- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 12 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what the cost is of training a medical student.
Answer
The cost of funding a Scottish domiciled student from entry to university through to graduation is set out in the first table. The cost of funding a student from the Rest of the UK (RUK) from entry to university through to graduation is set out in the second table.
ScotsDom | SFC | ACT* | SAAS | Total |
Year 1 | £6,936 | £19,500 | £1,820 | £28,256 |
Year 2 | £6,936 | £19,500 | £1,820 | £28,256 |
Year 3 | £15,592 | £19,500 | £1,820 | £36,912 |
Year 4 | £15,592 | £19,500 | £1,820 | £36,912 |
Year 5 | £15,592 | £19,500 | £1,820 | £36,912 |
Total | £60,648 | £97,500 | £9,100 | £167,248 |
| | | | | |
RUK | SFC | ACT* | Total |
Year 1 | 0 | £19,500 | £19,500 |
Year 2 | 0 | £19,500 | £19,500 |
Year 3 | £8,162 | £19,500 | £27,662 |
Year 4 | £8,162 | £19,500 | £27,662 |
Year 5 | £8,162 | £19,500 | £27,662 |
Total | £24,486 | £97,500 | £121,986 |
*ACT – Additional Costs of Teaching (distributed to NHS Scotland Health Boards)
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 12 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has done of the cost of administering the COVID-19 booster vaccine by GP practices compared with health boards, and what the estimated costs were of both approaches.
Answer
The COVID-19 booster will be administered by both Health Boards and GP practices. Health Boards will seek to make best use of their locally available resources when planning delivery whilst being mindful of the need to protect core GP services.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 29 October 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by George Adam on 12 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether there is a protocol for ministerial responses to MSPs and, if so, what that is.
Answer
The Scottish Government aim to respond to all ministerial correspondence within 20 working days. Correspondence from MSPs to Scottish Ministers is routinely answered by a Cabinet Secretary or Minister.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 29 October 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by George Adam on 12 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government which (a) cabinet secretaries and (b) ministers no longer routinely answer correspondence from MSPs and, in the event that any no longer do so, what the reasons for this are.
Answer
Correspondence from MSPs should routinely be answered by Scottish Government Cabinet Secretaries and Ministers. The Health and Social Care portfolio has experienced a huge and unprecedented increase in correspondence over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. This has impacted particularly on the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care and the Minister for Public Health, Women’s Health and Sport. The pandemic saw a 2700% increase in volume of correspondence for these portfolios and the two portfolios combined currently deal with 49% of all correspondence across the Scottish Government.
To enable MSPs to receive timely responses in these exceptional circumstances, much of the correspondence previously signed by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care and Minister for Public Health, Women’s Health and Sport is being reviewed on their behalf by Scottish Government Deputy Directors. This arrangement is under continuous review and Ministerial Responses will resume as soon as volume and circumstances allow. The Scottish Government will keep MSPs informed of any further changes to this process.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 12 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what public information action it has in place to encourage the uptake of the COVID-19 booster vaccine.
Answer
On the week commencing 25 October we launched booster campaign activity to support those aged between 60 and 69 and those 16+ with an ongoing health condition who have started to receive their COVID-19 Vaccine Booster appointments.
The main element of the media campaign which includes TV, Radio, Press, Digital and PR activity started 1 November with a generic call to action.
From 15 November, all media activity will direct target audiences to the appointment booking portal. This campaign is covering 91% of the adult population with an average opportunity to see/hear of 21.
The campaign was supported by a wide range of other communications and engagement activity to raise awareness and encourage uptake in the general population as well as specific groups.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 November 2021
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 18 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body when it will make a decision regarding the level of MSP allowances for staff for 2022-23.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 18 November 2021
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 11 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what the cost is of training a nursing student.
Answer
The Scottish Government package of support for Scottish student nurses and midwives is currently at its highest level. The average cost of training a nursing student, over three years of full-time university education, is £55,000. This comprises:
- Teaching grant and tuition fee payments to the university;
- £10,000 non-means tested, non-repayable annual bursary payments to the student;
- travel costs;
- uniform costs;
- health checks;
- disclosure checks;
- and a range of additional funding students can also apply for, such as Dependant’s Allowance, Single Parent’s Allowance, Childcare Allowance for Parents and Disabled Students’ Allowance.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 11 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how many additional nursing students it believes will be needed to resolve the reported staffing issues, and how much it believes it will cost to fill these places.
Answer
Growing our nursing workforce is crucial and we have steadily increased places on undergraduate nursing courses over 9 consecutive years. Each year we undertake a robust nursing student intakes planning process to determine the target number of nursing students to which Scottish universities should recruit to meet future nursing workforce demands. The process involves significant input from key stakeholders from across the health and education sectors, and uses detailed modelling of current and projected staff and student numbers, including workforce supply and demand for 3-5 years hence, as well as anticipated key service drivers, in coming to a decision.
To address more immediate staffing pressures, the NHS Recovery Plan, which was published on 25 August 2021, commits more than £1 billion of targeted investment for the recovery and renewal of our health service. A key requirement to delivering the Recovery Plan is having the right workforce in place at the right time and it is therefore key that we now develop a new supporting workforce strategy to enable us to do this. We will therefore publish a National Workforce Strategy by the end of this year, which supports remobilisation, recovery and renewal of Health and Social Care Services.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 11 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to applications to study nursing, how many (a) were received and (b) were successful, broken down by each year since 2007.
Answer
Table 1 highlights data from UCAS showing both the number of applications and number of accepted applicants to pre-registration nursing programmes from 2007 to 2020. Figures for 2021 have not yet been published yet.
Table 1
Applications and acceptances to nursing at Scottish providers by year
Source: UCAS
Year | Applications | Acceptances |
2007* | 2,715 | 285 |
2008* | 2,540 | 330 |
2009* | 2,515 | 325 |
2010 | 17,125 | 3,530 |
2011 | 19,230 | 3,265 |
2012 | 18,440 | 2,940 |
2013 | 18,800 | 3,040 |
2014 | 21,260 | 3,370 |
2015 | 21,105 | 3,355 |
2016 | 20,725 | 3,350 |
2017 | 20,900 | 3,615 |
2018 | 20,435 | 3,725 |
2019 | 21,710 | 4,040 |
2020 | 23,640 | 4,785 |
*Prior to 2010, the Centralised Applications to Nursing and Midwifery Training Clearing House (CATCH) was not incorporated into the UCAS undergraduate admissions scheme. This means that UCAS data is not comparable over the longer term due to changes in the courses included within the UCAS application process. For time comparisons, therefore, data prior to 2015 is used not included.
In 2015, around 120 courses at providers in Scotland that were previously part of the UCAS Teacher Training scheme moved into the UCAS undergraduate scheme. The numbers for providers in Scotland in 2015 and later recorded through the UCAS Undergraduate scheme will include those which were previously part of UCAS Teacher Training – estimated to be around 2,000 acceptances per year, mostly aged 21 or over.
For the 2010 cycle, the Centralised Applications to Nursing and Midwifery Training Clearing House (CATCH) was incorporated into the UCAS Undergraduate admissions scheme. Data from 2010 onwards includes nursing and midwifery diploma courses in Scotland.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 October 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 11 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether any reductions to care packages by local authorities will be halted in light of the additional funding of £62 million for unmet need in social care.
Answer
The health and social care system is currently experiencing significant pressures. We recognise that some people’s care services have been affected by this, and the impact this may have on them and their unpaid carers.
That is why an investment of more than £300 million for health and social care was announced by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care on 5 October 2021, including £62 million to address care at home pressures.
This funding will help to enhance capacity in care at home provision. It will help to increase social worker assessment capacity, fulfil unmet need, and deal with the current surge in demand and complexity of individual needs.
