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-16485

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the Scottish National Party manifesto commitment to "develop MyNHS, a safe, simple and secure app that will help people access services directly and own their own health information".

In addition to the health and care information services that are already available to the public, we are currently in the process of developing a Digital Front Door. Digital Front Door acts as a direct response to Scottish National Party’s commitment to develop a ‘’MyNHS’’ App.

A key deliverable within the 2021 Digital Health & Care Strategy, the Digital Front Door will provide a way for people to access health and care information and control their data. It will also help people to conduct more health and care transactions online, including communicating with their health and care providers and managing their appointments.

Key workstreams are in place to develop changes to services, communications and engagement approach, undertake impact assessments and scope requirements for key areas such as identity verification. We have also considered the approaches taken internationally and within other parts of the UK.

Scottish Government has commissioned NHS Education Scotland (NES) as main delivery partner and initial planning, design and development is underway. The current commitment is to have the first version of the Digital Front Door in place by the end of this Parliament.

More information will be made available on this development here - https://www.digihealthcare.scot/our-work/digital-front-door/.

Question reference: S6W-16487

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide any correspondence that it has had, since May 2021, with (a) NHS boards and (b) any relevant stakeholders, regarding reform of the (i) number, (ii) structure and (iii) regulation of NHS boards.

Question reference: S6W-16489

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the Primary Care Improvement Plan.

As of March 2022, through Primary Care Improvement Plans and corresponding funding, we have recruited more than 3,220 whole time equivalent (WTE) multi-disciplinary team (MDT) members, working in GP practices and the community.

Supporting documents - Primary care improvement plans: summary of implementation progress - March 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

We are also committed to providing at least £170 million per year to deliver MDTs and will make additional funding available to support Agenda for Change pay increases for MDT staff.

We have amended regulations to include permanent vaccinations, pharmacotherapy and community treatment and care support for GP practices from 2022-23 onwards.

We continue to work with all partners to ensure we have a robust evidence base on the impact of the programme to support implementation of Primary Care Improvement Plans and future investment decisions in 2023-24.

Question reference: S6O-02138

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the Historic Environment Scotland sites that remain closed.

Question reference: S6W-16481

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 17 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made towards increasing NHS activity to 10% above pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels.

Our £1 billion NHS Recovery Plan is taking forward our aim of increasing NHS capacity by at least 10% as quickly as is possible in order to address the backlog of care and meet the ongoing healthcare needs for people across the country. The Scottish Government publishes progress against the plan on an annual basis.

Last year there were over 1.2 million patients seen for an outpatient appointment, an increase of 8% compared to 2021, when over 1.1 million outpatients were seen.

Question reference: S6W-16488

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 11 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many staff currently work within (a) Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and (b) adult psychology, broken down by NHS board.

The Scottish Government remain committed to improving the mental health and wellbeing of Scotland’s population. Delivering this can only be achieved with the right workforce capacity and capability.

We have invested heavily in staffing in recent years, which is why both CAMHS and Psychology Services workforces have more than doubled under this Government.

Information on workforce numbers is publicly available through the Turas Data Intelligence system, including by NHS Boards, provided by NHS Education for Scotland: NHS Scotland Workforce Data

Question reference: S6O-02049

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve childcare support.

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: 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-15448

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 the current vacancy rate is for lung cancer nurse specialists within the (a) West of Scotland Cancer Network, (b) North Cancer Alliance and (c) South East Scotland Cancer Network.