- Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 28 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the reported disproportionately lower levels of social security uptake among ethnic minority groups.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 28 November 2024
- Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 November 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 20 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what ongoing discussions the finance secretary is having with ministerial colleagues and officials regarding the planning of portfolio budgets in the lead up to the publication of its Budget for 2025-26.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 20 November 2024
- Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 7 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that emergency care is maintained for patients requiring air ambulance services, in light of any issues created by the issuance of CAP1264 by the Civil Aviation Authority.
Answer
The Scottish Government (SG) is aware of the Civil Air Publication to address the design requirements and options for new heliports located at hospitals in the United Kingdom. Any new recommendations will, of course, be considered by Health Boards and organisations with responsibility for maintaining helicopter landing sites.
The SG is also aware that HM Coastguard Search and Rescue has paused helicopter landings at a number of landing sites across the UK.
Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) and Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance aircraft continue to land at helicopter landing sites across Scotland. Should a helicopter landing site not be available for use by one of these assets then another suitable site will be identified. A SAS vehicle will transfer a patient and clinical team to the appropriate receiving medical facility.
- Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 September 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 27 September 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its proposed Adults with Incapacity Bill as outlined in its Programme for Government 2024-25, whether it plans to consult on each of the recommendations contained under Recommendation 13.3 of the final report of the Mental Health Law Review, which relate to amending the power of attorney scheme.
Answer
‘The Adults with Incapacity Amendment Act Consultation’ published on 25 July 2024 consults on four out of seven power of attorney (PoA) recommendations at section 13.3 of the Scottish Mental Health Law Review. Although not part of this consultation, the remaining PoA recommendations will be considered as part of the longer term reform programme.
- Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 September 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 3 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to bring down processing times for the Adult Disability Payment, in light of the most recent high level statistics from Social Security Scotland indicating a reversal in the previous reduction to processing times.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 3 October 2024
- Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 September 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 19 September 2024
To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to open the £10 million Changing Places toilet fund, in light of the reprofiling of the commencement of the fund, as detailed in the letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government to the Convener of the Finance and Public Administration Committee, published on 3 September 2024.
Answer
The Scottish Government is working towards a launch date for the Changing Places Toilets fund and we will provide an update in due course.
- Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 September 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 19 September 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it is still committed to investing £10 million in Changing Places toilets by the end of the current parliamentary session, in light of the reprofiling of the commencement of the Changing Places toilet fund, as detailed in the letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government to the Convener of the Finance and Public Administration Committee, published on 3 September 2024.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to investing in Changing Places Toilets in order to increase the number of these facilities across the country, allowing people easier access to events and outdoor venues.
As you will be aware, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government’s statement to Parliament on 3 September outlined the challenging financial situation faced by the Scottish Government following the UK Chancellor's July statement. She confirmed that spending controls are in place to make sure the entire Scottish Government budget is being managed prudently. These additional controls set out that any activity undertaken, or commitment made, that generates expenditure in 2024-25 must only proceed if it is truly essential and unavoidable. “Unavoidable” means if the Scottish Government would otherwise breach its legal obligations, or fail to provide essential support to emergency situations, or cause significant economic damage across Scotland. The scale of the savings required means that these exceptional measures are being applied across the whole Government, with all policy areas having to think about what this means for them.
This means that whilst the Scottish Government had set out the intention to make CPT funding available across financial years 2024-25 and 2025-26, unfortunately it is no longer possible to launch the fund in the current financial year. However, funding will be reprofiled into future years.
- Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 September 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 19 September 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, prior to the announcement by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government, in her letter to the Convener of Finance and Public Administration Committee, that the Changing Places toilet fund would be reprofiled, what work it had undertaken to prepare for the fund to open at the start of 2025, as previously committed to by the Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport.
Answer
A range of work has been undertaken to prepare for the opening of the Changing Places Toilets fund. This has included scoping work, internal discussions and meetings with key stakeholders. We are working closely with PAMIS (Promoting a More Inclusive Society) and will continue to engage with wider interests, including the Scottish Parliament’s Cross Party Group on Changing Places Toilets, as we finalise the details of the fund.
- Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 September 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 19 September 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to a recent report from the Scottish Health Equity Research Unit, which highlights that "core outcomes related to inequalities and health are not improving significantly and some are getting worse".
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 19 September 2024
- Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 16 August 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 6 September 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it is committed to continued support through Transport Scotland of SUSTRANS’ Places for Everyone programme, as part of its commitment to supporting active travel.
Answer
Transport Scotland has already allocated £46.7 million of funding to Sustrans for Places for Everyone for 2024-25 which will deliver a range of active travel infrastructure this year. More broadly in 2024-25 financial year more than £145 million has been allocated for Active Travel.
The utmost importance is placed on balancing the Scottish Government’s budget each financial year. The Scottish Government and the whole of the public sector face a financial position that is extremely challenging. It is always necessary to ensure resources are used economically, efficiently and effectively, and increased scrutiny and spending controls are in place across all expenditure. As with all programmes across Scottish Government, further funding for Places for Everyone will need to be considered in this context for 2024-25.
Increased Active Travel funding has led to major change programme for Active Travel delivery starting in 2024. This is aligned with the Verity House Agreement (June 2023) which confirmed the direction of travel towards more direct funding to Local Authorities and for local control over that budget, with a driving principle of ‘local by default, national by agreement’.
As part of this, from 2025-26, Transport Scotland will be providing funding for all active travel infrastructure projects of the type that have historically been delivered through Places for Everyone directly to Local Authorities, Regional Transport Partnerships and National Park Authorities rather than via Sustrans. A managed transition of existing projects from Sustrans to Transport Scotland is underway and for those which are likely to be completed by December 2025, it is the intention that these will continue to be managed by Sustrans.