- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 17 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much in total has been spent since 2015 on initiatives aimed at reducing delayed discharge in hospitals.
Answer
While the Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care policy in Scotland, the statutory responsibility for delivering, commissioning and providing appropriate social care services at a local level lies with local authorities and Health and Social Care Partnerships. This includes the responsibility to reduce the number of people being delayed in hospital unnecessarily.
Since 2015-16, the Scottish Government has provided additional funding for social care and integration. This annual investment has risen to almost £2.2 billion in the 2025-26 Scottish Budget.
However, decisions on how best to deliver services to local communities are ultimately for Health and Social Care Partnerships and locally elected representatives to make.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 17 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it owns the site of the former Carnbroe Mains Farm at Carnbroe Road, Shirrel, Bellshill, and, if (a) so, what its current plans are for the site and (b) not, for what reason the Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey site register states that it does.
Answer
It has been confirmed via title search that the site of the former Carnbroe Mains Farm at Carnbroe Road, Shirrel, Bellshill is not under the ownership of Scottish Ministers. The site is privately owned by individuals. Steps are being taken to update the Vacant and Derelict Land Register accordingly.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 17 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what the annual cost is of providing methadone treatment.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold this information.
Public Health Scotland publishes a yearly report named the ‘Prescription Cost Analysis’ which outlines annual total expenditure on all prescriptions from community pharmacy in Scotland. British National Formulary chapter 4 includes methadone and buprenorphine (also known by its brand name Buvidal) and the cost of prescribing these drugs can be found on tab 4 of the PCA at Dispenser payments and prescription cost analysis - Financial year 2023 to 2024 - Dispenser payments and prescription cost analysis - Publications - Public Health Scotland.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 17 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what funding it has allocated since 2021 to improve stroke services, and for what reason night-time care reportedly remains unavailable.
Answer
The Scottish Government has provided specific funding to NHS Boards for the development of a thrombectomy service to treat ischaemic stroke: £6.6 million in 2021-22; £7.2 million in 2022-23; £10.1 million in 2023-24 and £12.1 million in 2024-25. 2025-26 thrombectomy funding allocations will exceed the funding provided in 2024-25.
In addition, the Scottish Government has provided funding to support the delivery of the Stroke Improvement Plan and wider stroke improvement work: £182,980 in 2021-22; £174,489 in 2022-23; £185,507 in 2023-24 and £175,150 in 2024-25.
While we know thrombectomy procedures are not currently available overnight, stroke care is available and we expect NHS Boards to provide safe, effective and person-centred care for those who have experienced a stroke, at all times.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 17 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) pharmacists and (b) pharmacy technicians have registered with Healthcare Improvement Scotland as independent clinics since the coming into force of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 (Independent Health Care) Modification Order 2024 on 19 June 2024.
Answer
This information is not held by the Scottish Government however Health Improvement Scotland (HIS) have advised that since pharmacists and pharmacy technicians were added to the definition of an independent clinic on 19 June 2024, four pharmacists led independent clinics are now registered with HIS and five are in the process of registration. There are no pharmacy technician led independent clinics registered or in the process of registration.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 17 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it owns the site of the former hotel at Carrick Castle, and, if (a) so, what its current plans are for the site and (b) not, for what reason the Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey site register states that it does.
Answer
The site of the former hotel at Carrick Castle, Lochgoilhead, is not owned by Scottish Government as per the Vacant and Derelict Land Register. This has been uploaded in error and steps are being taken to update the Register. The site is privately owned.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 17 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many green jobs have been created in Scotland since 2021, broken down by (a) sector, (b) region and (c) whether the funding was from public or private sources.
Answer
It is not possible to assess how many new green jobs have been created by region and sector, however the PwC Green Jobs Barometer shows that 5.6% of all job adverts in Scotland in 2024 were for jobs that have a positive impact on the environment, up from 4.0% in 2023. This helped Scotland once again retain first place among 12 nations and regions of the UK in the overall Green Jobs Barometer, once again showing that Scotland is leading the way in delivering a green jobs revolution and unlocking the tremendous potential that our energy transition and wider net zero journey holds.
In 2022 Scotland’s net zero economy (defined narrowly around low carbon and renewable energy) generated an estimated £13bn turnover and supported an estimated 25,700 direct full-time equivalent jobs. This is the most recent ONS data. Sectoral break downs are available via the ONS. These data are based on a UK-wide survey, and so are subject to a 95% confidence interval of between 23,200 and 28,100 at Scotland level. They are not available by region. These figures will include existing jobs which have transitioned over from outside of low carbon and renewable sectors. Looking at the broader impact of the sector, it is estimated that the renewable energy industry supported over £6.6bn of GVA and over 47,000 FTE employment across the Scottish economy in 2022 (Fraser of Allander Institute, 2025).
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 17 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether any assessment has been made of any long-term economic benefits of replacing methadone with Buvidal for eligible patients.
Answer
The Scottish Government has not made an assessment of any long-term economic benefits of replacing methadone with Buvidal for eligible patients
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 05 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 17 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much Baroness Helena Kennedy KC was paid in her role as chair of the Independent Working Group on Misogyny and Criminal Justice in Scotland.
Answer
In her role as Chair of the Independent Working Group on Misogyny and Criminal Justice in Scotland, Baroness Helena Kennedy KC was paid £109,117.20.
- Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 17 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what data it holds on how many early learning and childcare settings have withdrawn from the funded provider scheme since 2022, and what analysis it has conducted of the reasons for any such withdrawals.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold information on how many providers have withdrawn from offering funded early learning and childcare (ELC), or their reasons for doing so.
Information on the number of private, and third sector childcare services delivering funded ELC in each local authority in September each year is captured through the ELC census. This information is published as part of the Summary Statistics for Schools and is available in Table 1 of the Additional early learning and childcare statistics spreadsheet. It is important to note that there may currently be additional services delivering funded ELC that were not doing so at the time of the Census. Table 1 also includes information on the share of ELC registrations that were in private and third sector services (Partnership Centres) in each year.
Table: Number of Partnership Centres (private and third sector services) providing funded ELC
| | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
Number of ELC Partnership Centres | 985 | 962 | 956 |
Share of registrations in Partnership Centres | 30.3% | 30.5% | 31.0% |
Source: Additional early learning and childcare statistics (as part of the Summary Statistics for Schools) for 2022, 2023 and 2024.
The Care Inspectorate collect data from childminding services regarding the provision of funded ELC places. Figure 23 of the 2023_Early_learning_and_Childcare_Statistics.pdf publication provides data on the number of childminding services approved to deliver funded ELC at the 31 December in each year over the period 2020 to 2023. This reports that 1,220 childminding services were approved to deliver funded ELC as at 31 December 2022. For 31 December 2023 this figure was 1,127.
Since 2021, the Care Inspectorate has given all services who are in the process of cancelling their registration the option to provide them with the reasons why they are cancelling. An analysis of the reasons given by day care of children and childminding services (regardless of whether they offer ELC or not) for cancelling their registration over the period 2021 to 31 December 2023 was included in the Care Inspectorate’s 2023_Early_learning_and_Childcare_Statistics.pdf publication. This information is summarised in Figure 9 of the report.
