Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-11373

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 25 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to fund research into heart condition diagnoses for women, in light of public health data that reportedly shows a rise in hospital admissions due to takotsubo cardiomyopathy.

The Women’s Health Plan, 2021-2024, includes a long term action to establish a Women’s Health Research Fund with the aim of closing gaps in scientific and medical knowledge in women’s health for both sex specific and non sex-specific conditions.

The Chief Scientist Office provide funding for the NHS Research Scotland Cardiovascular Network. The role of the Network is to support the delivery of high quality cardiovascular disease clinical research for the benefit of patients in Scotland and is currently providing support for the following clinical study:

Tako Genetics Study - Is There a Genetic Predisposition for Acute Stress-Induced (Takotsubo) Cardiomyopathy?

The Chief Scientist Office directly funds research through its 2 expert committees.

Applications on Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy, and other heart conditions, are welcomed and in common with all other applications would go through a process of independent expert review in order to enable funding decisions to be made.

Question reference: S6W-11427

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 25 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions regarding public ferry contracts Transport Scotland or any other government agency has had with private operators in Scotland since 1 October 2016, and when any such meeting last took place.

Question reference: S6W-11359

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 25 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many companies applied for awards from the 2021 round of funding from the Scottish Technology Ecosystem Fund, broken down by the (a) name of, (b) amount requested by and (c) amount awarded to each company, and for those companies that were awarded funding, what payments have been made to date in each case.

Name of Organisation	Amount requested	Amount Awarded	For Those Organisations That Were Awarded Funding) Payments Made to Date.
UX Glasgow	£1,000	£1,000	N/A
Product Forge	£49,750	£15,000	N/A
Digital for Good	£17,600	£0	N/A
Scotland IS	£115,000	£0	N/A
Cloud Cover	£18,300	£0	N/A
DIGIT	£50,000	£10,000	£10,000
Easthouse	£10,000	£0	N/A
FutureX	£45,000	£25,020	£25,020
Digital Scotland	£28,000	£0	N/A
University of Glasgow	£20,000	£5,000	£3,864
First Time Founder Podcast / Gigged.AI	£8,500	£8,500	N/A
Michael Boniface	£3,000	£1,000	£1,000
I to I Communications	£46,520	£0	N/A
Open Source Glasgow	£2,500	£0	N/A
HALO	£50,000	£0	N/A
Gigged.AI (separate application to above)	£3,800	£0	N/A
Proximity	£50,000	£0	N/A
Vivolution	£30,000	£30,000	£30,000
Direct Partners	£46,000	£0	N/A
Egg	£39,900	£0	N/A
Startup Grind	£45,000	£45,000	£44,942.97
Startup Grind (Separate application to above)	£6,900	£6,900	£5,707.49
Pawprint	£15,000	£0	N/A
RookieOven	£40,400	£0	N/A
SCDI	£41,490	£0	N/A
Creative Edinburgh	£30,500	£30,500	£30,500
Metta	£44,500	£0	N/A
Equity Gap	£4,000	£4,000	£4,000
Actionable Business	£35,000	£0	N/A
Digital Skills Education	£12,800	£0	N/A
CrowdX	£43,000	£0	N/A
Digital for Good / Crisis	£24,000	£0	N/A
EMEC / Islands Centre for Net Zero (ICNZ)	£46,000	£0	N/A
SIS Ventures	£48,190	£0	N/A
Women's Enterprise Scotland	£43,466	£43,466	£43,466
Scottish Business Network	£49,346	£49,346	£47,089.79
Scottish Summit	£50,000	£0	N/A
Codebase	£239,512	£0	N/A
NoCode Scotland	£14,245	£14,245	£13,496.91
Solstice Digital	£26,100	£0	N/A
Community Lab	£42,000	£42,000	£42,000
CENSIS	£3,764	£0	N/A
EdinburghJS	£3,250	£3,250	£2,979.48
Codebase (Second Application)	£42,800	£42,800	£39,836.69
Make It Happen	£36,980	£0	N/A
The Data Lab	£70,000	£50,000	£50,000
Goddess Gaia Ventures	£50,000	£50,500	£50,500
Codebase (Third Application)	£49,000	£49,000	£47,500
Traveltech for Scotland	£22,800	£0	N/A
Founder.Scot	£7,598	£0	N/A
ScotApps	£39,090	£0	N/A
Glasgow City Innovation District	£24,900	£24,900	£23,689.15
Heriot-Watt University	£47,982	£0	N/A
Robert Gordon University	£14,000	£0	N/A
Scottish Games Network	£49,425	£49,425	£49,425
Code The City	£10,500	£0	N/A
Tech Meetup Stirling	£1,000	£1,000	N/A
Exolta Capital Partners	£41,650	£41,650	£41,650
Scottish Business Network and FutureX	£29,700	£29,700	£28,091.80
University of Edinburgh - Accelerating Climate Tech Adoption	£12,600	£0	N/A
University of Edinburgh - EI Student Services: Breaking Barriers Events	£18,000	£0	N/A
University of Edinburgh - EIE	£70,000	£70,000	£69,125.75
University of Edinburgh - Fife Tech Meet up – DDE	£19,650	£0	N/A
University of Edinburgh - Health and Social Care Data Driven Innovation Community (HSCDDI)	£18,000	£0	N/A
Altra	£28,470	£0	N/A
Scotland's International Environment Centre (SIEC)	£40,000	£0	N/A
Games Jobs Live	£9,750	£9,750	£9,750
eteaket	£5,990	£0	N/A
Female Founder Squad	£38,350	£38,350	£26,428
New Norm	£3,750	£3,750	N/A
Renfrewshire Council	£5,000	£0	N/A
Ping Creates	£29,500	£0	N/A
Raising Partners	£49,875	£49,875	£49,874.52
DTLX	£33,500	£0	N/A
One HealthTech Aberdeen	£10,900	£0	N/A
Construction Scotland Innovation Centre	£49,175	£0	N/A
Turing Fest	£46,000	£46,000	£46,000
CodeCraft	£5,000	£5,000	£143.88
STAC	£48,400	£0	N/A
Eureka!Europe	£50,000	£0	N/A
AAI	£48,440	£0	N/A
Prewired	£11,918	£0	N/A
Korero Studios	£20,800	£0	N/A
DataKirk	£50,000	£0	N/A
Mint Ventures	£34,350	£34,350	£34,348.71
STEM Leaders Meetup	£6,636	£0	N/A
British Esports	£25,000	£0	N/A
Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance	£39,240	£0	N/A
Heriot-Watt University and Filament PD	£48,000	£0	N/A
Master the Curriculum	£22,000	£0	N/A
Macresco	£9,000	£0	N/A
DNA Coach	£30,000	£0	N/A
Ewa Grabowiecka	£11,000	£0	N/A
The Startup Race	£50,000	£50,000	£50,000
Niki Hutchison	£45,000	£0	N/A
Drupal Scotland	£8,600	£0	N/A
MoneyMatiX	£50,000	£0	N/A
Urban Foresight	£42,350	£0	N/A
University of Edinburgh - City Region Deal DDI Programme Office	£13,500	£0	N/A
University of Stratclyde Business School	£16,400	£16,400	£11,863.08
Scottish AI Alliance	£45,000	£0	N/A
Glasgow City of Science and Innovation	£48,600	£0	N/A
Venus and Mars Dating	£20,000	£0	N/A
A Wild Haggis	£40,000	£0	N/A

Question reference: S6W-11360

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 25 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether each event awarded funding though the Scottish Technology Ecosystem Fund took place as described on its application.

Question reference: S6W-11385

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 25 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to unpaid carers after a bereavement.

The Scottish Government is taking forward a wide range of support for all bereaved people, including unpaid carers. This comprises our new Mind to Mind website set up in partnership with NHS Inform which includes a dedicated section on grief and bereavement with information and signposting; the Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund which includes a priority for people who are bereaved; funding for the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care which develops resources and information to support people affected by bereavement, including Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief and End of Life Aid Skills for Everyone (EASE), a course which is available to anyone; and funding for CRUSE who support people affected by bereavement including specialist support to children, young people and their families.

Under the Carers (Scotland) Act, all unpaid carers have the right to a personalised plan to identify what is important to them which may include counselling and emotional support. Future needs for bereavement support can be considered as part of the process and any eligible needs for support must be met.

Local authorities must also have a carer information and advice service, usually delivered via local carer centres, to help unpaid carers access support in their area. This must include information and advice on counselling and bereavement support available to carers. In addition to information and advice services, many local carer centres provide their own counselling and support services which can include bereavement support.

We have invested an additional £20.4m for local carer support in 2022-23 via the local government settlement, bringing total investment in the Carers Act to £88.4m per year.

Question reference: S6W-11367

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 25 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on whether it is the case that the Deposit Return Scheme will include glass.

Question reference: S6W-11371

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 25 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what actions it plans to take to raise awareness of takotsubo cardiomyopathy and other heart syndromes in women, in light of public health data that reportedly shows an increase in women being hospitalised with this syndrome.

Question reference: S6W-11372

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 25 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what actions are being taken to raise awareness of heart health for women, as outlined in the Women's Health Plan for 2021-24.

Question reference: S6W-11326

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 25 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to tackle any advertising and promoting of vaping products which may be seen as attractive to under-18s, following the conclusion of its consultation on tightening the rules on advertising and promoting vaping products on 29 April 2022.

The Scottish Government sees the only place for vaping is as a possible aid to help existing smokers from using tobacco, they are not a lifestyle accessory for children or adult non-smokers. We recently published our consultation analysis on proposed restrictions on vaping products and are aiming to bring forward new regulations in the New Year. Any action we seek to take will build on the regulations already in place to restrict the marketing, promotion and sale of vaping products to under 18s.

Question reference: S6W-11339

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 25 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting Comhairle nan Eilean Siar’s care services, in light of the reported loss of 30 staff since the start of 2022.

There are more than 1,200 social care providers across Scotland, with local authorities responsible for providing or commissioning services. Local authorities and Health and Social Care Partnerships will wish to ensure that, in providing a range of services, their workforce planning arrangements take full account of the need to have safe and sustainable numbers of staff.

To maximise capacity to meet demand, and maintain integrated health and social care services throughout autumn and winter, our winter plan highlights the additional funding of £528 million allocated directly to Health and Social Care Partnerships for 2022 23. This funding was aimed at the following social care measures:

• £124 million to enhance care at home

• £144 million to support the December 2021 uplift to £10.02, as well as a further -

• £200 million to increase the minimum hourly rate of pay in adult social care

• £20 million to support interim care arrangements

• £40 million to enhance multi-disciplinary teams

• Waiving fees for mandatory PVG checks for new entrants to social care

• Extension of the Social Care Staff Support Fund to 31 March 2023, to ensure that social care workers absent with Covid-19 receive their full pay

Alongside this, SG have established a social care winter planning working group, to consider a number of potential/feasible options to ease the current pressures in the Adult Social Care Sector in advance of the winter period 2022-23. Local government are among those represented on this group.

To help alleviate the current pressures in social care, we are working with partners to scope out and design localised support with recruitment for the winter period. This will include marketing assets which can be adapted to meet local needs, and providing more in-depth support with recruitment where capacity to recruit is a barrier. This work is being taken forward in collaboration with key stakeholders representing the sector.

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