- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 30 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on how paying social care staff £12 per hour is consistent with the aims of the Fair Work agenda, in light of this level of pay reportedly contributing to a level of gender pay inequality.
Answer
The Scottish Government has a long-standing commitment to the principles of Fair-Work as we recognise and value the work that the social care sector do.
The £12 minimum pay-rate from April 2024 for Adult Social Care workers represents a 14.3% increase for these workers in the last two years; with pay rising from at least £10.50 per hour in April 2022.
Four out of five people who will benefit from this uplift in pay are women. Increasing pay not only helps the workforce in question but will also positively impact on our wider priorities on child poverty, Fair Work and post-Covid pandemic recovery in the health and care sector.
The creation of the National Care Service will help to provide consistency in further improved pay and conditions, access to training and development and ensuring a career in social care is attractive and rewarding – but we are beginning to make those improvements now .
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 30 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government when the planned elements of reform to the Agenda for Change pay structure will be (a) approved by the Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care and (b) implemented.
Answer
I am delighted that both Staff Side and NHS Board representatives have worked in partnership with us to undertake an extensive review of the Agenda for Review framework, which included the existing pay structure.
I am now considering the recommendations of the review alongside the wider impact of any action we take and the budget that we need to operate within.
We will continue to engage fully with our partners on all aspects of the review, including next steps.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 30 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what steps the NHS takes to retrieve equipment that it has loaned to patients.
Answer
Decisions on the retrieval of loaned equipment are made at Board level and the Scottish Government do not have access to this information.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 30 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme budget for (a) 2023-24 and (b) 2024-25, broken down by parliamentary region.
Answer
We do not allocate our budget at parliamentary region level. We issue resource planning assumptions at a local authority level and the levels for 2023-24 can be found on our webpage Affordable housing: resource planning assumptions to councils 2021-2022 to 2025-2026 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .
Figures for 2024-25 will be reviewed once the 2024-25 budget has been formally approved by parliament.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 30 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how many new affordable homes it estimates will be built in the Highlands and Islands region in each of the next 10 years.
Answer
Local authorities publish their Strategic Housing Investment Plans on an annual basis which outline their housing priorities over a five year period. We do not have estimates for the number of new affordable homes that will be built in the Highlands and Islands Region in each of the next ten years.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 30 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what the median number of days that a household spent in temporary accommodation in 2023 is, broken down by (a) household type and (b) local authority area.
Answer
The Scottish Government currently does not hold information on Homelessness for the full year 2023. Homelessness data up to 31 March 2024, including data for the whole of 2023, which includes information about temporary accommodation placements, will be published in August 2024.
The Homeless in Scotland 2022-23 publications provides the most recent information available and is published here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/homelessness-in-scotland-2022-23/
Table T39 in the main tables, in the supporting documents, provides information on the (mean) average total time (days) spent in temporary accommodation for cases that closed, by household type and local authority. Additionally, table T40 shows the distribution of the time households spent in temporary accommodation for cases that closed, by local authority for a) all households, b) households with children and c) households without children.
- Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 29 January 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 30 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the announcement from the UK Government that it plans to ban single-use vapes to protect children’s health, whether it will outline what action is being taken in Scotland.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 30 January 2024
- Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 29 January 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 30 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what role the National Clinical Director has had in relation to the clinical review process for former patients of Professor Eljamel.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 30 January 2024
- Asked by: Stephanie Callaghan, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 29 January 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 1 February 2024
To ask the First Minister what steps the Scottish Government is taking to prevent a resurgence of measles in Scotland.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 1 February 2024
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 29 January 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 1 February 2024
To ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 1 February 2024