- Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 29 April 2024
-
Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 2 May 2024
Question to be taken in Chamber.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 2 May 2024
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 29 April 2024
-
Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 2 May 2024
To ask the First Minister, in light of new reported data that nearly one in five shop premises in Scottish cities lie empty, what action the Scottish Government is taking to support the retail sector.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 2 May 2024
- Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 22 April 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 29 April 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the reported shortage in trained physiotherapists.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognise that there are circumstances when they will step in to address specific workforce challenges. In December 2019 as part of the Integrated Workforce plan, Scottish Government made a commitment to create 225 more MSK practitioners in Primary Care. To achieve this it has been critical to increase numbers of physiotherapists in training as newly qualified physiotherapists enable the replenishment of posts created by experienced physiotherapists moving to Primary Care as Advanced MSK Practitioners.
Due to the pandemic delays were experienced and a total of 37 students were recruited in 2021-22, and a further 52 were recruited in 2022-23. To date, 144 physiotherapy students have been recruited and the first cohort of students graduated in September 2023. A further recruitment of 50 students is planned for 2024-25, subject to funding.
Additionally, the Allied Health Professions (AHP) Education and Workforce Policy Review examined workforce and education issues and recommendations included promotion of AHP careers and aligning strategies to market a career as an AHP. An advisory group has been established to oversee the effective implementation of these recommendations.
- Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 April 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 29 April 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment was conducted regarding the impact of the £500 million funding for the Bus Partnership Fund.
Answer
The Bus Partnership Fund has so far delivered a number of projects for which Partnerships are currently undertaking monitoring and evaluation, with reporting once schemes have been in operation for a sufficient period of time.
Once complete, these will be collated to determine the impact that the funding has had to date. Initial reports from the Aberdeen City Centre bus gates are very positive with reduced bus journey times benefitting a significant number of passengers.
Other bus priority installed at signals to help buses get through them more quickly are also reporting improvements in journey times and reliability, with these having been implemented in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness, Oban and North Ayrshire. A number of studies were also funded which have identified further measures which will feed into the longer term public transport vision.
The Bus Partnership is one way in which we are delivering the Second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) recommendation of the provision of strategic bus priority measures. This included an assessment of the impact of strategic bus priority, the reporting of which can be found on Transport Scotland’s website - https://www.transport.gov.scot/our-approach/strategy/strategic-transport-projects-review-2/ .
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 April 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 29 April 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of any variation in pay, terms and conditions for social workers across different local authorities.
Answer
Scottish Government conducted a survey of job vacancies advertised in myjobscotland in September 2023, as part of joint work with COSLA on social workers pay variation across Scotland. This survey indicated that at that time there was a difference of average pay of circa £7k between the lowest and highest paying employers. The lowest paying £33,500 per annum and the highest £40,673. The majority of Scotland’s employers in the public sector pay between £36,400 and £38,480.
- Asked by: John Swinney, MSP for Perthshire North, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 April 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 29 April 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of staff currently employed by the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner were previously employed by (a) Police Scotland, (b) any other police service and (c) the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
Answer
Of the 95 staff currently employed by the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner:
a) 41% are former police officers, from Police Scotland or the Scottish legacy police forces.
b) 4% were previously employed by the Royal Military Police.
c) 2% were previously employed by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
- Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 15 April 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 29 April 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it is giving to the development of a modern apprenticeship and graduate apprenticeship framework for the games industry.
Answer
There are multiple existing Modern and Graduate Apprenticeship frameworks that include software design and IT Management which are utilised by the gaming industry. The frameworks are flexible with varying pathways and are adaptable to any industry that designs software.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 15 April 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 April 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-26199 by Jenni Minto on 26 March 2024, what criteria a medicine would have to meet in order to be considered for "specialist medicine" designation by the Scottish Government.
Answer
Special medicines or ‘specials’ refer to unlicensed medicinal products that should only be supplied to meet the special clinical needs of an individual patient. An unlicensed medicinal product should not be supplied where an equivalent licensed medicinal product is available. Responsibility for deciding whether an individual patient has “special needs” which a licensed product cannot meet is a matter for the prescribing clinician responsible for their care. Examples of “special needs” include an intolerance or allergy to a particular ingredient, or an inability to ingest solid oral dosage forms. These examples are not exhaustive.
The Scottish Government has no role in designating ‘specials’. Regulation for the licensing, quality safety and efficacy of medicines is currently reserved to the UK Government and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 15 April 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 29 April 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what its expectations are of the Scottish Funding Council regarding monitoring fair work practices through college outcome agreements; whether it expects such fair work practices to be developed in cooperation with workers and trade unions, and how it will act in any case where fair work practices are not being reported on or properly adhered to by a college.
Answer
The Scottish Government expects the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) to support fair work practices, and to monitor adherence across the college sector.
As recipients of SFC funding, in line with Scottish Government Fair Work First guidance - reflected in the 2024-25 Ministerial letter of guidance to SFC, colleges must be committed to fair work practices for staff engaged in the delivery of activity associated with public funds. Inclusion of information on compliance with Fair Work First is a requirement of the accounts directions for universities and colleges and SFC encourages institutions to be fulsome in their disclosures. Where there are institutions that do not currently meet requirements around disclosure of this activity, SFC will engage with institutions with a view to ensuring that they do so in their future annual report and accounts.
I also wrote directly to College Principals on 7 June 2023 to re-state this Government’s continued commitment to Fair Work principles. I expect both employers and trade unions to work together to ensure that the Fair Work principles are adhered to across the college sector and that staff are treated fairly.
We are also making progress with the addition of trade union nominees to the college boards to further improve governance and management and to ensure effective employee voice as one of the key principles of Fair Work.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 15 April 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 29 April 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether the Minister for Higher and Further Education will report back to the Parliament on any initial steps it has made following the publication of the independent report, Fit for the Future: developing a post-school learning system to fuel economic transformation.
Answer
In my appearance on 10 January 2024 at the Education, Children and Young People Committee I undertook to provide further information on the progress of post-school education and skills reform in March. On 27 March 2024 I wrote to the Convenor of the Committee with this update on the key areas of action .
Our plans for post-school education and skills reform have been developed in the light of James Withers’ report Fit for the Future: developing a post-school learning system to fuel economic transformation, and the Scottish Government’s own report of the Purpose and Principles for post-school education, research and skills .
I will continue to engage with partners across the sector and employers, and to update the Parliament.
