- Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 May 2025
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 4 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to its commitment that no young person under the age of 18 should be imprisoned, what discussions it has had with the Scottish Sentencing Council regarding reviewing the Sentencing young people guideline, which states that all sentencing options, including imprisonment, remain open to the court.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 4 June 2025
- Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 May 2025
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 4 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on funding for the CashBack for Communities programme.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 4 June 2025
- Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 May 2025
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 4 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had regarding its support for humanitarian assistance, in light of reports of the increasing number of deaths in Gaza.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 4 June 2025
- Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 28 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of any national strategies or funding initiatives aimed at increasing the number of cataract surgeries performed.
Answer
In January 2022, the Scottish Government commissioned the Centre for Sustainable Delivery to establish the Scottish National Cataract Short Life Working Group to address current challenges in cataract surgery in Scotland.
This work has led to the publication of 'Improving the Delivery of Cataract Surgery in Scotland: a Blueprint for Success' which will support Boards to deliver high quality, high volume, specialist care.
This Blueprint builds on existing work that has already been done by the National Eyecare Workstream to:
- Embed recommendations from Health Board Ophthalmology Peer Reviews.
- Align with the Royal College of Ophthalmologists guidelines for training lists and high volume service lists.
- Acknowledge different models of service delivery from various sites across NHS Scotland.
Cataract Surgery Standards were published by Healthcare Improvement Scotland in December 2023. Cataract surgery standards – Healthcare Improvement Scotland
In 2025/26 we have announced over £200 million to reduce waiting lists and help support reduction of delayed discharge. This will contribute to additional ophthalmology procedures, alongside our National Treatment Centre programme which is delivering cataract surgery in NTC Highland and NHS Golden Jubilee University National Hospital.
- Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 28 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what the longest recorded waiting time has been for a cataract operation in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.
Public Health Scotland (PHS) uses the national waiting times datamart to collect electronic patient records covering the waits that patients experience waiting for treatment as an inpatient or day-case under the Treatment Time Guarantee.
This data source can be used routinely to identify the specialty of treatment. However, although the records are designed to collect coded information on the procedure that is planned for the patient, this information is often either incomplete, lacking in essential detail and/or its accuracy cannot be assured. In addition, the procedure(s) that was planned may not always reflect the procedure actually performed after the patient was admitted for treatment. The latter is not captured through the national datamart. Consequently, PHS is not currently able to report accurately on waiting times to this level of detail.
- Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 28 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many delayed discharge incidents from hospital were attributable to a lack of available social care packages, in each of the last five years, also broken down by NHS board.
Answer
A delayed discharge occurs when a hospital patient who is clinically ready for discharge from inpatient hospital care continues to occupy a hospital bed beyond the date they are ready for discharge. Information held nationally on delayed discharges can identify the number of people aged 18 and over who were delayed in their discharge from hospital.
People delayed due to a lack of available social care packages can be identified using Delay Reason code 25D – “Awaiting completion of arrangements - in order to live in their own home – awaiting social care support (non-availability of services)”.
Figures from Financial Year 2020-21 to 2024-25 (inclusive) are shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Number of people delayed due to Awaiting completion of arrangements in order to live in their own home, awaiting social care support (non-availability of services) in the financial Years 2020-21 to 2024-25 by Health Board.
Health Board | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 |
NHS Ayrshire & Arran | 1,112 | 1,530 | 1,460 | 1,660 | 1,652 |
NHS Borders | 173 | 213 | 190 | 178 | 211 |
NHS Dumfries & Galloway | 148 | 338 | 453 | 512 | 498 |
NHS Fife | 350 | 745 | 471 | 128 | 281 |
NHS Forth Valley | 583 | 761 | 777 | 428 | 451 |
NHS Grampian | 289 | 383 | 374 | 356 | 391 |
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde | 684 | 1,331 | 1,622 | 1,552 | 1,123 |
NHS Highland | 396 | 387 | 406 | 424 | 505 |
NHS Lanarkshire | 2,485 | 2,258 | 2,539 | 2,584 | 2,424 |
NHS Lothian | 1,568 | 2,044 | 2,159 | 2,167 | 2,226 |
NHS Orkney | 16 | 26 | 34 | 24 | 37 |
NHS Shetland | 8 | 37 | 47 | 46 | 61 |
NHS Tayside | 531 | 786 | 942 | 738 | 750 |
NHS Western Isles | 78 | 85 | 68 | 55 | 88 |
Scotland | 8,416 | 10,892 | 11,507 | 10,814 | 10,671 |
1.The data relate to individuals aged 18 years and over, in the delayed discharges data collection, who were clinically ready for discharge from hospital and experienced a delay reason recorded as due to awaiting completion of arrangements in order to live in their own home, awaiting social care support (non-availability of services).
2.If an individual was delayed in multiple financial years, they will be counted in each financial year they were delayed.
3.The total for Scotland in a year may not match the sum of the people delayed in each Health Board in a year. This is due to some people experienced delays in more than one Health Board during a financial year. A person would count once in each health board they were delayed in and at Scotland level, a person will only be counted once in the financial year.
4.Further information on Delayed Discharges can be found on the Public Health Scotland (PHS) website:
https://publichealthscotland.scot/healthcare-system/secondary-care/delayed-discharges/overview/
Source: Public Health Scotland
Ref IR2025-00417
- Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 28 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many patients (a) are currently waiting for cataract surgery and (b) have been on a waiting list for cataract surgery in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-37715 on 28 May 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: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 28 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of delayed cataract surgery on patient wellbeing, including risks of falls, injuries and social isolation, particularly among older patients.
Answer
This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. Such work may have been carried out by individual health boards as part of their planning processes.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 28 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether Scotland's Railway should utilise surplus steel, in light of reports that there is several million pounds worth of surplus steel from the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme in long-term storage at Bridgeton Yard.
Answer
The reuse of surplus materials from rail projects is an issue for the asset owner. Where such materials are owned by Network Rail (as opposed to private contractors), these materials are utilised for future enhancement and renewals projects reducing the cost of these works.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 May 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 28 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports of a six-fold increase in ferry cancellations due to technical faults on the Clyde and Hebrides routes, what specific measures it is taking to improve service reliability and maintain consistent connectivity for island communities.
Answer
CalMac make every effort to avoid cancellations due to technical breakdowns, but it is impossible to completely remove the risk of this happening in technically complex vessels.
Between 2015 and 2024 CalMac have operated over 1.5 million sailings, with 5.2% cancelled. Of those cancelled sailings, 22% were for technical reasons and 62% were related to weather.
The arrival of 13 new vessels by 2029, which started with MV Glen Sannox in January this year, will help improve connectivity and resilience for island residents, businesses, and communities. These new vessels should be able to operate in more challenging weather and sea conditions and will also improve accessibility and route flexibility. Communities and services will also benefit from the provision of shore power upgrades and enhanced port facilities.
