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-31838

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 6 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that increases in child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) staff numbers are consistent and proportionate across NHS boards.

The Scottish Government have invested heavily in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in recent years, which is why CAMHS staffing has increased by 59.1% in the last decade of this Government (+553.8 WTE). CAMHS workforce data is publicly available in NHS Education for Scotland (NES) Turas Data Intelligence at: NHS Scotland Workforce Data.

We work closely with all NHS Boards to help improve their performance across CAMHS, including to reduce their waiting times. Despite ongoing pressures, local CAMHS teams continue to respond well to demand, with statistics showing one in two children and young people referred to CAMHS start treatment within 6 weeks.

Whilst the Scottish Government sets the strategic policy direction for the NHS in Scotland, operational matters including staffing are in the first instance the responsibility of the relevant NHS Board. Decisions depend on the service needs of each board taking account of national, regional and local priorities, and we expect NHS boards to plan and provide safe, effective and high-quality care, in line with their statutory service provision and workforce planning responsibilities.

The Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 commenced in April 2024 and aims to be an enabler of high-quality care and improved outcomes for service users in both health and care services by helping to ensure appropriate staffing for high quality care. The legislation does not prescribe minimum staffing levels or fixed ratios and does not advocate a ‘one size fits all’ ratio, which would be inflexible to local needs, based on a fixed point in time, and not consistently reflective of workforce, case mix or dependencies.

To better support workforce planning across NHS Scotland, in collaboration with NES Data Group & Centre for Workforce Supply (CWS), we have developed a workforce planning data modelling tool, which sits on the TURAS data intelligence system. The tool will enable greater understanding of the timing and size of current and projected workforce demand at a local, regional, and national level.

We also undertake a robust student intake planning process to determine the target number of pre-registration students to which Scottish universities should recruit in the following academic year to meet estimated future workforce demands. The process involves significant input from key stakeholders from across the education sectors, including Council of Deans of Health Scotland, NHS Education for Scotland (NES), NHS Board Planners, and Unions.

We will continue to work with our key partners to ensure the Health and Care (Staffing) legislation is implemented effectively across NHS Boards, including within CAMHS services.

Question reference: S6W-31924

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 December 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 18 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that communities do not lose access to dentistry services.

Question reference: S6W-31957

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 December 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 18 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the operators of the Queensferry Crossing regarding regularly cleaning its cables to prevent the build up of ice.

Question reference: S6W-31958

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 December 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 18 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it is working to prevent closures of the Queensferry Crossing, in light of reports after recent periods of cold weather that traffic could be diverted to the Forth Road Bridge as soon as an ice forecast is received, to prevent ice falling from its cables onto vehicles.

Question reference: S6O-04087

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it is working to ensure that pupils have access to practical science activities as part of the curriculum.

Question reference: S6O-04028

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, as part of its work on diversity, inclusion and equalities, what recent discussions the Minister for Equalities has had with ministerial colleagues regarding work to tackle Islamophobia.

Question reference: S6W-31093

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 15 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether funding for the 2025-26 round of the Place Based Investment Programme (PBIP) will take place as planned.

Question reference: S6O-03986

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to protect the allocation of funding to third sector organisations in its forthcoming Budget.

Question reference: S6W-30695

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 12 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered extending modern language provision in primary and secondary schools to include the languages spoken by New Scots pupils and their families, in line with the recommendations set out in the University of Glasgow-led project, Welcoming Languages, and the principles of the New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy.

The Scottish Government notes the University of Glasgow-led project and report ‘Welcoming Languages’, and officials are in contact with researchers from the University to consider the report’s findings and to ensure that learning from the project is shared with the education system.

The 1+2 Languages policy provides all pupils with an entitlement to learn additional languages from primary 1 (P1). Schools and local authorities make decisions on the specific languages taught based on the needs of their learners and local circumstances.

Currently, the first additional language, taught from P1, must be a language that can be taught to national qualification level (i.e. Cantonese, French, Gaelic (Learners), German, Italian, Mandarin, Spanish and Urdu) which includes some of the most spoken community languages in Scotland. The SQA is responsible for establishing and maintaining all national qualifications, and a range of criteria would need to be met before establishing any new language qualifications.

The second additional language, taught from Primary 5 (P5), can be any language. The latest survey of local authorities, taken in 2023, showed that some primary schools, supported by Education Scotland and Scotland’s National Centre for Languages (SCILT), are already offering a wider range of second additional languages including Polish, Arabic and Ukrainian.

Question reference: S6W-30702

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 4 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to publicly respond to the Scottish Police Federation's submitted pay claim for a 5.7% pay increase for 2024-25.