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-20847

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 25 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 25 September 2023

Through the Block Grant, the Scottish Government's policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow them the financial freedom to operate independently. It is their responsibility to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including on youth work, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

Question reference: S6W-21155

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 08 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 22 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the letter of 16 June 2023 from the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health to the COVID-19 Recovery Committee, setting out its response to the report, Long COVID, whether it will provide further details of the fourth paragraph of its response to the recommendation at paragraph 180 of the report, which starts, "The Strategic Network is taking forward a dedicated workstream to agree the outcomes, indicators, monitoring and evaluation that will be collected and used to accelerate progress on and inform the planning and delivery of services".

Under the leadership of Public Health Scotland (PHS), the long COVID Strategic Network has developed a theory of change and logframe which form the basis of a comprehensive framework to evaluate long COVID services. Both the theory of change and logframe were developed in close consultation with representatives across the Network, including people with lived experience of long COVID, clinicians, researchers, service planners, local boards, PHS and Scottish Government officials.

The theory of change provides the context around what the Network is aiming to achieve, while the logframe is the complementary tool enabling the tracking of milestone indicators linked to process, outputs, and outcomes. For example, indicators include those linked to the implementation of long COVID service pathways, generation of research and evidence, and the development of an education and training strategy.

In addition, patient related experience and patient outcome measures will be recorded through NHS Boards’ use of the C-19 YRS digital screening tool. The provision of heath data through this tool will be of vital importance in understanding the provision and effectiveness of long COVID services. Where possible, the data will be disaggregated by age, gender, ethnicity, and deprivation quintile. This will support understanding of any inequitable variation in service provision, experience and outcomes which may need to be addressed through service changes.

A data and intelligence group has been established to oversee reporting against the monitoring and evaluation framework. This will allow the Network to have an informed understanding of overall progress of its support to the provision of long COID services.

Question reference: S6W-21154

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 08 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 22 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what metrics it will use to ensure that future funding considerations for long COVID meet any increasing need for services.

Question reference: S6W-21153

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 08 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 22 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it is engaging with people from BAME backgrounds who are affected by long COVID, and how it is assessing, monitoring and addressing their needs.

We have commissioned NHS National Services Scotland to establish a National Strategic Network to ensure the development of our approach to supporting people living with long COVID is informed by evidence and expertise. As part of this activity, NHS National Services Scotland has commissioned the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE) to facilitate a long COVID Lived Experience Network to support people affected by long COVID to engage with and inform the activity of the Strategic Network.

An Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) has been conducted for the Lived Experience Network to inform its approach and identify issues impacting on people with protected characteristics, including those from minority ethnic communities. When individuals join the network, they are asked to complete a voluntary equalities monitoring form to support with monitoring representation. Regular audits of the membership of the network are conducted to highlight any gaps in representation. This informs where further targeted outreach is needed and to identify areas for improvement.

NHS Boards’ use of the C-19 YRS digital screening tool will provide disaggregated data on who is accessing services, including by ethnicity and other protected characteristics. The collection of health data through the tool will be used to map the provision and effectiveness of long COVID services.

Question reference: S6W-21150

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 08 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 22 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the commencement date is for the five remaining long COVID pathways not yet active in NHS boards, as of July 2023.

11 out of 14 territorial NHS Scotland Boards have long COVID pathways in operation. The following table outlines anticipated commencement date of the remainder, where applicable.

NHS Board	Date
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	December 2023
NHS Fife	March 2024
NHS Shetland	Referral pathways exist into relevant Allied Health Professions services.

In the absence of long COVID pathways, people with long COVID can receive assessment and input from existing services, based on their symptoms and needs.

Question reference: S6W-21148

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 08 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 22 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is pursuing to address any health inequalities experienced by people with long COVID, including inequities between NHS boards.

Question reference: S6W-21159

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 08 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 22 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it is using health data to inform better provision of long COVID services where these exist.

Question reference: S6W-21027

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 21 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the carer awareness training will be developed, and what resources are being set aside, as set out in its recent publication, Scottish Mental Health Law review: Our Response.

In our response to the Scottish Mental Health Law Review we committed to establish a Mental Health and Capacity Reform Programme to further enhance and protect human rights within legislation, policy and practice. This includes a commitment to enhance carers’ rights and role in practice through further developing and promoting carer awareness training for staff working with people with mental or intellectual disability across health and social care settings, by 2026.

These actions will also be set out in the Mental Health and Wellbeing Workforce Action Plan, which will be published in Autumn 2023.

We have funded NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to develop three training modules for the health and social care workforce, including those working with mental or intellectual disability across health and social care settings, to help them to identify, include and support unpaid carers. We expect those to be launched by the end of 2023.

Question reference: S6W-20846

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 25 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 20 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason SEPA reportedly only requires 4% of Scottish Water combined sewage overflow monitors to be reported to it, and whether SEPA will be requiring any of the 1,000 new monitors that Scottish Water is installing by the end of 2024 to be reported to it.

Rather than permanent monitoring, which is the common approach for water companies in England, Scottish Water worked with SEPA to carry out a comprehensive Scotland-wide environmental study programme to assess and model the impacts of its assets on water quality. The programme was undertaken during the 2015 to 2021 investment period with an investment of £40m. These studies supported identification and prioritisation of River Basin Management Planning objectives, which were published at the end of 2021.

The computer models Scottish Water developed allow it to understand when CSOs will spill, under what rainfall conditions and the impact those spills will have on the environment. Instead of taking the approach of English water companies, targeted monitoring is being put in place to support the information already obtained from the models and to support operational performance. The Scottish Government is supportive of this evidence based and proportionate approach by Scottish Water. We also support their decision to invest inn widening monitoring by installing 1,000 new spill monitors by the end of 2024 with an investment of up to £70m.

Scottish Water’s Improving Urban Waters Routemap commits it to publishing near real-time spill data for all monitored CSOs by December 2024. The data collected by the 1000 new monitors will support SEPA’s and Scottish Water work to prioritise investment where it will most benefit our environment and communities. Continued investment by Scottish Water contributes towards Scotland’s water quality being at its highest level ever, with 87% of the water environment rated as good or better, up from 82% six years ago. Scotland’s River Basin Management Plan sets out objectives, including those for Scottish Water, aiming to improve water quality to 92% of the water environment to be in good or better condition by 2027.

Question reference: S6W-21436

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Current Status: Answer expected on 3 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has ever met with the Institution of Structural Engineers regarding the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in public buildings, and, if so, when the first such meeting took place, and whether the papers and minutes from any such meetings will be published.

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