Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6O-01476

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 October 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it will evaluate the progress made in achieving the intended outcomes of its Covid Recovery Strategy.

Question reference: S6O-01491

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 October 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Question reference: S6O-01497

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 October 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what it can do to address any bus driver shortages across Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale.

Question reference: S6W-11454

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 26 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that retailers do not sell vaping products to under-18s.

We are greatly concerned by reports of children and under-age young people obtaining e-cigarettes or vaping products. Vapes and other nicotine products are part of a range of cessations tools available to existing smokers to help stop tobacco use. They are not a lifestyle accessory for children, young people or adult non-smokers.

There are already regulations in place which restrict the marketing, promotion and sale of vaping products to under 18s. We wrote to all retailers involved in their sale to remind them of their duty at the start of October 2022.

Our recent consultation proposed restrictions on vaping products that strike a balance between protecting all non-smokers from the potential harms of vaping, while still providing existing adult smokers with the information they need to make an informed choice on cessation. We hope to bring forward further regulation in the new year.

We recognise the importance of having a clear public health message for young people around the dangers of vaping. We are working with Young Scot and the Children’s Parliament to bring their voices into our work to develop a bold refreshed Tobacco Action Plan due to be published in Autumn 2023.

Question reference: S6W-11470

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 26 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has undertaken a cost-benefit analysis of implementing a pay increase to £15 per hour for social care staff in tackling delayed discharge.

The Scottish Government has undertaken analysis into the costings of implementing a pay increase to £15 per hour for social care workers.

An increase in pay from the current rate of £10.50 per hour to £15 per hour for adult social care workers providing direct care in commissioned services would be in the region of £1.2 billion per year. To also include workers within Children’s and Justice commissioned services would be in the region of £1.75bn.

It is important to note that this does not include any costs for uplifting the pay of social care workers employed within Local Authority settings who have existing pay arrangements, which are devolved to Local Authorities and COSLA.

Raising the hourly rate for social care workers to £15 per hour would likely cause significant issues of parity across public sector pay, as well as within Local Government.

The Scottish Government are considering all options to tackle delayed discharge and officials will continue to engage with external partners to develop appropriate approaches.

The Scottish Government have also announced significant additional funding to address delays in discharge. This includes for 2022-23:

£124m to enhance care at home
£200m to increase the hourly rate of pay to £10.50
£20m to support interim care arrangements
£40m to enhance multi-disciplinary teams

Since 2020 we have invested more than £4.5m to scale up Hospital at Home services, now established within 20 HSCPs. A further £3.6m is available for 2022-23, taking our total investment to over £8m.

Through expanding our virtual capacity we have avoided or saved bed days equivalent to adding a large district general hospital. This has already saved 45,000 hospital bed days this year and is being further rolled out over the coming months.

Question reference: S6W-11452

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 26 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve life expectancy in Lanarkshire, in light of the diminishing life expectancies highlighted in the National Records of Scotland report, Life Expectancy in Scotland 2019-2021.

The National Records of Scotland published the latest life expectancy statistics on 22 September 2022. As reflected in these statistics, the pandemic has hit our most deprived communities the hardest, including many in Lanarkshire.

Reducing poverty and inequality sits at the heart of our investment across all portfolios and remain the best way of improving life expectancy. As a result we are mobilising action across government to tackle the underlying causes of inequality in our society.

This includes our commitment to providing free school meals, increasing the number of hours of free childcare, investing in affordable housing and continuing to deliver free prescriptions, concessionary travel and free personal care. Our Programme for Government and COVID Recovery Strategy include further commitments to improve life expectancy and to tackle health inequalities.

Question reference: S6W-11453

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 26 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many retailers have been (a) charged and (b) convicted in relation to selling vaping products to under-18s.

Question reference: S6W-11335

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 26 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how its tendering process for new rail rolling stock will support manufacturing and maintenance jobs in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-11471

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 26 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what data it holds on the level of unmet need in adult social care, as of 1 April 2022.

A range of published data sources provide information related to the level of unmet need in adult social care in Scotland:

The Health and Care Experience Survey collects data on unmet need for care and support. This survey runs every two years, and the latest version, published in May 2022 covers 2021-2022.
The Social Care Eligibility Criteria And Waiting Times publication presents information on new clients meeting eligibility criteria for social care support, and the waiting times between first contact, completion of a community care assessment and delivery of a new personal care service. The latest edition, published in May 2022 covers the years 2012-2021. We are working with Public Health Scotland on approaches for improving the completeness and robustness of these data.
Public Health Scotland (PHS) publishes Delayed Discharge data on a monthly basis. The accompanying Excel workbook on standard delay reasons provides the number of patients delayed in hospital at a monthly census point for patients delayed for health and social care reasons. Health and social care reasons includes those delayed due to issues with assessment, funding, place availability, care arrangements & transport. It should be noted that patients delayed in hospital are just a subset of all individuals with unmet social care needs. The latest edition includes figures up to and including August 2022.
The Independent Review of Adult Social Care describes two indirect approaches to assessing level of unmet need, one of these involves comparing level of provision in different areas across Scotland and determining where areas are below the Scottish average level. The latest data on care provision is available in the PHS Insights into Social Care publication.

The Scottish Government is currently working with stakeholders at PHS and Health and Social Care Partnerships to collect robust data on the number of people waiting for assessment for Care at Home services and the associated number of hours to be provided. The first publication of these figures is expected from PHS later this year.

Question reference: S6W-11267

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 30 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 26 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it will launch its HIV elimination plan, and whether the launch will coincide with World AIDS Day 2022.

The Scottish Government remains committed to reaching its target of eliminating HIV Transmission in Scotland by 2030.

In 2019, The Scottish Government commissioned the Scottish Health Protection Network leads to deliver a proposal for how Scotland can become one of the first countries to eliminate HIV transmissions.

Work on the proposal has been led by Professor Rak Nandwani, Honorary Professor at Glasgow Caledonian University, with input from clinicians, academics, public health experts, the third sector and people living with HIV.

Their work has now concluded, and we anticipate the proposal, along with next steps, will be published on 1 December, to coincide with World Aids Day