- Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 February 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 27 February 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what the current vacancy rate is for cardiac physiologists in NHS Scotland.
Answer
The information requested on what the current vacancy rate is for cardiac physiologists in NHS Scotland is not centrally available.
Information on Healthcare Science staff in post and cardiology consultants, can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at: NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence .
- Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 February 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 February 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-24594 by Jenny Gilruth on 29 January 2024, whether it will provide the information requested regarding for what reason, and based on what evidence, it has decided to set the target of two hours of physical education each school week for primary school children as opposed to a greater or lesser amount of exercise.
Answer
The Scottish Government has been committed to ensuring that all children in primary school receive at least two hours of physical education (PE) each school week since 2011. Our decision to set a target of two hours of PE for primary school children was prompted by recommendations made by the National Physical Activity Task Force which recommended “taking part in at least two hours of quality physical education classes a week and gaining the appropriate movement and behavioural skills needed for an active life”.
- Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 February 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 20 February 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how its reported two-year freeze in capital expenditure for the NHS will impact on its NHS Recovery Plan target of achieving 40,000 additional inpatient and day cases seen in National Treatment Centres by 2025-26.
Answer
The National Treatment Centres (NTCs) Programme is the single biggest increase in planned care capacity ever created in NHS Scotland. Five new National Treatment Centres (NTCs) will be opened by 2024 at Golden Jubilee (Phase 1 and 2), NTC Fife, NTC Highland and NTC Forth Valley. Combined these centres will have eight orthopaedic theatres; an inpatient/day-case ward; three endoscopy rooms and two general theatres.
As a result of the almost 10% cut in our capital budget from the UK Government, we are having to revise our pipeline of infrastructure investment and we do not expect National Treatment Centres in Ayrshire and Arran, Grampian, Lanarkshire, Lothian and Tayside to be progressed in the short to medium term. The figure of 40,000 additional activities from the 2021 recovery plan is dependent on all National Treatment Centres in development being operational, therefore we expect the additional annual activity from the programme to be 20,000 from 2024-25.
- Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 February 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 20 February 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how its reported two-year freeze in capital expenditure for the NHS will impact on its NHS Recovery Plan target of recruiting 1,500 new clinical and non-clinical staff for National Treatment Centres by 2026.
Answer
The Scottish Government is continuing to provide a range of recruitment support, training and development activity to assist Health Boards in securing an appropriate mix of experienced and newly qualified staff for their National Treatment Centres (NTCs). As at 30 September 2023, close to 600 people were employed in an NTC, of which around 32% were undertaking their first role in NHS Scotland.
We keep under active review the total number of staff that we will ultimately need to recruit to our National Treatment Centres and to support the overall ambition to increase planned care activity and reduce waiting times, as set out in the NHS Recovery Plan.
- Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 19 January 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 1 February 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact that reducing the sportscotland budget will have on the physical activity of children.
Answer
sportscotland’s budget has remained stable this year, with a £100k reduction due to a reduced requirement for non-cash funding and offsetting increase in resource requirement, both relating to recent accounting changes.
We have committed to ensure that the Active Schools programme is free for all children and young people by the end of this Parliament. sportscotland works in partnership with all 32 local authorities to invest in and support Active Schools. Active Schools is dedicated to developing and supporting the delivery of high quality sport and physical activity opportunities to all children and young people, taking an inclusive approach and providing targeted opportunities where there is a need. Data published by sportscotland shows significantly increased participation levels across the past academic year (2022-23), with 4.6 million visits to Active Schools sessions, a rise of 34% on 2021-22.
- Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 19 January 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 1 February 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what time-sensitive targets it has for bringing waiting times for any NHS service into line with relevant standards.
Answer
Waiting times for planned care services is one of many metrics that contributes to the monitoring of performance and effectiveness across NHSScotland.
There have been several changes to waiting time targets and standards over the last 30 years. The Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011 established a 12 week Treatment Time Guarantee (TTG) written into legislation for eligible patients who are due to receive planned inpatient or day case treatment from 1 October 2012. The Act states that eligible patients must start to receive that treatment within 12 weeks (84 days) of the treatment being agreed. This guarantee is based on completed waits where a patient is removed from the list after being admitted for treatment.
To support the above guarantee, from 31 March 2010 no patient should wait longer than 12 weeks for a new outpatient appointment at a consultant-led clinic. More information on this can be found on the Public Health Scotland website section on waiting times .
More recently, in July 2022 new targets were set out for NHSScotland to address the impact of the pandemic on long waiting times for planned care. Public Health Scotland publish progress against these targets quarterly: Stage of treatment waiting times - Inpatients, day cases and new outpatients quarter ending 30 September 2023 - NHS waiting times - stage of treatment - Publications - Public Health Scotland
- Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 19 January 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 1 February 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to ensure that Scotland is fully prepared for any potential future pandemic.
Answer
We are working to ensure lessons identified from our policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic are put in place and that policy across government is better able to respond to the next pandemic. This includes clear responsibilities for preparedness and response; to include NHS resilience, Scottish Resilience (through SGORR), and cross-Scottish Government policy consideration of our existing plans, drawing on learnings including the UK Chief Medical Officers Technical report on the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK and Public Health Scotland’s National Incident Management Team reporting.
We are working with the UK Government and other administrations to strengthen the capabilities and countermeasures required to address future pandemics, including retaining stockpiles of PPE and the purchase of vaccines and medicines. We have established a Standing Committee on Pandemic Preparedness which provided interim recommendations on future pandemic preparedness in August 2022. We anticipate that the Standing Committee on Pandemic Preparedness will provide its final report in the summer 2024 for consideration.
We are committed to responding to both the UK and Scottish Covid-19 inquiries, as learning lessons from the pandemic is vital to prepare for the future.
- Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 7 February 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has made of the potential impact on its Medium-Term Financial Strategy and future Scottish Budgets of reports that the cost of a National Care Service could rise to £2 billion.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 7 February 2024
- Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 19 January 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what measures it has put in place to eliminate the possibility of a so-called "lab leak" from virology research in Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Government has no functions in relation to biosafety in virology laboratories, this is a matter for the UK Government. Under COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health) legislation, employers must minimise the risk to laboratory staff working with biological agents. COSHH is enforced by the UK HSE (Health and Safety Executive) and police counter-terror / NaCTSO (National Counter Terrorism Security Office) partners. Strict risk assessments and robust safety controls in medical and biological laboratories, in line with COSHH and HSE biosafety laboratory guidance, guarantee safe and secure working practices including preventing unintentional release of biological agents.
- Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 January 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 29 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-23791 by Maree Todd on 8 January 2024, on what evidence it has based its commitment to ensure that all children in primary schools receive at least two hours of physical education each school week.
Answer
Being physically active is one of the best things we can do for our physical and mental wellbeing. Physical education (PE) and physical activity have a positive impact on pupils' health, educational attainment, and life chances.
That is why we have committed to ensuring that all children in primary school receive at least two hours of PE each school week, and that all young people in secondaries 1 to 4 receive at least two 50-minute periods of PE each school week, ever since first making this commitment at the 2011 Scottish Parliament election.
To monitor progress on this commitment, local authorities have provided us with data about provision of PE in their schools since 2012. This data is reported through the Schools Healthy Living Survey Statistics Report, which is available through the following web link: Data and Methodology - School Healthy Living Survey: school meal uptake and PE provision statistics 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .
Information about schools meeting PE targets is contained on Table 18 of the supplementary statistics spreadsheet in the Schools Healthy Living Survey.
