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-26061

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 20 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what recent consideration it has given to any impact on care experienced young people who have to travel long distances from their home to the colleges that provide the education and training for their apprenticeships.

Question reference: S6W-26066

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 20 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many full-time equivalent allied health professional (AHP) practice educators currently work within NHS Scotland, broken down by (a) profession and (b) NHS board.

Question reference: S6W-26060

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 20 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what recent consideration it has given to any (a) financial and (b) social impact on apprentices who do not live close to the colleges that provide the education and training that they need to complete their course.

Apprentices are employees and can undertake training in a college, and will also undertake a significant amount of work-based learning in their working environment as they progress through their apprenticeship.

Funding contributions for Modern Apprentices are weighted towards young people, particularly the 16-19 age group, with enhanced funding contributions for those who are care experienced and/or are disabled up to age 29.

For apprentices resident in Argyll & Bute, Highland, Moray, Orkney, Shetland, Western Isles, Isle of Arran, Isle of Great Cumbrae, and the Isle of Little Cumbrae, travel and subsistence funding is available to support apprentices who must attend structured and formal off-the-job training (out with normal daily travel requirements) as part of their Modern Apprenticeship. This may require them to travel and, where appropriate, use overnight accommodation.

All young people in Scotland can also apply to access the Young Persons’ (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel Scheme.

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-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-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.