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-17509

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 11 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will extend the contract of Dr Veronikis, in light of reports that very few, if any, NHS Scotland patients have been referred to designated providers in the USA for mesh removal surgery.

As indicated in response to S6W-17504 and S6W-17508 on 11 May 2023, a number of women have been referred to the independent providers and have undergone surgery. The present contracts with the providers are due to conclude at the end of August. However, NHS National Services Scotland is undertaking a procurement process to renew contracts with the independent providers of mesh removal surgery for a further year. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

Question reference: S6T-01364

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to avoid industrial action by junior doctors, in light of the decision in favour of action by almost 97% of BMA Scotland members who voted.

Question reference: S6W-17446

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 9 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether the guidance on major NHS service changes is being revised, and, if so, what changes are being made.

Planning with People Community engagement and participation guidance contains guidance on major service change to NHS services. An updated version of Planning with People: community engagement and participation guidance was published on 21 April 2023 following consultation with service users and service providers in 2022. The findings of these consultations are included in Annex A of Planning with People. The decision-making process for NHS major service change as set out in this document is unchanged from previous guidance.

This guidance is also supported by documents published by Healthcare Improvement Scotland – Community Engagement, including the Quality Framework for Community Engagement and Participation .

Question reference: S6W-17448

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 9 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether any revised guidance on NHS service changes has been shared with Healthcare Improvement Scotland - Community Engagement, previously known as the Scottish Health Council, and, if so, when this took place.

A final draft of the updated version of Planning with People: Community engagement and participation guidance published in April 2023 was shared with Healthcare Improvement Scotland – Community Engagement in February 2023. The guidance is co-written with COSLA, and Healthcare Improvement Scotland were involved in the process.

As is stated in the updated version of Planning with People, the established principles and requirements for major service change decision-making process for NHS Boards, remain unchanged from those outlined in CEL 4 (2010).

Question reference: S6W-17132

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has made of the Child Disability Payment assessment and award process, whether any issues have been identified, including in relation to (a) process (i) delays and (ii) consistency and (b) the implementation of the Special Rules, and how it plans to address any such issues.

Social Security Scotland undertakes a broad and continuous programme of analysis of all aspects of the delivery of benefits, focussed on the live running performance of the system, client experience and evaluation of delivery.

Research on Early Experiences of Child Disability Payment was published in September 2022 and Client Survey research on Child Disability Payment on 8 March 2023. The next publication of Client Survey research on Child Disability Payment is scheduled for early summer.

The evaluation strategy for the benefit is in place and the first output will be published later this year. Analysis will focus on the impact of policy changes to supporting information.

This work informs Social Security Scotland’s approach to continuous improvement and the agency has used it to plan the action currently underway to improve processing times.

Question reference: S6W-17131

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason families are reportedly experiencing delays of up to six months or more in being awarded Child Disability Payment, and what plans it has to urgently address any such delays.

Social Security Scotland’s most recent statistics show that the majority of people who have applied for Child Disability Payment received a decision within four months, although processing times vary from a few weeks to over six months or more. A key part of the application process, and a key difference from the Department for Work and Pensions’ service, is that Social Security Scotland can gather supporting information on behalf of clients. Whilst this process takes time, it allows Social Security Scotland to make robust decisions.

Work is underway to speed up processing times. This includes liaising with organisations who most often provide supporting information. For example, an option for GPs to upload supporting information online was recently introduced. In addition, work continues with clients and stakeholders to ensure they understand the kind of information needed to make decisions and how to provide this at the earliest opportunity.

Question reference: S6W-17447

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 9 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason revised guidance on major NHS service changes has reportedly not been consulted on or published.

Question reference: S6W-17127

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 5 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it is monitoring (a) access to and (b) uptake of the Young Patients Family Fund broken down by (i) condition, (ii) age and (iii) NHS board area.

The Scottish Government requests annual data on overall Young Patient Family Fund claims from territorial Health Boards and this allows uptake and cost within each Board area to be tracked year-on-year. This includes detail on the type of claim being made.

We do not ask Health Boards to routinely collect data on patient condition as this is not part of the eligibility criteria for making a claim. Similarly, Health Boards are not asked to report on the age of the patient. As part of our routine monitoring we do however ask Health Boards to report on the number of young inpatients associated with claims who were admitted to neo-natal units.

Question reference: S6W-17212

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 4 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider a review of the short-term lets regulatory framework to meet the policy objectives of short-term let licensing in a manner that will not damage the tourism sector, as proposed by the Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers.

The Scottish Government recognises and values the importance of tourism to the Scottish economy and local communities, but it is important we take action now to ensure all short-term lets comply with basic safety standards which many hosts will already be following as a matter of compliance with existing law or best practice. Many hosts have applied for, and obtained a licence, and we encourage those yet to do so to apply well in advance of the extended deadline.

We have committed to review short-term licensing and an update will be provided to the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee on the timings and scope of the review in due course.

We are not waiting for the licensing review to take action, and have already demonstrated we have been responsive to concerns raised by businesses, by engaging with licensing authorities to discuss areas of concern such as floor plan requirements. We will continue to work with stakeholders to monitor the ongoing implementation of the scheme, and respond to facilitate common processes where possible to do so.

We did consider alternatives to licensing as part of our 2019 consultation and as legislation was being developed, including registration proposals put forward by the Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers. Registration does not offer the same protections to guests, neighbours and local communities as licensing does. To be robust and effective, a registration scheme would need to make much the same requirements as the licensing scheme does.

Question reference: S6W-17331

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 4 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the interim care home beds, announced in January 2023, are still being used as of 1 April 2023.

A total of 494 people have benefited from an interim care placement procured using our additional funding offer. The total number of people in interim placements as of 3 April is 545.

This information is published at Interim care placement uptake - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The Scottish Government does not hold the requested information regarding the number of the interim care beds acquired through the announced additional funding that are still being used as of 1 April.