- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 January 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 7 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding (a) Architecture and Design Scotland and (b) Scottish Forestry has allocated to the Best Use of Timber Awards for each year since the awards were established.
Answer
Since the Best Use of Timber Awards were established in 2012, Scottish Forestry has allocated £6,000 each year towards the delivery of the awards, with the exception of 2020 when the awards did not take place due to the Covid 19 pandemic. Architecture and Design Scotland does not allocate funding for the project other than staff resource.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 7 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to co-ordinate a whole-government approach to tackling health inequalities, as referred to by the recent Health, Social Care and Sport Committee report, Tackling health inequalities in Scotland, and The Health Foundation report, The state of health and health inequalities in Scotland.
Answer
We recognise the need for a whole-government approach if we are to drive forward progress in reducing health inequalities.
The government is already involved in proactive, cross-portfolio discussions on what a ‘whole of government’ preventative approach might look like. Our Care and Wellbeing Portfolio is the principle strategic reform vehicle in Health and Social Care, which is being designed to promote a ‘health in all policies’ approach. The portfolio will shape and strengthen cross-government collaboration on key and critical issues that contribute to the goal of reducing health inequalities. As part of this, we have begun working with other programmes across the government including those relating to Child Poverty, the Promise, Economic Transformation, Climate Change and Net Zero.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to proposals from Midlothian Council to remove free musical instrument lessons for some pupils.
Answer
The Scottish Government remains committed to the removal of fees associated with instrumental music tuition so income is not a barrier to children and young people taking up an instrument. Access to instrumental music tuition is for local authorities to determine depending on local circumstances and priorities.
Councils are autonomous and it is their responsibility to agree their annual budgets taking into account their statutory duties and national and local priorities.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 7 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of people with diabetes have been recorded as having attended structured education within six months of diagnosis in each year since 2007.
Answer
The information in the format requested is not held centrally. The Scottish Diabetes Survey records the number of people who have attended structured diabetes education at any time and can be found at: https://www.diabetesinscotland.org.uk/publications/#survey-docs.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 7 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what it has done to support early optimisation of glycaemic control in new onset type 1 diabetes.
Answer
As part of the Scottish Diabetes Group, a Short Life Working Group (SLWG) has been established to develop recommendations for a ‘Once for Scotland’ approach to Type 1 diabetes education. For people newly diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, there is an urgent need for their diabetes specialist team to introduce self-management techniques in order to ensure early optimisation of glycaemic control. The SLWG has input from health professionals from every NHS Board in Scotland, and they are working in partnership with people living with Type 1 diabetes to design the pathways.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 7 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of people with diabetes have achieved optimal glycaemic control, defined as <58mmol/mol in adults and <48mmol/mol in children, at one year post diagnosis in each year since 2007.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 7 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-13437 by Humza Yousaf on 24 January 2023, (a) how much it has spent and (b) what quantifiable effect any spending has had on assisting to bridge the gap between service demand and capacity within the health and care system in relation to (i) online training provision within the Scotland Deanery, (ii) train-the-trainer for “simulation” training across a number of specialties and in specific procedures, such as in cystoscopy, (iii) virtual reality pilots for communications training in handling stressful situations in pre-hospital emergency care and mental health tribunals, (iv) mental health simulation training, (v) virtual reality simulators, including six endoscopy simulators in six different health boards, alongside a national introductory course covering cancer diagnosis and (vi) a national urology simulator and learning programme.
Answer
The Scottish Budget provided baseline funding of over £492 million to NHS Education for Scotland in 2022-2023, it is for NHS Board to determine how they use this funding. In addition to this, further funding has been made available to NHS Education for Scotland to support specific programmes of work including:
£22.3 million is provided towards the improvement of Mental Health Training and £3.7 million for the NHS Scotland Academy which offers accelerated training programmes to those working, and soon to be working, across many roles within Health and Social Care. Much of the training and education activity delivered by NHS Education for Scotland is supported and enhanced through digital solutions.
We continually monitor the sufficiency of education and training support across NHS Scotland as we work to deliver a sustainable Health and Social Care workforce and implement improvements in patient care. As part of this, The Scottish Government has regular strategic engagement with NHS Education for Scotland regarding its priorities. The Scottish Government also has a number of other mechanisms to oversee and review each Board’s performance. The Annual Reviews held by Ministers remain an important part of the accountability process as do Board Annual Operating plans, building on the local governance arrangements which form part of Board structures.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 7 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the latest reported NFU Scotland Intentions Survey results, which found that "almost two-thirds of all respondents identified future agricultural policy as the most significant threat" to their business.
Answer
We continue to support active farming and food production with direct payments to provide certainty to the industry. We delivered 2021 Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) payments to schedule with over £564 million issued. In 2022, we brought forward the payment date to as early in the year as was practicably possible in order to provide support to businesses with immediate cash flow challenges. Over 17,356 businesses have already benefitted from this change with around £417.4 million paid out to date.
The Scottish Government is working with the industry and partners with an interest in delivering a thriving, sustainable, rural economy, to co-develop and co-design future agricultural support structures and delivery, to offer clarity, and through a just transition, avoid cliff edges for Scotland’s farmers and crofters.
The Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board (ARIOB), co-chaired by Cabinet Secretary RAI and NFU Scotland President Martin Kennedy, provides advice to the Scottish Government on actions that will assist the sector in addressing the climate and biodiversity crises at pace, and enable it to make targeted investment for longer-term benefits and outcomes.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 7 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what it has done to ensure that people with type 1 diabetes receive appropriate and timely access to technologies to improve glycaemic control and their quality of life.
Answer
As part of the Scottish Diabetes Group, there are several sub-groups working on delivering commitments specific to Type 1 Diabetes. These include commitments to improving education and self-management and also inpatient care. Closed Loop Systems are also being considered for potential inclusion in the new Accelerated National Innovation Adoption (ANIA) pathway co-odinated by the Centre for Sustainable Delivery. Projects centred on access to technologies will have a particular focus on increasing access for those living in the most deprived areas of Scotland, using SIMD data.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 7 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many new health and care technologies have been tested in a digital testing environment, and which ones have been taken forward for further development or implementation, since 2007.
Answer
All health and care systems are tested during development, implementation and rollout, and this is a critical part of the process for all technologies in use. All health boards have test environments or suitable processes in place to do this which is supported by national test infrastructure, environments and resources from NHS NES and NHS NSS. If I can refer the member to response in S6W-14170 on 7 February 2023. It is not possible to give an exact figure on how many new health and care technologies have been tested due to the wide range of activity and the multiple organisations involved in testing since 2007.
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