- Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 10 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on administering the eBike Loan scheme.
Answer
The programme costs for administering the ebike loan scheme are set out below. In financial years 2018-19 and 2019-20, the scheme was part of the Low Carbon Transport Loan and programme costs were covered from one budget.
Year | Programme Costs |
2020-21 | £143,797 |
2021-22 | £216,242 |
2022-23 | £235,812 |
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to meet with Scottish Power in relation to reported concerns regarding the health and safety of workers and poor environmental management practices in connection with allegations that Scottish Power has used diesel generators to power 71 wind turbines after a fault developed.
Answer
Scottish Government officials met with representatives from Scottish Power Renewables on 15 February 2023 to discuss the use of diesel generators at Arecleoch and Glen App wind farms.
The rules and regulations that govern the resilience of the GB electricity grid are a matter entirely reserved to the UK Government.
The Scottish Government has no responsibility in relation to the operational management of wind farm sites.
- Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 10 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on administering the Home Energy Efficiency Equity Loan pilot.
Answer
The Scottish Government has spent £37,698 including VAT on administration costs for the Home Energy Efficiency Equity Loan pilot over the current contractual period of 2019 – 2023. The reduction in costs for 2022-2023 reflects the end of the pilot in March 2022 resulting in the closure of the scheme to new applicants.
A Call for Evidence in August 2021 sought feedback on the pilot. The pilot’s findings will inform the Green Heat Finance Taskforce’s deliberations on future finance mechanisms to support the greening of Scotland’s buildings.
| | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 |
Equity Loan Scheme administration costs | £11,971 | £11,462 | £14,118 | £147 |
In addition, Equity Loan Pilot applicants are provided with support to navigate the legal and installation phases of the customer journey. The Scottish Government has spent a further £972,000 including VAT on this extra support over the period of 2019 – 2023, in addition to the administration costs in the first table.
| | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 |
Equity Loan Scheme applicant support costs | £305,000 | £220,000 | £305,000 | £98,800 |
- Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 10 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on administering the MCS Certification Fund.
Answer
The Scottish Government spent £886 on the MCS Certification Fund in the 2021-2022 financial year, and £14,987 so far over the 2022-2023 financial year as set out in the table below. The total spend since the scheme started until 15 February 2023 is £15,874. This scheme has helped increase the total number of MCS heat pump installers in Scotland by around 10% (calculated using MCS Scottish heat pump installer data from: https://datadashboard.mcscertified.com/InstallationInsights ) with 17 gaining MCS certification through the fund over the scheme’s lifespan.
2021-22 | 2022-23 (until 15 Feb 2023) | Total |
£886 | £14,987 | £15,874 |
There are no additional costs for administering the scheme as the fund is currently managed within the Green Heat Installer Engagement Programme team at Energy Saving Trust. The Programme is funded by Scottish Government to support installers in the energy efficiency and heating sectors.
Following the launch of the scheme in September 2021, initial uptake began slowly due to a number of factors, which included the length of time needed for an organisation to become MCS certified. The scheme allows applicants a 6 month window from the date of initial application to successfully gain their certification before funding can be claimed.
Due to successful marketing activity through the Green Heat Installer Engagement Programme and additional promotion through stakeholder organisations, recent demand for the fund has increased considerably. We continue to promote the fund and it is expect that the uptake will continue to grow over the next financial year.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many of the 750 additional nurses, midwives and allied health professionals it plans to recruit from overseas, announced in October 2022, have been recruited to date, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
The Scottish Government continues to monitor the overseas recruitment and considers this to be on track. As announced in October 2022 up to 750 overseas nurses, midwives and allied health professionals are to be recruited by the end of March 2023 and it is our aim to publish the results of that exercise shortly after.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 10 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what the current average distance is that patients have to travel to access a dentist in the NHS (a) Highland and (b) Western Isles area.
Answer
This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. NHS dental services are provided by independent contractors/high street dentists and any management information on waiting times will be held by each practice. There is no central consolidation of this information.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how NHS boards monitor any instances of patient misdiagnosis.
Answer
NHS Health Boards are responsible for delivering safe, effective and person-centred care at a local level, which includes identifying and monitoring instances of patient misdiagnosis. This will be through a number of processes such as Adverse Event reviews, the NHS Model Complaints Handling Procedure, Organisational Duty of Candour and Scottish Public Services Ombudsman investigation reports, amongst others.
The Scottish Government and NHS Health Boards work closely together to ensure local policy and processes are implemented and improved in line with national policy and frameworks.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 10 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many children currently living in temporary accommodation have been referred to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).
Answer
The Scottish Government does not collect this information centrally. However, I can advise that anyone who is a resident in temporary accommodation can be treated as a temporary patient at a General Practice for the first 3 months, maintaining access to healthcare and therefore CAMHS referrals. After this time, they are able to register as a patient. Accommodation type does not affect eligibility to access care.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what plans will be included in its new cancer strategy to develop a workforce plan for cancer diagnostic and treatment services.
Answer
We are considering workforce as one of the key pillars in our new cancer strategy, which we anticipate will be published in spring this year. The cancer strategy will align with the Health and Social Care: National Workforce Strategy, published in 2022.
A public consultation was held early on in the process of developing the new strategy, which included engagement with professionals working in cancer services.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will take action to prevent the closure of the Glasgow Lighthouse Lab, in light of it reportedly being Scotland's flagship COVID-19 testing facility.
Answer
The Glasgow Lighthouse is contracted by UK Government until March 2023 to undertake processing of PCR tests as part of the COVID-19 Infection survey (CIS). The CIS is outwith the control of the Scottish Government but officials are engaging with UKG and other devolved nations on its future.
