- Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 5 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many patients were on waiting lists for physiotherapy (a) in total and (b) for over three months, in each of the last five years.
Answer
The requested statistics are collected and published by Public Health Scotland (PHS).Published statistics on the length of time patients wait for a first outpatient appointment at Allied Health Professional (AHP) led Musculoskeletal (MSK) services are available at: https://publichealthscotland.scot
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 4 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-33259 by Gillian Martin on 11 February 2025, in light of the question focussing on the Scottish Government's policies and strategy, whether it will provide the information requested regarding what assessment it has made of investment and activity levels in the North Sea resulting from a “presumption against new exploration for oil and gas", as set out in its Draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, and whether it plans to remove language around a “presumption against” to encourage investment in the North Sea; if no such assessment has been made, either before or since publishing the draft strategy, whether it will confirm this, and whether it has taken a decision to only develop strategy by reference to "recent developments in the UK Government’s energy policy and court decisions".
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-33259 on 11 February 2025 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: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 February 2025
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 4 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recommendations of the STUC report, Employment and Corporate Practice in Scotland's wind sector, including those regarding trade union membership of the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council.
Answer
The expansion of offshore wind presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create thousands of high-quality jobs. While employment law is reserved, we will continue to use the levers at our disposal to promote fair work practices across the labour market in Scotland.
The STUC is a member of the Scottish Energy Advisory Board and has also been invited to sit on the Offshore Wind Skills Short-Life Working Group being convened by the Scottish Government. This involvement ensures that the STUC can contribute to shaping the development of the offshore wind sector and its alignment with fair work and just transition principles.
We welcome this important research by the Scottish Trades Union Congress and will carefully consider its findings.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 4 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many Police Scotland officers or staff were unavailable for deployment in each month of (a) 2023 and (b) 2024 due to sickness or other physical or mental ill health.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not collect information on officer and police staff absences due to sickness or other physical or mental ill health reasons. The recording of staffing absences are a matter for the Chief Constable under the oversight of the Scottish Police Authority.
The Scottish Government welcomes the Chief Constable’s commitment to police officers and staff wellbeing. Police Scotland provide access to a range of services including, a 24/7 employee assistance programme and direct access to occupational health services to support officers and police staff’s physical and mental wellbeing.
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 4 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many land managers (a) have completed and (b) are yet to complete the approved training course for muirburn.
Answer
The Scottish Government understands from current training providers that 215 individuals have completed the online and practical course. We do not hold information on the number of land managers who are planning to complete the training.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 4 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made towards its commitment in the Respiratory Care Action Plan to improve and simplify access to appropriate diagnostic tests for respiratory conditions and explore the use of high quality, consistent spirometry testing and chest and lung CT scans.
Answer
Improved access to diagnostic tests remains a wider commitment for the Scottish Government and we are working closely with Primary Care colleagues to determine ways to improve spirometry.
The Scottish Government has established a Scottish Expert Advisory Group to support the work of the UK National Screening Committee Lung Task Group and inform the implementation of a targeted lung cancer screening programme for Scotland.
Introducing a new screening programme such as Chest and Lung CT scanning is inherently complex, and the required evidence and information must be fully developed before implementation begins. This is likely to take several years for each UK nation.
The Scottish Government-funded LungScot study, led by the University of Edinburgh, provided further information on the feasibility of lung screening and the influences of sociodemographic and other patient characteristics. The Scottish Expert Advisory Group is incorporating these findings into their business case which will inform the next steps towards implementation.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 4 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how it measures success of the implementation of the Respiratory Care Action Plan, and what impact has been achieved by the plan.
Answer
We recognise the importance of having access to meaningful data in relation to respiratory services and assessing the impact of the Respiratory Care Action Plan.
We work with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure that the current programmes for improving respiratory care remain relevant and make an impact. We will continue to monitor progress through various groups, including via our third sector partners, to determine next steps for implementing the Plan.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 4 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release of 1 December 2017, 800 more GPs for Scotland, and the commitment set out in it that it would "aim to increase the number of GPs in Scotland by at least 800 over the next decade", how many GPs have been permanently recruited to date, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
NHS Education Scotland (NES) are responsible for the publication of GP data in Scotland.
The most recent data from 30 September 2024 that was published on 3 December 2024 includes a breakdown of GP numbers by Health Board and can be found here. NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 4 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made towards its commitment in the Respiratory Care Action Plan to ensure that people with respiratory conditions have access to tools, resources and information that support them to manage their own condition.
Answer
We have recently published the Quality Prescribing Guide for Improvement that aims to keep people at the centre of their treatment, and promote safe, evidenced based, sustainable prescribing.
The guide was developed by a wide range of stakeholders including experts in the field and lived experiences. The guide is intended to support clinicians across the multidisciplinary team and people living with respiratory conditions in shared decision-making and the effective use of medicines and offers practical advice and options for tailoring care to the needs and preferences of individuals
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 4 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release of 1 December 2017, 800 more GPs for Scotland, and the commitment set out in it that it would "aim to increase the number of GPs in Scotland by at least 800 over the next decade", how many GPs each NHS board will receive as a result of this.
Answer
The Scottish Government commitment to increase the number of GPs by 800 does not include commitments at Health Board level.
NHS Education of Scotland (NES) are responsible for the publication of GP workforce data. The most recent data including a breakdown of GP numbers by Health Board can be found here. NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence