;
travel costs;
uniform costs;
health checks;
disclosure checks;
and a range of additional funding students can also apply for, such as Dependant’s Allowance, Single Parent’s Allowance, Childcare Allowance for Parents and Disabled Students’ Allowance.

Question reference: S6W-03778

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 11 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when it will update the guidance for international school and educational visits, which was due to be reviewed at the end of August 2021, in order to bring it in line with the current framework for international travel.

Question reference: S6W-04333

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 November 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answer expected on 24 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body when it last met with trade unions representing Scottish Parliamentary Service and MSP staff.

Question reference: S6W-04332

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 November 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answer expected on 24 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what it considers to be its obligations under the Fair Work Convention with regards to staff employed directly by MSPs.

Question reference: S6O-00372

Asked by: Emma Roddick, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the anticipated timescale for the publication of the independent public inquiry into the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Question reference: S6O-00380

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to encourage the public to travel by bus, in light of reports that the recent Transport Scotland COVID-19 transport trends indicate that concessionary bus travel is down by 35% on pre-pandemic levels.

Question reference: S6O-00374

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 November 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the reported findings in The Lancet that having two doses of a vaccine does not prevent the transmission of COVID-19, and how this may impact its COVID passport scheme.

Question reference: S6O-00384

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve ferry services to island communities.