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-19556

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 12 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans to switch to electronic cattle tagging ahead of the scheduled date of 1 January 2024, and whether it can provide clarification on the status of paper passports past this date.

The introduction of mandatory Bovine EID is a substantial project and all applicable legislation is being reviewed. The Scottish Government have undertaken scoping work to determine the main changes to legislation that will be necessary. Once the necessary work is complete a response will be issued to the Bovine EID stakeholder group with an indicative timetable.

Any changes to future Regulations concerning cattle identification, will be subject to a full public consultation. This will also include the future use of paper passports.

Question reference: S6W-19555

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 12 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on any discussions ministers have had with industry regarding the progress of systematic software upgrades to assist with the new ScotEID database ahead of 1 January 2024.

The Scottish Government works closely with partners to ensure the ScotEID multispecies database system is fit for purpose and meets the requirements of Industry stakeholders. The system is driven by innovation and continuous improvement, to ensure future challenges can be met. ScotEID will continue to support legacy IT systems used in other parts of the United Kingdom.

We recognised the importance of working with the sector on testing technologies and researching different systems, including the benefits that it could accrue to both the industry and government and welcomed proposals set out in a voluntary industry led pilot on the early adoption of electronic identification of cattle (Bovine EID). As a result, the Scottish Government issued funding for this voluntary industry led initiative for Bovine EID through the Programme for Government.

Question reference: S6W-19370

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 10 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether there are any plans for a research study into the demand for residential rehabilitation amongst those who are alcohol dependent.

There are currently no plans for a research study into the demand for residential rehabilitation amongst those who are alcohol dependent.

Scottish Government welcomes robust and reliable research, considering how it relates to ongoing policy or can inform new policy. We await the outcome of the current research into the demand for residential rehabilitation amongst those who use drugs being led by Public Health Scotland to assess whether any of its results and/or recommendations are applicable for people who are alcohol dependent.

Question reference: S6W-19371

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 10 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the timescale is for the research study being carried out for Public Health Scotland, by Figure 8 Consultancy, Glyndwr University and King's College London, into the demand for residential rehabilitation amongst people who use drugs in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-19369

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 10 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what funding has been put in place for the Public Health Scotland research study, being carried out by Figure 8 Consultancy, Glyndwr University and King's College London, into the demand for residential rehabilitation amongst people who use drugs in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has commissioned Public Health Scotland to undertake the evaluation of the overall National Mission, within this wider evaluation there is a specific programme of work to design and deliver a monitoring and evaluation programme for the residential rehab element of the mission. This includes a wide programme of monitoring and evaluation and is overseen by an independent Monitoring and evaluation Advisory Group.

For the research study into the demand for residential rehabilitation amongst people who use drugs, which forms a part of the wider residential rehabilitation evaluation programme, Public Health Scotland have allocated a maximum budget of £100,000.

Question reference: S6W-19368

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 10 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the research study, being carried out for Public Health Scotland by Figure 8 Consultancy, Glyndwr University and King's College London, into the demand for residential rehabilitation amongst those who use drugs in Scotland, does not also include in its scope those who are alcohol dependent, in light of it being "part of a wider national programme aiming to improve drug and alcohol support, involving a range of organisations, people with lived and living experience, and their family members/carers."

Public Health Scotland have been commissioned to conduct a monitoring and evaluation programme for residential rehabilitation policy, as a part of the wider National Mission evaluation, on behalf of the Scottish Government. We recognise that residential rehabilitation provides support to people with drug and alcohol problems, and as part of this evaluation programme, Public Health Scotland will ensure that people with lived experience of both drug and alcohol use are consulted.

As part of the evaluation, Public Health Scotland have begun research into the demand for residential rehabilitation for people who use drugs, carried out by Figure 9 consultancy. In this research study, individuals will be asked whether they experience problems with alcohol, alongside their drug use. Therefore, whilst the focus of the research is on drug use, alcohol is not completely out with the scope of the study. The wider portfolio of support available to individuals is different for individuals who use drugs and those who do not. This difference in the support offer is why this research study is taking a targeted approach, focusing on individuals who use drugs, and the support available specifically to them.

Question reference: S6W-18897

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 28 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding has been allocated to the Digital Prescribing and Dispensing Pathways programme to date.

Question reference: S6F-02283

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 June 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 June 2023

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-18890

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 26 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the £800,000 media campaign spend on the use of naloxone between 2021 and 2022, whether it will provide a breakdown of how much funding has been allocated to (a) social media, (b) bus stops, (c) billboards, (d) print media and (e) radio.

Question reference: S6W-18969

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 22 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of some areas of Community Health Index (CHI) capture reportedly remaining below the agree threshold of reliability for individual-level analysis, for what reason the Scottish Public Health Observatory continues to publish estimated figures for people prescribed opioid substitute therapy.

Estimates of the number of people prescribed opioid substitution therapy (OST) in Scotland are published on the Scottish Public Health Observatory website as, in spite of some data quality issues, Public Health Scotland (PHS) deem there to be a public interest in reporting this information. These statistics are published in a way that accurately describes the limitations of these data. Further, these estimates have been subject to external validation which indicates that their accuracy is good and has improved over time.

ISD (now Public Health Scotland) first published estimates of the number of people prescribed methadone for opioid dependence in 2015. The narrative accompanying these statistics states that, in spite of Community Health Index (CHI) capture being below the agreed threshold of reliability for individual-level analysis, these statistics are published due to ongoing public interest. As drug-related deaths have become an issue of growing concern, it is felt that this public interest argument continues to provide a strong reason for publication of statistics relating to prescribing for opioid dependence.

The way in which these statistics are published accurately reports the data quality issues that may affect their reliability. These statistics are published as ‘Management Information’ and the accompanying narrative describes the data quality issues and other appropriate caveats. The estimates are appropriately described as a ‘minimum number’ of people prescribed OST medications. Also, patient age and sex analysis that would typically be included for medications where CHI capture was above the agreed threshold of reliability for individual-level analysis, are not included.

Although the percentage of CHI numbers that were successfully captured from community prescriptions for OST medications in Scotland remains below the agreed threshold of reliability for individual-level analysis, there has been a substantial improvement in the quality of the underlying data over time. For the OST estimates, the CHI capture percentage increased from 64% in 2011-12 to 81% in 2021-22. As the information on ScotPHO in relation to prescribing for opioid dependence has developed, PHS have taken steps to understand how CHI capture affects the reliability of these estimates. Prior to releasing the first annual estimate of numbers of people on OST in March 2022, PHS held discussions about estimation methodologies with NHS Board prescribing leads and worked with them to agree a suitable way forward.

An analysis (also published on ScotPHO ) comparing estimates of the numbers of people on OST generated from NHS Board systems with the estimates produced by PHS shows that there was less than 1% difference between the 2020-21 total derived from local systems (29,588) and the PHS estimate (29,416). PHS continues to work with NHS Boards to improve the reliability of data on OST and any associated analyses.