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: S5O-01196

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 August 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when it will respond to the recommendations of the Barclay review of non-domestic rates.

Question reference: S5W-10581

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to promote health visiting as an attractive career.

Question reference: S5W-10579

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £40 million committed to in 2014 for the training and recruitment of 500 additional health visitors by 2018 has been spent, broken down by financial year.

The Scottish Government allocated £2 million, £6.8 million, and £19m in 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2017-18 respectively for additional Health Visitors. In 2016-17, funding for Health Visitors was included in the new Outcomes Framework (totalling over £160m) issued to Health Boards. All of this funding supported the provision of an additional 500 health visitor posts. In addition, a further £3.3m has been allocated to Health Boards over the same period in respect of Health Visitor training.

The above funding will allow us to meet the manifesto commitment by 2018, investing over £40m by 2017-18.

Question reference: S5W-10576

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to ensure that the additional 500 health visitors committed to in 2014 will be (a) trained and (b) recruited by 2018.

We have engaged with all Health Boards since the commitment to delivery of the 500 additional health visitors by 2018 was made in 2014. This engagement includes monitoring progress through quarterly returns and face to face meetings. A further series of meetings is due to take place between September 2017 and January 2018.

Our discussions and information to date suggest we are on track to meet this commitment.

Question reference: S5W-10575

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the additional 500 health visitors committed to in 2014 have been (a) trained and (b) recruited.

The commitment to increase the number of qualified health visitors by 500 is unprecedented and is almost a 50% increase in the number of qualified health visitors in Scotland. From March 2014 to March 2017 there are at least an additional 242 Whole Time Equivalent health visitors in post. The total number of students completing health visitor training courses from the September 2014 to June 2017 is 486.

Question reference: S5W-10572

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many health visitors have completed training in each of the last six years.

The numbers competing health visitor training courses in each of the last six years at 18 July 2017 is contained in the following table:

Year	Numbers Completing Health Visitor Training
2011*	61
2012	58
2013	68
2014	75
2015	187
2016**	209
Total	658

Source:

*Data from 2011 to 2015 – NHS Education for Scotland Nursing & Midwifery Annual Statistical Supplement available on request from NHS Education for Scotland

**NHS Education for Scotland management information

Question reference: S5W-10577

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether the 500 additional health visitors committed to in 2014 are all whole time equivalent (WTE) or whether the figure will be a headcount of new health visitors regardless of working hours.

In 2014 the Scottish Government announced funding with the goal of increasing the Health Visitor workforce by 500 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) by the end of 2018.

WTE information provides a better indicator of total labour input than a simple headcount. It is useful to support workforce planning and therefore continues to be in demand.

It is for individual NHSScotland Boards to determine whether posts are filled by one person or through a number of part-time appointees.

ISD Scotland workforce data on Health Visitor staff in post is published as both WTE and as headcount and can be found on the workforce statistics website at:-

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2017-06-06/Health_Visitors_M2017.xls

Question reference: S5W-10580

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the age demographic of health visitors.

While the Scottish Government sets strategic policies for the NHS in Scotland, it is for each NHS Board to plan their workforce to ensure that enough professional staff and facilities are available to provide the best possible care for patients in a variety of settings. NHS Boards account for Health Visitor staff retirement as part of the workforce planning process.

The age profile of the current Health Visitor workforce has been published by ISD Scotland since March 2015 to support workforce planning and can be found on the workforce statistics website at:-

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2017-06-06/Health_Visitors_M2017.xls

Question reference: S5W-10571

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on (a) bank and (b) agency health visitors in each of the last six years, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S5W-10574

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many health visitors have been recruited on a part-time basis in each of the last six years, broken down by NHS board.

Workforce data on Health Visitors in contracted hours (part-time or full-time) is published quarterly by ISD Scotland and is available from March 2015 onwards at the workforce statistics web site:-

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2017-06-06/Health_Visitors_M2017.xls

Health Visitors were part of a recent review of community nurses data. Therefore, information on the Health Visitor workforce prior to March 2015 is not comparable with previous years.