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-10389

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the cash value is of payments made to the private healthcare sector and independent providers of (a) healthcare and (b) social care in each of the last 10 years.

Scottish Ministers remain fully committed to a health service that provides timely, quality care, is free at the point of contact and true to the founding principles of the NHS. The creation of a National Care Service will bring social care in to parity of esteem with healthcare and end the postcode lottery of care provision to ensure that everyone can get the care they need across the country.

Our publicly owned and operated NHS in Scotland makes very limited use of the independent sector for targeted services and to supplement capacity, where necessary. Over the last 10 years, use of the independent sector by NHS Scotland has consistently represented less than 1% of total frontline spend, with spend in 2020-21 being just 0.5% of the total frontline health budget. This compares to 6.8% and 0.8% for NHS England and NHS Wales, respectively. Further detail on spend with independent providers for NHS Scotland is available in Health Boards’ accounts which are published annually on each Health Board’s website.

Social Care services are commissioned by Local Authorities and the information requested would require to be requested from them.

Question reference: S6W-10390

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether patients using private healthcare for urgent operations can recoup the costs from the NHS.

Question reference: S6W-10385

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported increase in the number of people using private healthcare.

Over the last two and a half years, our NHS has suffered the biggest shock of its 74-year existence. Caring for large numbers of patients seriously unwell with COVID-19 has inevitably meant that planned care procedures have had to be delayed, and while we are working hard to recover and remobilise our NHS, this will not be done in a few weeks or even months. Throughout the pandemic, NHS Boards have ensured that urgent, maternity and vital cancer services continue as usual. Addressing the backlog of care, while continuing to meet the ongoing urgent health and care needs of the country, remains a priority for this Government.

We recognise the impact long waiting times can have on patients. That is why we have introduced a new set of ambitious targets for NHS Scotland to address the backlog of planned care. Key targets are to eliminate:

Two-year waits for outpatients in most specialities by the end of August 2022
18-month waits for outpatients in most specialities by the end of December 2022
One-year waits for outpatients in most specialities by the end of March 2023
Two-year waits for inpatient / daycases in most specialities by the end of September 2022
18-month waits for inpatient / daycases in most specialities by the end of September 2023
One-year waits for inpatient / daycases in most specialities by the end of September 2024

We are working with NHS Boards to maximise capacity to meet these targets and have increased the flexibility Health Boards and clinicians have to manage waiting lists, with a focus on eliminating long waits, as well as continuing to treat the most clinically urgent patients.

The latest Private Healthcare Information Network figures show Scotland has lower rates of self-pay admissions per head of population than England and Wales

Question reference: S6W-10783

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in Scotland have died where malnutrition has been identified as a cause and is included on the death certificate, in each of the last 10 years.

The number of deaths where malnutrition was the underlying cause in any death over the past 10 years is as follows (TABLE 1):

TABLE 1 - malnutrition (E40-E46) was the underlying cause

	year
	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
All	17	11	9	11	5	9	9	11	7	11	14

The number of deaths where malnutrition or the effects of hunger were mentioned on the death certificate in the past 10 years is as follows (TABLE 2):

TABLE 2 - malnutrition (E40-E46) or effects of hunger (T73.0) was mentioned on the death certificate

	year
	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
All	85	83	82	95	88	100	93	108	83	89	81

Note that the figures in Table 2 include all of the deaths in Table 1. The codes referenced (E40-E46 and T73.0) are ICD-10 codes used to define malnutrition.

The source of all of the above data is the National Records of Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-01372

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what specific measures it is taking to support social care workers during the cost of living crisis.

Question reference: S6W-10429

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 6 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much agricultural land has been lost in Scotland to house building developments in the last decade.

The Scottish Government does not hold information relating to the amount of land that has changed from agricultural use to homes.

In our draft National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) we proposed national planning policy which included that development proposals on prime agricultural land would not be supported except in certain limited circumstances. We will lay a finalised NPF4 in the Scottish Parliament for approval in the autumn.

Question reference: S6O-01330

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many houses it estimates need to be built to tackle the current housing waiting lists in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-09859

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 4 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to ensure a secure future for shipbuilding and fabrication in Scotland.

Building on a rich shipbuilding heritage, the future for Scottish shipbuilding, marine engineering and fabrication is very strong. The latest official statistics show Scottish shipbuilding generated £408 million of gross value added in 2019 – a 45% increase from 2018 – and Scotland contributed 19% of the total UK shipbuilding output. The sector supports direct employment of approximately 7,500 highly skilled people in Scotland with many thousands more supported through the supply chain.

The major shipbuilding yards in Rosyth and on the Clyde continue to deliver substantial programmes of work for defence and ferries programmes, whilst a host of smaller facilities throughout Scotland service the ship repair, fabrication, fishing and aquaculture sectors. And, through our ownership of Ferguson Marine, Scottish Ministers are working to ensure the Port Glasgow yard has a secure and sustainable future.

The broader Scottish marine engineering sector continues to service offshore oil and gas markets both in the North Sea and across the globe, while the sector gears up for the truly transformational opportunities that will come through ScotWind – the world’s largest commercial round for floating offshore wind – putting Scotland at the forefront of offshore wind development globally.

Lease agreements with all 17 successful ScotWind applicants have now been signed and we welcome the commitment of developers to invest an average projection of £1.5 billion in Scotland per project, equating to more than £25 billion across all projects. Through these initial awards, ScotWind will not only deliver c.£700 million in revenues to the public purse, but also wider economic supply chain benefits to help power Scotland’s green recovery in communities across Scotland.

The Scottish Government has also committed to invest £580 million over 5 years in vessels and ports, as part of our Infrastructure Investment Plan. This substantial funding will improve Scotland’s ferry services by delivering greater resilience to the network and will allow a wider range of vessels to be used. The Islands Connectivity Plan (ICP) will replace the current Ferries Plan from January 2023 and, as part of the ICP, we will produce and maintain a long-term plan and investment programme for new ferries and development at ports.

Question reference: S6W-09036

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 23 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many social care staff have (a) joined and (b) left the sector in each of the last 10 years.

Question reference: S6O-01313

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many housing developments in Scotland are currently unable to progress as a result of funding for schools and social infrastructure not being in place.