Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-43870

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 20 February 2026
Current Status: Answer expected on 6 March 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, following the pause to the publication of The Long Term Conditions Framework in December 2025, what progress has been made in establishing an advisory board for grouped long-term conditions, including myalgic enchephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and long COVID, and when the initial recommendations will be provided to the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S6W-43205

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 20 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding its draft Budget 2026-27, what its response is to the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities' (COSLA) assessment that there is a £15 million funding gap in meeting the estimated £175 million cost of delivering the real Living Wage to adult social care workers.

The draft Budget 2026-27 set out a further £160 million investment to enable the payment of the Real Living Wage to adult social care workers in commissioned services in the next financial year.

The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government has subsequently announced that a further £20 million will be allocated to the Local Government Settlement for Social Care, which can be used towards funding the Real Living Wage for adult and childcare sectors. This ensures that there is budget available to fully meet the £175 million required to enable the payment of the Real Living Wage for adult social care workers in the next financial year.

This will take the total Scottish Government investment in adult social care pay to over £1.1 billion annually, reaffirming our commitment to fair work and recognising the essential contribution of social care workers.

Question reference: S6W-43207

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 January 2026
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 20 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding its draft Budget 2026-27 budget and level 4 tables that were published in conjunction with its draft Budget, whether the baseline used to calculate the total funds to implement the 2026-27 pay uplift in commissioned social care services was the current real Living Wage amount of £12.60ph.

The draft Budget 2026-27 set out a further £160 million investment to enable the payment of the Real Living Wage to adult social care workers in commissioned services in the next financial year. The baseline used to calculate the additional £160 million was the National Living Wage rate of £12.71 per hour.

The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government has subsequently announced that a further £20 million will be allocated to the Local Government Settlement for Social Care, which can be used towards funding the Real Living Wage for adult and childcare sectors.

This will take the total Scottish Government investment in adult social care pay to over £1.1 billion annually.

Question reference: S6W-43699

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many appointments per week on average were delivered using the NHS service, Near Me, in each financial year from 2021-22 to 2025-26.

The appointments per week on average delivered using the Near Me service in each financial year are detailed in the following table. There are no data for group calls prior to January 2022, and data for period 2025-2026 have been collected until the end of January 2026.

Period	One-to-one calls per week (average)	Group calls per week (average)
2021-2022	12810.8	67.3
2022-2023	8402.3	515.2
2023-2024	6787.3	857.8
2024-2025	6095.5	1054.6
2025-2026	5812.5	1058.9

Question reference: S6W-43648

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many radiology speciality training places have been made available in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-43667

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what the current average cost per appointment is for the NHS service, Near Me, and what the estimated total annual operating cost of the service is in each financial year from 2025-26 to 2029-30.

While part funded by the Scottish Government, Near Me is also funded by and delivered through partner organisations. As a result, the Scottish Government does not centrally hold the information required to provide a ‘cost per appointment’. However, I can confirm that in 2025-26 the Scottish Government contributed £1,640,000 to the service.

The current contract ends in March 2027 and we will be considering service delivery and expenditure based on future requirement.

Question reference: S6W-43650

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the draft Scottish Budget 2026-27 and the level 4 tables that were published in conjunction with it, whether it will provide a breakdown of the £1,275.1 million in funding set aside for NHS Delivery.

Neil Gray: Public Services Delivery Scotland (PSDS), formerly known as NHS Delivery, will be established on 1 April 2026. It will bring together the functions - and existing budgets - of NSS and NES under the Common Services Agency, building on the strengths of both existing organisations. The Scottish Budget provides a real-terms increase to the combined legacy NES and NSS budgets, in line with the approach applied across Health Boards. This reflects non-recurring funding moving into baseline, new recurring allocations, a 2% baseline uplift, and additional pay cover. Together, these elements take PSD Scotland’s baseline funding to £1,275.1 million in 2026-27. While the organisation’s priorities and strategic direction will continue to be shaped by Ministerial expectations and national policy objectives, it will be for PSDS to set out its detailed financial plan within this overall funding envelope.

Question reference: S6W-43647

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what the total cost is of a (a) Hospital Specialty and (b) General Practice Specialty Training Programme place.

Based on 2025-26 pay scales, the estimated average annual cost is £117,922 for a Hospital Specialty training place and £115,792 for a General Practice Specialty training place. These estimates assume banding supplements of 50% for hospital placements and between 40-45% for General Practice placements and use average staff support costs . These estimates include salary, employer contributions and infrastructure costs, and vary depending on the specific grade and year of training.

Question reference: S6W-43649

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-00312 by Humza Yousaf on 22 June 2021, how many entrants there have been to accredited pre-registration radiography specialty courses in each of the last five years.

Radiography education is not commissioned or controlled by the Scottish Government. The following table sets out the number of entrants to accredited radiography courses at Scottish Universities each academic year. Figures for the 2024-25 academic year are not yet available.

Entrants to accredited pre-registration radiography courses (rounded to nearest 5)

Year	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24
Therapeutic Radiography	40	40	45	25	45
Diagnostic Radiography	140	145	150	140	130
Total	180	185	195	165	175

Source: HESA Student Population

Question reference: S6W-43651

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 February 2026
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 19 February 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how many advanced level nurses in primary care have been trained in each year since 2021.

Chamber and committees