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: S4W-30041

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many Vale of Leven Hospital staff have carried out shifts at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in (a) 2015 and (b) 2016.

Question reference: S4W-30039

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) consultants, (b) doctors, (c) nurses, (d) allied health professionals, (e) administrators and (f) other staff have been based at the Vale of Leven Hospital in each year since 2007.

The Scottish Government remains committed to maintaining and improving services at the Vale of Leven Hospital. We have been consistently clear that we see a bright future for the hospital, which plays a crucial role in the local healthcare system.

Information on how many (a) consultants, (b) doctors, (c) nurses, (d) allied health professionals, (e) administrators and (f) other staff have been based at the Vale of Leven Hospital in each year since 2007 is not held centrally. Specific local information will be available from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

Under this government, staffing levels in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde have increased by 916.3 WTE, or 2.8 per cent.

Question reference: S4W-30042

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many junior doctor posts there are at the Vale of Leven Hospital and how many are vacant, broken down by how long they have been vacant.

Question reference: S4W-30038

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much the Vale of Leven Hospital has spent on locum doctors in each year since 2007, also broken down by the number of locums employed.

Question reference: S4W-29725

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 3 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the role of an integrated joint board’s section 95 officer is in the delivery of the living wage commitment and whether the sanctions in Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy’s letter of 29 January 2016 in relation to the local government settlement for 2016-17 apply to the integrated joint board or to the local authority.

The integration joint board Section 95 officer is responsible for the proper administration of its financial affairs. In terms of the living wage commitment, the Section 95 officer must prepare a budget for approval by the integration joint board that includes an allocation to its local authority partner for social care services that is sufficient to meet the cost of the living wage commitments. More generally, the Section 95 officer must provide assurance to the integration joint board that the commitments in relation to social care spending set out in the letter from the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy of 27 January have been met.

The sanctions set out in the letter from the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy of 29 January 2016 apply to local authorities.

Question reference: S4W-29724

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 3 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that it does not create a two-tier care workforce.

Question reference: S4W-29718

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 08 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of how it will allocate the additional £250 million for health and social care partnerships that was announced in its 2016-17 draft budget.

Question reference: S4W-29714

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 08 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether third and private sector care organisations have agreed to contribute 25% toward the cost of delivering at least the living wage to all of their care workers in 2016-17.

In correspondence to chief executives of local authorities, regarding the local government settlement, I said that this investment assumes that private and third sector providers will meet their share of the costs. I did not stipulate a specific contribution expected from providers. We would expect a more finely grained analysis of the situation regarding wages and fair work within contracted out care services at integration authority level and that is why the target date has been extended to 1 October 2016 rather than implementation by 1 April 2016.

Question reference: S4W-29713

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 08 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it had with third and private sector care organisations to secure their agreement to contribute 25% toward the cost of delivering at least the living wage to care workers prior to the letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy of 27 January 2016 regarding the 2016-17 local government settlement; when these took place, and which organisations were involved.

Partnership working between the Scottish Government, local government and our stakeholders, including the third and independent sectors, is key to ensuring we achieve the intended outcomes of this additional investment.

This has been the approach we have followed during the past year in which, following extensive dialogue with local authorities and providers, we made available £12.5 million in 2015-16, as part of a tripartite agreement worth £25 million to improve the quality of care by jointly investing to encourage fair work practices for care workers, including progress to the living wage.

The significant increase in resources being made available through the budget will build on this success.

We have not stipulated a specific contribution expected from providers in regards to the 2016-17 local government settlement. We would expect a more finely grained analysis of the situation regarding wages and fair work within contracted out care services at integration authority level and as part of the negotiations on the National Care Home Contract – that is why the target date has been extended to 1 October 2016 rather than implementation by 1 April 2016.

Question reference: S4W-29723

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it expects that (a) third and (b) private sector care providers will pay all their employees at least the living wage as a result of the £250 million allocated in the draft budget for 2016-17 whether they are engaged in public or private contracts.

The allocation of this significant enhancement in resources will help enable councils to allow adult social care workers, including in the independent and third sector, to be paid the living wage of £8.25 an hour. This assumes that private and third sector providers will meet their share of the costs.

It is accepted that councils have no such direct leverage in respect of care providers offering services exclusively to self-funding clients. However, progress in achieving the living wage through care commissioned by local authorities will be an important influence on the wider care market.