Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-33560

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 27 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether any financial incentives are offered to healthcare professionals working in remote and rural areas.

The Scottish Government has a number of incentives already in place, amongst which is the Scottish Distant Island Allowance (SDIA), an addition to salary which supports staff with the costs of travelling to and from the mainland. NHS staff who work in the majority of Scotland’s islands are eligible to receive SDIA.

There is also the Scottish Government funded ‘Golden Hello’ scheme, administered by NHS Scotland Boards, which provides up to £10,000 to every GP taking up an eligible post in a rural area.

To attract dentists to rural areas we have made available a range of grants and allowances including the recruitment and retention allowance, which allows new trainee dentists practicing in eligible areas, to qualify for a ‘Golden Hello’ payment of up to £37,500 in the first three years of practice.

ScotGEM offers a unique four-year programme tailored to meet the current and future needs of NHS Scotland with a focus on rural medicine, healthcare improvement and developing interest in General Practice. ScotGEM students are eligible to apply for and receive a ‘Return of Service’ bursary of £4,000 per annum which commits them to working for NHS Scotland for the corresponding number of years following graduation. In addition to the return of service bursary, the Scottish Government pays the tuition fees for eligible students, offering an attractive package for potential applicants.

In addition to the Scottish Government funded incentives, staff being recruited to posts in rural and island areas may also be eligible for relocation expenses, the decision to offer relocation expenses lies solely with boards.

Question reference: S6W-33605

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made in implementing the Women’s Health Plan since its launch, and what specific measures have been taken to address any regional disparities in women’s health outcomes.

Through implementation of the Women’s Health Plan we have established an NHS Board Women’s Health Lead Network with a Lead in every NHS Board. The Network enables the Leads to identify both common and local challenges and exchange ideas on innovation and best practice, along with discussions on progress to implement the Women’s Health Plan.

We have a clinical Menopause Specialists Network, which enables clinicians across Scotland with an interest in menopause care to share initiatives and good practice and discuss emerging challenges encouraging consistency of advice which can then be shared with local primary care teams.

We also established a National Menstrual Health Clinical Network to provide clinicians across Scotland with access to peer support, consistent expert clinical advice and facilitate further learning opportunities.

Further information about the progress to date against each of the priorities in the Women’s Health Plan can be found in the Women’s Health Plan Final Report.

Question reference: S6W-33549

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 27 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to reduce patient travel times in rural areas for specialist healthcare appointments.

In order to provide high quality services to all patients NHS Scotland plans and delivers some services on a national or regional basis. This is particularly the case for highly specialist treatments and those with low numbers of cases.

We have convened an NHS Board-led working group which is working to develop a framework for delivery of health services in rural and island areas and considering how best to deliver the right care in the right place

The group will develop a model with services provided as local as possible and specialised as necessary in order to ensure equity of outcomes. As part of the work, the group will seek to define what the "core services" are that should be provided locally, balancing these with the need for specialised care which may be provided outside the local area where clinically appropriate.

The Scottish Government's Transport to Health delivery plan aims to ensure access to healthcare facilities is fully considered within regional and local planning, including planning for our rural communities.

Question reference: S6W-33618

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting NHS boards to expand community audiology and optometry services, and what assessment it has made of the impact this has had on rural areas over the past five years.

There is presently no national community audiology service. We are sponsoring the RNID ‘Near You’ scheme in partnership with the NHS in five Health Board areas. Benefits include locally-recruited staff, trained volunteers, savings of circa 500 clinical hours and 4,600 patient miles per year, and provision of domiciliary care.

Remote consultations are now part of free universal NHS funded eye examinations. The Government is also in the process of rolling out new enhanced services including the Community Glaucoma Service. No specific assessment has been made of the impact this has had on rural areas, but these commitments support patients being treated closer to home.

Question reference: S6W-33556

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 27 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what initiatives are in place to support rural healthcare professionals in accessing training and professional development opportunities.

Healthcare support workers in Scotland, by agreement from their employers, can enrol on the HNC in Healthcare Practice at their local college and can then progress to the nursing degree programme currently provided by the Open University, enabling them to remain in the workforce in their local Board area whilst studying. The Scottish Government provides a salary backfill payment to employers to compensate for time away from the workplace for both the Open University and HNC programmes.

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) are also delivering training opportunities for healthcare professionals in rural and island areas. This includes the NES Rural GP Fellowship, which not only supports GPs to develop the skills required to work in rural areas but provides them with direct experience of working in rural and island areas across rural and island Health Boards.

Through the Scottish Government funded National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Care, 30 practitioners have undertaken the MSc in Rural Advanced Practice in 2023 and 2024, supporting career development, increasing equity in education and supporting the sustainability of primary healthcare services. The Centre will continue to develop new rural specific recognised qualifications to address skills gaps and drive innovation.

Furthermore, tailored to meet the current and future needs of NHS Scotland with a focus on rural medicine, healthcare improvement and developing interest in General Practice, ScotGEM offers a unique four-year programme where students are eligible to apply for a Scottish Government funded ‘Return of Service’ bursary of £4,000 per annum which commits them to working for NHS Scotland for the corresponding number of years following graduation. The Scottish Government also pays the tuition fees for eligible students, offering an attractive package for potential applicants.

Question reference: S6W-33612

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the reported rise in youth vaping rates, including any targeted campaigns aimed at rural areas.

Within our 24/25 Programme for Government we committed to working across the four nations on banning the sale of single use vapes (SUV) as well as the UK Tobacco and Vapes Bill.

SUV’s have been linked to a rapid increase in the number of young people vaping, particularly due to their low price. The SUV ban will be implemented from 1 June 2025 in line with the rest of the UK.

If passed the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, will restrict the promotion, advertisement and brand sharing of vapes.

Our Scotland-wide ‘Take Hold’ marketing campaign educated parents, carers and children about the dangers of vaping and increased the awareness of the harms and risks of nicotine addiction. It also contained a school toolkit.

We continue to work with Young Scot to support young people to understand the risks of using tobacco and nicotine products, and raise awareness of available cessation services and avenues to support young people to stop smoking/vaping.

Question reference: S6W-33561

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 27 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it keeps emergency response times in rural areas comparable to emergency response times in urban areas.

It is the responsibility of the Scottish Ambulance Service to ensure that response times are as quick as possible, regardless of geography.

The Scottish Ambulance Service completed a full review of Demand and Capacity across Scotland at the end of 2019 which involved looking at demand data and resources to predict current and future demand and map out the levels of staff and vehicles required across different parts of Scotland. The outcome of the review saw an increase in resourcing and staffing in both urban and rural areas across Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-33290

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 27 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many full-time equivalent civil servants were employed at grade (a) A3, (b) A4, (c) B1, (d) B2, (e) B3, (f) C1, (g) C2 and (h) C3, in (i) 2021-22, (ii) 2022-23, (iii) 2023-24 and (iv) 2024-25, and what the numbers are projected to be in 2025-26.

The below table shows the distribution of FTE by grade, within Scottish Government Core, for the dates requested.

SG Core FTE by Grade 21-22 to 24-25
	31-Mar-22	31-Mar-23	31-Mar-24	30-Sep-24
A3	411	369	303	276
A4	449	449	385	375
B1	1,155	1,145	1,119	1,053
B2	1,733	1,838	1,738	1,725
B3	2,021	2,127	2,188	2,316
C1	1,447	1,581	1,748	1,824
C2	707	732	795	833
C3	124	114	112	119

Following the presentation of the 25-26 Budget in Parliament, the Scottish Government are considering the impact of this for workforce projections in 25-26. These workforce projections will be regularly monitored, reviewed and updated over the course of the financial year to ensure services are delivered effectively and affordably for the people of Scotland. The total workforce for the Scottish Government has reduced in each of the last two financial years by 0.4% and 3%. To date the Scottish Government have prioritised the reduction of contingent workers, including more expensive contractors, and have done so by 40%. The 25-26 Budget included a commitment to a reduction in the number of permanent civil servants in the core Scottish Government in the 25-26 financial year.

Question reference: S6W-33973

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-33601

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 24 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what recent steps it has taken to (a) increase the number of GPs nationwide and (b) improve access to face-to-face GP appointments.

(a) The Scottish Government remains fully committed to increasing the number of GPs by 800 by 2027.

In November 2024 we published a General Practitioner Recruitment and Retention Action Plan, available online at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/general-practitioner-recruitment-retention-action-plan-2024-2026/documents/

A key action in this plan is to retain newly qualified GPs in Scotland by expanding the current fellowship offer to support early career GPs on completion of their GP training. We have also commissioned NHS Education for Scotland to work with the profession to redesign the current GP Retainer Scheme to make it more flexible to support GPs at times in their career when it is needed. We have created 70 additional GP Speciality Training posts since 2022, with a further 30 to be added in 2025.

(b) The Scottish Government discusses access to general practice with the representatives of the profession. It is important that patients see the right person at the right place at the right time to treat their condition, this may not always need to be a GP. However, where clinically necessary, the option to have a face to face consultation should always be available.

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