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-14164

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it has done to enhance industry networks and clusters around digital health and care.

The Scottish Government supports, and participates in, . This includes a specific sub-group focusing on Digital and Data, chaired by the Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre (the DHI). The DHI are funded by the Scottish Government and the Scottish Funding Council to act as the interface between academia, industry and our health & care services around digital health and care and run several innovation clusters on our behalf. See for information.

Question reference: S6W-14240

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-13542 by Humza Yousaf on 20 January 2023, whether there are any mandatory e-learning modules or training that are required to be completed for non-executive board members, and, if so, what they are.

Non-Executive Board members are required to undertake mandatory training at local level as a part of their local induction process. This is set out in the Director Letter . In addition, NHS Education for Scotland has a range of learning material available to Board Members. Current eLearning modules include: “Finance”; “Audit and Risk”; and, “Equality and the Role of Board Members in Meeting the Public Sector Duty”. These modules, whilst not mandatory, are recommended.

Question reference: S6W-14160

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent in each year on its Turas platform since it was launched, including design and implementation costs.

Question reference: S6W-14139

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent to improve the (a) security capabilities and (b) resilience of its health and social care services’ digital systems.

The Scottish Government conducts audits of Health Boards considered to be operators of essential services to obtain compliance assurance. From October 2021 – December 2022 we have spent £220,498. The Scottish Government has entered a new agreement for the delivery of audits, with up to £900,000 reserved for a third party to conduct audits over the next six years.

In addition, the Scottish Government has established the Cyber Centre of Excellence to enhance its response to security threats. For 2021-2022 the total spend was £420,000.

For further information on the Cyber Centre of Excellence and the security benefits of Microsoft Office 365, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14138 on 2 February 2023. 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-14145

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to increase awareness of cyber security and cyber threats within the health and social care sector.

The Scottish Government Cyber Resilience Unit hosts regular Public Sector Cyber Resilience Network webinars bringing together more than 150 information/cyber security experts from across the sector to raise awareness of the latest threats, share good practice and ensure that lessons are learned from incidents and exercises.

Specifically for the health sector, the Cyber Centre of Excellence (CCoE) has been established. The CCoE will empower continuous improvements by focusing on key enablement pillars including Centralised Security, 24/7 Monitoring, Threat Hunting, Incident Response and Training & Awareness. It is complimented by the Scottish Cyber Coordination Centre (SC3) which will be a key partner to the CCoE, enhancing our national incident response capacity and capabilities.

Question reference: S6W-14135

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it last conducted digital maturity exercises across its health and care delivery landscape.

In 2019, Scotland undertook its first across health and social care which helped to identify key priorities. A second national digital maturity exercise will be undertaken in 2023 and will provide current picture of digital maturity. This will support us to develop our “What good looks like” model, identify resources required to support organisational development, and conduct further reviews and prioritisation.

One of the key areas identified for improvement through the previous Digital Maturity exercise was to improve access to digital channels for members of the public. Key scale up programmes such as Near Me and Digital for Mental Health have further supported this, whilst other national programmes are now underway such as the Digital Front Door which will build on this further.

Question reference: S6W-14119

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
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, whether it has completed its review of the current digital funding delivery model for health and social care, and, if so, what the outcomes were.

Question reference: S6W-14157

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it considers the impact of digital technology is on the health and care workforce.

The impact of digital technology on the health and care workforce has been considered in several reports, such as the Topol Review commissioned by NHS England .

In general terms, digital technology can support the workforce in the delivery of care, free up capacity reducing the administrative burden and open up opportunities for new models of care and new ways of working. The workforce already works in the digital age, and digital technology will continue to augment and enhance the person-centred nature of health and social care services.

Question reference: S6W-14142

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
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 work it has done with senior leaders within health and social care to develop the skills needed to embed digital technology and literacy across their organisations.

We have recently agreed the arrangement for a new post-graduate course in Scotland. The 'Leading Digital Transformation in Health and Care' (MSc) will provide up to 60 funded places aimed at senior and aspiring leaders across the health and social care sector. Year one commences in April 2023.

Work is also underway designing the 'Executive Leadership in a Digital Age' Masterclass programme. This will equip Board-level executives and non-executives with the necessary understanding of digital health, governance and leadership skills to support transforming service delivery.

Question reference: S6W-14107

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
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, whether all health and care staff have the devices and equipment they need to do their job, including the ability to work remotely/flexibly, and, if not, how many staff do not currently have such devices and equipment, broken down by NHS board.

This is a matter for individual NHS Boards and Local Authorities. It is their responsibility to ensure that staff receive the necessary equipment they require.

In support of this, in 2019 Scotland undertook its first across health and social care which helped to identify current system capabilities, capacity and skills. Key areas identified for improvement was to improve capability and infrastructure. National programmes such as Near Me and the roll out of Microsoft 365 have further supported this improvement, whilst other national programmes are now underway such as the National Digital Platform and Digital Front Door will build on this further.

A further assessment is due to take place later this year and it will provide an updated baseline of digital maturity and support the further gathering of information to allow us to better understand what good looks like, the resource required to support organisational development and support further review and prioritisation as required, tied into local service planning.