Questions and answers

Question reference: S6O-01800

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with North Lanarkshire Council regarding a new-build Gartcosh Primary School.

Question reference: S6O-01709

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its most recent assessment is of the impact of Brexit on Scotland’s food and drink sector.

Question reference: S6W-12340

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 5 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce waiting times for cancer patients in Lanarkshire.

£10 million of funding has been directed to support Cancer Waiting Times improvements in our NHS across 2022-23, of which NHS Lanarkshire received a share of £1,229,861. Funding will be targeted towards the most challenged specialties, including colorectal. Significant funds are going towards up-skilling nurses and investment to support extended working days and weekend working to increase capacity and treat patients as timely as possible.

In addition the First Minister announced on 10 October that two new Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services will be established, one of which will be developed in NHS Lanarkshire within existing infrastructure. The service will provide primary care with access to a new fast-track diagnostic pathway for patients with non-specific symptoms suspicious of cancer, such as weight loss and fatigue.

Question reference: S6W-12341

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans for Evusheld to be prescribed by the NHS for people who are most vulnerable to COVID-19.

Question reference: S6W-12339

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 30 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what support it is giving to (a) local authorities and (b) third sector organisations in order to ensure that "The Promise" to care experienced children and young people is kept.

The Scottish Government remains committed to Keeping The Promise by 2030, working in partnership with all partners including Local Authorities, the third sector and importantly the care community.

Through our commitment to lead from the front, the Scottish Government is working closely with Local Authorities and the third sector to create the conditions for change at a national and local level.

To support Whole Family Wellbeing we have committed to provide £32m per annum directly to local areas to build local service capacity and transform delivery of holistic family support services. Children’s Services Planning Partnerships have received their allocation for 2022-23, and are collectively responsible for deciding how to deploy this in a way which best drives change in their areas.

In addition, we are also providing up to £6m to support the work of CSPPs, including collaborative partnerships East Ayrshire, East Lothian, Glasgow City to accelerate plans and provide local learning that can be shared nationally. As well as provision of our Learning into Action Network.

The Scottish Government is committed to funding The Promise Partnership Fund of £4m per annum to support local services and organisations to Keep The Promise. Local Authorities and third sector partners are eligible to bid for this fund through the Corra Foundation.

The Scottish Government continues to support a wide range of projects and initiatives across communities in Scotland that improve outcomes for children, young people, adults and families who are care experienced and those on the edges of care.

Question reference: S6W-11952

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 21 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to bring forward legislation to continue the Nursery Rates Relief Scheme beyond 30 June 2023.

Question reference: S6W-11797

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 7 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to ensure that optical coherence tomography machines are available in all medical practices.

Question reference: S6O-01518

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what support is in place for people with Long COVID.

Question reference: S6W-11421

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 2 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what support is available for children and young people who are adopted, and their families, in the years following adoption.

The Promise made it clear that adoption has an important role in providing a permanent, loving nurturing home, and that an adoption placement should not be the conclusion of the help available to adoptive families.

The Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 gives adoptive families the right to request support from their local authority that best meets the needs of their family at a time that is right for them. A local authority who is approached is required to carry out an assessment and provide assistance to address any needs identified.

The Scottish Government provided £98,000 in 2022-23 for Adoption UK Scotland’s Therapeutic Education Support Services in Adoption (TESSA) programme which provides support to adoptive families.

We have also committed to providing £500 million in Whole Family Wellbeing Funding, over the course of this Parliament, to help transform services that support families, include those who have adopted children and young people, to ensure that they can access the support they need, where and when they need it.

Question reference: S6W-11293

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 31 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the private nursery sector to (a) deliver 1140 hours and (b) pay staff a rate comparable to those working in local authority early years settings.

Private, third sector and childminding providers are a valued part of the successful delivery of our transformational expansion of funded early learning and childcare.

The Scottish Government recognises that the payment of sustainable rates by local authorities to services in the private, third and childminding sectors is vital to supporting financial sustainability and to enabling the delivery of high quality ELC. Our funding agreement with CoSLA enables local authorities to pay sustainable rates to ELC providers. We have worked with local government and providers to strengthen rate-setting in 2022-23, and we recently committed to a thorough review of the overall process ahead of 2023-24.

The Scottish Government has made more than £35 million of dedicated support available to day care of children services since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. We have also committed to continuing the Nursery Rates Relief Scheme beyond the current end date of 30 June 2023.

With regard to pay, we have seen real progress since the ELC expansion began, with our 2021 Health Check indicating that 88% of private providers intended to pay the Real Living Wage to all their staff from August 2021, compared to a position in 2016 when around 80% practitioners were paid less than the Real Living Wage at the time. We want the ELC sector to be a Fair Work sector and we are working with partners to encourage further improvements in terms and conditions, including through the development of a new Childcare Workforce Strategy.

Chamber and committees