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-06385

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 28 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of a recent Royal College of Nursing Scotland employment survey, what action it is taking in response to the reported finding that 61% of nursing staff in Scotland are thinking of leaving their jobs.

In light of the pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic, the wellbeing of our health workforce, wherever they work, remains a key priority. The 2021/22 pay uplift saw staff receive an average 4% pay rise, the highest in the UK. The Scottish Government is committed to ensure that NHS Scotland nursing staff continue to benefit from the best pay and conditions in the UK.

In 2021-22, the Scottish Government made £12 million available to support the wellbeing of the workforce. This includes £8 million from the NHS Recovery Plan to provide ongoing wellbeing support for the workforce alongside an additional £4 million to provide further support to address winter pressures.

To complement this at a local level, we also have a range of resources including the National Wellbeing Hub, a 24/7 National Wellbeing Helpline, confidential mental health treatment the Workforce Specialist Service and funding for additional local psychological support. We are also providing further support for practical measures to aid rest and recuperation alongside additional resources such as Coaching for Wellbeing and grief and bereavement support.

Nursing and midwifery staffing is also at a record high, up by 13.1% since September 2006.

Question reference: S6W-06198

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 28 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it will launch its consultation on the domestic advertising of e-cigarettes.

Question reference: S6W-06331

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is possible for Scottish Water Business Stream Holdings Ltd or Scottish Water Horizons Holdings Ltd to pay a dividend or make any other transfer of money to Scottish Water, and, if so, whether such a dividend or money transfer has ever been paid to Scottish Water.

It is possible for Scottish Water Business Stream Holdings Ltd to pay dividends to Scottish Water Horizons Holdings Ltd and this has been done in the past. It is not possible for Scottish Water Business Stream Holdings Ltd to pay a dividend to Scottish Water as Scottish Water is not a direct shareholder and this has not happened in the past.

It is possible for Scottish Water Horizons Holdings Ltd to pay dividends to Scottish Water but this has not happened to date.

Question reference: S6W-06326

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-05611 by Michael Matheson on 17 January 2022, whether Scottish Water expects to have undertaken all the residual work from the 2015-21 regulatory period by the end of the 2022-23 financial year, as indicated in its 2020-21 annual report.

Question reference: S6W-06324

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-05612 by Michael Matheson on 17 January 2022, how much Scottish Water Horizons Holdings Ltd paid for the PFI company referred to; how much external bank debt funding remains, and whether Scottish Water is the only shareholder in Scottish Water Horizons Holdings Ltd.

Question reference: S6W-06328

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-05606 by Michael Matheson on 17 January 2022, what commitment it will make to review the Water Charges Reduction Scheme, in light of the potential erosion of its value to the least affluent customers with each year that Scottish Water increases charges above the rate of inflation.

The expansion of the water charges reduction scheme (WCRS) from April 2021 is worth £86m across the 2021-27 period and it will provide support for over 470,000 households. The increase in discount from 25% to 35%, again from 2021, means that customers in receipt of the WCRS will be protected from price increases over the regulatory period. There are therefore no plans to review the scheme at this time but it will be part of the strategic review of charges ahead of the next regulatory period.

Question reference: S6W-06330

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-05610 by Michael Matheson on 17 January 2022, whether Scottish Water is the only shareholder in Scottish Water Business Stream Holdings Ltd; whether Scottish Water Business Stream Holdings Ltd is the only shareholder in Scottish Water Business Stream, and whether the £10 million equity obtained in Scottish Water Business Stream by Scottish Water Business Stream Holdings Ltd was in effect a grant to strengthen the balance sheet of Scottish Water Business Stream.

Scottish Water is the only shareholder in Scottish Water Horizons Holdings Ltd, Scottish Water Horizons Holdings Ltd is the only shareholder in Scottish Water Business Stream Holdings Ltd and Scottish Water Business Stream Holdings Ltd is the only shareholder in Scottish Water Business Stream Ltd.

The £10m of equity invested by Scottish Water Business Stream Holdings Ltd in Scottish Water Business Stream Ltd (SWBS) was part of the precautionary funding facilities which were put in place for SWBS during 2020-2021 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and will be eligible to receive future dividends from Scottish Water Business Stream Ltd.

Question reference: S6W-06327

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the assumption was for Scottish Water's capital spending for new capital works required in the 2021-22 period and funded as part of the 2021-27 regulatory period.

Question reference: S6W-06129

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) average and (b) longest waiting time has been for patients requiring a colposcopy, following a routine cervical cancer screening exam, in each year since 2018 to date, also broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S6W-06122

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many diagnostic procedures were carried out annually on average in the five years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and how many procedures it anticipates will be carried out in total in each year of the NHS Recovery Plan.

Information on the number of diagnostic procedures performed in NHS Scotland is available on the Public Health Scotland website and can be found in the Acute Hospitals and Finance Cost Books . However, the activity data published for radiology in the Finance Cost Books is reported with elective and emergency totals combined, which does not allow us to report on elective diagnostics activity disaggregated. Further, the Acute Hospitals publication only publishes activity data on particular endoscopy tests, therefore it cannot give us a complete picture for endoscopy activity. Data on the ongoing waits of diagnostic procedures can be found in the PHS Diagnostics publication .

We have provided £29 million to support an increase in diagnostic procedures by 78,000 during the current year and expect diagnostic capacity to increase by at least 90,000 procedures per year by the end of the NHS Recovery Plan in 2025/26. This equates to 29,000 additional CT scans, 24,000 MRI scans and 25,000 additional endoscopy procedures by the end of the Plan.