Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-37724

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the number of hours of palliative care that have not been delivered due to staff shortages in the last five years, broken down by (a) year and (b) NHS board.

Referral to specialist palliative care services for people living with serious health conditions and/or those who require specialist palliative care when they are dying is based on individualised needs assessments. As a wide range of specialist and generalist staff in hospitals, care homes, primary care, social care, hospices and the third sector are involved in providing palliative care to individuals and their families, and could all be considered as delivering palliative care, it would be challenging to efficiently and effectively gather this data centrally.

Question reference: S6W-37719

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the average waiting time has been for access to palliative care services in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

This information is not held centrally.

Referral to specialist palliative care services for people living with serious health conditions and/or those who require specialist palliative care when they are dying is based on individualised needs assessments. As a wide range of specialist and generalist staff in hospitals, care homes, primary care, social care, hospices and the third sector are involved in providing palliative care to individuals and their families, and could all be considered as delivering palliative care, it would be challenging to efficiently and effectively gather this data centrally.

Question reference: S6W-37728

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients died while waiting to access specialist palliative care services in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S6W-37720

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients waited longer than the recommended time for palliative care services to begin in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

This information is not held centrally.

Referral to specialist palliative care services for people living with serious health conditions and/or those who require specialist palliative care when they are dying is based on individualised needs assessments. As a wide range of specialist and generalist staff in hospitals, care homes, primary care, social care, hospices and the third sector are involved in providing palliative care to individuals and their families, and could all be considered as delivering palliative care, it would be challenging to efficiently and effectively gather this data centrally.

Question reference: S6W-37823

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 30 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether legislation will be required to deliver an integrated social care and health record, as referenced in its Care in the Digital Age: Delivery Plan 2024-25.

The Scottish Government are committed to delivering a digital health and care record and can confirm that legislation is not required to create such a record. However, Part 2 of the Care Reform (Scotland) Bill, if passed, will create the enabling conditions for success of a digital health and care record by improving information sharing and usage between individuals and organisations within the health and social care system. The Scottish Government is listening to the views of MSPs presented at Stage 2 of the parliamentary process and considering what amendments may be useful in delivering a record that improves outcomes for people in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-37757

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 30 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that £865,000 of bonuses were paid out to Scottish National Investment Bank staff, what its position is on whether this represents value for money.

The approach to pay for staff at the Scottish National Investment Bank aligns with other UK development banks and reflects the need to attract and retain staff with the necessary skills, experience and expertise from the financial services sector.

The Bank now has £786 million of investment commitments and has crowded in over £1.4 billion of third-party co-investment, bringing the total committed by, or alongside the Bank, to over £2.1 billion.

The Bank posted their first operating profit in 2023-24 of £3.2 million and have recently published their annual Impact Report up to the end of December 2024. The Report included these highlights:

207,042 people positively impacted by investments since launch
742 new homes supported since launch
3,091 jobs directly or indirectly supported during 2024
£227 million supply chain spend in Scotland since launch
135,531 tCO2e avoided or removed since launch, equivalent to removing over 72,000 cars from our roads

Considering these positive results, the Bank and the management are delivering value for money.

The criteria for the Long Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) are developed by the Bank’s Remuneration and Nominations Committee for the start of each financial year. This committee is a subset of the Bank’s Board and do not themselves benefit from the LTIP scheme. Ministers review and approve the criteria suggested by the committee but have no role after that and are not involved in agreeing or approving any staff payments.

Once the LTIP criteria are agreed, the Bank’s Remuneration and Nominations Committee is responsible for assessing how the Bank’s staff have performed against them and approve any payments.

The Bank’s Annual Report and Accounts include a Report from the Chair of the Bank’s Remunerations and Nominations Committee which might be of interest (see page 96 onwards).

Question reference: S6W-37759

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 30 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-34497 by Alasdair Allan on 19 February 2025, by what date it will publish the Nature Conservation Order to protect the Parallel Roads of Lochaber Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) at Achnabobane.

Further to the answer to question S6W-34497 on 19 February 2025, drafting of the proposed Nature Conservation Order and associated Land Register of Scotland and General Register of Sasines searches have continued to progress. I expect to receive advice and a recommendation on the proposed NCO imminently.

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-37735

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
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.

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.

Question reference: S6W-37734

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 30 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to reduce waiting times for the commencement of social care services following assessment, and what the current expected waiting time is compared with the targets, broken down by NHS board.

The Scottish Government does not hold full data with regards to waiting times and there are no national targets. However, a maximum wait time of 6 weeks is recommended in critical cases.

Data up to 2022-23 on Social Care eligibility and waiting times is publicly available at Local Authority level via the following weblink:

Social care: eligibility criteria and waiting times Scotland 2022-2023 - gov.scot

Data showing the time waited between referral first contact and completion of a community care assessment service in the final quarter of each financial year can be found in the ‘waiting times new clients’ tab of the Excel workbook which accompanies the publication.

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.

We understand the pressures faced and have invested a record £21.7 billion in health and social care in 2025-26, which includes almost £2.2 billion for social care and integration.

Question reference: S6W-37732

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
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.

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

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