- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 24 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that the scheme to equip 18,000 police officers with body-worn cameras to improve their safety will not go ahead.
Answer
In November 2022, the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) Resources Committee approved Police Scotland's Initial Business Case for the introduction of National Body Worn Video, ahead of consideration by the SPA Board. Once approved by the Board, Police Scotland is expected to undertake a full procurement exercise this year which will provide more clarity on costs - both upfront purchase costs and ongoing costs.
The Scottish Government remains fully committed to using the resources available to support the vital work of Police Scotland in delivering effective and responsive policing across Scotland. We have invested over £11.6 billion in policing since Police Scotland was created in 2013 and we will invest a further £1.45 billion in 2023-24. Despite cuts to the Scottish Government capital budget, we have also continued to maintain the £45.5 million capital investment in the police asset base for buildings, vehicles and technology. Operational policing decisions on the introduction and use of body worn cameras and budgetary prioritisation remain matters for Police Scotland to decide, acting under the oversight of the SPA.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Dorothy Bain on 24 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government when the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service will publish its annual report on the Victims’ Right to Review scheme for 2021-22.
Answer
The COPFS Victims Right to Review Annual Report 2021-22 was published on the COPFS website on 24 January 2023.
The report is available on the COPFS website at the link below.
https://www.copfs.gov.uk/publications/victims-right-to-review-annual-report-2021-to-2022/
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2023
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 26 January 2023
To ask the First Minister what steps are being taken to tackle unethical and illegal dog breeding, in light of recent reports of high value extreme breeding programmes operating in Scotland.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 26 January 2023
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Cancer Research UK report, Cancer in the UK: Deprivation and cancer inequalities in Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Government continues to focus on tackling disparities in deprived areas by ensuring equitable access to cancer services through the actions in our National Cancer Plan. We recognise that the impact from the COVID-19 pandemic may have exacerbated inequalities within screening. A key Ministerial priority is reducing inequalities in access to and uptake of screening programmes. That is why we committed up to £2.45 million to the Screening Inequalities Fund to build a programme of evidence-based, sustainable and scalable projects that tackle inequalities in a systemic way.
Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services (RCDS) have been established across three NHS Boards to date which have a key role in delivering earlier diagnosis and improving patient care. The First Minister recently announced an additional two RCDS’ are being developed.
Additionally, the development of national clinical management pathways through the Scottish Cancer Network will help reduce variation across Scotland, across the entirety of the pathway. In parallel, the first optimal cancer diagnostic pathway, led by the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) was launched in December 2022, and is being funded by £3 million from the Scottish Government’s Detect Cancer Earlier (DCE) Programme.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government when its representatives last met with (a) representatives and (b) the Chief Executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), and what was discussed.
Answer
There are regular meetings between Scottish Government officials and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) representatives, covering a wide range of subjects. The last such meeting took place on 10 January 2023 when the MHRA Cross-UK Partnership group met. The purpose of the MHRA Cross-UK Partnership group is to ensure that officials from the devolved administrations are kept updated on key MHRA issues that may affect or involve them. At the last meeting, the MHRA Corporate Plan, its Post Implementation Review of the Human Medicines Regulations, and safety issues were discussed.
The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer is a member of the Sodium Valproate Implementation Working Group, which is supporting the safe introduction of new measures to further strengthen the safe prescribing of sodium valproate in clinical practice. The group last met on 6 January 2023.
A meeting took place on 9 December 2022 with the Chief Medical Officers and the Deputy Chief Medical Officers and the MHRA Chief Executive was invited as a guest. Dame June Raine attended briefly on 9 December and provided an informal update on sodium valproate.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 23 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to reduce the opening hours of any ScotRail ticket offices in (a) Inverclyde and (b) North Ayrshire, and, if so, what discussions it has had with rail users groups on this matter.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13225 on 13 January 2023. 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: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that, between 19 and 25 December 2022, more than 30 patients at the Inverclyde Royal Hospital waited longer than 12 hours to be seen.
Answer
We know that this is one of the toughest winters in the NHS’s 74-year history and long delays clearly demonstrate the challenge our Health Service is facing.
Delayed discharges continue to drive up A&E waits, which is why we are working with hospitals across Scotland, including Inverclyde Royal Hospital to ensure people leave hospital without delay, freeing up vital beds for those who need them most.
Our £50 million Urgent and Unscheduled Care Collaborative looks to drive down A&E waits through, Hospital at Home and our Out-patient Antimicrobial Therapy service which allows patients to be treated at home or in the community.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding any poor customer service processes and response times at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), and whether any businesses in Scotland have raised related concerns with the Scottish Government.
Answer
The Scottish Government has had no discussions with the UK Government regarding any poor customer service processes and response times at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. No businesses have raised any concerns with the Scottish Government on this matter.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 09 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 23 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what progress ScotRail has made towards its goal of becoming a menopause friendly accredited business by the end of January 2023.
Answer
ScotRail is committed to becoming a menopause friendly employer and has delivered “Let’s Talk about Menopause” training to its Executive Committee and eighty of its senior leaders.
ScotRail designed and delivered training for colleagues in ScotRail and the wider UK rail industry to celebrate World Menopause Month in October 2022 and has plans to offer Train the Trainer sessions with other ScotRail staff. ScotRail’s aim is then to roll out a programme of menopause awareness training across the organisation.
Applications for the Menopause Friendly Accreditation (MFA) are open four times each year and ScotRail’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager is currently in the process of collating evidence to submit with its audit survey which ScotRail intends to do by end February 2023.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 09 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 23 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Kidney Research UK report, Changing the future for chronic kidney disease in Scotland, published in December 2022.
Answer
We welcome the report by Kidney Research UK and commend its work to support people with chronic kidney disease in Scotland. A number of Scottish Government clinical advisors and partners participated in the roundtable which informed the development of this report.
The Scottish Government is committed to improving care for people with chronic kidney disease through a number of activities which are aligned with the recommendations set out in Kidney Research UK’s report. We are raising awareness of the symptoms, causes, diagnosis and prevention of kidney disease by providing and promoting information on chronic kidney disease for patients and their families on NHS Inform .
Our Donation and Transplantation Plan was published in 2021 and sets out a dedicated priority to increase living donation and reduce the wait for a kidney transplant. This includes a number of recommendations to improve care, including developing resources and information to promote living donation , changing clinical practice in renal units, increasing direct engagement with patients and their families, and developing new guidance on staffing to support living donation.
We also continue to support the work of the Scottish Renal Registry which promotes excellence in renal care in Scotland including audits on the delivery of renal replacement therapy. The most recent report from registry was published by Public Health Scotland in October 2022 and provides vital information for Health Boards, service managers and individual clinicians to help improve care and standards for people with chronic kidney disease.
