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-13643

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 19 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the National Care Service and adult social care budget allocations under health and social care expenditure in its 2023-24 Budget.

The published 2023-24 Stage 1 budget showed at level 4, a total investment of over £1.2 billion in Social Care support and NCS delivery. This is made up of a number of areas including an additional £100 million for adult social care pay up to £10.90, on top of the £200 million in 2022-23 for £10.50 and £144 million for the £10.02 before that, £124 million for care at home investment,
‎ £60 million for the Carers Act and inflationary uplifts for Free Personal Nursing Care Rates and others. All of the areas above underpin increasing the sustainability of the social care sector ahead of implementation of the NCS. It is important therefore to look at all areas of spend rather than one in isolation.

Question reference: S6W-13642

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 13 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has undertaken an impact assessment on its proposals to move specialist mental health services to the remit of a National Care Service, and, if so, whether it will publish this information.

Impact assessments published in relation to the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill cover the full range of current services proposed to be transferred to the National Care Service, including both health and social care services. These can be accessed at: .

Further impact assessments will be carried out as the detailed design of the National Care Service is developed and will be provided alongside the necessary secondary legislation. This includes any proposals to include specialist mental health services within the scope of the National Care Service.

The Scottish Government is engaging with stakeholders, the output of this engagement, alongside lessons from the current health and social care arrangements (which will be succeeded by the National Care Service) and further evidence gained during the co-design process, will be used to refine our proposals for the scope of mental health services. Collectively this evidence will inform the development of more detailed impact assessments as part of that process. A summary of the Scottish Government’s engagement on this matter will be published later this year.

Question reference: S6O-01781

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has fully considered the economic consequences of its presumption against new oil and gas exploration, both to workers within the industry and to the wider Scottish economy as a whole.

Question reference: S6W-13011

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 December 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to improve the wellbeing of junior doctors and, in turn, the safety of patients, by providing support to ensure consistent access to nutritious food at NHS workplaces.

We are working closely with NHS Boards to support a range of local initiatives designed to meet the basic and practical needs of junior doctors, and their teams. This includes access to quiet spaces to support health and wellbeing, the installation of lockers and further support to facilitate out of hours catering. The Scottish Government is determined to deliver the recommendations of the Expert Working Group’s report on junior doctor wellbeing and have begun introducing further improvements to working conditions. We are on track to meet the key recommendation of limiting consecutive days of long shifts, with 99% compliance achieved in August 2022.

Question reference: S6T-01020

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on Strep A cases in Scotland, including what it is doing to mitigate any risks.

Question reference: S6W-12317

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 November 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 5 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S6W-11406 and S6W-11407 by Maree Todd on 25 October 2022, whether it will confirm start dates for the commencement of the short life working groups on Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) equipment provision and reviewing domiciliary eye care services provision, and, if it is the case that the start dates cannot be confirmed, whether it will provide an anticipated timescale for when decisions will be taken on the start dates.

Question reference: S6W-12318

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 November 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 5 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the timescales for any actions it is taking to support and develop community eyecare services across Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-01668

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will confirm whether WhatsApp messaging by the health secretary and his ministers are covered by Freedom of Information legislation and the processes that are in place to archive these to prevent them being inadvertently lost or otherwise deleted.

Question reference: S6W-11972

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 15 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has agreed to all of the key recommendations in the final report of the Scottish Mental Health Law Review, and in relation to any that it has not yet agreed to, whether it will provide a timeframe for consideration of the recommendations, and when it expects to publish its response to the key recommendations in the report.

Question reference: S6W-11973

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 15 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to any of the key recommendations in the final report of the Scottish Mental Health Law Review to which it agrees, what action it plans to take to implement the recommendations.

The Scottish Mental Health Law Review published its final report at the end of September 2022 and set out over 200 proposals for reform.

Cross-government work is now underway to assess their implications and we will set out our response, including priority actions that will be taken forward, in due course. As part of this work, we are considering the timescales for implementation and any recommendations that can be progressed in the short-term as part of our existing work to strengthen mental health and incapacity policy and law.