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: S6O-01210

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, with regard to the recruitment of consultant oncologists in NHS Tayside, how many candidates have proceeded to interview stage to date and from which countries.

Question reference: S6O-01209

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that Scotland’s education system is properly aligned with the future workforce requirements of the emerging green economy.

Question reference: S6O-01208

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the implications of its Resource Spending Review are for the roll-out of Social Security Scotland's planned programme of benefits.

Question reference: S6O-01211

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to a report by Step Change Debt Charity Scotland, which highlighted that clients' average arrears on essential bills had increased by £659 to £2,961.

Question reference: S6O-01206

Asked by: Kaukab Stewart, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Diversity in the Teaching Profession Scotland Annual Data Report, published in May, which states that there is a continued chronic and disproportionate lack of minority ethnic teachers in Scotland’s schools.

Question reference: S6W-08628

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of packaging from theatre equipment at NHS hospitals was recycled in each of the last five calendar years.

The requested information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) has advised waste data collection is not measured by product type or hospital department, therefore the requested information is unavailable.

Within the upcoming NHS Scotland Climate Emergency and Sustainability strategy there is a commitment to work with our existing suppliers to reduce unnecessary plastic and take steps to ensure that unavoidable single-use items contain a high minimum recycled content and are themselves fully recyclable. This strategy is expected to be published in summer 2022.

Question reference: S6W-08615

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) action it is taking to embed suicide prevention within long COVID services and (b) public health messaging is being communicated to raise awareness of long COVID symptoms and the potential impact on mental health and wellbeing, and whether wellbeing assessments will form part of the initial assessment of long COVID symptoms by primary care teams.

The Scottish Government, in partnership with COSLA, will publish a new suicide prevention strategy in September 2022. As part of that we will consider how to further embed suicide prevention across health and social care services.

The assessment of people with long COVID is informed by the clinical guideline ‘managing the long-term effects of COVID-19’ developed by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence, the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network, and the Royal College of General Practitioners. The guideline recommends using a holistic, person-centred approach when assessing someone for long COVID which should include a comprehensive clinical history and appropriate examination involving physical, cognitive, psychological and psychiatric symptoms as well as functional abilities.

The allocation of £3 million from the long COVID Support Fund to Health Boards across 2022-23 will provide extra resource to support people with long COVID to have a holistic assessment of their needs, both physical and mental, to ensure they can access the community or healthcare support and services most appropriate for their individual circumstances.

Giving people access to clear information is one key part of supporting people to feel more in control of their condition. That is why we have launched a long COVID information platform on NHS Inform, which provides people with information and support including in relation to low mood, depression and anxiety, with signposting to self-help guides that use cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT).

We have also invested £40,000 in a public awareness campaign, through Community Pharmacies across Scotland about how people can access further advice and support in relation to their symptoms.

Question reference: S6W-08630

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason patients with sepsis in Scotland are reportedly instructed to access healthcare using a different symptom list to other parts of the UK, and what steps are being taken to ensure that clinician recognition criteria are aligned with their equivalents in other parts of the UK, using standardised guidelines for recognition and management.

The symptom list on NHS Inform focuses on the early symptoms of sepsis. It highlights the importance of a high or low temperature, which can encompass a wide range of sources of infection that may potentially cause sepsis.

On 27 May 2022, Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s (HIS) Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP) issued a statement regarding the Society of Critical Medical Care’s Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) and the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC) Statement on the initial antimicrobial treatment of sepsis. The statement outlines the SPSP’s revised approach to the identification and management of adults with sepsis.

Furthermore HIS’s Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) are currently reviewing SIGN Guideline 139 – Care of Deteriorating Patients to include an updated section on sepsis addressing Primary and Secondary Care considerations.

Question reference: S6W-08629

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of waste from NHS hospitals was recycled in each of the last five calendar years.

The requested information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) has advised the most accurate data source on NHS Scotland waste performance are the annual Public Sector Reports on Compliance with Climate Change Duties which are available for each Health Board. These reports are published on the Sustainable Scotland Network website ( Sustainable Scotland Network - The Sustainable Scotland Network ) and are available from the period 2014-15 to 2020-21.

We have outlined clear actions within the upcoming NHS Scotland Climate Emergency and Sustainability strategy to manage the risk of environmental harm from our activities, promote good environmental stewardship and reduce the impact of our waste. This includes working to improve data recording of waste collections and reporting against the national waste target of recycling and composting 70% of all Scottish waste by 2025, and sending no more than 5% to landfill.

Question reference: S6W-08593

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 1 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recommendation in the Independent Report from the National Partnership for Culture, published in March 2022, that a dedicated funding stream for culture initiatives should be developed within the health portfolio.

We were pleased to receive the report and recommendations from the National Partnership for Culture, and recognise that the broad themes in the report align with our priorities across Scottish Government. Scottish Government officials are working together across the Health and Culture portfolios to review the Health and Wellbeing recommendations. Our response to the National Partnership for Culture recommendations will be published shortly.