- Asked by: Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
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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 information it has regarding the percentage of staff in (a) the NHS, (b) care homes and (c) childcare settings who have received the winter 2024-25 influenza vaccine.
Answer
The publicly available data on NHS workers who have received the flu vaccine is available via Public Health Scotland’s (PHS) surveillance website PHS Vaccination Surveillance.
This is detailed as 'All Healthcare Workers' and uptake currently sits at 35.6% as of 26 January 2025.
The uptake for NHS, care home and childcare staff are not further categorised, therefore that data is not available.
PHS’s vaccination surveillance dashboard is updated monthly.
- 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 whether it has plans to trial the “Right Care, Right Person” scheme that has reportedly seen officer capacity increase in Merseyside police, and, if it will not trial this scheme, for what reason.
Answer
The Scottish Government has no plans to implement the ‘Right Care, Right Place’ model. Instead we are working with our partners, including Police Scotland, through the Mental Health Unscheduled Care Network to ensure that anyone in need of mental health care and support gets the right care, in the right place, at the right time, regardless of where or what time of day they present – there should be No Wrong Door. Through this work, we have supported Police Scotland with:
- Directing calls received by Police Scotland’s C3 Division to the NHS 24 Mental Health Hub where they have identified that the caller is requiring mental health support, thereby avoiding the need to deploy officers; and
- accessing 24/7 clinical advice on the best onward care outcomes for the individual when police officers are supporting an individual on scene, thereby avoiding the need to attend A&E unless that is where the individual needs to be cared for.
We continue to build on these developments. On 12 February the Scottish Government published the Framework for Collaboration and the Partnership Delivery Group’s Collaborative Commitments plan, which outline the principles and actions which will contribute to our aim that resources are deployed appropriately and that unnecessary demand on officers is reduced.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 4 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the ScotWind leasing round, how many jobs have been created to date as a result; how many of these jobs are based in Scotland; how it monitors the number and location of jobs created through ScotWind projects, and what assessment it has made of the effectiveness of any such monitoring mechanisms.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-33255 on 23 January 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: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 4 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding what impact adopting the BE FAST (balance, eyes, face, arms, speech, time) test could have on the number of additional strokes that could be detected quicker annually.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of additional strokes that could be detected by adopting BE FAST.
The Scottish Government’s position is that the current evidence base does not support a move to the use of BE FAST, and this is supported by Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland and Stroke Association, however we will regularly review this position based on the best available evidence.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 4 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what financial support it has given to the Aberdeen Energy Transition Zone in each of the last three financial years.
Answer
A breakdown of the funding support provided by the Scottish Government to the Energy Transition Zone project over the past three financial years is provided in the following table.
| 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | Total |
Energy Transition Fund | £9,000,000 | £5,541,000 | £2,505,000 | £17,046,000 |
Just Transition Fund - National Energy Skills Accelerator | £39,960 | £960,040 | Nil | £1,000,000 |
Just Transition Fund - Energy Transition Skills Hub | £1,180,000 | £470,000 | £2,850,000 | £4,500,000 |
Just Transition Fund - Supply Chain Pathway and Energy Transition Challenge Fund | £1,280,000 | £2,840,000 | £2,840,000 | £6,960,000 |
Total | £11,499,960 | £9,811,040 | £8,195,000 | £29,506,000 |
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 4 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding the employment rights of offshore oil and gas workers in Scotland.
Answer
Employment and industrial relations legislation is reserved to the UK Parliament. While this remains the case, the Scottish Government will continue to use our Fair Work policy to drive up labour market standards for workers across the Scottish labour market. There have been no recent discussions with the UK Government specifically regarding the employment rights of offshore oil and gas workers in Scotland.
- 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 will report on the impact of the Respiratory Care Action Plan at the end of the strategy’s life span.
Answer
The Respiratory Care Action Plan has another year left in its current lifespan. We will consider how best to report on its impact as it continues into 2026.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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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 whether it will make marine litter that is collected by communities cleaning up shorelines exempt from Scottish Landfill Tax.
Answer
The Scottish Landfill Tax is a cornerstone of Scotland’s Zero Waste Plan, encouraging the prevention, reuse and recycling of waste and helping keep valuable resources circulating in the Scottish economy. Exemptions are available in several circumstances including when clearing up illegally or improperly deposited material.
The Scottish Landfill Tax (Exemption Certificates) Order 2015 states that exemption certificates are available to the following bodies/persons:
- waste regulators, in the case of Scotland this is SEPA;
- waste collection authorities, such as a local government council or local authority; or
- any other body or person, insofar as the body or person exercises waste removal powers under any other enactment.
Community groups can work with any of these eligible bodies to apply for an exemption certificate for collected marine litter provided they:
- exhaust all avenues to identify and retrieve costs from the responsible person who made the original unauthorised disposal; and
- are satisfied that there are no practical alternatives to landfill for the material.
The details of the application can be provided by the community group, as per the requirements detailed on the Revenue Scotland website, and emailed to Revenue Scotland by a partnered eligible body.
- 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 work in partnership with key stakeholders including the third sector and the Digital Health and Care Institute (DHI) to ensure that people with respiratory conditions have access to tools, resources and information that support them to manage their own condition.
Answer
We continue to support a digital first, but not digital only approach across many of our respiratory programmes. Recommendations within the pulmonary rehab work have suggested widening access to online self-management tools and this is something we are actively considering.
NHS Inform provides information about respiratory conditions and other long-term conditions. The service offers information, advice and self-management tools on how to live well with their condition as well as including links to additional support and information provided by third sector partners.
Our updated Quality Prescribing Guide for Improvement keeps the person with respiratory conditions at the centre of their treatment and disease management and offers practical advice and options for tailoring care to the needs and preferences of individuals. A core component of this has been to create user friendly digital tools for both people living with lung conditions and healthcare professionals.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 4 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many train (a) arrivals and (b) departures there have been at (i) Cameron Bridge and (ii) Leven rail station each month since June 2024.
Answer
This is a matter for ScotRail as the train operating company. The Member may wish to contact ScotRail directly for these details.