Questions and answers

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 ��˿�� 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: S6W-21042

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps are being taken to increase the number of people starting psychological therapies within the 18-week target, following a reported decrease in the number of people being seen within that target window over the previous two quarters to March 2023.

The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting all Boards to meet the standard that 90% of patients start treatment within 18 weeks of referral. We continue to provide targeted, tailored support towards those Boards with the longest waits and poorest performance.

We have allocated £48.6 million of supplementary funding to Boards this year via the Mental Health Outcomes Framework to improve the quality and delivery of mental health services for all. This is in addition to £36.7 million allocated to Health Boards via the Outcomes Framework in 2022-23; and to the total package of core funding that Health Boards receive.

Within the Outcomes Framework funding for this year, Boards are expected to: build capacity within psychological therapy services to deliver the standard and reduce backlogs; improve quality and access in response to local need; and implement the forthcoming national specification for psychological therapies.

Question reference: S6W-20866

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it plans to spend in total on suicide prevention in 2023-24, and whether it will provide a detailed breakdown of this spending.

Question reference: S6W-20968

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 04 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish a list of all hospital buildings that are (a) suspected and (b) have been confirmed to contain reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.

The list of buildings to be surveyed was included in the answer to question S6W-19366 on 21 July 2023. NHS Scotland Assure published the list of buildings to be surveyed on the 15th September 2023: . In response to part (b) of the Question; there have, as of the 19th September 2023, been 14 properties confirmed to contain RAAC, these will also be published in due course. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

Question reference: S6W-20714

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-16492 by Maree Todd on 21 April 2023, how it will track its spending commitments under the new Creating Hope Together action plan, and whether it will commit to identifying and recording suicide prevention spending across Scotland.

Our ambitious work on suicide prevention is underpinned by a significant funding commitment of £2.5 million in 2023-24. This includes funding of approximately £1.9 million specifically focused on the delivery and implementation of the Creating Hope Together Action Plan and ongoing research to inform future suicide prevention activity and targeted support. Funding of approximately £600,000 has been allocated to taking forward priority programmes initiated under the previous plan including our bereavement support service pilot and the improvement of suicidal crisis responses.

The £2.5 million ring-fenced for suicide prevention is part of the core mental health budget. However, other elements of the mental health budget also support suicide prevention work. For example, our £15 million per annum for adults supported nearly 300 suicide prevention projects in 2022-23. Likewise, wider Scottish Government spending contributes to tackling the inequalities which can contribute to suicide.

The Scottish Government, through our National Delivery Lead, will be tracking national spend against the annual delivery plan and £2.5 million budget. We will not be tracking local spend. It is for local authorities and NHS teams to agree local action plans which meet local needs and agree resources to support these. As at the national level, there is recognition that suicide prevention involves a broad range of services and budgets including housing, money advice, alcohol and drug services, and it is therefore not possible to determine the full funding picture. We will however be actively working with our local partners, including NHS Boards and local authorities, to identify opportunities to co-ordinate action and share practice and learning so that our collective plans and resources work to prevent suicide.

Question reference: S6W-20865

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in the context of the commitment in its suicide prevention strategy, Creating Hope Together, to spend £2.8 million annually on suicide prevention, whether suicide prevention funding is part of the core mental health budget, or funded from a separate budget.

Question reference: S6W-20728

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 14 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government to which Health and Social Care Partnerships it has awarded discretionary funding in 2023-24 for community link worker provision, and how many posts were covered by any such discretionary funding awards.

Question reference: S6W-20729

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 14 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will continue any discretionary funding awards made to Health and Social Care Partnerships for community link worker programmes for 2023-24 in the next financial year.

Question reference: S6W-21137

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 14 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported marketing for sale of the Clydebridge Steelworks by Liberty Steel, what it is doing to safeguard Clydebridge's future as a green steelmaking facility of strategic importance to the Scottish economy.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17708 on 16 May 2023 The Clydebridge Steelworks site in Cambuslang is not currently operational and no staff are currently employed at the site. The future of the site is an operational matter for Liberty Steel and I understand that a number of options for the future of the site are being considered including a possible sale.

Scottish Government maintain an open dialogue with Liberty Steel and have regular meetings with them.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

Question reference: S6W-20730

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 14 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many community link worker posts were funded by the Primary Care Improvement Fund in financial years (a) 2022-23 and (b) 2023-24, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6O-02524

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 September 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to support Glasgow’s museums and galleries.