- Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 2 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government when the next edition of the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey will be published.
Answer
The next set of results for the SCJS will be published in Autumn 2023. These results will cover a full years' worth of interviews through to December 2022.
Along with the other large household surveys that rely on face-to-face interviews, the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) was suspended in March 2020 to restrict social contact during the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, no SCJS interviews were conducted during 2020-21 and no report will be published for that year. In recognition of the evidence gap opened up by the suspension, the Scottish Government introduced the Scottish Victimisation Telephone Survey as a discrete and additional collection to the SCJS. This asked people about their experiences and perceptions of crime, safety and policing during the COVID-19 pandemic, with findings available at: Coronavirus (COVID-19): Scottish Victimisation Telephone Survey 2020 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . Fieldwork for the SCJS resumed in late 2021.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 2 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what support it will provide to the occupational therapy workforce, in light of a proposed registration fee increase of 20%.
Answer
As stated in the answer to question S6W-17851 on 31 May 2023 the Scottish Government has no role in setting the levels or assessing the impact on individuals of registration fees for the regulated health professions. These functions are within the statutory authority of the governing councils of the independent UK regulators, including the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
The Scottish Government recognises the unwelcome additional burden that higher fees will place on registrants, especially during the current financial climate. However, we acknowledge that the HCPC - as a registrant-funded independent regulator - is facing the same cost pressures as other organisations, including other regulators that have also raised their fees.
Occupational Therapy is one of the professions included in the Scottish Government's Agenda for Change (AfC). Following acceptance by all Unions, the 2023-24 Pay Deal was implemented, with both uplift and additional payment, in the April pay run. This pay deal came after Agenda for Change took difficult decisions to find this money within the health budget, confirming its commitment to supporting AfC staff, particularly during a cost of living crisis.
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
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 2 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) core beds there are and (b) additional
beds were brought in for COVID-19, across NHS Ayrshire and Arran, broken down
by NHS facility.
Answer
Public Health Scotland publish Acute hospital activity and NHS beds information which shows the number of available staffed beds and percentage occupancy (Table 4) by financial year (2012-13 to 2021-22) and by quarter (2020 Q2 to 2022 Q1), by NHS Board and hospital location. In addition, PHS produce a quarterly publication which provides similar beds information up to and including the quarter ending 30 September 2022. Data for the quarter ending 31 December 2022 was published on 30 May 2023. The PHS statistics do not provide specific information on COVID beds. NHS Boards reconfigured parts of hospitals during the pandemic, with, in particular, significant increases in critical care capacity, and this should be taken in to account when interpreting the annual bed statistics.
Public Health Scotland also publish statistics on the number of patients in hospital with COVID-19 which is available in the Weekly national respiratory infection and COVID-19 statistical report with Health Board level data available through the Open Data Platform: COVID-19 Statistical Data in Scotland - Daily Case Trends by Health Board - Scottish Health and Social Care Open Data (nhs.scot) . Until 7 May 2023, this also included the number of patients with COVID-19 in ICU.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Siobhian Brown on 2 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the Scottish Civil Justice Council’s review of court rules, which was scheduled for completion by 31 March 2023, meets the requirements of decision VII/8s of the Aarhus Convention’s Meeting of Parties, that "the allocation of costs in all court procedures subject to article 9, including private nuisance claims, is fair and equitable and not prohibitively expensive".
Answer
The Scottish Civil Justice Council is a body independent of the Scottish Government, which has responsibility for drafting rules of procedure for the civil courts. We will await the outcome of the current review before taking a view on whether the requirements of Article 9(4) of the Aarhus Convention and findings of the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee in Decision VII/8s of October 2021 are addressed.
- Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Siobhian Brown on 2 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, ahead of the scheduled end in September 2023 of its £5 million funding that it announced in July 2021 to support the reduction of waiting lists in support services for women and girls affected by gender-based violence, and in light of claims by Fife Rape and Sexual Assault Centre, in its briefing document for MSPs, that the end of this funding would lead to increases in its waiting list and the loss of approximately 60 client appointments each week, whether it plans to extend this funding beyond the currently scheduled end date.
Answer
We recognise the vital work that services like Fife Rape and Sexual Assault Centre do day in, day out to support women and girls. We also understand the difficult circumstances that the Covid pandemic and the cost of living crisis continues to put on front line services.
The 100 Days (Covid emergency) funding provided frontline services for women and girls affected by gender-based violence with an additional £5 million to deal with additional pressures that occurred during the pandemic. Rape Crisis Scotland was awarded £2,250,000 over two years, for network members. We are working with Rape Crisis Scotland to ensure that there is an extension to their 100 days funding beyond September 2023 until the end of this financial year. We are also supporting them beyond this bridge funding to diversify their funding base.
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 19 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 2 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is in relation to reports that Forestry and Land Scotland is extending parking charges to more forests throughout Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Government is aware of the planned roll out of car park charges at a number of additional Forestry and Land Scotland recreation car parks as part of the agency’s sustainable forest and visitor management strategy. Equality mitigations already planned include keeping tariffs low, money-saving annual parking passes and free parking for Blue Badge holders. However, the Scottish Government is in discussion with Forestry and Land Scotland to see what further mitigations can be put in place to further reduce the impact on families at this time.
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 2 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the findings in the Maternal Mental Health Alliance report, Specialist perinatal mental health care in the UK 2023, that (a) six NHS boards predicted that there would be an underspend in their perinatal mental health budgets for 2022-23 due to recruitment issues and (b) 92% of NHS boards in Scotland reported underspends in their perinatal mental health budgets between 2020 and 2022.
Answer
We welcome the focus on perinatal support in the report from the Maternal Mental Health Alliance. Development of perinatal mental health services is a key priority for the Scottish Government to improve the wellbeing and experiences of women, infants and families.
Since 2019, our investment of over £26 million has delivered a substantial increase in statutory and third sector services across Scotland leading to:
o 11 new and 3 expanded Community Perinatal Mental Health Teams
o 10 new and 4 in development Infant Mental Health Services
o 9 new and 1 expanded Maternity and Neonatal Psychological Intervention Services
During this period of significant expansion, some NHS Boards have understandably experienced a number of challenges including around recruitment. The Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Service Development Adviser is regularly in contact with identified NHS leads to help identify and tackle such issues; and we continue to work closely with the Network to look at additional ways to put support in place.
The Scottish Government is committed to continuing to work with NHS boards to support them in managing their allocations and the successful implementation of perinatal and infant mental health services.
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 2 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-11581 by Kevin Stewart on 28 October 2022, when it will announce the next steps for the continued development and implementation of perinatal and infant mental health services, further to the disbanding of the Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Programme Board in March 2023.
Answer
The Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Programme Board concluded as planned in March 2023, having overseen the development of a range of high quality statutory services and increase in third sector provision across Scotland.
Implementation continues with an interim Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Advisory Group supporting further development of services in a sustainable manner, working alongside the Perinatal Mental Health Network Scotland.
New oversight arrangements are under development and will be announced in due course. We will ensure that the voices and experiences of women, infants and their families remain at the heart of this work.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 2 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government when (a) its representatives and (b) the Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants' Rights next plan(s) to meet SafeDeposits Scotland, either virtually or in person.
Answer
Scottish Government officials will next meet with SafeDeposits Scotland on Thursday 14 September for their 6 monthly review meeting. There are currently no plans for myself to meet with SafeDeposits Scotland.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 1 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of Ofcom’s latest Connected Nations update, whether it will provide an update on superfast broadband roll-out in Orkney.
Answer
The investment of over £400 million that we are making through the R100 North contract is directly benefitting communities on the Orkney Islands. Building on the seven new subsea fibre optic cables connecting islands across Orkney concluded last year, with terrestrial build now underway to connect over 3,300 premises across the local authority area to full-fibre, Gigabit-capable connectivity.
Of course, mobile connectivity is just as vital as broadband connectivity for island communities, and the four masts we have delivered in Orkney through the S4GI programme will greatly extend 4G coverage and enable superfast connectivity for many.
