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-03934

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 29 October 2021
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.

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.

Question reference: S6O-00407

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 November 2021
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.

Question reference: S6W-03896

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 11 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the cost is of training a nursing student.

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.

Question reference: S6W-03898

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2021
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.

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.

Question reference: S6W-03881

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2021
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.

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.

Question reference: S6W-01602

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 11 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government by what date it plans to start the roll-out of the 2021-22 flu-immunisation programme, and how many people will be eligible for a free flu vaccination, broken down by eligible groups.

We are currently working with Public Health Scotland and Health Boards to plan and deliver the 2021-22 Seasonal Flu Vaccination Programme for the autumn.

We welcome the advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation who have indicated that where possible, a COVID-19 vaccination booster programme could run synergistically with the flu vaccination programme. This allows for eligible cohorts to be offered both the flu vaccination and a COVID-19 booster at the same appointment and we are working closely with partners to align the programmes to achieve this where possible (taking into account the minimum 24 week gap required between a 2nd dose and booster).

In light of this advice, we have started this year’s programme on the 6 September aiming to vaccinate over 3 million people, with work completed to identify the eligible group populace. It began with rollout of the childhood and schools programme and Health & Social Care Workers were able to book appointments using the online portal from 21 September. Those age 70 years and over have been sent letters inviting them for vaccination and pregnant women are being offered through maternity services.

Those aged 60-69 years of age are being sent letters from late October inviting them for vaccination and an online self-booking portal is being developed for those aged 50 years and over and unpaid carers to allow people to book an appointment at a convenient time and location allowing greater flexibility during November and December in advance of the anticipated start of flu season.

Cohort	Eligible Population
65 and over-	1,101,519
Children aged 2-5 who cannot receive LAIV	877
Children Aged 2-5	168,209
Primary School Aged Children	421,295
Secondary School Age Children less than 18 years	336,125
Under 65 years old in an at-risk group	773,085
Pregnant women(with & without risk factors)	36,905
Health & social care staff	308,073
Unpaid and young carers	48,600
Independent NHS Contractors, (GP, dental and optometry practices, community pharmacists, laboratory staff working on COVID-19 testing) including support staff	72,919
Teachers, support staff, Prison staff and support staff operating the detention estate.	80,581
Prison population (Fluctuates daily – approximate figure provided. Population may also be included in cohorts above.)	7,500
50-54 not at risk	363,473
55-59 not at risk	356,254
60-64 not at risk	312,366
Total	4,387,781

Influenza vaccine data is published by Public Health Scotland and on the 28 October indicated that 944,989 eligible individuals have received their flu vaccine.

Question reference: S6W-03609

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 11 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether the additional funding of £62 million for unmet need in social care is recurring funding.

Question reference: S6W-03610

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 11 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how the £62 million for unmet need in social care will be allocated, broken down by local authority.

The additional funding of £62 million to expand care at home capacity has been approved for distribution to local authorities by the Settlement and Distribution Group meeting on 18th October and will be passed in full to IJBs . The distribution methodology for the funding is GAE for All Adult Social Work for 2021-22 and thereafter.

The distributions for 2021-22 will be made as redeterminations of the General Revenue Grant in March 2022. A letter with the full breakdown of allocation by Local Authority will be issued shortly.

Question reference: S6W-03981

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 11 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when the winter flu period is anticipated to commence in 2021.

Most influenza infections typically occur in the winter months with a peak between December and March. Public Health Scotland produce a weekly report monitoring the surveillance of influenza infection which currently sits at baseline activity (week 42). The latest weekly report can be found here: Weekly national seasonal respiratory report - Week 42 2021 - Weekly national seasonal respiratory report - Publications - Public Health Scotland .

Question reference: S6W-03612

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 October 2021
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.

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.