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-20148

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 7 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the announcement that landline phones will be installed across the Scottish prison estate for use by people in custody, how much the procurement and installation costs of this scheme will be for HMP Grampian.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

SPS has assessed the procurement and installation costs for the project at HMP Grampian as £554,995 (excluding VAT). The cost includes all cabling and preparatory works associated to the project at HMP Grampian, as well as the materials and the associated required testing and commissioning works.

Permanent In Cell Telephony means individuals in prison can maintain purposeful family contact, including with children, which we know is important for good mental health and wellbeing, and for reducing the risk of reoffending upon return to communities. In Cell Telephony will also support SPS’ longer term ambitions for in-cell technology, with additional educational opportunities and giving those individuals in prison greater control over their own lives, again supporting reintegration into the community and reducing the risk of reoffending.

Question reference: S6W-20177

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 2 August 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what it is doing to meet the short-term action in the Women's Health Plan to establish a dedicated menopause policy post within the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S6W-19625

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 28 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the finding in a recent Royal College of Radiologists report that just 10% of clinical directors in Scotland think that they have enough radiologists to deliver safe and effective patient care, compared with a UK average of 24%.

The Scottish Government actively supports health boards across Scotland to plan locally for service need and service delivery.

From September 2006 to March 2023 we have increased the Consultant Radiologist workforce from 223.5 whole time equivalent (WTE) posts to 358.9 WTE – a 60.6% increase.

In March 2022, we published the National Health and Social Care Workforce Strategy, which sets out a long-term vision for achieving a sustainable health and social care workforce. In that Strategy we committed to developing and publishing workforce projections to support long-term planning both for service delivery and service reform.

Question reference: S6W-19624

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 28 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the reported 24% shortfall in clinical radiology consultants, which is forecast to increase to 34% by 2027.

We continue to invest heavily in our future consultant workforce and have been increasing the number of available training places in Radiology in line with recommendations made by the Scottish Shape of Training Transition Group (SSoTTG).

In 2018 we committed to increasing the Clinical Radiology training establishment by 10 places per year over a five year period. That commitment was met in full last year, bringing the total number of extra places created in this specialty since 2014 to 68, with 10 additional Clinical Interventional Radiology training places also being created over the same period.

The SSoTTG is actively considering the need for further uplifts as part of its annual review of medical training establishments and will be making recommendations later this year for expansion taking place in 2024.

Question reference: S6W-19274

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 14 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that mobile phones will soon be replaced by landlines across the prison estate, what the cost of the scheme to provide mobile phones to people in custody has been since it was announced in April 2020.

Question reference: S6W-19273

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 14 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many mobile phones have been confiscated from prisoners and offenders in HMP and YOI Grampian in each month since January 2022.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The following table provides the number of SPS issued mobile phone handsets that have been confiscated at HMP & YOI Grampian, each month, from 1 January 2022 to 20 June 2023:

2022	Number Confiscated

January	14
February	11
March	15
April	19
May	21
June	22
July	32
August	20
September	19
October	20
November	28
December	25

2023
January	30
February	27
March	27
April	30
May	10
June (up until 20 June)	3

Question reference: S6W-19269

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 14 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many times it has been notified of a cyber-attack on a public body or educational institution since August 2021.

Between 1 August 2021 and 21 June 2023, the Scottish Government has been notified of 19 cyber incidents on public sector organisations under our Notifiable Scottish Public Sector Cyber Incidents Policy and Procedure. Cyber incidents notified do not however necessarily equate to cyber attacks.

The Scottish Government will not provide further details. The organisations that report cyber incidents under the Notifiable Scottish Public Sector Cyber Incidents procedure reasonably expect these details to be treated as confidential. Disclosure of these to a wider audience would undermine this confidentiality and adversely affect the openness with which organisations currently report incidents and participate in the reporting process.

Question reference: S6W-19275

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 13 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the commitment in its 2021-22 Programme for Government to support 2,000 women who have had a career break to return to the workplace; how much has been invested in the scheme in total to date, and how many women in total have been supported.

Question reference: S6W-19279

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work that it is doing in partnership across the UK to explore the safe use of artificial intelligence (AI) in health and social care.

Question reference: S6W-19270

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 4 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported comments by the chief executive of NHS Grampian that the NHS board expects to remain in financial deficit for the next five years.

The Scottish Government continues to prioritise investment in frontline services and provided an increase of over £730 million to NHS Boards in the 2023-24 budget, taking total investment in NHS Grampian to over £1.1 billion – an increase of almost 94% since 2006-07.

Additionally, we are providing a further £200 million to NHS Boards to support financial sustainability and address financial challenges in year. NHS Grampian will receive over £17 million as part of this support.

We will continue to work with all Health Boards, including NHS Grampian, to address financial and workforce pressures across the system. Our Sustainability and Value programme has been established to deliver essential reform and sustainable services that are fit for the future, whilst prioritising patient safety .