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-10897

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its declaration of a climate emergency in 2019, along with a policy of encouraging more renewable electricity generation, whether an expansion of low-cost wind energy generation in Scotland will result in lower electricity bills.

The Scottish Government does not have powers to act in this area (as the generation, transportation and supply of electricity is reserved to the UK Government).

Electricity is a commodity traded on the wholesale energy market across GB, the price of which is set by the last (or marginal) unit, which in GB is typically gas.

New renewable electricity capacity that is supported by the Contract for Difference (CfD) framework will help to decouple the price of renewable electricity from the price of gas by setting a fixed ‘strike price’ for the sale of every MWh over a 15-year period.

Question reference: S6W-10895

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to reduce any reliance on agency nurses in the NHS.

The Scottish Government is taking appropriate steps to ensure we have the necessary staffing in place to support our NHS services. Over the lifetime of this parliament we are committed to investing more than £11 million in further domestic and international recruitment to support NHS staffing levels.

Student nurses and midwives entering funded degree programmes will increase in 2022-23 to a total recommended intake of 4,837. This will be the tenth successive increase, doubling the number of students who were funded in the last decade.

To ensure appropriate shift cover where there is increased demand the majority [54.9%] of temporary staffing cost comes from the NHS Staff Bank. Bank staff are NHS staff, on NHS contracts at NHS rates of pay.

The usage of bank and agency staff was vital during the height of the pandemic, the most pressured time our NHS has ever seen. The use of short term staff in an organisation as large and complex as the NHS is inevitable and is not related to one specific issue.

Their use helps ensure service continuity during times of planned and unplanned staffing gaps including sickness absence and leave. Boards receive monthly agency spend reports and each Board has identified an Executive Lead to take overall responsibility for this area.

Question reference: S6O-01346

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it supports property purchases, direct payments to property owners and the use of non-disclosure agreements as a means of removing objections to large-scale windfarm applications.

Question reference: S6W-10166

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 30 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to expanding free nursery provision at the age of two to children in receipt of Disability Living Allowance.

1140 hours of high quality funded Early Learning and Childcare is available to all three and four year olds in Scotland, and two year olds who will benefit most. National eligibility criteria for access to funded early learning and childcare at age two is largely aligned to free school meals criteria, as well as care experienced families. Local authorities also have powers to provide discretionary access to a funded ELC place for any child they see fit.

As set out in Best Start, Bright Futures: Tacking Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2022-26 , we will review eligibility to inform the future development of childcare policy in Scotland. This work will ensure a coherent joined up system for families with children of different ages and identify the best approach to expanding access to funded childcare for more of the identified priority family groups, including families with a disabled adult or child.

Question reference: S6W-10133

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 22 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps are taken to ensure that standards are applied fairly across higher education when determining grades at undergraduate level.

Question reference: S6W-10134

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 19 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what role it plays in monitoring whether best practice is followed by Scottish universities, regarding the moderation and cross-marking of student assessments.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has a statutory obligation under section 13 of the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 2005 to secure that provision is made for assessing and enhancing the quality of higher education provided by fundable bodies in Scotland.

On our behalf, to meet this obligation the SFC, supported by the Quality Assurance Agency, works with institutions so that they meet an agreed set of expectations for academic standards and quality, as measured against agreed sector reference points such as the UK Quality Code, to ensure that best practice is followed regarding moderation and marking of assessments, including the use of external expertise and examiners.

Question reference: S6W-09818

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the reported delays on the NHS 24 111 calls service.

In the face of the substantial increase in demand placed on the service by the COVID-19 pandemic, NHS 24 continues to provide a highly effective, safe triage system to the people of Scotland.

As a result of this increased demand, and changes to service delivery, the Scottish Government increased funding to NHS 24 by over £20m last year for additional recruitment.

This additional funding has supported the additional recruitment of 575 full time equivalent call handlers and 140 full time equivalent clinicians to date, including through the recently established 24/7 mental health hub.

It has also supported the opening of two new NHS 24 call centres in Dundee and Glasgow, which opened in December 2021 and May 2022 respectively.

We continue to work with NHS 24 to support improvement in the performance of the 111 service, including engaging with partners and stakeholders through the national Redesign of Urgent Care programme.

Question reference: S6W-09816

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government who has responsibility for (a) deciding on and (b) commissioning (i) new medical research and (ii) small scale patient studies.

Scottish Government's Chief Scientist Office (CSO), through NHS Research Scotland, supports clinical research infrastructure that allows Health Boards, researchers, clinicians and industry to improve the quality, efficiency, coordination and impact of clinical research, supporting a broad range of clinical research studies. CSO's approach to funding does not focus on directly commissioning or funding specific research areas, instead providing broad-based support through investments in key infrastructure and wide-remit research grant and fellowship schemes.

Question reference: S6W-09819

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the benefits of near patient International Normalised Ratio (INR) testing, including in rural areas.

Question reference: S6W-09817

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what impact any long delays in answering NHS 24 111 service calls have on A&E services.

The Scottish Government recognises the impact long delays in call answering times at NHS 24 could have on A&E attendances. NHS 24 is focussed on ensuring that patients receive the correct advice immediately without a requirement to be placed in a queue, in line with what extensive patient engagement has told the Service. Although this means patients may sometimes have to wait longer for their call to be answered, over 95% of calls are closed first time with patients getting appropriate support and advice without any requirement to be placed in a queue for a call back. This not only helps callers with a reduced journey time through NHS 24 but also hastens any onward referral to local services within NHS Boards reducing pressure across the system.

There are significant pressures residing across all areas of the system, including the NHS 24 111 service and, as a result, we have increased funding for the service by over £20m. This is supporting additional recruitment of call handlers and clinicians, including the addition of two new call centres in Dundee and Glasgow to help facilitate the increase in demand generated by the redesign of urgent care programme.

Furthermore, our new Urgent and Unscheduled Care Collaborative programme, supported by £50 million, will support the implementation of a range of measures to reduce A&E waiting times and improve patient experience, including alternatives to hospital-based treatment.