- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 15 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the time that has elapsed since the passage of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010, whether the next National Marine Plan will include interim spatial plans to give clarity on appropriate locations for all economic activities in Scotland's inshore waters until the relevant regional marine plans have been adopted.
Answer
Regional marine plans are currently being developed for 3 out of the 11 Scottish Marine Regions (Orkney, Shetland and the Clyde) with preparatory work being undertaken by Local Coastal Partnerships in other regions.
The purpose of a National Marine Plan is to set out the strategic policies for the sustainable development of our marine resources. The current National Marine Plan identifies broad spatial areas for certain types of activity (e.g. RENEWABLES 1 and AQUACULTURE 1, 2 and 3).
NMP2 will be developed in accordance with the policies, including the National Spatial Strategy, set out in the fourth National Planning Framework (once adopted)
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 15 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether only local authority staff will potentially be transferred to the National Care Service, and not NHS staff, and, if so, what the reasons are for this.
Answer
The answer to this question is set out in Paragraph 48 of the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill Policy Memorandum. This can be accessed at: https://www.parliament.scot/bills-and-laws/bills/national-care-service-scotland-bill/introduced
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 15 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of reports that the heaviest 5% of drinkers are consuming 10% more since the introduction of minimum unit pricing.
Answer
The pandemic has changed drinking behaviour, particularly for those who were drinking heavily before the pandemic. There is more work to be done to better understand the continuing impact of the pandemic on alcohol harms.
We are working on a range of actions to make alcohol treatment services more accessible to those who need them to support individuals reduce their alcohol consumption.
Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) was introduced to reduce the consumption of alcohol by individuals whose consumption is hazardous or harmful as well as reducing the overall population level of consumption. We are evaluating MUP over the first five years of operation and will report to parliament in summer 2023.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 15 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to repeal any elements of the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014 as part of its plans to create a National Care Service.
Answer
Under the National Care Service, local care boards will replace the current integration authorities in planning and delivering integrated health and social care services at the local level. We therefore intend to bring forward an amendment to the Bill to provide for the repeal of Part 1 of the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 15 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how it will determine which local government assets to transfer to the National Care Service.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-12831 on 15 December 2022. 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: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 15 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will pay market rates to local authorities for any assets transferred to the National Care Service.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-12831 on 15 December 2022. 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: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 15 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported comments by Donald Macaskill, of Scottish Care, that between 30% and 40% of care homes could be on the verge of closure by spring 2023.
Answer
The Scottish Government are aware of the severe pressures that exist in our health and social care system and the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care has established the Ministerial Advisory Group to ensure that we collaborate effectively to meet the challenges. Scottish Care are represented on this group.
Many of the policy and economic levers that would alleviate pressures on care homes and other businesses are reserved to Westminster and the Cabinet Secretary recently wrote to the UK Government (and the other UK nations) to again raise these matters. Within our remit, we are increasing our support for SMEs by investing £300,000 to expand the capacity of the Business Energy Scotland advice service, and doubling the energy efficiency cashback element of the SME Loan Cashback scheme to £20,000. The Scottish Government has also set out £600 million of total investment to support winter resilience across our health and care system. This includes £144 million to support the December 2021 uplift to £10.02 per hour, as well as a further £200 million to increase the minimum rate of pay to £10.50 per hour for adult social care workers in commissioned services.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 15 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what value of assets it expects to transfer from local authorities to the National Care Service, broken down by local authority.
Answer
The Scottish Government wants Local Government to continue in its role as a direct provider of social care services. This includes continuing to hold and invest in assets and employ staff directly. Ultimately decision on the role will be taken at a local level by individual authorities. It is therefore not possible to provide the detail requested on assets.
More generally an ability to transfer assets is necessary to support the transfer of accountability. It is vital that Ministers will have the ability to step in, or appoint, an operator of last resort as required. That may at some point require the ability for the transfer of Local Government assets and staff. If necessary, assets would be transferred on the most appropriate valuation method. It would therefore be remiss not to include powers to do so on the face of the Bill.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 15 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many individuals Police Scotland have administered naloxone to, and how many of these individuals were referred to drug treatment services, in each month since the roll-out of naloxone to Police Scotland officers.
Answer
The national roll out of the Police Scotland Naloxone Programme has been delivered in 2 stages. The first stage was a test of change (pilot), covering the period 01-03-2021 to 31-10-2021. The second stage covers the period from the completion of pilot up to the point where the most recent data is available, 02-12-2022. The number of administrations per month, in each stage of the roll out, is provided below.
Test of Change period (01-03-2021 – 31-10-2021) – Total of 51 administrations
March – 2
April - 5
May - 5
June – 10
July - 8
August - 7
September - 6
October – 8
Start of roll-out (01-11-2021 – 02-12-2022) – Total of 44 administrations
November - 3
December - 2
January - 5
February - 4
March - 1
April - 3
May - 2
June - 4
July - 5
August - 2
September - 4
October - 3
November - 4
December – 2 (up till 2-12-2022)
Casualties at each incident are sign posted to drug and addiction services within their area by officers on scene. The details are recorded on the Vulnerable Persons Database, the details of which can be shared with partner agencies to assist the individual.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 15 December 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether its National Drugs Mission Oversight Group has met since its June 2022 meeting, and, if this is the case, whether it will publish the minutes for any subsequent meetings.
Answer
I refer to the member to the answer to question S6W-12709 15 December 2022. 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 .