Questions and answers

Question reference: S6O-01540

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to independent theatres in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-11670

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 9 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish an impact assessment on the decision to reduce the budget for apprenticeships, which has reportedly resulted in Skills Development Scotland freezing apprentice places and budgets.

Apprenticeships are a key way for employers to invest in their workforce, providing the skills the economy needs now and in the future. As part of our recovery, we are committed to building back up to 30,000 apprenticeship starts.

There is no freeze on Modern Apprenticeships this year. SDS will continue to deliver at least 25,000 new Modern Apprenticeship starts this financial year to ensure we maintain momentum and build on the progress in 2021-22 as we work back towards our target of 30,000 apprenticeship starts annually.

It is standard practice for SDS to review changing demand for Modern Apprenticeship starts in-year, and they adjust the number of starts allocated to respond as appropriate within their budget. SDS will continue to follow this process and keep under review whether any additional starts can be allocated to providers within this financial year.

Ultimately these are operational decisions for SDS and it remains for them to continue to manage programmes within their budget and in line with Ministers’ expectations.

Question reference: S6O-01519

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported present staffing crisis, how it will ensure adequate staffing for the proposed national treatment centres.

Question reference: S6O-01438

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making to develop its Fire and Rescue Framework for Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-10581

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 28 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on providing (a) staff bank cover and (b) agency staff cover in each NHS board area in each of the last 10 years.

Question reference: S6W-10580

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to (a) instruct NHS boards not to use private nursing agencies and (b) establish an in-house government agency for such purposes.

It is important that NHS Boards can call on additional staffing when required, in order to deal with the exigencies of the service. It is for NHS Boards to decide when the additional support represented by agency staffing is required but the Scottish Government is clear that Boards should always make use of NHS bank staff as a first choice and the majority of additional staffing needs are met through NHS Scotland’s well established bank system. These act as, de facto, in house agencies. We have over 35,000 nurses registered on NHS Scotland Staff Banks. It would not be appropriate for the Scottish Government to establish a commercial agency. Combined spending on all agency staff (medical and nursing) remains less than 1% of the overall NHS Scotland budget.

Question reference: S6W-10584

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what work it has done to develop and set up a publicly owned nursing agency to assist NHS boards when they have staffing shortages.

It is important that NHS Boards can call on additional staffing when required, in order to deal with the exigencies of the service. It is for NHS Boards to decide when the additional support represented by agency staffing is required but the Scottish Government is clear that Boards should always make use of NHS bank staff as a first choice and the majority of additional staffing needs are met through NHS Scotland’s well established bank system. These act as, de facto, in house agencies. We have over 35,000 nurses registered on NHS Scotland Staff Banks. It would not be appropriate for the Scottish Government to establish a commercial agency. Combined spending on all agency staff (medical and nursing) remains less than 1% of the overall NHS Scotland budget.

Question reference: S6W-10578

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on how it is possible for NHS Tayside to achieve 83.8% of patients seen within the four-hour A&E target, in light of NHS Fife reportedly only achieving 54.3%.

As you will know our hospitals, particularly across the central belt, are under significant pressure due to the direct and indirect consequences of the pandemic which is impacting on A&E performance.

We recognise the good work underway in each of our Health Boards to implement performance improvement measures. Although NHS Tayside is of a comparable size to some of the other central belt Health Boards, there are substantial differences between the Boards, particularly in terms of geography and population demographics.

NHS Tayside is regularly one of the higher performing mainland Health Boards, with well-established processes and models of care. Through our new National Urgent and Unscheduled Care Collaborative we are actively encouraging the sharing of learning and good practice between Health Boards. To help facilitate this, we are hosting a learning event on 19 October where representatives from all of Scotland’s Health Boards will participate.

Question reference: S6W-10579

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on how it is possible for NHS Tayside to achieve 83.8% of patients seen within the four-hour A&E target, in light of NHS Forth Valley reportedly only achieving 41.7%.

Question reference: S6W-10582

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many shifts have been provided by (a) staff bank and (b) agencies in each NHS board area in each of the last 10 years.

The requested information on how many shifts have been provided by (a) staff bank and (b) agencies in each NHS board area in each of the last 10 years is not held centrally.

Information on the total hours worked by Nursing and Midwifery bank and agency staff by NHS board since March 2012 can be found on the following link: NHSScotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence (Bank and Agency) tab, change measure to 'hours worked'.

Chamber and committees