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: S4W-08709

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 13 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has invested in smoking cessation services in each of the last three years, broken down by NHS board.

Funding levels for smoking cessation from the tobacco control budget have remained the same for each of the last three years. Funds have been issued to boards as follows, including this current year:

Board

Smoking Cessation (£)

2009-10

2010-11

2011-12

2012-13

NHS Ayrshire and Arran	542,000	542,000	542,000	542,000
NHS Borders	170,000	170,000	170,000	170,000
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	231,000	231,000	231,000	231,000
NHS Fife	462,000	462,000	462,000	462,000
NHS Forth Valley	373,000	373,000	373,000	373,000
NHS Grampian	597,000	597,000	597,000	597,000
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	2,569,000	2,569,000	2,569,000	2,569,000
NHS Highland	455,000	455,000	455,000	455,000
NHS Lanarkshire	1,147,000	1,147,000	1,147,000	1,147,000
NHS Lothian	1,311,000	1,311,000	1,311,000	1,311,000
NHS Orkney	53,000	53,000	53,000	53,000
NHS Shetland	59,000	59,000	59,000	59,000
NHS Tayside	949,000	949,000	949,000	949,000
NHS Western Isles	82,000	82,000	82,000	82,000
Total	9,000,000	9,000,000	9,000,000	9,000,000

Note: In addition to the funding outlined above, some £2 million per annum for smoking cessation is contained within NHS board baseline allocations.

Finally, in addition to NHS boards, community pharmacies also deliver a smoking cessation service. Community pharmacies are remunerated for this service, which is controlled during the year within the global sum set by the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S4W-08711

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 13 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how the role of smoking cessation practitioners contributes to NHS boards meeting relevant targets.

Question reference: S4W-08712

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 13 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what targets NHS boards have regarding smoking cessation.

NHS Board Smoking Cessation HEAT Targets

Board	1-Month Quits to be Delivered within the 40% Most-Deprived within-Board SIMD areas by end March 2014.	1- Month Quits to be Delivered across whole Board population by end March 2014
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	3,544	5,907
NHS Borders	838	1,525
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	1,373	2,496
NHS Fife	3,550	5,917
NHS Forth Valley	3,002	5,004
NHS Grampian	4,648	7,746
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	12,182	20,303
NHS Highland	2,358	4,288
NHS Lanarkshire	5,929	9,882
NHS Lothian	7,011	11,686
NHS Orkney	105	234
NHS Shetland	104	232
NHS Tayside	3,628	6,047
NHS Western Isles	175	390
Total	48,447	81,657

Question reference: S4W-08756

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 7 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how it will increase the proportion of under-25-year-olds in its workforce and those of its agencies.

Question reference: S4W-08750

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 7 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what minimum number of hours of work experience will be required to qualify for a certificate for work readiness.

Question reference: S4W-08743

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 7 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government when it will explore the potential for an outcome-focused national employability fund.

Question reference: S4W-08749

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 7 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government when Skills Development Scotland and the SQA will introduce the certificate for work readiness.

Question reference: S4W-08774

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 7 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what support it will offer people in full-time education who (a) are unemployed and (b) have given up looking for work.

The Scottish Government invests £2 billion a year in grant funding to improve the future employment prospects of those participating in further and higher education. Whether in school, college or university, individuals can gain access to careers advice and support through Skills Development Scotland. Educational institutions also routinely encourage students to make full use of their own local careers facilities, with a view to aiding employment.

Question reference: S4W-08758

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 7 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how much of her budget the Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs will direct toward tackling youth unemployment in 2012-13.

Question reference: S4W-08717

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 7 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government when each local authority and Skills Development Scotland will have completed youth employment actions plans and whether these will be made public.

In support of Opportunities for All, we anticipate that Youth Employment Action Plans for all local authority areas to be in place by the end of the autumn. For most areas this will be a first version and plans will be updated on a regular basis.

The documents will be available on request, subject to local authority agreement. However, the contents will change on a regular basis in light of progress and local priority.