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: S6O-01621

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many pharmacists have been recruited into primary care since 2018.

Question reference: S6W-12215

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 23 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its "work on making the culture and heritage sector part of Scotland as a Fair Work Nation by 2025".

The Scottish Government continues to engage with the culture and heritage sectors to build fairer and more inclusive workplaces.

As part of the refresh of our Fair Work Action Plan, the Scottish Government has extended Fair Work criteria to public sector grants and other funding streams and contracts wherever relevant and appropriate to do so. We will take forward work with Creative Scotland on implementing Fair Work First amongst the organisations that they fund; and we have included in the grant letters for the five National Performing Companies conditions regarding Fair Work First. We have worked with Historic Environment Scotland to revaluate their grant framework refresh, including Fair Work First principles, for 2021 onwards.

Creative Scotland commissioned Culture Radar to review Fair Work within the sector in Scotland, on behalf of Scottish Government. This review has now concluded and Scottish Government is currently considering the recommendations. We are also engaged with the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence centre on its ‘Good Work Review’, an independent review of working conditions in the creative sector, to ensure the Scottish creative industries context is reflected in its findings.

The Scottish Government is also engaging with public sector stakeholders on the implications of implementing the real Living Wage requirement in public sector grants.

Question reference: S6W-11751

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what work has been done (a) regarding workforce planning and (b) to increase the number of places for Scottish students to study medicine in response to the reports of a shortage of GPs and other doctors.

In March 2022, we published . This Strategy sets out a new framework to shape Scotland’s health and social care workforce over the next decade and places training, wellbeing, job satisfaction and the principles of Fair Work at its heart. The strategy, the first of its kind, stresses the need to plan, attract, train, employ and nurture staff.

As part of this publication, and as announced in the 2021 Programme for Government, we have committed to increasing the number of medical school places by 100 per annum over the lifetime of this Parliament, whilst also doubling the number of Widening Access places over the same period. This will result in an additional 500 medical school places and 120 Widening Access places, ensuring a healthy supply of trainee doctors for further training at postgraduate level.

We have also committed to expanding the number of trainee doctor posts in line with medical workforce modelling intended to achieve a planned and sustainable medical workforce to meet current and future needs. We remain committed to increasing the number of GPs working in Scotland by at least 800 by 2027. In June of this year we launched our national GP recruitment campaign to promote working as a GP in Scotland as a good career choice.

Question reference: S6W-11750

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what incentives it has introduced to encourage (a) more GPs to work in rural practices and (b) doctors to take up positions in practices and hospitals rather than working as locums.

We are already taking forward a range of initiatives to support recruitment and retention of workforce in rural General Practice. The Golden Hello scheme offers a one-off bursary of £10,000 to every GP taking up an eligible post in a remote and rural area. Furthermore, ScotGEM is a four-year graduate-entry medical degree which began in 2018, with a focus on rural medicine and healthcare improvement, supporting graduates to choose careers in general practice.

Doctors completing FY2 have a variety of options to continue their careers in NHS Scotland. This includes, but is not limited to, becoming an Locum Appointment for Training physician, an SAS physician or a locum physician; time spent in which can count towards Specialty training and can be good option to gain a wider range of skills and experience and to strengthen future applications to Specialty training. While it is important for local areas to have general practice and hospital doctors which meet the needs of their populations, locums posts can play an important role within our NHS too, working flexibly in response to changes in local need or circumstances and helping to cover leave and other absences.

Question reference: S6W-11603

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 7 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-11176 by Mairi McAllan on 5 October 2022, what public partners its officials are meeting with regarding the Tarbolton Moss landfill site and on what dates these meetings (a) took place and (b) are due to take place.

Scottish Government officials are in regular communications with public partners including SEPA, South Ayrshire Council, and The King’s and Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer.

In addition to the regular communication, officials from Scottish Government have met representatives from SEPA, and South Ayrshire Council on the following occasions: 1 July 2020, 8 December 2020, 4 February 2021, 22 March 2021, 28 January 2022, 15 February 2022, 3 March 2022 and 29 June 2022. Further meetings will also be held shortly.

Question reference: S6W-11604

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 7 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-11176 by Mairi McAllan on 5 October 2022, what actions are being implemented for the long-term restoration of the Tarbolton Moss landfill site.

Question reference: S6W-11600

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 4 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-11176 by Mairi McAllan on 5 October 2022, when it expects work to commence at the Tarbolton Moss landfill site and what the timeline is for the work to be carried out.

The Scottish Government has made funding available to support public partners to implement the first phase of works at Tarbolton. In July, SEPA commissioned work, which was successfully completed, to remove Giant Hogweed from the site. We are working with public partners to begin work to implement leachate management as soon as possible. In order to move forward with this work, we are seeking to address complex legal issues associated with the ownerless status of the site.

Question reference: S6W-11601

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 4 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-11176 by Mairi McAllan on 5 October 2022, when the work by the environmental consultant will commence at the Tarbolton Moss landfill site.

With funding from the Scottish Government, in December 2021, SEPA contracted an environmental consultant to manage the construction of a leachate management system at the former landfill site at Tarbolton Moss, to prevent the ongoing discharges of landfill leachate to neighbouring watercourses and make it possible for leachate disposal to the public sewerage system. The design phase is now complete. As the answer to S6W-11600 on the 4 November 2022 updates, we are working with public partners to begin work to implement leachate management as soon as possible. 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-11602

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 4 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-11176 by Mairi McAllan on 5 October 2022, whether it is the case that SEPA found no increase associated with the migration of landfill gas or impact to groundwater from leachate at the Tarbolton Moss landfill site.

Question reference: S6O-01523

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide an update on the steps it is taking to encourage more GPs to work in rural practices.