- Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 2 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government about updating the definitions of (a) alcohol-free and (b) low alcohol products in (i) Scotland and (ii) the UK as a whole.
Answer
We are liaising with UK Government on the status of their plans for a UK-wide consultation on alcohol-free and low alcohol descriptors consultation and are awaiting further updates on their approach.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how the development of a digital platform will contribute to the twin aims of citizen and staff access to relevant real-time information across the health and care system.
Answer
Scottish Government and COSLA will shortly set out a Data Strategy for Health and Social Care, which will articulate the first set of principles and deliverables needed to improve the access and use of data.
One of the core ambitions of the Data Strategy is to: empower the people of Scotland by giving individuals clear and easy access to, and the ability to manage and contribute to, their own health and social care data where it is safe and appropriate to do so. To achieve this, we will confirm data sources and data sets that are safe to be consistently shared. For individuals, data access will be enabled through the implementation of the Digital Front Door.
To support access for our professionals, the National Digital Platform, and its associated National Clinical Data Store provide the foundation for consistent access to information. The success of this has so far been demonstrated through the accessibility of vaccination information. Establishing and expanding these platforms is a critical focus to providing staff with a safe and secure way to access clinical and care data. More details can be found at The National Digital Platform .
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what it has done to further embed Office 365 across the health and care system.
Answer
Office 365 is already widely embedded across health and care with over 160,000 staff enabled to use the latest Microsoft Office software. A key part of this is a single tenancy agreement for NHS Scotland that supports a once for Scotland approach. Use of Office 365 by social care staff is the responsibility of local authorities.
In relation to health and care we have established the M365 Cross-Organisation Collaboration programme which is making it easier for health and social care staff to collaborate and share information. Early benefits from this programme include increased efficiency and improved working experience. The rollout of Phase 1 functionality across Scotland is underway, following successful integrations between NHS and Local Authorities.
We have also been working closely with NHS Education for Scotland to ensure ongoing training on Office 365 is provided to health and care colleagues.
Further information is set out in the annual delivery plan for digital health & care (see Care in the Digital Age: delivery plan 2022 to 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) ).
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment in its Digital Health and Care Strategy, how it plans to provide better access for health and care staff to appropriate data, to better analyse, understand and improve processes and services at different levels and better inform strategic planning priorities.
Answer
The Scottish Government continues to invest in platforms that will improve access and analytic capacities across health and social care. For example, we continue to invest in the development of our National Digital Platform and the Seer platform which will improve access to latest analytical tools and increase access to data for staff.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment in its Digital Health and Care Strategy, how much it has spent on producing user-friendly, role-appropriate information and resources to support people being cared for.
Answer
NHS Inform and Care Information Scotland are Scotland’s public facing online health & care information resources. NHS 24 currently receive £923,000 in recurring funding from Scottish Government to support the delivery of these services.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment in its Digital Health and Care Strategy, what fully digital clinical and care services, treatment and support it has introduced since October 2021.
Answer
People can access a range of different services digitally if they choose to. These include digital for mental health, self-help guides on NHS inform, Care Information Scotland and remote monitoring of conditions from home.
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14098 on 27 January 2023 which provides further detail on the work being taken forward within digital mental health services and the progress made in supporting access to services.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 2 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many registered GlobalScots there were at each year end since the GlobalScot network was established.
Answer
Year | GlobalScot members |
07-08 | 900 |
08-09 | 811 |
09-10 | 718 |
10-11 | 709 |
11-12 | 638 |
12-13 | 670 |
13-14 | 672 |
14-15 | 617 |
15-16 | 618 |
16-17 | 628 |
17-18 | 646 |
18-19 | 662 |
19-20 | 764 |
20-21 | 942 |
21-22 | 1110 |
2023 (as at Jan 2023) | 1189 |
Please note that membership numbers in each year will fluctuate throughout the 12-month period.
- Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 February 2023
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Current Status:
Initiated by the Scottish Government.
Answered by Angus Robertson on 2 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on work to develop a strategy to support the culture sector’s international connections and ambitions.
Answer
The Scottish Government has today launched a survey seeking views from the culture sector on the development of an International Culture Strategy. Scotland’s culture sector has an extensive international presence and a strong reputation. However, this is undoubtedly a challenging time and this strategy must seek to support the resilience and long term development of the sector through enhancing and developing its international links. The survey will be open for
3 months and in parallel to it we plan to undertake a number of focussed conversations with stakeholders to explore emerging themes in more detail. It will be essential for this work to draw strongly on the knowledge, expertise and lived experience of cultural organisations and practitioners, and I would encourage engagement to the greatest extent possible.
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Ruth Charteris on 2 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to increase the number of prosecutions of alleged perpetrators of modern slavery.
Answer
The Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 provides a clear and cohesive set of criminal offences which are properly aligned with international standards and definitions of trafficking and exploitation which enables the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) to take prosecutorial decision based on the facts and circumstances of each individual case reported to them. This includes the power to commence confiscation proceedings where convictions are achieved in order that perpetrators face a credible risk of being convicted and sentenced proportionally to the seriousness of their crimes.
Scottish prosecutors work with other countries through Joint Investigative Teams to tackle cross border human trafficking cases and, since 2016, COPFS and the prosecution services in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have signed a set of commitments with the overarching goal that the prosecuting authorities in the United Kingdom will work closely together and with law enforcement partners to disrupt networks, prosecute traffickers and safeguard victims’ rights.
- Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 2 February 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Food Standards Scotland about updating the definitions of (a) alcohol-free and (b) low alcohol products in Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Government has the lead for alcohol policy in Scotland. However, Food Standards Scotland (FSS) has responsibility for the policies surrounding general food labelling in Scotland and work closely with policy officials across the four nations on these issues.
FSS launched a four-week consultation on 23 October 2018 to assess the current understanding and use of the descriptive terms ‘low alcohol’, ‘non-alcoholic’, ‘alcohol-free’ and ‘de alcoholised’ but unfortunately this work was paused due to matters relating to EU exit.
