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-26064

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 18 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with East Ayrshire Council regarding future upgrades to the Bellfield Interchange in Kilmarnock.

The most recent discussions that Transport Scotland has had with East Ayrshire Council regarding Bellfield Interchange were in 2022. Transport Scotland has engaged with the Council throughout the preparation of the forthcoming second Local Development Plan (LDP2), which has identified that a package of works is required at Bellfield to facilitate development in East Ayrshire.

Officials have been consistent in their advice to the Council that any potential impact to the trunk road network, as a result of development, will require to be mitigated to an acceptable level.

Notwithstanding this, I have written to East Ayrshire Council in August 2023 and March 2024 offering a meeting with officials at Transport Scotland to discuss Bellfield Interchange.

Question reference: S6O-03215

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what steps it is taking to address any ethnicity-related pay gap amongst SPCB staff.

Question reference: S6W-26063

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 14 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage prospective students to consider podiatry as a career.

As part of our work to develop a sustainable healthcare workforce, we continue to look for opportunities to increase levels of student attraction to healthcare professions. Careers in NHS Scotland are promoted on the NHS Education Scotland NHS careers website, designed to promote opportunities to school leavers, those in education and those looking to change careers. This site can be accessed at https://www.careers.nhs.scot/

The current route to becoming a podiatrist registered with HCPC is to attain a degree in podiatry and, as such, higher education institutions (HEIs) are autonomous bodies responsible for the attraction and recruitment of their own students. Each institution has their own advertising and recruitment strategy which will include visiting schools, attending careers fairs and promoting the range of opportunities via their social media channels. HEIs also recruit to their approved programmes against their own entry requirements and will encourage and support prospective students in how to achieve the required standards.

Additionally, the Allied Health Professions (AHP) Education and Workforce Policy Review examined workforce and education issues and recommendations included promotion of allied health professional careers and aligning strategies to market a career as an allied health professional. An advisory group has been established to oversee the effective implementation of these recommendations.

Question reference: S6O-03219

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to address any barriers to women’s participation in the creative workforce.

Question reference: S6W-25860

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 13 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the value of the work of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust.

The Scottish Government’s Regeneration programmes work together to support resilient and sustainable communities, with communities directly involved in decisions on the future of their places. The Scottish Government values Coalfields Regeneration Trust’s (CRT’s) contribution to that approach. Since 1999, the Scottish Government has provided over £28 million in funding to CRT to invest in improving outcomes for coalfield communities.

In 2023/24 funding is being delivered within the context of the most challenging budget settlement since devolution. The Scottish Government is having to make difficult decisions while ensuring it does what is best for communities with the limited resources it has. This is impacting programmes across Government including the Empowering Communities Programme through which CRT is funded and which has been subject to a reduction in budget from 2022-23.

In addition to the dedicated funding for coalfield communities delivered through CRT, the Scottish Government also invests in wider regeneration programmes such as the Investing in Communities Fund and Regeneration Capital Grant Fund. These target our most disadvantaged and fragile communities and continue to support projects in our former coalfield communities.

Question reference: S6W-25861

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 13 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the Minister for Local Government Empowerment and Planning last met representatives from the Coalfields Regeneration Trust.

Question reference: S6W-25862

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 13 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the Minister for Local Government Empowerment and Planning will next meet representatives from the Coalfields Regeneration Trust.

Question reference: S6W-25880

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 13 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what impact its Budget will have on funding for NHS Education for Scotland.

As set out in answer S6W-25192 on 20 February 2024, the 2024-25 Scottish Budget will provide an uplift of over half a billion, bringing the budget for NHS Boards to over £14.2 billion, of which NES will receive £550.2 million. Health boards are responsible for ensuring best use of available resources to support delivery of services and strategic objectives.

NES plays a critical role in supporting the education, training and wider development of the NHS Scotland workforce, and in particular the medical workforce where target training numbers have already been confirmed for 2024-25. As part of this, the Board is actively contributing to a number of wider policy developments as set out in Programme for Government, the NHS Recovery Plan and the National workforce Strategy. The Scottish Government remains committed to delivering the National Workforce Strategy and achieving the overall vision for “A sustainable, skilled workforce with attractive career choices and fair work where all are respected and valued for the work they do”.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

Question reference: S6W-25863

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 13 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government which projects that have received funding from the Coalfields Regeneration Trust the Minister for Local Government Empowerment and Planning has visited since his appointment.

Question reference: S6W-25852

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 12 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the mapping of existing breakfast provision within primary and special schools will be completed as stated by spring 2024, and on what date it anticipates that it will publish the findings.

The Scottish Government has been working with AssistFM and the Improvement Service to map breakfast provision across Scotland, the findings will be used internally to inform the policy development on national breakfast provision. The first phase of the mapping work is now complete. The second phase of the work will take place across April-May 2024 and will survey all primary and special schools in their approach to the provision of breakfast.