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: S6W-14380

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 7 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of people with type 1 diabetes have had access to flash glucose monitoring in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S6W-14268

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 7 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recommendation in the paper, Transforming Nursing, Midwifery and Health Professions’ Roles: Review of Clinical Nurse Specialist and Nurse Practitioner Roles within Scotland, whether advanced clinical nurse specialists have been included within the Advanced Practice Academies.

Question reference: S6W-14267

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 7 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-13531 by Humza Yousaf on 23 January 2023, given that the information requested is not held centrally, how it will monitor the impact of its commitment in the National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care in Scotland to provide "support for those wishing to join the health and social care workforce through increased use of national schemes such as modern apprenticeships".

I refer the member to the Scottish Government’s second Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan. Further to the commitment set out in the National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social care, we committed to a new target of creating 500 apprenticeship opportunities across NHS Scotland in 2022-2023, to support those wishing to join the health and social care workforce. We closely monitor NHS Boards progress towards promoting the range of opportunities available and their progress towards this target, including through taking period management information, and in our planning, assurance and scrutiny engagements with health board representatives.

The Scottish Government continues to work with key partners within health and social care to promote NHS careers with a focus on widening access and providing progressive career development pathways including exploration of “earn as you learn” models such as apprenticeships for new and existing staff.

Question reference: S6W-14269

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 7 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recommendation in the paper, Transforming Nursing, Midwifery and Health Professions’ Roles: Review of Clinical Nurse Specialist and Nurse Practitioner Roles within Scotland, whether it has commissioned NHS boards to review all clinical nurse specialist roles by undertaking to establish the numbers of nurse specialists who map across to the new definition outlined in the paper.

The Scottish Government is currently working with NHS Education for Scotland to identify a workplan for the next phase of the Transforming Roles Programme. This involves agreeing priority actions and implementing outstanding recommendations from the ‘Transforming Nursing, Midwifery and Health Professions’ Roles: Review of Clinical Nurse Specialist and Nurse Practitioner Roles within Scotland’ publication.

At a time of significant system pressure, this priority setting is to be undertaken as part of wider considerations in collaboration with the Scottish Executive Nurse Directors Group in Spring 2023.

Question reference: S6W-14335

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 7 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-13437 by Humza Yousaf on 24 January 2023, (a) how much it has spent and (b) what quantifiable effect any spending has had on assisting to bridge the gap between service demand and capacity within the health and care system in relation to (i) online training provision within the Scotland Deanery, (ii) train-the-trainer for “simulation” training across a number of specialties and in specific procedures, such as in cystoscopy, (iii) virtual reality pilots for communications training in handling stressful situations in pre-hospital emergency care and mental health tribunals, (iv) mental health simulation training, (v) virtual reality simulators, including six endoscopy simulators in six different health boards, alongside a national introductory course covering cancer diagnosis and (vi) a national urology simulator and learning programme.

The Scottish Budget provided baseline funding of over £492 million to NHS Education for Scotland in 2022-2023, it is for NHS Board to determine how they use this funding. In addition to this, further funding has been made available to NHS Education for Scotland to support specific programmes of work including:
‎ £22.3 million is provided towards the improvement of Mental Health Training and £3.7 million for the NHS Scotland Academy which offers accelerated training programmes to those working, and soon to be working, across many roles within Health and Social Care. Much of the training and education activity delivered by NHS Education for Scotland is supported and enhanced through digital solutions.

We continually monitor the sufficiency of education and training support across NHS Scotland as we work to deliver a sustainable Health and Social Care workforce and implement improvements in patient care. As part of this, The Scottish Government has regular strategic engagement with NHS Education for Scotland regarding its priorities. The Scottish Government also has a number of other mechanisms to oversee and review each Board’s performance. The Annual Reviews held by Ministers remain an important part of the accountability process as do Board Annual Operating plans, building on the local governance arrangements which form part of Board structures.

Question reference: S6W-14170

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 7 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has an assurance process to ensure that health and care digital innovations are developed in an ethical, standards-based way, and, if this is the case, how much was spent on creating it.

An Accelerated National Innovation Pathway has been established to standardise and facilitate the adoption of health and care innovations. The Scottish Health Technology Group also supports standardisation by providing robust governance and advice. Digital technologies are required to meet clinical safety standards such as Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) and compliance with MHRA regulations.

Scotland’s first Data Strategy for health and social care will articulate further national principles and deliverables around the ethical use of data. The strategy is due for publication this year

Question reference: S6W-14378

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 7 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of people with diabetes have achieved optimal glycaemic control, defined as <58mmol/mol in adults and <48mmol/mol in children, at one year post diagnosis in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S6W-14379

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 7 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it has done to ensure that people with type 1 diabetes receive appropriate and timely access to technologies to improve glycaemic control and their quality of life.

As part of the Scottish Diabetes Group, there are several sub-groups working on delivering commitments specific to Type 1 Diabetes. These include commitments to improving education and self-management and also inpatient care. Closed Loop Systems are also being considered for potential inclusion in the new Accelerated National Innovation Adoption (ANIA) pathway co-odinated by the Centre for Sustainable Delivery. Projects centred on access to technologies will have a particular focus on increasing access for those living in the most deprived areas of Scotland, using SIMD data.

Question reference: S6W-14376

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 7 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it has done to support early optimisation of glycaemic control in new onset type 1 diabetes.

As part of the Scottish Diabetes Group, a Short Life Working Group (SLWG) has been established to develop recommendations for a ‘Once for Scotland’ approach to Type 1 diabetes education. For people newly diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, there is an urgent need for their diabetes specialist team to introduce self-management techniques in order to ensure early optimisation of glycaemic control. The SLWG has input from health professionals from every NHS Board in Scotland, and they are working in partnership with people living with Type 1 diabetes to design the pathways.

Question reference: S6W-14377

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 7 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of people with diabetes have been recorded as having attended structured education within six months of diagnosis in each year since 2007.