- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 7 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to eliminate hepatitis C in Scottish Prisons.
Answer
The Scottish Government remains committed to achieving elimination of Hepatitis C across the whole of Scotland by 2024.
This includes the prison population. However, we know that the health needs of those in prison can be complex and may need more targeted intervention.
Opt-out testing for blood borne viruses, including hepatitis C, is recommended in prisons and PHS published “Guidance to Support Opt-Out Blood Borne Virus (BBV) Testing in Scottish Prisons” in 2019. This guidance recommends that BBV testing should be offered to everyone within 7 days of entering custody. The guidance is due to be reviewed later this year and that review, in combination with the work underway to re-invigorate progress towards the wider elimination target, will ensure there remains a focus on eliminating hepatitis C in Scottish prisons.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 7 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of progress towards realising its target to eliminate hepatitis C by 2024.
Answer
The Scottish Government remains committed to achieving the 2024 target of eliminating Hepatitis C in Scotland, whilst recognising the impact that the covid-19 pandemic has had on all our health services.
Public Health Scotland (PHS) recently published a report entitled ‘Surveillance of Hepatitis C in Scotland’ and the findings from that report indicate that major progress has been made regarding a number of Hepatitis C (HCV) elimination targets in Scotland, despite the challenges posed by the pandemic. By 2021, 80% of individuals diagnosed with chronic HCV infection in Scotland had been initiated on HCV treatment, meaning that Scotland had met the World Health Organisation Target on treatment.
PHS are also currently undertaking a piece of work to determine incidence levels across Scotland and we expect to receive that data by the end of the year. This will support decision-making on the extent and location of required interventions and resources.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 28 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 4 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) self-funded and (b) council-funded care home places there have there been in each year since 1999, broken down by (i) care home and (ii) local authority area.
Answer
The number of resident places by funding category (i.e. self-funded/publicly funded) is not available. However, Public Health Scotland have published the estimated number of long stay residents in care homes for older people by funding category and by local authority since 2009.
a) i) This information is not held centrally and is not published by Public Health Scotland.
a) ii) These figures are available in two parts:
The latest Public Health Scotland Care Home Census for adults publication contains figures from 2012 - 2022. The figures can be found in the “Funding and Charges” section of the dashboard.
The Public Health Scotland Care Home Census for adults 2020 publication contains figures from 2009 – 2011. The figures can be found in Table 13C of the accompanying Care Home Census Data Tables.
b) i) This information is not held centrally and is not published by Public Health Scotland.
b) ii) These figures are available in two parts:
The latest Public Health Scotland Care Home Census for adults publication contains figures from 2012 - 2022. The figures can be found in the “Funding and Charges” section of the dashboard.
The Public Health Scotland Care Home Census for adults 2020 publication contains figures from 2009 – 2011. The figures can be found in Table 13C of the accompanying Care Home Census Data Tables.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 4 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to hold a full review of the Young Patients Family Fund in order to assess (a) its implementation and impact to date and (b) what further support is needed to support young cancer patients and their families, and when it will publish the outcomes of such a review.
Answer
There are no plans at this time to carry out a full review of the Young Patients Family Fund (YPFF) however the Scottish Government has recently liaised with all Health Boards to discuss the implementation of the fund following its first full year of operation. Health Boards also routinely provide data on uptake to support the Scottish Government monitoring processes.
Those claiming under the YPFF are not required to specify the diagnosis of the young inpatient when making a claim. Therefore the Scottish Government does not propose to use YPFF monitoring or evaluation work to inform our support for young cancer patients and their families.
With respect to what further support is needed to support young cancer patients and their families, I refer the member to S6W-11449 on 4 November 2022.
All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 4 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to (a) review the financial support available for 18- to 25-year-olds with cancer and (b) expand the support available to this age group, if it is considered necessary.
Answer
Those aged between 18 – 25 years old continue to have access to the Patient Travel Expenses Scheme or the Highlands and Islands Travel Scheme, both of which provide eligible claimants with support to meet travel costs associated with outpatient appointments.
Further to this, the introduction of the Improving the Cancer Journey scheme provides all adults diagnosed with cancer with the opportunity to be referred to a link officer under the joint partnership. The link officer will complete a Holistic Needs Assessment and will generate a care plan to meet the needs identified. This programme is the first of its kind in the UK. It looks to ensure that every cancer patient who can access emotional, financial and practical support. Local community assets can at this stage be identified and utilised to support the service user in meeting their needs.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 28 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 3 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what (a) assessment it has made of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, and (b) potential lessons can learned for Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting all survivors of childhood abuse. We are currently considering the evidence, findings and recommendations which have come out of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in England and Wales, and will do the same for the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry when it reports the outcome of its investigations in due course. The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry continues to investigate the abuse of children in care in Scotland.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 3 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of its Budget has been allocated to local government spending in each year since 1999.
Answer
The Scottish Government provides funding to Local Government annually through the Local Government settlement. This is made up of a combination of the general revenue grant, general capital grant, income from non-domestic rates as well as specific revenue and capital grants.
Included in the table (BIB 63725) is the Local Government budget following the annual Spring Budget Revision ('SBR') as a proportion of both the Scottish Governments total fiscal budget excluding FTs (i.e. its discretionary spending limit) as well as its Total Managed expenditure. Note that the SBR budget figure does not include amounts provided by other portfolios via grant funding to local government.
Given the changes in the Scottish Governments devolved powers since devolution it is not possible to draw a direct comparison between the funding levels since 1999. To illustrate this point we would note that in 2013-14 funding of over £1bn in respect of Police and Fire was removed from Local Government.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2022
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 10 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what actions are being taken to end the practice of children living in temporary accommodation, in light of recent homelessness statistics.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 10 November 2022
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 28 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 2 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce a Help to Buy scheme for veterans, to support veterans and their families when buying a home.
Answer
Veterans who have left the armed forces within the past two years are a priority access group for the Low Cost Initiative for First-Time Buyers (LIFT) shared equity schemes, which includes the Open Market Shared Equity and New Supply Shared Equity schemes.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 28 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 2 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been helped through the Help to Buy scheme in each year since its introduction.
Answer
Information on how many people have been helped through the Help to Buy (Scotland) scheme can be found under the Monitoring Information Report heading here: https://www.gov.scot/policies/homeowners/help-to-buy/
