Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-08298

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 13 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what meetings the First Minister undertook on the commissioning of vessels 801 and 802 for the Clyde and Hebrides prior to the contract being awarded to Ferguson Marine.

Question reference: S6W-08277

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the future funding arrangements for social care in Scotland.

Investment of over £1.6 billion for social care and integration in the 2022-23 budget progresses our commitment to increase spend in social care specifically by 25% – over £840 million – by the end of this parliament, and supports measures to strengthen the implementation of Self-directed Support, improve prevention and early intervention and to increase the delivery of more community-based support.

The Scottish Government has also committed to abolishing charges for non-residential social care and support and we are currently working with stakeholders to develop options to do so as soon as practicable.

The Resource Spending Review is due to be published in May 2022 and will include details on the Scottish Government’s multi-year funding arrangements across all Portfolios.

Question reference: S6O-01088

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what cross-government discussions regarding the remaining COVID-19 hospital restrictions have taken place as part of its Covid Recovery Strategy.

Question reference: S6W-08092

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the cost of grid infrastructure enhancements will be shared across all users rather than levied on individual households that are willing and able to afford investing in domestic generation and storage.

The cost of grid infrastructure enhancements is an area of policy reserved to the UK Government. The recent Ofgem reform will mean that from the 1st of April 2023 generation and storage will pay less upfront costs and some of these costs will be socialised across the relevant network.

The Scottish Government wishes to see network costs reformed to support greater uptake of renewables generation and storage. However, this cannot done at the expense of financially vulnerable and fuel poor.

Those most vulnerable are already experiencing difficulties due to the cost of living energy crisis and care needs to be taken to ensure that those least able to pay do not end up paying the costs for those who can afford domestic generation and storage.

The Scottish Government will continue to make the case for comprehensive reform of network charges that supports delivery of net zero at the lowest cost to the consumer.

Question reference: S6O-01057

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the latest recorded crime statistics.

Question reference: S6W-07538

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 28 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider introducing legislation to prevent a former employee taking an employer to an employment tribunal on purely malicious claims when the current cost for an employer to proceed to a tribunal is reported to be in the region of £7,000 to £10,000.

Question reference: S6O-01037

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 April 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it works with East Lothian Council in the delivery of local government services across the area.

Question reference: S6O-00993

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the total costs of the COVID-19 vaccine certification scheme.

Question reference: S6W-07253

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 20 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the running cost was for each of its directorates in each of the last five years.

For financial years up to and including 2018-19, the Administration Portfolio budget covered the costs of the core administration, including staffing, required to support the Scottish Government.

From financial year 2019-20, operating costs were aligned with the Portfolio budgets that they support and the Administration Portfolio was removed from the Scottish Budget. The new approach replaced the dual system of Administration and portfolio budgets both funding operating costs. As a result, Scottish Government operating costs are more transparent.

The increase in total operating cost of the Scottish Government in recent years reflects additional responsibilities taken on from the UK Government. The Scottish Government has taken on significant new powers, both raising its own revenues through devolved taxes and delivering public services such as social security and significant numbers of additional staff have been recruited to support these new responsibilities.

The change to reporting of operating costs means that we are unable to provide comparable information over the last five years. We can provide Directorate-level detail for the last three year financial years. However, there have been organisational changes each year, meaning that Directorates are not necessarily comparable year on year.

The Administration Portfolio outturn for 2017-18 and 2018-19 and the Operating Cost model introduced from 2019-20 are set out in the 2019-20 Budget Bill, Annex G, Table G.02. Annex G - Scottish Budget 2019-2020 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The following tables show the final outturn for 2019-20, 2020-21 and the 2021-22 budget for Operating Costs. The 2021-22 actuals will be available in mid-June, when Provisional Outturn is reported to Parliament.

Operating Costs by Directorate	2019-20 Outturn	2020-21 Outturn
	£k	£k
DG Communities	59,679	77,990
Directorate of Equality Inclusion & Human Rights	0	1
Housing and Social Justice	17,369	17,040
Local Government & Communities	14,055	15,871
Social Security	28,256	45,078
DG Constitution and External Affairs	21,283	25,090
Constitution and Cabinet	6,607	7,251
Directorate for Covid Co-ordination	0	1,281
EU Directorate	2,013	2,334
External Affairs	9,244	8,201
Organisational Readiness Directorate	1,376	3,707
Parliamentary Counsel Office	2,043	2,317
DG Corporate	138,464	161,696
Commercial and Procurement	20,376	21,864
Communications, Ministerial Support & Facilities Directorate	48,831	51,105
Directorate for Digital	24,884	38,119
Directorate for People	19,254	21,167
Financial Management	9,784	11,109
Legal Services (Solicitor to the Scottish Government)	12,538	15,386
Planning and Environmental Appeals	2,797	2,947
DG Economy	156,755	162,376
Chief Economist	5,314	5,789
Covid Business Resilience and Support	0	2,111
Directorate for Agriculture & Rural Delivery	57,782	56,344
Directorate for Culture, Tourism & Major Events	3,410	3,789
Directorate for Economic Development	11,217	9,905
Directorate for Energy & Climate Change	10,356	12,313
Directorate for Environment and Forestry	6,906	7,785
Directorate for Fair Work, Employability & Skills	8,315	9,327
Directorate for International Trade and Investment	5,027	5,559
Directorate for Marine Scotland	40,874	40,677
Directorate for Sustainable Land Use & Rural Policy	4,103	4,869
Ferguson Marine	339	1,096
Scottish National Investment Bank	3,112	2,810
DG Education and Justice	60,261	62,964
Advanced Learning & Science Directorate	4,395	4,052
Children and Families	13,214	14,365
Directorate for Early Learning & Childcare Programme	2,762	2,664
HM Inspectorate of Prisons	941	908
Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland	328	322
Justice Directorate	12,385	12,262
Learning	10,419	11,154
Safer Communities	15,816	17,237
DG Health and Social Care	50,353	71,561
Directorate for Chief Medical Officer	4,097	6,066
Directorate for Chief Nursing Officer	3,895	5,237
Directorate for COVID Public Health	2,172	7,308
Directorate for Digital Reform & Service Engagement	1,930	3,926
Directorate for Health Finance, Corporate Governance & Value	2,852	3,244
Directorate for Health Workforce	4,648	6,815
Directorate for Healthcare Quality & Improvement	3,987	4,793
Directorate for Mental Health and Social Care	9,556	14,704
Directorate for Performance & Delivery	6,792	8,309
Directorate for Population Health	7,332	7,522
Directorate for Primary Care	3,094	3,637
DG Scottish Exchequer	9,031	9,488
Budget & Sustainability	2,200	2,306
Internal Audit	2,718	2,654
Performance & Strategic Outcomes	1,818	2,135
Tax	2,295	2,393

Operating costs not attributable to a specific Directorate*	3,336	15,397
Grand Total	499,162	586,562

* These include Employee Benefits and income from Scottish Parliament in relation to Ministerial pay.

Some costs borne by Directorates include central costs, such as those relating to systems.

Operating Costs by Directorate	2021-22 Budgets post Spring Budget Revision £k
Communities	73,020
Directorate for Equality Inclusion and Human Rights	5,665
Directorate for Housing and Social Justice	16,605
Directorate for Local Government and Communities	12,107
Directorate for Social Security	38,643
Corporate	205,265
Corporate Transformation and Workplace Directorate	36,266
Directorate for Communication and Ministerial Support	26,950
Directorate for Digital	45,414
Directorate for Financial Management	12,050
Directorate for Legal Services (Solicitor to the Scottish Government)	18,997
Directorate for People	29,523
Directorate for Propriety and Ethics	1,000
Scottish Procurement and Property Directorate	35,065
Economy	30,732
Directorate for Chief Economist	5,388
Directorate for Covid Business Resilience and Support	2,326
Directorate for Economic Development	8,509
Directorate for Fair Work Employability and Skills	8,081
Directorate for International Trade and Investment	6,428
Education and Justice	56,693
Directorate for Advanced Learning and Science	5,478
Directorate for Children and Families	15,826
Directorate for Early Learning and Childcare Programme	3,324
Directorate for Justice	7,854
Directorate for Learning	11,591
Directorate for Safer Communities	12,620
Health and Social Care	95,439
Directorate for Chief Medical Officer	7,963
Directorate for Chief Nursing Officer	5,028
Directorate for Children and Families	1,860
Directorate for Primary Care	4,264
Directorate for Digital Reform & Service Engagement	3,979
Directorate for Health Finance, Corporate Governance and Value	4,284
Directorate for Health Performance and Delivery	8,025
Directorate for Health Workforce, Leadership and Service Reform	9,300
Directorate for Healthcare Quality and Improvement	5,671
Directorate for Mental Health & Social Care Support	17,981
Directorate for Population Health	10,280
Directorate for Covid Response	12,174
Directorate for Vaccines Policy and Strategy	4,630
Net Zero	144,210
Directorate for Agriculture and Rural Economy	73,250
Directorate for Energy and Climate Change	15,641
Directorate for Environment and Forestry	9,303
Directorate for Marine Scotland	46,016
Scottish Exchequer	10,757
Directorate for Budget and Public Spending	2,461
Directorate for Internal Audit and Assurance	3,212
Directorate for Performance and Strategic Outcomes	2,625
Directorate for Tax and Fiscal Sustainability	2,459
Strategy and External Affairs	39,894
Directorate for Constitution and Cabinet	8,555
Directorate for COVID Co-ordination	4,579
Directorate for Culture and Major Events	2,883
Directorate for External Affairs	9,939
Directorate for Organisational Readiness	10,171
EU Directorate	1,748
Parliamentary Counsel Office	2,019
Grand Total	656,010

Question reference: S6W-07250

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 29 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of admissions to general surgery wards were repeat admissions, broken down by NHS board in each of the last five years.

Table 1: General surgery repeat hospital admissions

NHS Board	Number of repeat hospital admissions					Percentage of repeat hospital admissions
	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21
National Waiting Times Centre	56	38	49	66	32	2.1%	1.5%	1.5%	2.0%	1.2%
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	3,961	4,002	4,237	3,903	3,458	29.6%	30.6%	30.7%	31.1%	37.2%
NHS Borders	534	477	435	415	359	17.1%	16.9%	14.9%	15.6%	18.9%
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	1,903	1,811	2,158	2,146	1,387	20.3%	20.4%	21.7%	22.4%	20.7%
NHS Fife	1,676	1,656	1,739	1,497	1,267	21.4%	21.9%	22.5%	21.2%	21.1%
NHS Forth Valley	1,400	1,077	1,045	2,001	1,617	21.6%	18.2%	18.0%	26.6%	28.3%
NHS Grampian	3,393	3,367	3,534	3,978	2,447	22.0%	23.2%	22.8%	24.2%	25.0%
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde	14,948	13,318	12,809	12,809	7,652	23.7%	23.8%	22.7%	23.6%	23.4%
NHS Highland	1,595	1,661	2,082	1,972	1,490	18.8%	20.2%	23.0%	22.9%	22.3%
NHS Lanarkshire	7,897	7,397	7,881	7,793	3,451	26.0%	25.3%	25.5%	25.9%	22.3%
NHS Lothian	3,999	4,216	4,441	3,873	3,081	21.5%	22.3%	22.4%	21.5%	22.2%
NHS Orkney	313	285	384	468	361	21.1%	19.9%	23.0%	23.7%	23.6%
NHS Shetland	702	840	867	786	339	28.9%	32.4%	32.4%	33.3%	21.6%
NHS Tayside	1,768	1,518	1,421	1,417	1,129	19.1%	17.5%	17.2%	17.4%	17.9%
NHS Western Isles	430	401	265	416	261	19.1%	19.7%	17.4%	19.2%	19.7%
Non-NHS Provider	4	3	0	1	110	0.7%	0.5%	0.0%	0.1%	6.5%

Source: SMR01, Public Health Scotland

Chamber and committees