Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6O-00103

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 September 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what support is available to dental practices to alleviate pressures specifically related to COVID-19.

Question reference: S6W-02349

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on dentistry in each of the last five years, and how much of this total was paid to general dental practice.

Question reference: S6W-01792

Asked by: Gillian Mackay, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of the NHS budget is spent on general practice costs.

Question reference: S6W-02121

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 23 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-01221 by Maree Todd on 23 July 2021, what consideration it has given to a voucher scheme that could be administered on a first-come, first-served basis, as opposed to an entitlement, in order to take the action outlined without the requirement for primary legislation.

Question reference: S6W-01971

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 17 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of (a) primary and (b) secondary school pupils have missed more than (i) 10% and (ii) 50% of class time in their school in each year since 2017-18.

Attendance and absence information is only collected every two years so no figures are available for 2017-18 or 2019-20.

Figures for 2018-19 and 2020-21 show that:

Primary Schools

14.6% of primary pupils were absent more than 10% of the time in 2018-19. In 2020/21, 25.4% of primary pupils were not in school more than 10% of the time.
0.2% of primary pupils were absent more than 50% of the time in 2018-19. In 2020/21, 1.0% of primary pupils were not in school more than 50% of the time.

Secondary Schools

29.3% of secondary pupils were absent more than 10% of the time in 2018-19. In 2020-21, 49.6% of secondary pupils were not in school more than 10% of the time.
2.0% of secondary pupils were absent more than 50% of the time in 2018/19. In 2020-21, 4.0% of secondary pupils were not in school more than 50% of the time.

The 2018-19 figures refer to absences from school. Pupils may be recorded as attending school without being in class in situations including attendance at school trips or work experience, when receiving educational provision outside of their school, when attending short medical or dental appointments or when physically in school but not in their class. These figures are from the biennial Attendance and Absence data collection and cover the entire school year. Published outputs from this collection are classed as National Statistics and data are subject to robust quality assurance procedures.

Whereas, figures for 2020-21 are based on daily management information and have only been subjected to limited quality checking. The results only cover the period from 17 August 2020 - 23 December 2020 (inclusive - primary and secondary schools), 15 March 2021 – 2 April 2021 (inclusive - primary schools only) and 12 April 2021 – 25 June 2021 (inclusive - primary and secondary schools) - as these were the periods when schools were fully open to all pupils in a particular school sector. Also, only pupils who had a total of at least 100 half-day sessions have been included in the analysis (note: where half-day sessions refer to mornings/afternoons when schools were providing learning).

Most schools operate 9 or 10 openings a week.

Figures from the 2020-21 daily management information are not directly comparable to the 2018-19 National Statistics due to differences in collection methods, the level of quality assurance undertaken and COVID-19 related school closures in 2020-21. The National Statistics on attendance and absence in 2020-21 are due to be published later this year.

Question reference: S6W-01635

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 6 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports of dental surgeries in Annan, Kirkcudbright, Dumfries, Newton Stewart and other locations in the South Scotland region temporarily suspending the acceptance of NHS dental patients due to a backlog of treatments as a result of COVID-19 restrictions, what action is being taken to (a) support such dental surgeries and (b) ensure that NHS dental patients have access to timely dental treatment, and, further to the Scottish National Party's manifesto commitment to abolish NHS dentistry charges, whether it will provide an update on its progress on this matter.

The Scottish Government has recently announced a suite of measures to continue to support NHS dentistry, including a vital funding package of up to £5M for improved ventilation in dental premises, and an extension of free PPE for the dental sector, which from this month has increased by up to 50%. This builds on the continued phased remobilisation of NHS dental services, ensuring that as many patients can be seen within the current set of infection, protection and control measures required for the safe operation of dental treatment.

NHS dental services are largely provided by independent dental contractors. Information on appointments is held by each individual dental practice.

The removal of all dental charges for NHS dental treatment is a Scottish Government manifesto commitment and more detail will be published in due course. These changes will take place in the lifetime of this parliament and the processes are currently underway.

Question reference: S6W-01856

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 6 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what support is being offered to dental practices to assist them in addressing long waiting times for patients.

The dental sector has been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. Pre-COVID levels of patient volume are currently not achievable within the current framework of infection, protection and control (IPC) measures.

The Scottish Government has recently announced a 50 per cent increase in free PPE to dental practices and new funding of £5m to support improved ventilation facilities in dental surgeries. Both these measures are intending to increase the productivity of practices, enabling them to see more patients, within the current set of IPC constraints.

We can also confirm that we are working closely with UK partners as part of the review of IPC Guidance as we emerge from this pandemic. The intention is to ensure that as soon as it is safe to do so dental services can resume normal levels of activity.

Question reference: S6W-01097

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 23 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many emergency NHS dental consultations there have been in each month since January 2020.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. Information on how many NHS dental consultations were emergencies is held with the individual dentist. However, the overall number of NHS dental consultations can be found on Public Health Scotland at: dental-statistics-fees-and-treatments/dental-statistics-fees-and-treatments-statistics-as-at-march-2020/"> https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/dental-statistics-fees-and-treatments/dental-statistics-fees-and-treatments-statistics-as-at-march-2020/ .

Question reference: S6W-01096

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 23 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many NHS dental consultations there have been in each year since 2017-18.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. Information on the number of NHS dental consultations can be found on Public Health Scotland at: dental-statistics-fees-and-treatments/dental-statistics-fees-and-treatments-statistics-as-at-march-2020/"> https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/dental-statistics-fees-and-treatments/dental-statistics-fees-and-treatments-statistics-as-at-march-2020/ .

Question reference: S6W-01221

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 23 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-00961 by Maree Todd on 2 July 2021, what its position is on providing vouchers to mothers to enable them to receive free NHS dental treatments after their child's first birthday, in situations where the treatments would have been free prior to the birthday but the mothers were unable to have them within this timescale due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Free NHS dental treatment for expectant mothers or those who have borne a child within the previous 12 month period is part of The National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978. The 12 month period is fixed by primary legislation and would require a primary legislation amendment (i.e. a Bill) to change this. Therefore it is not possible to change the exemption entitlement for free treatment at present. However, the Scottish Government has committed to the removal of all charges for NHS dental treatment within the lifetime of this parliament.