Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government will publish the commissioned demand management research in the coming months.

The Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment, led by Professor Louise Hayward, will report to the Scottish Government by the end of May 2023. The Review’s interim report was published on 3 March and includes a model for a new approach to qualifications and assessment which is currently being tested further with stakeholders.

The Scottish Government will need to consider the recommendations in the final report before providing a formal response.

The Health and Safety Executive is responsible for ensuring that local authorities comply with the legislation and requirements, and this includes the assessment of risks from asbestos.

The Health and Safety Executive undertakes school inspections to assess the management of risks from asbestos within schools.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, I have asked Douglas Millican, Chief Executive, to respond. His response is as follows:

Since 1 April 2018, Scottish Water has approved 2775 burst allowance applications. The number by year is detailed in the following table.

As part of the tender process contractors have set aside 10% of the contracted tender cost as contingency. We will confirm the tender value in due course.

The Scottish Government are in the process of competitively tendering for parts of the Bute House repair schedule and therefore the full cost of the planned repairs has yet to be determined. We will publish all the costs proactively at the conclusion of the works.

To support scope based diagnostics we have published an Endoscopy and Urology Diagnostic Recovery and Renewal Plan which is backed by a £70m investment. The plan focuses on key areas such as: Balancing Demand and Capacity; Workforce Training and Development; Infrastructure; and Innovation and Redesign.

In recognition of the pressures on Colposcopy services specifically, we have provided over £660,000 additional funding to NHS Ayrshire & Arran, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, NHS Highland, NHS Lothian and NHS Tayside to support capacity.

This funding was used to enhance capacity through recruitment and additional clinics, including at weekends, to allow increased activity and reduce demand on consultant time.

Our £1 billion NHS Recovery Plan is taking forward our aim of increasing NHS capacity by at least 10% as quickly as is possible in order to address the backlog of care and meet the ongoing healthcare needs for people across the country. The Scottish Government publishes progress against the plan on an annual basis.

Last year there were over 1.2 million patients seen for an outpatient appointment, an increase of 8% compared to 2021, when over 1.1 million outpatients were seen.

As set out in the response to S6W-15482 on 16 March 2023, all projects are subject to review by NHS Scotland Assure prior to opening.

The Key Stage Assurance Review (KSAR) process examines projects at key points in their lifecycle. It does not remove any legal or contractual obligations from the NHS Health Board, their designers or contractors. It provides assurance to progress successfully to the next review point and the process will be mandated for projects requiring Scottish Government approval.

As part of the commissioning, completion, and handover part of the process, from February 2023, all building projects going through a KSAR, should not open to patients or the public until they have received a ‘supported status’ from NHS Scotland Assure.

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

We recognise that rises in the cost of living are putting a huge strain on some families and they are facing unforeseen challenges.

The management of debt is an issue for education authorities and their finance departments. Councils have the power to make discretionary offers of free school meals to families, where they are experiencing financial hardship due to exceptional circumstances, who do not meet the regular eligibility criteria.

COSLA, working with partners from across Local Government, have developed a set of good practice principles for the management of school meal debt, which were published on 20 February 2023. The intended audience for these principles is local authority staff across a range of departments (including education, catering, finance and debt collection) as well as Head Teachers, class teachers and other school staff. The principles can be accessed through the following link: COSLA Publish Good Practice Principles for Managing School Meal Debt - 20th February 2023 | COSLA .