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: S5W-13833

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 23 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many new teachers have been recruited since the launch of the Teaching Makes People campaign in February 2017.

Question reference: S5W-13806

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many people use Prestonpans railway station each year, and what its response is to reported concerns that there are plans to close the station.

Question reference: S5W-13807

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the proposed new housing developments in the area, whether it plans to improve the rail infrastructure between Drem and Wallyford stations.

Transport Scotland instructed Network Rail in July 2017 to develop options to enhance line capacity as part of development work being undertaken on the East Coast Main Line. This study will determine the most efficient solutions for enhancing service capacity whilst considering the available forecast growth information. Options being considered at present include the potential for four-tracking between Prestonpans and Drem and the potential for a new station at Blindwells.

Question reference: S5W-13834

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 23 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reported figures released by the Scottish Borders Council, which show that the number of teaching posts receiving no applications has increased by almost 50%, from 16 in 2015-16 to 23 in 2016-17, how it plans to tackle this increase.

Question reference: S5W-13984

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5W-13890

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 19 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to increase the number of men working in the childcare and early years sector.

The distinct representation of males in our recruitment campaign seeks to encourage men with the right skills and aptitudes into the sector, while addressing some of the wider societal perceptions and perceived barriers men face.

We continue to work with a range of partners on initiatives to attract men in to childcare roles. We are seeing a number of successful examples of this:

Perth and Kinross Council recently won an award for a project involving a free bespoke night class, specifically for men, which provided an introduction to working with children in a professional capacity.

And Glasgow City Council have developed a career pathway for males called “Approved by Dads” where men are recruited in to training via nurseries.

Question reference: S5W-13212

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 18 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that the additional money made available to NHS boards in 2017 will (a) reduce referral to treatment times, (b) reduce outpatient waiting times and (c) guarantee the 12-week treatment time for inpatient/day care treatment services.

Question reference: S5W-13218

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 18 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that each NHS board will be in a position to afford to (a) fund pay increases and (b) recruit more GPs.

The Scottish Government’s 2018-19 Draft Budget sets out details of a 3.7% uplift in funding for frontline NHS Boards, comprising budget increases of £179m and a share of £175m additional funding for reform. In the Draft Budget, the Scottish Government has set a pay policy of a 3% increase for those on less than £30,000 and 2% above that, however for the NHS we will also respect the views of independent pay review bodies and look to ensure that our health service staff are treated at least as fairly as those in any of the UK nations. The UK government has said that funding will be provided in England to meet the recommendations of the pay review bodies for NHS Agenda for Change staff, and as always any Barnett consequentials from NHS spending in England will be passed to the NHS in Scotland.

We have recently announced our commitment to increase the number of GPs by at least 800 over ten years, to ensure a sustainable service that meets increasing demand on our services. Our strategy to recruit and retain our existing GPs will be set out in part 3 of the national health and social care workforce plan to be published early next year. Investment in the GP Recruitment and Retention Fund has increased five-fold this year, to £5m, and will increase again to £7.5m in 2018-19.

As announced in the Draft Budget on 14 December, the Health and Sport resource budget will increase by over £400 million to £13.1 billion in 2018-19. We have prioritised investment in frontline services, and total additional funding for our frontline NHS Boards will amount to £354 million. These increases have only been made possible, without impacting on other public services, through the progressive tax policies set out in the Draft Budget.

Our estimate is that Conservative tax policies would have resulted in a reduction in the Scottish Government’s resource budget of £501 million in 2018-19.

Question reference: S5W-13214

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 18 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government by what date it expects to achieve the standard target for (a) waiting less than 12 weeks for an outpatient appointment, (b) referral to treatment within 18 weeks, (c) the 12-week treatment time guarantee for inpatient/day care treatment services and (d) A&E waiting times of less than four hours on a sustained basis across the NHS

The Scottish Government is working closely with health Boards across Scotland to support delivery of a range of key performance targets.

We have invested more than £50 million this year (2017-18) to improve all parts of the patient pathway - outpatient consultation, diagnostic tests and inpatient and day case treatment. We are working closely with the health Boards on a regular basis to ensure this funding supports the reduction of waiting times.

We launched the Access Collaborative Programme towards the end of last year (2017), This programme will reduce planned waiting times by improving communications between staff working in the community and in hospitals to identify the right clinician and treatment, and streamline patient care to minimise unnecessary processes in the system.

Additionally, we are investing £200 million in a network of five new elective and diagnostic treatment centres in Aberdeen, Inverness, Dundee, Livingston and Edinburgh, and expanding the Golden Jubilee. This is part of a record investment and reform, working to shift the balance of care away from hospitals and into community settings. These changes will not happen overnight, but are part of a clear, long-term strategy of matching increased investment in our NHS with reform to ensure our health service is providing care to the people of Scotland long into the future.

Cancer testing remains a key priority for Boards. Again, towards the end of last year, we launched a new, easier bowel screening test which we hope will increase the number of people accessing home testing and reduce the number of unnecessary colonoscopies being carried out in hospital. An additional £1m funding is also being deployed through the National Radiology Redesign Programme to roll-out new radiology reporting technology. This will allow consultants to report on diagnostic scans taken anywhere in the country – helping address short-falls in capacity in some areas.

We have invested record levels of additional funding this year of £22.4 million to support unscheduled care and winter pressures. This will support health boards to meet A&E waiting times. In fact, the latest published monthly figures for November 2017 shows 93.3% of patients were seen, treated and discharged or admitted with four hours. Scotland’s core A&E departments continue to be the best performing in UK for more than two and a half years.

This is just a few examples of what we are doing across Scotland to support the reduction of waiting times for patients across the system. We will continue to work closely with Boards to support delivery of all targets.

Question reference: S5W-13697

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 18 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it is reportedly not providing funding for the North Edinburgh Drug and Alcohol Centre.

The Scottish Government does not directly fund local drug and alcohol services. Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) have responsibilities for tackling problem alcohol and drug use and promoting recovery in their local areas and as part of this they will have undertaken local needs assessment and developed local strategies and plans to respond to that local need.

North Edinburgh Drug and Alcohol Centre were recently awarded a Big Lottery Fund Grant of £437K