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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 225 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-15447

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 15 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the adequacy of current staffing levels for lung cancer nurse specialists within the (a) West of Scotland Cancer Network, (b) North Cancer Alliance and (c) South East Scotland Cancer Network.

The Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care policy in Scotland, however the statutory responsibility for delivering or commissioning services lies with health boards. Operational decisions, including whether there is a need for lung cancer specialist nurses, is therefore, a matter for them.

Scottish Government officials have weekly cancer calls with health boards where issues with staffing can be addressed and supported.

Question reference: S6W-15450

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 15 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of how many new lung cancer patients per whole-time equivalent lung cancer nurse specialist there were in September (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.

Question reference: S6W-15451

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 15 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to support NHS Scotland to train new lung cancer nurse specialists to support the reported increasing number of lung cancer patients living five years or more following diagnosis.

The Scottish Government is committed to training Clinical Nurse Specialists. The Specialist Nursing and Care Report details how health boards have used the £2.5 million recurring funding announced in 2015 to enhance clinical nurse specialist in NHS Scotland.

We set out in Transforming Nursing, Midwifery And Health Profession (NMaHP) roles: review of Clinical Nurse Specialist and Nurse Practitioner roles within Scotland , published in August 2021, how health boards can use a flexible approach to the education and training of Clinical Nurse Specialists. Education programmes can be provided through higher education institutions as well as modules provided by health boards; work based learning for training posts that have a specific specialisms with appropriate supervision; and digital learning to maximise access and flexibility to training.

Question reference: S6W-15446

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 15 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to increase the number of lung cancer nurse specialists.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all people living in Scotland with lung cancer are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.

Clinical nurse specialists make a valued contribution to delivering services and supporting patients and families who require specialist care. The Scottish Government has invested over £2.4 million annually in the Specialist Nursing and Care Fund since 2015.

The Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care policy in Scotland; however, the statutory responsibility for delivering or commissioning services at a local level lies with local authorities, NHS Boards and integrated health and social care partnerships. Operational decisions, including whether there is a need for lung cancer specialist nurses, are therefore matters for those bodies.

Question reference: S6O-01908

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 February 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to increase the number of student nurses.

Question reference: S6F-01727

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 January 2023

To ask the First Minister what progress the Scottish Government has made in clearing the reported backlog of people waiting for key diagnostic tests.

Question reference: S6W-12891

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many delayed breast reconstruction operations have been carried out in 2022, broken down by (a) month and (b) NHS board.

Question reference: S6W-12818

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 13 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, for its (a) Alcohol Harm Prevention Policy Team, (b) Alcohol Treatment Policy Team and (c) Drugs Policy Unit, how many posts there are in each team, and of these, how many are currently filled.

Question reference: S6O-01697

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the open letter signed by over 500 businesses asking for the Deposit Return Scheme to be delayed beyond next summer.

Question reference: S6W-12063

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 28 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the annual budget was for each of the NHS Research Scotland research networks and speciality groups, in each year since 2016.

Since 2016, Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office has provided a total of approximately £3.8 million to £4.3 million each year for all NRS Networks and Specialty Groups. Figures for individual Networks and Specialty Groups are indexed by financial year in the table provided.

Table 1. CSO allocations to NRS Networks and Specialty Groups since 2016-17.

Network / Specialty	FY 2016-17	FY 2017-18	FY 2018-19	FY 2019-20	FY 2020-21	FY 2021-22	FY 2022-23	Total per area
Cancer *	£442,000	£447,000	£456,000	£456,000	£456,000	£475,000	£475,000	£3,207,000
Stroke	£598,000	£604,000	£616,000	£616,000	£616,000	£641,000	£641,000	£4,332,000
Children	£411,000	£415,000	£423,000	£423,000	£423,000	£441,000	£441,000	£2,977,000
Dementia	£491,000	£496,000	£506,000	£506,000	£506,000	£677,000	£677,000	£3,859,000
Diabetes	£579,000	£585,000	£597,000	£606,000	£615,000	£640,000	£640,000	£4,262,000
Primary Care	£385,000	£409,000	£440,000	£450,000	£484,000	£482,000	£482,000	£3,132,000
Mental Health	£498,000	£503,000	£508,000	£540,000	£548,000	£570,000	£570,000	£3,737,000
Cardiovascular	£64,000	£65,200	£66,424	£66,424	£66,424	£68,923	£68,923	£466,318
Musculoskeletal	£64,000	£65,200	£66,424	£66,424	£66,424	£81,744	£81,744	£491,960
Reproductive Health & Childbirth	£64,000	£65,200	£66,424	£66,424	£66,424	£68,923	£68,923	£466,318
Oral and Dental	£14,000	£14,200	£14,404	£14,404	£14,404	£14,822	£14,822	£101,056
Age and Ageing	£14,000	£14,200	£14,404	£14,404	£14,404	£14,821	£14,821	£101,054
Trauma and Emergencies	£14,000	£14,200	£14,404	£14,404	£14,404	£14,821	£14,821	£101,054
Critical Care and Anaesthesia	£14,000	£14,200	£14,404	£14,404	£14,404	£14,821	£14,821	£101,054
Peri-operative Pain	£14,000	£14,200	£14,404	£14,404	£14,404	£14,821	£14,821	£101,054
Dermatology	£14,000	£14,200	£14,404	£14,404	£14,404	£14,821	£14,821	£101,054
Gastrointestinal	£14,000	£14,200	£14,404	£14,404	£14,404	£14,821	£14,821	£101,054
Hepatology	£14,000	£14,200	£14,404	£14,404	£14,404	£14,821	£14,821	£101,054
Respiratory Disorders	£14,000	£14,200	£14,404	£14,404	£14,404	£14,821	£14,821	£101,054
Clinical Genetics	£14,000	£14,200	£14,404	£14,404	£14,404	£14,821	£14,821	£101,054
Metabolic & Endocrine Disorders	£14,000	£14,200	£14,404	£14,404	£14,404	£14,821	£14,821	£101,054
Opthalmology	£14,000	£14,200	£14,404	£14,404	£14,404	£14,821	£14,821	£101,054
Non-Malignant Haematology	£14,000	£14,200	£14,404	£14,404	£14,404	£14,821	£4,000	£90,233
Infectious Diseases & Microbiology	£14,000	£14,200	£14,404	£14,404	£24,808	£14,821	£14,821	£111,458
Renal Disorders	£14,000	£14,200	£14,404	£14,404	£14,404	£14,821	£14,821	£101,054
Total per Financial Year	£3,806,000	£3,867,600	£3,961,332	£4,012,332	£4,073,736	£4,367,906	£4,357,085	£28,445,991

* From 1 April 2006 a recurring investment of £500,000 was incorporated into the NHS Boards unified budgets which would be subject to the annual uplift applied to Boards baseline budget