- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 25 April 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what support it is putting in place for any patients with diabetes who have taken part in a hybrid closed loop system study and have recently been informed that they must revert to their previous care once the study has completed, due to a lack of funding.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that everyone living with diabetes is able to access the care that they need to live their lives well. This includes increasing access to diabetes technologies.
Between 2016 and 2022, we invested £29.6 million specifically to support the increased provision of diabetes technologies. It is important to note that this funding is in addition to baseline funding for NHS Boards.
We continue to work closely with Diabetes Managed Clinical Networks, including NHS Lothian, to identify and resolve any issues raised by NHS Boards regarding accessing diabetes technologies.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 25 April 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided to each NHS board in each of the last three years to support an increase in the provision of insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors.
Answer
In the last three years, the Scottish Government has invested £19.6 million of additional funding specifically to increase the provision of insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors. This funding consisted of £5.1 million in 2020 to 2021 and £14.5 million in 2021 to 2022. It was allocated based on the percentage of patients with Type 1 diabetes within each given NHS Board area relative to the Scottish population. This data was taken from the Scottish Diabetes Survey 2020, which can be found here: https://www.diabetesinscotland.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Diabetes-Scottish-Diabetes-Survey-2020.pdf .
The £5.1 million of additional funding in 2020 to 2021 was allocated as per the breakdown below:
Health Board | Total funding |
NHS Ayrshire & Arran | £308,700 |
NHS Borders | £91,325 |
NHS Dumfries & Galloway | £123,625 |
NHS Fife | £293,550 |
NHS Forth Valley | £252,725 |
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde | £872,025 |
NHS Grampian | £461,050 |
NHS Highland | £279,975 |
NHS Lanarkshire | £581,100 |
NHS Lothian | £663,275 |
NHS Orkney | £17,150 |
NHS Shetland | £19,675 |
NHS Tayside | £298,600 |
NHS Western Isles | £24,725 |
Total excluding VAT | £4,287,500 |
Total including VAT | £5,145,000 |
The £14.5 million of additional funding in 2021 to 2022 was allocated as per breakdown below:
Health Board | Total funding |
NHS Ayrshire & Arran | £824,253 |
NHS Borders | £269,404 |
NHS Dumfries & Galloway | £371,118 |
NHS Fife | £832,513 |
NHS Forth Valley | £719,165 |
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde | £2,478,769 |
NHS Grampian | £1,327,914 |
NHS Highland | £808,477 |
NHS Lanarkshire | £1,669,927 |
NHS Lothian | £1,886,890 |
NHS Orkney | £46,940 |
NHS Shetland | £49,008 |
NHS Tayside | £849,048 |
NHS Western Isles | £66,577 |
Total excluding VAT | £12,200,000 |
Total including VAT | £14,640,000 |
It is important to note that this funding was in addition to and not a replacement for local budgets. As you will be aware, the Scottish Government provides baseline funding to NHS Boards, and it is for individual Boards to determine how best to utilise this funding to meet the needs and priorities of their local populations. This includes ensuring those with Type 1 diabetes have access to the most appropriate treatment and care, including diabetes technologies.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 25 April 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making on achieving priority 8 of its Diabetes Improvement Plan "to accelerate the development and roll-out of innovative solutions to improve treatment, care and quality of life of people living with diabetes".
Answer
The implementation of the Diabetes Improvement Plan is underway and supported by the Scottish Diabetes Group.
Regarding Priority 8, the Scottish Government has provided £19 million of additional funding to NHS Boards to support the roll out of technologies since 2021. The Scottish Diabetes Technologies & Innovation Group also has a significant programme of work which aims to find new solutions, or scale up existing, and ensures dedicated focus on the delivery of Priority 8.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 25 April 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of patients with diabetes it anticipates will be offered the option to transfer to a hybrid closed loop system as part of their insulin management during the financial year 2024-25, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
It is for each individual NHS Board to determine how they plan to meet the needs and priorities of their local populations. The Scottish Government is committed to increasing access to diabetes technologies. We are continuing to work with key stakeholders to determine the best way to do this and how to fund it.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 23 April 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it remains committed to allocating £80 million on carbon capture, utilisation and storage, in light of no provision being made in the Budget for 2024-25.
Answer
Our Emerging Energy Technologies Fund supports the development of CCUS and negative-emissions technologies and has been offered to support the Scottish Cluster Carbon Capture Project accelerate its effort to help Scotland’s just transition to net zero. We remain committed to supporting this development.
Due to UK Government still not confirming the award of the Acorn Project and also which emitter sites will form the Scottish Cluster, it has not yet been possible to deploy this funding support. Only when we, the Acorn Project and the Scottish Cluster are provided with a final decision will it be possible to assess how we can utilise this funding to best support the deployment of CCUS.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 23 April 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what the average time was for a response to a scoping opinion request submitted under section 12 of the Electricity Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 in (a) 2019, (b) 2020, (c) 2021, (d) 2022 and (e) 2023.
Answer
Applications which make their way through the application journey on the energyconsent.scot portal are assigned a single case number which is retained from the pre-application period, all the way through to a determination decision.
The dates at which a scoping opinion request submitted under section 12 of the Electricity Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 is received, and then a response provided, are not data points which are captured by the portal system. It is therefore not possible to calculate the average time taken to provide a response in the years requested.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 April 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 23 April 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what potential impact the proposed Berwick Bank offshore windfarm not being included in the Contracts for Difference Allocation Round 6 will have on achieving Scotland’s climate targets.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 23 April 2024
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 19 April 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what the average number of working hours was spent on processing an environmental impact assessment (EIA) scoping request under section 12 of the Electricity Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 in (a) 2019, (b) 2020, (c) 2021, (d) 2022 and (e) 2023.
Answer
The processing of an environmental impact assessment (EIA) scoping request under section 12 of the Electricity Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 involves work across a number of teams within the Energy Consents Unit.
We do not centrally log or track the specific number of working hours spent by individual team members on any particular activity or task. The work is integrated into the broader responsibilities and workflows of the team. It is therefore not possible to calculate the average number of working hours spent processing in the years requested.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 19 April 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what the average number of working hours was spent on processing an environmental impact assessment (EIA) request for screening under section 8 of the Electricity Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 in (a) 2019, (b) 2020, (c) 2021, (d) 2022 and (e) 2023.
Answer
The processing of an environmental impact assessment (EIA) screening request under section 8 of the Electricity Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 involves work across a number of teams within the Energy Consents Unit.
We do not centrally log or track the specific number of working hours spent by individual team members on any particular activity or task. The work is integrated into the broader responsibilities and workflows of the team. It is therefore not possible to calculate the average number of working hours spent processing in the years requested.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 18 April 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made towards the commitment to protect 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030.
Answer
Achieving the commitment to protect 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030 (30 by 30 commitment) is a key component in our ambition to halt biodiversity loss by 2030 and substantially restore it by 2045. The target has already been achieved at sea with the suite of Marine Protected Areas. On land, our existing protected areas cover 18.2% of Scotland. It is envisaged that the 30 by 30 commitment will be achieved on land by improving the condition of existing, as well as creating new, protected areas, alongside developing a network of ‘Other Effective [area-based] Conservation Measures’ (OECMs).
Our 2023 consultation on Scotland’s Strategic Framework for Biodiversity included a draft policy framework on our 30 by 30 commitment, which was co-designed with over 100 organisations and individuals representing a diverse range of interests. We are considering responses from that consultation, which will inform the final framework to be published later this year.
A further consultation, to gather views on whether the legislative framework for our current protected areas needs to be strengthened, was launched on 3 April and will run until 24 May 2024. It can be accessed at: https://consult.gov.scot/environment-forestry/meeting-our-30-by-30-commitment-a-consultation/ . This will inform any requirements within the Natural Environment Bill.
A stakeholder group convened by NatureScot will help develop the OECM criteria which sites must meet to be considered within the ‘30 by 30’ network. This work is being carried out in parallel, and in discussion with, the other UK administrations to ensure a degree of consistency of approach.