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-28723

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 July 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 13 August 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the findings of the Kidney Care UK publication, Transplant care in the UK: a patient perspective, what steps have been taken to ensure that all chronic kidney disease patients who have received a transplant have access to physiotherapy services.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of access to interdependent services, including those provided by allied health professionals such as physiotherapists, in order to optimise kidney transplant outcomes.

Under the Scottish Government’s Donation and Transplantation Plan: 2021-2026, a working group on transplant recipient aftercare has been set up. Access to physiotherapy services, which are generally provided when needed both via the Transplant Units themselves and by referring centres, has not so far been identified as an issue of particular concern for chronic kidney disease patients who have received a transplant in Scotland. We will continue to monitor the situation closely including by means of the working group.

Question reference: S6W-28721

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 July 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 13 August 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps have been taken to reduce waiting lists for a kidney transplant.

The Scottish Government’s Donation and Transplantation Plan: 2021-2026 sets out a number of actions designed to help reduce waiting lists for a kidney transplant. This includes the use of novel technologies, which offer the opportunity to allow transplant units to use more “marginal” organs that may previously have been declined, by means of closer joint working between transplant units, and through work to increase living kidney donation.

Working through the Scottish Donation and Transplant Group, which brings together key stakeholders, and by means of NHS National Services Division's commissioning planning, we will to continue to monitor organ utilisation to encourage good practice. In addition, the Scottish Government and NHS Boards continue to raise awareness about organ donation in order to help increase numbers of deceased organ donors, for example during Organ and Tissue Donation Week, which will take place in September 2024.

Question reference: S6W-28710

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 July 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 9 August 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many GPs there were as of April 2024, broken down by (a) whole-time equivalent positions and (b) head count.

Data on the Whole-Time Equivalent GP Workforce is published annually by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) in the General Practice Workforce Survey report . As of March 2023 the estimated WTE number of GPs (excluding GP registrars/specialist trainees) was 3,478.4, where 1 WTE is defined as 8 contracted sessions per week.

GP headcount is published by NES through the General Practitioner Headcount report. In September 2023 there were 5,168 Headcount GPs in Scotland (including GP Registrars on placement in general practice).

NES are due to publish results from the 2024 General Practice Workforce Survey and the 2024 General Practitioner Headcount data later this year.

Question reference: S6W-28711

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 July 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 9 August 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many whole-time equivalent GPs have (a) been employed and (b) retired or left the profession, in each year since 2019.

Question reference: S6W-28677

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 July 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 6 August 2024

To ask the Scottish Government who its special advisers are, and what portfolios they cover.

Special Advisers are appointed in accordance with Part 1 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 by the First Minister as a Special Adviser for the purpose of providing assistance to the Scottish Ministers. There are currently 12 Special Advisers.

The Scottish Government has published a list of the Special Advisers and their specific portfolio responsibilities at: Special advisers - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Question reference: S6W-28709

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 July 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 6 August 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much was spent on primary care (a) in cash terms and (b) as a percentage of the overall NHS budget, in each year from 2007-08 to 2023-24, and how much it anticipates will be spent in 2024-25.

The amount spent by NHS Boards on Family Health Services (FHS), which includes the four primary care contractors, is reported in the annual Cost Book published by Public Health Scotland. This information is publicly available on the PHS website: Costs Book publication - Costs Book - Finance within the NHS - Acute and emergency services - Our areas of work - Public Health Scotland We would expect the 2023-24 data to be published in February 2025 and the 2024-25 data to be published in February 2026. The Scottish budget, including NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care is published on the Scottish Government website: Scottish Budget - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Question reference: S6W-28706

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 July 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 6 August 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much money it costs to train a (a) paediatric and (b) neonatal student nurse at a Scottish university.

The Scottish Government package of support for Scottish domiciled student nurses, midwives and paramedics remains the highest level of support offered in the UK.

Annual Student Cost Breakdown

Teaching Grant to University (subject to change)

£7,775

Tuition Fees to University (subject to change)

£1,820

Annual Bursary

£10,000

Uniform Costs

On average £54.72

Health Checks

On average £233.79

Disclosure Checks: Protecting Vulnerable Groups scheme (PVG)

Costs for the scheme:

? £59 to join the scheme

? £59 or £18 to update membership (cost dependent on whether the PVG member needs to apply to work with a new vulnerable group)

Additionally, students are entitled to claim travel allowances, the amount will be variable dependent on the students circumstances.

There are also a range of additional allowances eligible students may be entitled to claim such as:

? Dependents allowance of up to £3,640 a year;

? Single Parents’ Allowance of up to £2,303 a year;

? Childcare Allowance for parents of up to £2,466 a year;

? Disable Students’ Allowance which will be variable dependent on the students requirements

Over a three year degree the average cost to train a nurse or midwife is in the region of £60,000 plus allowances and clinical placement expenses.

With regards to neonatal nurses, although a newly qualified nurse or midwife after completing their relevant pre-registration programme can be employed within a neonatal unit, a specific neonatal qualification is undertaken post-registration following an appropriate period of clinical experience. This is currently delivered by Edinburgh Napier University as a Neonatal Care - Qualified in Speciality postgraduate certificate (SCQF Level 11) part-time blended course, typically undertaken over 1 year. The current tuition fee is £1575 for Scottish & Rest of UK students, which is funded through Health Boards. Tuition fees are subject to an annual review and may increase from one year to the next.

Question reference: S6W-28704

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 July 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 6 August 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) paediatric and (b) neonatal nurses have been employed by each NHS board, in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-28713

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 July 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 6 August 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many university places have been available for medical students who are (a) Scotland-domiciled, (b) from the rest of the UK and (c) from overseas, in each of the last 10 years.

The number of undergraduate medical school places available since 2015, broken down by domicile, has been provided in the following table. As requested, these reflect the places available, rather than the eventual entrants.

Academic year (A/Y)	Scots/ Rest of the UK (rUK)/RoI/Gibraltar	International	Total Per year
2015-16	784	64	848
2016-17	834	64	898
2017-18	834	64	898
2018-19	889	64	953
2019-20	949	64	1013
2020-21	974	64	1038
2021-22	1039 (of which 790 must be Scottish domiciled)	78	1117
2022-23	1239	78	1317
2023-24	1339	78	1417
2024-25	1339	78	1417

It should be noted that there is no separate target for students from the rest of the UK (rUK); instead, these students are considered to be home students in line with students from the RoI and Gibraltar.

Question reference: S6W-28703

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 July 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 6 August 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the estimated number of vacancies is for (a) paediatric and (b) neonatal nurses in NHS Scotland, broken down by NHS board, and what the vacancy rate was in each of the last five years.

Information on the number of vacancies for (a) paediatric nurses in NHS Scotland, broken down by NHS board can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at: Dashboards | Turas Data Intelligence (nhs.scot) (Vacancy tab)

Information on the number of vacancies and vacancy rates for (b) neonatal nurses in not centrally collected.

Information on paediatric nursing vacancy rates across NHS Scotland in each of the last five years can be found in the following table:

Vacancy rate	Dec-19	Dec-20	Dec-21	Dec-22	Dec-23
Paediatric Nursing	5.5%	2.1%	12.5%	8.8%	5.3%

NOTE: Vacancy rates for Mar 2024 are currently unavailable and will be published on TURAS on 13 August.