- Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 30 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been on a waiting list for a social care assessment in each year since 2018, also broken down by NHS board.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally for all years requested.
However, weekly data on the number of people waiting for a social care assessment is published monthly by Public Health Scotland at Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs) level. The dashboard can be accessed via the following link:
People requiring a Social Care assessment and Care at Home services
Data is available from 24 October 2022 onwards. Comparisons over time should be made with caution due to a change in definitions implemented in January 2024.
Comparison of figures between HSCPs should also be made with caution and should be done in conjunction with the data quality notes available in the dashboard.
Not all Partnerships were able to provide all data. The data quality section of the dashboard provides more information on each of the partnerships' ability to provide data.
- Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 30 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what the total estimated number of care hours required was, and how many were delivered, in each year since 2018, also broken down by NHS board.
Answer
Data on the total number of care hours planned for delivery is not held centrally.
Data on the number of hours of care at home funded by Health and Social Care Partnerships in Scotland is published annually by Public Health Scotland and can be found via the dashboard on following weblink:
Care at Home Statistics for Scotland: Support and services funded by Health and Social Care Partnerships in Scotland 2023/2024 - Care at Home Statistics for Scotland - Publications - Public Health Scotland
Data are available for 2018-19 to 2023-24.
Data showing the number of hours for people assessed but yet to be delivered, and for number of additional hours of care to be delivered to those already receiving a care package is published by Public Health Scotland at local authority level. This can be found via the dashboard on following weblink:
Overview - People requiring a Social Care assessment and Care at Home services - Care at home - Social and community care - Healthcare system - Public Health Scotland
- Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 30 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many individuals assessed as eligible for social care support have not received their full entitlement in each year since 2018, and what proportion of individuals assessed as needing social care support received only a partial care package in each of the last five years, both broken down by NHS board.
Answer
Under the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 local authorities and Health and Social Care Partnerships have a duty to assess the social care support needs of people and decide, in light of that assessment, to arrange suitable services, if required.
While the Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care support policy in Scotland, it is for local Integration Joint Boards (IJBs) to ensure that social care support services are in place to provide their population with the appropriate support in the right place and at the right time.
The Scottish Government do not hold information centrally in relation to the level of support packages provided.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 30 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-36742 by Paul MacLennan on 25 April 2025, for what reason it does not require Registered Social Landlords to consider immigration status when allocating social housing.
Answer
Local authorities are public bodies and can only place certain people on their allocation schemes or waiting lists for housing, this is set out in legislation, and immigration status is a consideration. There is however no legislation requiring Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) to consider immigration status when allocating social housing. RSLs are independent organisations regulated by the Scottish Housing Regulator who must make their decisions to allocate housing within the law and according to their own policies. However a RSL would discuss rent, affordability, income and benefit entitlement with any prospective tenant, before making an offer.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 16 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 30 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what funding it has provided (a) directly and (b) indirectly to Refugee Festival Scotland in each of the last five years.
Answer
Refugee Festival Scotland is coordinated by Scottish Refugee Council. The Festival did not run in 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Direct Funding
The Scottish Government did not provide any direct funding for Refugee Festival Scotland between 2020-2025.
Indirect Funding
In August 2020, the New Scots partnership secured funding from the EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) for the New Scots Refugee Integration Delivery Project (NSRIDP) to enhance the delivery of the New Scots refugee integration strategy. The project was led by the Scottish Government in partnership with COSLA, Scottish Refugee Council and the UNESCO Chair in Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts at the University of Glasgow.
A total of £6 million of EU funding was secured, for a £6.6 million project running between October 2020 and December 2023, with the Scottish Government required to provide 10% match funding for the project. The project ended following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
During the project lifespan, the following funding was included for Scottish Refugee Council to deliver Refugee Festival Scotland:
- 2020-21: £5,207.80
- 2021-22: £65,085.80
- 2022-23: £63,035.46
- 2023-24: £114,866.51
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 16 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact of utilising home dialysis for patients with chronic kidney disease on (a) alleviating pressure on the NHS, (b) improving economic productivity and (c) delivering better patient outcomes.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all people living in Scotland with long term conditions including Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.
The Cabinet Secretary set out in the NHS Scotland operational improvement plan published on 31 March of this year that we will work to ensure people receive the right care in the right place. There are many benefits that home dialysis can offer to both NHS Boards and patients as to whether home dialysis is appropriate for the patient. However it is a matter for NHS Boards to determine the situations when home dialysis is the best option.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 16 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 30 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-31971 by Gillian Martin on 12 December 2024, and the publication of its Programme for Government 2025-26, for what reason it no longer plans to introduce new primary legislation on drinking water and wastewater in the current parliamentary session.
Answer
The ongoing review of water, wastewater and drainage policy and consideration of legislation is important to equip our water industry with the tools to adapt to the accelerating impacts of climate change. This Government is pressing ahead with the policy development to ensure that proposals can be brought forward at the earliest opportunity, subject to the outcome of the 2026 elections.
- Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 30 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the £100 million of funding allocated to tackle waiting times by (a) NHS board and (b) specialty.
Answer
The funding committed to date in respect of the circa £100 million extra investment to address long waits is shown in Table 1 broken down by health board and in Table 2 broken down by specialty; this is over and above other funding to improve waiting times.
Table 1.
Health Board | Total Cost 25-26 |
NHS Ayrshire & Arran | 5,708,768 |
NHS Borders | 2,550,705 |
NHS Dumfries & Galloway | 772,963 |
NHS Fife | 9,938,616 |
NHS Forth Valley | 3,656,435 |
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde | 24,515,664 |
NHS Golden Jubilee | 2,183,118 |
NHS Grampian | 6,987,204 |
NHS Highland | 10,288,772 |
NHS Lanarkshire | 6,606,479 |
NHS Lothian | 22,379,275 |
NHS Orkney | 165,664 |
NHS Shetland | 422,127 |
NHS Tayside | 9,921,322 |
NHS Western Isles | 71,000 |
Grand Total | 106,168,112 |
Table 2.
Speciality | Total Cost 25-26 |
Cancer | 14,247,846 |
ENT | 9,461,666 |
General Surgery | 5,059,208 |
Gynaecology | 8,879,121 |
Imaging | 21,657,167 |
Imaging Reports | 122,030 |
Ophthalmology | 12,141,912 |
Trauma & Orthopaedics | 25,252,177 |
Peri-Operative Management (Various Specialities) | 60,000 |
Plastics | 3,246,147 |
Urology | 6,040,838 |
Totals | 106,168,112 |
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 16 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 30 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Goldman Sachs report, Carbonimics: Tariffs, deglobalization and the cost of decarbonization, which reportedly estimates that the cost of certain decarbonisation measures could rise as a result of global trade tariffs, and whether it will assess any potential impact on Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises the investment and funding challenges associated with the transition to a net zero and climate adapted economy. Meeting the costs will require close working between the public and private sectors domestically, as well as with our trading partners. Delivering our climate and economic growth ambitions will provide opportunities that support jobs, trade, investment, and growth.
The Carbonomics report notes that promoting local manufacturing (deglobalisation and protectionism) can increase costs for certain clean technologies, thus slowing the overall rate of global decarbonisation. There is therefore a trade-off between fostering domestic industries and ensuring affordable clean energy solutions from abroad.
Global challenges require global solutions; it is through cooperation, not isolation, that the world will tackle the climate crisis. Scotland is committed to a rules-based trade agenda and supports open, fair, and transparent trade. Trade should also be a lever to increase progress towards a green economy, including through increasing trade in environmental goods and services.
- Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Siobhian Brown on 29 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that rape victims who request free court transcripts under the pilot scheme are waiting seven months on average to receive their transcript.
Answer
I am sorry that anyone has had to wait to receive their transcript due to delays in the pilot scheme for transcripts. We have been working closely with Scottish Court and Tribunal Service to address the issues that have been raised in a minority of these applications. SCTS have now written to applicants to provide them with an update on their application and to advise that they will provide regular updates every three weeks. Changes have also been made to their website to provide clearer information about expected timescales and the updates that will be provided.
