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 MSPs 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-19019

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that every deaf child has the opportunity to access a specialist Auditory Verbal programme, as part of its commitment to deliver equal opportunities for every child.

NHS Health Boards and local authorities are responsible for the provision of, and funding for, services for deaf children. This includes the provision of specific therapeutic approaches.

The Scottish Government funds the Scottish Sensory Centre and CALL Scotland to provide advice and training to school staff on support, including the use of assistive technology, for children and young people with specific communication and sensory needs.

Question reference: S6W-19020

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what body or organisation has jurisdiction over the funding for the provision of services for deaf children, including for access to Auditory Verbal therapy.

NHS Health Boards and local authorities are responsible for the provision of, and funding for, services for deaf children. This includes the provision of specific therapeutic approaches.

The Scottish Government also funds the Scottish Sensory Centre and CALL Scotland to provide advice and training to school staff on support, including the use of assistive technology, for children and young people with specific communication and sensory needs.

Question reference: S6W-18332

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 21 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it has done to expand on its AI CivTech Challenge on ethical and explainable AI in the public sector.

The CivTech challenge on ethical and explainable AI has directly lead to the recent launch of the Scottish AI Register.

The AI Register, developed in collaboration with Finnish start-up Saidot, as part of the challenge was launched in March 2023. It makes transparent the development and use of AI in the public sector, and offers the public a simple and effective platform to have a say in how AI is used to make decisions and deliver public services.

Question reference: S6W-18796

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 21 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment in its Care in the Digital Age: Delivery Plan 2022-23, what infrastructure has been put in place to support the delivery of the Scottish Vaccination Immunisation Programme.

The digital infrastructure requirements for the Scottish Vaccination and Immunisation Programme (SVIP) are currently being explored in conjunction with our partners Public Health Scotland (PHS) and National Services Scotland (NSS). A report and roadmap will be considered with our partners in summer 2023 and will ensure all potential options are fully scoped and costed. This will enable the recommendation of preferred solutions for a future vaccination and immunisation system which meets the needs of the people of Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-18779

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 21 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment in its Care in the Digital Age: Delivery Plan 2022-23, whether the ability for local services to offer to their patients new nationally-consistent pathways for at-home monitoring of a greater range of long term conditions such as COPD, heart failure and asthma exists.

Further pathways for prostate cancer, asthma, heart failure and pulmonary disease are in development. A National Procurement exercise, concluded in September 2021, resulted in a 5-year contract awarded to Inhealthcare Ltd (IHC) for a national asynchronous communication platform. The purpose of this contract is to enable a significant expansion of remote health pathways within Board areas and to support the provision of equitable access to these services for all NHS Boards.

Question reference: S6W-18744

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 21 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration was given to the needs of blind or partially sighted people during the creation of the Deposit Return Scheme.

Question reference: S6W-18794

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 21 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment in its Care in the Digital Age: Delivery Plan 2022-23, whether it has put in place the Community Health Index (CHI).

The Community Health Index (CHI) has been in place since the 1970s. We are in the process of modernising and upgrading the system that runs the CHI, which acts as the master patient index for the whole of the NHS. As such, the new CHI system requires careful implementation to safely and seamlessly join up hundreds of data flows. It is now in limited use for some elements of health data. The new system is expected to be fully operational in Autumn 2023.

Question reference: S6W-18925

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-18307 by Michael Matheson on 2 June 2023, what business continuity plans are being prepared for buildings with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.

Question reference: S6W-18915

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-18307 by Michael Matheson on 2 June 2023, how the findings of individual discovery surveys will be shared with the (a) Parliament and (b) public.

Question reference: S6W-18926

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-18307 by Michael Matheson on 2 June 2023, (a) how many and (b) which properties the desktop review assessed as having reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.

The purpose of the desktop review was to assess which properties should be investigated for the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC). NHS Scotland Assure is preparing a paper on options to proceed with discovery surveys to assess which NHS Scotland properties contain RAAC. Completion of the discovery surveys will provide an accurate assessment of how many, and which, properties contain RAAC.