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-05530

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 4 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much COVID-19 funding it plans to carry forward to 2022-23, broken down by portfolio.

The 2022-23 Scottish Budget as published on 9 December assumed no specific carry-forward for resource funding through the Scotland Reserve. £179 million of capital and financial transactions was assumed as the estimated Scotland Reserve availability for 2022-23, but this is not linked to specific portfolio underspends.

The 2022-23 Scottish Budget did include £620 million of other anticipated funding, calculated on a risk-based assessment of availability across a range of sources. This assessment included an estimate of £145 million of funding related to future consequentials associated with changes to UK non-domestic rates legislation, which HM Treasury has now confirmed is included in the £440 million guaranteed additional funding for 2021-22. This £145m will therefore now have to be factored into overall budget management in the final months of the current financial year, with the remaining balance considered as part of the Scotland Reserve carry-forward.

Question reference: S6W-05528

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 4 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the health resource Barnett consequentials received for 2021-22 remain unallocated.

Question reference: S6W-05568

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government who attended each COBR meeting on its behalf during 2021.

COBR is shorthand for the UK Government Civil Contingencies Committee that is convened to handle matters of UK national emergency or major disruption. COBR ministerial meetings are described as COBR (M).

The Scottish Government can only report on COBR meetings we are invited to attend by the UK Government. The following table sets out the COBR meetings that the Scottish Government was invited to and which Scottish Ministers attended during 2021.

Meeting	Subject	Date	SG representative(s)
COBR (M)	Winter resilience	01-01-2021	Deputy First Minister
COBR (M)	Storm Christoph	19-01-2021	Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change, and Land Reform
COBR (M)	Storm Christoph	20-01-2021	First Minister
COBR (M)	Storm Christoph	21-01-2021	Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change, and Land Reform
COBR (M)	Covid-19	10-12-2021	First Minister Chief Medical Officer Director General, Constitution and External Affairs
COBR (M)	Covid-19	15-12-2021	First Minister Chief Medical Officer Director of COVID Coordination
COBR (M)	Covid-19	19-12-2021	First Minister Chief Medical Officer Director General, Constitution and External Affairs

Question reference: S6O-00737

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it anticipates that the lifting of the eviction ban, in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, will result in increased homelessness.

Question reference: S6W-05676

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the appointment from within the Chief Nursing Officer's Directorate of a lead for Scottish stoma clinical nurse specialists.

The Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) has a range of clinical nurse advisors who offer advice and support to both the CNO and Scottish Ministers on a range of issues, including the care of individuals with a stoma. As part of the CNO’s Transforming Nursing, Midwifery and Health Professionals programme, a review of the role definition and education of clinical nurse specialists was taken forward. The review didn’t look at (and has no plans to consider) specific specialties such as stoma nursing and we have no plans to appoint a lead for stoma clinical nurse specialists.

Question reference: S6W-05680

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made in the development of the NHS Recovery and Rehabilitation Framework, and when the National Advisory Board for Rehabilitation last met.

The Framework for supporting people through Recovery and Rehabilitation during and after the COVID-19 was published in August 2020. We then undertook a significant scoping exercise to understand the current status of rehabilitation services in Scotland, from the perspective of the staff working in them. This was done using a self-assessment tool and the report on the findings ( Rehabilitation Framework Self-Assessment Tool: Analysis of Survey Responses ) was published on 9th December 2021.

The findings from the self-assessment tool, along with demand and capacity data, will inform the development of a national programme of improvement work which we will work with NHS Boards, Health and Social Care Partnerships and the third sector to implement. This will deliver a ‘Once for Scotland’ rehabilitation pathway that will ensure everyone who requires rehabilitation will be able to access it.

The National Advisory Board for Rehabilitation last met in October 2021, and it is expected it will meet again in early 2022 now that the report on the self-assessment tool had been published.

Question reference: S6W-05677

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on implementation of the recommendation made in the National Stoma Quality Improvement Group Short Life Working Group's final report, published in November 2019, that NHS boards should review future stoma nurse workforce requirements, in line with the Chief Nursing Officer Directorate's Transforming Roles Programme and the findings of the Short Life Working Group, and whether an implementation lead has been appointed.

The National Stoma Quality Improvement Group’s Short Life Working Group’s final report of November 2019 recommended that NHS Boards review their future Stoma Nurse workforce. I expect NHS Boards to plan their workforce, including stoma clinical nurse specialists, to meet the needs of their population. At this present time, the recommendations from the National Stoma Quality Improvement Group Short Life Working Group and the Scottish Government are not considering the appointment of an implementation lead.

Question reference: S6W-05562

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is implementing the European Stroke Organisation's Action Plan for Stroke in Europe 2018–2030, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Through our Programme for Government commitments we are already reflecting the aims of the European Stroke Organisation’s Stroke Action Plan for Europe.

In particular the ESO’s target that 90% of all patients with stroke in Europe should be treated in a stroke unit as the first level of care is already reflected within the Scottish Stroke Care Standards (Access to Stroke Unit - 90% within 1 day of admission).

The ESO also recommends ‘national plans for stroke encompassing the entire chain of care’. We already have a national plan on stroke - the Stroke Improvement Plan - which we are in the process of refreshing. To do so, we are developing a progressive stroke pathway document which will set out our vision for what stroke services across Scotland should deliver across the entire patient pathway. Following this, a refreshed improvement plan will support its delivery.

Question reference: S6W-05563

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-04701 by Humza Yousaf on 23 December 2021, what specialities are covered by the seven clinicians undertaking the review.

Question reference: S6W-05555

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to adopt the 12-week waiting time target for the treatment of cardiovascular disease.

The Treatment Time Guarantee already outlines that after a diagnosis is determined and treatment agreed, each health board must ensure that patients receive inpatient and day case treatment within 12 weeks. This applies to all treatments and services apart from fertility treatment, obstetrics services, organ and tissue transplantation, direct referrals to Allied Health Professionals, dental treatment provided by undergraduate dental students, direct access referrals to diagnostic services, and mental health services.

The current unprecedented pressures on the NHS means that Health Boards are not currently able to reinstate services to such a degree as to be in a position to meet the existing waiting times standards and targets, which is why we published the NHS Recovery Plan. This includes a focus on providing alternative pathways of care that will allow people to be treated more quickly closer to home, delivering long term sustainability.

At this time, the Scottish Government has no plans to develop any further waiting time targets for cardiovascular disease.