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-25437

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-24836

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 8 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage school leavers and return learners to consider physical education teaching as a long-term career.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting school leavers and return learners to access career support services to fulfil their potential. The national all age careers service, led by Skills Development Scotland, ensures that everyone has access to quality careers information and advice that supports individuals to make informed decisions regarding career options.

Local authorities are responsible for the recruitment and deployment of teaching staff. The Scottish Government will continue to support local authorities to assist them in being able to recruit to their teaching workforce, including teachers of Physical Education.

Question reference: S6W-24831

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-23777 by Michael Matheson on 8 January 2024, when it expects the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) to report back on its commissioned work to "improve Community Urgent Care (CUC) pathways as part of the wider Urgent and Unscheduled Care Programme"; which external partner is currently evaluating the Redesign of Urgent Care pathway through NHS 24 111; when this evaluation will be complete, and what the cost of this project will be.

The Scottish Government works closely with the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) to support delivery of improvement programmes, including the Urgent and Unscheduled Care collaborative, to ensure sustainable ways of delivering services, improving access for patients, and reducing unnecessary demand for services. While we monitor progress through discussion with CFSD and NHS Boards, we will provide updates on progress against specific pathways in our NHS Recovery Plan annual update.

Following open competition, the Picker Institute has been awarded the contract to evaluate the Redesign of Urgent Care pathway. The cost of the project was £90,000 and final report will be published on the Scottish Government website in the summer.

Question reference: S6W-24854

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6O-03002 by Michael Matheson on 24 January 2024, when the National Community Hospital Group was first established; what the membership of the group is; when it last met, and what was discussed.

The Community Hospital group has met in its current format since June 2023. The membership comprises professional advisors, NHS and HSCP clinicians, managers and leaders, and Scottish Government officials. It last met on 24 January 2024. The attendees discussed ongoing improvement work in different health board areas, and time was allocated for collaboration and networking to facilitate sharing of experience and good practice across Scottish community hospital settings.

Question reference: S6W-24840

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 7 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with NHS boards regarding the provision of screening services, such as breast screening, outwith normal 9.00 am to 5.00 pm working hours.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring safe and equitable access to screening for the eligible population. In collaboration with NHS National Services Scotland, NHS Scotland, and representatives from the third sector and academia, the Equity in Screening Strategy 2023-2026 was published in July 2023. The strategy commits to exploring opportunities to offer a greater variety of service provision, including appointments outwith core hours and in a variety of locations. An action plan is currently in progress, and a group has been established to take the recommendations within the Strategy forward.

In addition, the Breast Screening Modernisation Board is taking forward recommendations from the Major Review of the Breast Screening Programme , published in 2021. This includes increasing the convenience of appointments, such as providing more regular evening and weekend appointments for those who find it hard to adjust weekday commitments or rely on support from others.

Most cervical screening is performed within GP practices, and therefore the appointment times are dependent on their opening hours. However, the Scottish Government is committed to exploring the potential for implementing self-sampling in the home for cervical screening and acknowledges that it has the potential to increase uptake levels and reduce barriers to cervical screening.

The introduction of self-sampling within cervical screening is dependent on a recommendation by the expert UK National Screening Committee (NSC), based on an assessment of the available evidence. We are aware that the UK NSC is currently considering this actively.

Question reference: S6W-24843

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 6 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce legislation to reduce the amount of plastic produced by retailers at source.

The Scottish Government is working with the other UK governments to legislate to introduce extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging. Among other benefits, this will create a strong incentive for producers to reduce their use of packaging and drive more sustainable design choices.

The main legislation for packaging EPR will be a Westminster SI, with supporting legislation in Scotland where required. The draft text of this SI was made available for public consultation from 28 July 2023 to 9 October 2023 and is available online at the following link: Draft producer responsibility obligations (packaging and packaging waste) regulations - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk

Question reference: S6W-24879

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 26 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 6 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the Programme Delivery Board designing the National Care Service last met, and what was discussed.

Question reference: S6W-24842

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 6 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with retailers about reducing the amount of plastic used to package food products.

Working with the other UK governments, the Scottish Government is introducing packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) from October 2025. Packaging EPR will see producers taking financial responsibility for the full net cost of responsible management of their packaging, including plastic packaging, at end-of-life. This will create a strong incentive for producers to reduce their use of packaging and drive more sustainable design choices.

As part of this process, the four governments meet regularly with industry representatives, including retailers, to discuss their perspectives on these proposals. A new packaging EPR Scheme Administrator Steering Group has been set up, with retailer representation, recognising industry’s significant role in delivery of the scheme; the first meeting of this group was on 2 February 2024.

Question reference: S6W-25209

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that NHS Ayrshire and Arran will remove ICU beds from University Hospital Ayr and relocate them to Crosshouse Hospital, Kilmarnock, citing significant workforce gaps.

Question reference: S6W-24833

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 5 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-23468 by Michael Matheson on 20 December 2023, whether it can provide details of its plan to eliminate use of the private sector for NHS planned care, including details of any (a) current use of private sector provision and (b) medium- to long-term contractual agreements that are in place with the private sector to provide planned care.

While we work with Boards through planning to make best use of existing NHS resources and capacity, we will continue to use the private sector in a structured and prioritised manner. As we deliver new, better and more sustainable ways of delivering services to improve access for patients, we expect the need for private sector capacity to lessen. It is for local NHS Health Boards to determine how they use the private sector and to agree any contractual arrangements.

In 2022/23, total spend on use of the private sector in NHS Scotland represented just 0.7% (£116m) of the total frontline health budget, while in England, it was 6.5% (£11.5bn) of the Department of Health Budget.

Public Health Scotland’s Annual Acute hospital activity and NHS beds information provides information on non-NHS providers; NHS patients treated in non-NHS locations such as private hospitals, hospices, nursing homes, care homes etc. PHS's latest publication, covering 2022-23 shows that there were 2,958 consultant-led outpatient appointments performed by non-NHS providers in 2022-23, or 0.08% of the total that year (3,928,597) Table 1 – Outpatient Activity. During this period figures for new outpatient appointments are 1,988 by non-NHS providers out of 1,273,588 in total (0.16%), involving 1,943 new patients out of a total of 964,316 new patients. There were also 4,962 Continuous Inpatient Stays in non-NHS hospitals out of a total of 1,092,413 (0.45%). This involved 4,779 patients out of a total of 631,731 patients (0.76%) Table 2 – Inpatient and day case activity .