Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-33971

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 5 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether risk assessments are currently required before the transfer of any patient to a care home, in the event that they have an infectious disease.

The current guidance in the Care Home Infection Prevention and Control Manual (CH IPCM) produced by Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infection (ARHAI) Scotland states that before a resident is admitted to a care home it is important to undertake a risk assessment for infection.

At all times a thorough risk assessment should be undertaken prior to discharge to a care home to ensure that the care home is able to provide the care required and for the safety of the resident and others including staff, other residents and visitors. For example, if the individual requires to be isolated, that there is a suitable physical space and staff available for the delivery of care and support to an isolated resident.

The responsibility for carrying out individual risk assessments prior to discharge is between the individual Health Boards, Local Authorities and Integration Authorities.

Question reference: S6W-33567

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 5 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how often healthcare needs assessments are conducted in rural areas, and what changes have been implemented in the last 10 years as a result.

Question reference: S6W-33999

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 4 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support local authorities dealing with specialist planning applications, such as those involving quarrying or mining where no identifiable expertise exists within the local authority planning department.

The Scottish Government is working with stakeholders, on a package of actions to strengthen a range of planning skills across Scotland.

The Scottish Government has established the Hydrogen Planning Hub and the Housing Emergency Hub in response to concerns about capacity and skills. We are currently considering the further role that Hubs can play in supporting planning authorities to address the skills and capacity issues they are facing.

In our Planning and Housing Emergency Delivery Plan, published in November 2024, we have committed to the roll out of a co-ordinated skills and recruitment drive through a coherent National Planning Skills Campaign. We will announce this work soon and deliver it over the coming months.

Question reference: S6W-33979

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 4 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-32906 by Alasdair Allan on 16 January 2025, whether it has asked the UK Government to introduce a compensatory scheme for people who have installed spray foam insulation in lofts under the EC04 scheme.

The Scottish Government is not aware of any examples of spray foam insulation being installed in lofts in Scottish properties as part of the Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) scheme. Delivery guidance published by Ofgem indicates that spray foam insulation in lofts would not have been eligible for ECO4 finance.

We have asked the UK Government to advise Scottish Ministers further about any concerns raised about the quality of retrofit work undertaken in Scotland as part of these schemes.

Question reference: S6W-33963

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients were on waiting lists for cardiology (a) in total and (b) for over a year, in each of the last five years.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) publishes statistics on the length of time patients wait to be seen as a new outpatient or admitted for treatment as an inpatient or day case in the Stage of Treatment (SoT) publication. The latest publication release contains data up to quarter ending 30 September 2024.

Statistics relating to the total number of ongoing waits and the number of waits with a wait length over 52 weeks by specialty from 31 December 2019 can be found in the ‘Waits over 52 weeks’ data table in sheets ‘Table 3.1.1’ for new outpatient appointments, and ‘Table 3.2.1’ for inpatient or day case admissions.

https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/30453/waits_over_52_weeks_nov24.xlsx

Longer trend information can be found in the following tables:

New outpatient appointments (‘1.6 Table’): https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/30080/newop_nov24.xlsx

Inpatient or day case admission (‘2.6 Table’): https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/30452/ipdc_nov24.xlsx

Question reference: S6W-33998

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 4 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the current capacity within local authorities to assess specialist planning applications such as minerals developments.

We are aware of concerns about the current capacity within planning authorities. The skills and capacity challenges faced by planning authorities are not unique to Scotland and are not restricted to minerals development. The Scottish Government is taking forward a programme of actions to boost planning capacity across Scotland.

Our Investing in Planning consultation last year identified a range of interventions to increase the capacity within planning authorities. In September 2024 we published a blog outlining the proposals we were intending to take forward, those which required further consideration and those which we did not intend to take forward at this time.

The Scottish Government has established the Hydrogen Planning Hub and the Housing Emergency Hub in response to concerns about capacity and skills. We are currently considering the further role that Hubs can play in supporting planning authorities to address the skills and capacity issues they are facing.

The National Planning Improvement Champion (NPIC) is working with individual planning authorities to pilot a new National Planning Improvement Framework. Planning authorities will carry out a self-assessment and work with the NPIC and others to identify areas for improvement and develop an action plan. We expect the first reports will be published shortly.

We also continue to engage with Heads of Planning Scotland to understand the pressures facing planning authorities in Scotland and how they can best be addressed.

Question reference: S6W-33978

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 4 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-32906 by Alasdair Allan on 16 January 2025, whether it has asked the UK Government to introduce a compensatory scheme for people who have installed underfloor foam insulation under the EC04 scheme.

We are continuing to seek further information from the UK Government about consumer protections in respect of the ECO4 and GBIS schemes.

The UK Minister for Energy Consumers made an oral announcement in the Westminster Parliament on 23 January 2025 stating that 39 companies had been suspended as installers for solid wall insulation as part of these schemes.

We have been assured by the UK Government that these issues are particular to solid wall insulation installed under the Energy Company Obligation 4 and Great British Insulation Scheme. However we have asked them to advise Scottish Ministers further about any concerns raised about the quality of retrofit work undertaken in Scotland as part of these schemes.

Question reference: S6W-33825

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 4 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how the proposals in the draft Budget 2025-26 might impact on the college sector.

Despite the increase in resource funding for 2025-26, the Scottish Government recognises the challenges across the college sector.

The Scottish Government has increased investment in the college sector, with more than £750m allocated in the 2025-26 draft budget to support the delivery of high-quality education and training.

The £13.2m (2.1%) increase in the 2025-26 net college resource budget allocation includes funds of £4.5m to support the college lecturer pay settlement and funds to cover increased pension costs.

In addition to this, as negotiations progressed around the budget agreement, we have now agreed a proposal to invest a further £3.5m in targeted support for the College sector. This will be used to create an Offshore Wind Skills Programme and College Care Skill Programme, supporting a pipeline of skilled workers.

Colleges continue to deliver exceptional learning to students while driving forward reforms, and the Scottish Government and the SFC will continue to work closely with the sector to diversify funding opportunities and deliver more flexible funding arrangements.

The Scottish Funding Council will now work closely with the college sector to identify the best split of the available resources, taking into account Government priorities and the college sector’s needs.

Question reference: S6W-33738

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 4 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what data it holds on the frequency and severity of storms that have affected Aberdeenshire over the last five years, and what plans it has to improve infrastructure resilience in the region.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the frequency and severity of storms. This information is collected and held by Met Office.

We have recently made available £5m per annum capital budget over 4 years to fund the extension of the public water network to enable the removal of Private Water Supplies which should improve resilience to affected water supplies during power outages. Milton of Cushnie in Aberdeenshire has been shortlisted as one of the communities who will benefit from this funding.

The Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) published in December 2022, provides guidance on long term investment in Scotland’s strategic transport network. STPR2 recommends future investment to ensure that Scotland’s trunk road network remains safe (Recommendation 30), adapted to deal with the impacts of climate change (Recommendation 31) and resilient (Recommendation 32).

Recommendation 31 provides a basis for identifying, prioritising and implementing transport infrastructure improvements. Measures could include but are not limited to strengthening or replacing sea walls, upgrading coastal fences and stabilising embankments, slopes and hillsides.

Scottish Government have also initiated a Significant Local Infrastructure process in which Local Resilience Partnerships are mapping infrastructure within their geographic areas. This will allow better understanding of this local infrastructure and will collate a rich picture to support further work, including identifying dependencies and interdependencies and allow improvements to business continuity and emergency response plans.

We would recommend that, should you require further information on storms and infrastructure in Aberdeenshire, you contact Aberdeenshire Council.

Question reference: S6W-33976

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 4 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what progress has been made with its scheme, Percentage for the Arts.

Chamber and committees