Questions and answers

Question reference: S6O-04029

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what correspondence it has had with the UK Government regarding its proposed reforms to electricity infrastructure consenting in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-30782

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-30195 by Shona Robison on 9 October, how much funding has been provided to each of the national public awareness health campaigns that have run since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Financial Year 2023-24

*Paid-for media public health campaigns:

Detect Cancer Earlier	£360,115.02
Dentistry Reform	£213,310.79
Adult Mental Health	£450,109.58
Organ Donation	£32,609.15
Right Care Right Place	£171,433.19
Vaping	£178,292.84
Winter Vaccines	£676,346.72

**Low Cost / No cost public health campaigns:

Women & Girls in Sport Week	£34,658.40
Lyme Disease	£25,041.57
Smoking Cessation	£13,786.72

**Campaigns funded by Scottish Government working in partnership with executive agencies or other public sector organisations:

Childhood Flu – Public Health Scotland	£92,574
Sperm & Egg – NHS Scotland	£50,520

Financial Year 2024-25

*Paid-for media public health campaigns which have so far run in financial year 2024-25 are as follows. These are estimated costs which cannot be finalised until all campaign spend is reconciled:

Dementia Stigma	£410,000
Detect Cancer Earlier	£450,000
Organ Donation & Tissue Week	£30,000
Appropriate Use of NHS Services - Right Care Right Place	£250,000
Sexual Assault Referral Centres	£99,000

**Low Cost / No cost public health campaigns:

Women & Girls in Sport Week	£39,000
The Importance of Home Recovery - Home First	£47,000
Abortion Safe Access Zones	£25,500

**Campaigns funded by Scottish Government working in partnership with executive agencies or other public sector organisations:

Winter Vaccines – Public Health Scotland

£58,200

* publishable spend.

** non publishable spend.

Question reference: S6W-31357

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 November 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 2 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many calls to the Scottish Ambulance Service made in the last year have been taken from sites outside of Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-31260

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 November 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 28 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will apply the consequentials it receives from any increased funding from the UK Government to children with special educational needs and disabilities directly to ASN services in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-30798

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-22487 by Mairi McAllan on 9 November 2023, whether it will provide an update on which of the 42 formal flood protection schemes or engineering works are (a) under construction and (b) at the planning or other stage of development, broken down by the (i) expected completion date, including the reason for any date being beyond the 2021 timeframe, (ii) number of properties that will be protected and (iii) (A) initial forecast and (B) final expected cost of each.

The responsibility for development and delivery of flood protection schemes rests with individual local authorities, who are best placed to respond to local resilience needs.

The first set of Flood Risk Management plans covering the period 2015-2021 included 42 prioritised flood protection schemes. Work was expected to start, but construction was not necessarily expected to be completed, on those schemes within this six-year timeframe.

Flood protection schemes have impacts on individuals, communities and the environment, and require careful and thorough planning. Like all infrastructure projects, it can take many years for flood schemes to progress from option appraisal to completion.

The Scottish Government provides funding to local authorities to enable delivery of these important projects. £570million will be invested in flood resilience in the period 2016-2026.

40 of 42 have received funding to support development. 2 were not deemed eligible because they had previously received funding.

16 schemes are complete. The detailed status of those that remain is as follows:

4 are under construction.

Scheme	(ii) Properties protected	(i) Completion Date	(iii A) Initial cost (£ million) (1)	( iii B) Estimated final cost (£ million) (2)
Upper Garnock	600	?2024	?15.5	18.5
Hawick	970	2024	37.4	78.6
Campbeltown	770	2024	9.3	15.2
Millport Coastal	657	2024	12.1	48.6

Schemes (b) under development are as follows:

2 will commence construction in 2025.

4 have been legally confirmed as required under the FRM Act (2009) and are undergoing further development and detailed design towards construction.

5 have begun the legal notification process towards confirmation.

Scheme	Stage	(ii) Properties protected	(iii A) Initial cost (£ million) (1)	( iii B) Estimated Final Cost of Scheme (2)
Milnathort	Construction start 2025	79	1.9	0.9
Mill Burn Millport	Construction start 2025	124	1.1	1.7
Kilmacolm – Glenmosston Burn	Confirmed (3)	Not held	0.5	0.5
Comrie	Confirmed (3)	189	15.7	40.0
Dumfries - Whitesands	Confirmed (3)	166	18.9	37.5
Quarrier’s Village	Confirmed (3)	60	0.2	0.2
Dumbarton - Gruggies Burn	Legal notification complete (4)	370	14.5	20.0
South Kinross	Legal notification complete (4)	Not held	3.2	15.1
Musselburgh	Legal notification complete (4)	2500	8.9	95.9
Bridge of Allan	Legal notification complete (4)	Not held	4.4	17.0
Newton Stewart/ River Cree	Legal notification complete (4)	270	7.5	19.1

8 have been withdrawn from the cycle one funded programme (2 voluntarily and 6 because they failed to meet the notification deadline of 31 March 2024). 1 is no longer required.

(1) Note: Initial costs as provided by local authorities in 2016-17.

(2) Note: Final Scheme costs are the latest estimates provided by local authorities. Differences between these latest estimates and initial cost estimates arise as a result of inflationary pressures and because flood protection schemes are put forward for prioritisation at various stages of their development to fit with Flood Risk Management Planning cycle set out in the FRM Act. Costs are revised over time as designs are finalised and more detailed investigations are carried out and as new information emerges.

Schemes will only be taken forward for construction if they receive the necessary statutory and regulatory approvals, so the expected completion date is not yet known.

More detailed information on each of the schemes can be obtained from the relevant local authorities whose responsibility it is to develop and deliver flood protection schemes and who are best placed to answer specific questions on each of the schemes.

(3) Note: Formally confirmed under Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act (2009).

(4) Note: Notification (first stage towards legal confirmation) complete under Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act (2009)

Question reference: S6W-30295

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 30 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what information it (a) currently makes available and (b) plans to make available to the Scottish Parliament for the purposes of evaluating the efficacy of community mental health funding.

The Scottish Government has published the following reports relating to the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults.

Year 1 (2021-2022)

Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund: year 1 - monitoring and reporting summary - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

External Evaluation of Year 1

Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults: evaluation - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Year 2 (2022 -2023)

Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults: year 2 - monitoring and reporting summary - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Year 3 (2023-2024)

Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults - year 3: monitoring and reporting summary - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Year 4 of the Fund opened for applications on 30 September 2024. As with previous years, data in respect of Year 4 will be published when it is available.

In addition, we are currently working with Third Sector Interface organisations to gather information on the impact of the Fund and we intend to make key findings available in due course.

In relation to the children and young people’s community mental health and wellbeing supports and services funded by the Scottish Government, the Scottish Youth Parliament conducted an independent evaluation which was published in August 2023 and is available at https://syp.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Independent-Evaluation-of-Community-Mental-Health-Supports-and-Services-April-2023.pdf.

Local authorities also report annually on data including numbers of people accessing support, age and gender of service users, reasons for presenting at the services, and numbers of people reporting an improved outcome. Summaries of this information are published retrospectively by the Scottish Government at https://www.gov.scot/publications/access-to-counsellors-in-secondary-schools-and-children-and-young-peoples-community-mental-health-services-summary-reports/.

Question reference: S6W-30297

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 30 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how the funding of £15 million to the Children and Young People’s Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Supports will be distributed to recipients, and what account is made of how those funds are spent.

The £15 million per annum funding for Children and Young People’s Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Supports and Services is provided by grants from the Scottish Government to all 32 local authorities. The funding allocations are calculated and distributed based on the number of children and young people in each local authority area, with appropriate adjustments made to take account of the deprivation level and rurality of each area.

Local authorities administer the funding at a local level and determine which supports and services to implement on the basis of locally-identified need and in line with the Children and Young People’s Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Supports and Services Framework.

Local authorities are required to provide the Scottish Government with annual profiles of expenditure and statements of compliance at the end of the financial year, and must keep the Scottish Government informed of any changes to estimated expenditure each year.

Local authorities also report annually on data including numbers of people accessing support, age and gender of service users, reasons for presenting at the services, and numbers of people reporting an improved outcome. Summaries of this information are published retrospectively by the Scottish Government at https://www.gov.scot/publications/access-to-counsellors-in-secondary-schools-and-children-and-young-peoples-community-mental-health-services-summary-reports/.

Question reference: S6W-30296

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 30 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what information recipients of the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults are required to provide the Scottish Government to demonstrate how grant funds were used.

The Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults is distributed in all 32 regions of Scotland by Third Sector Interface (TSI) organisations who allocate funding in line with the National Fund Guidance.

TSIs are required to submit monitoring and reporting data annually, including information on the number and value of awards granted, types of organisations funded, key priorities and target groups reached, aims of funded projects and overall spend including any underspend.

This data informs the content of the Reporting and Monitoring Summary which is published for each year of the Fund.

The published reports can be found here. Wellbeing and prevention - Mental health - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

From Year 2 of the Fund (2022-23) Scottish Government has also requested that TSIs collect standard evaluation data from organisations to demonstrate the impact of the Fund on their specific projects. This includes information on: what the project expected to do compared to what they did; the activities and level of participants; and the outcomes and challenges/changes of the project.

An external evaluation of Year 1 of the Fund was commissioned by the Scottish Government. The findings were published in July 2023 and can be found here:

Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults: evaluation - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

Question reference: S6O-03874

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 October 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the health secretary last met the Scottish Ambulance Service to discuss rural ambulance provision.

Question reference: S6W-30461

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 22 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release of 25 July 2024, £30 million to reduce waiting times, whether it will provide a breakdown on how much of this funding will be allocated to each (a) specialty area where it believes that it can have the greatest impact and (b) NHS board.

As part of the Scottish Government’s commitment to reduce waiting times, significant activity is already underway following an additional £30 million investment to target backlogs, announced in the spring1.

This will see around 12,000 new outpatient appointments, around 12,000 inpatient procedures and over 40,000 diagnostic procedures delivered2. A breakdown of the committed funding at both Specialty & Health Board levels are shown in the tables. The final allocations will be made to respective NHS boards following delivery of the activity.

We will continue to work with all NHS boards to maximise current resources and productivity. I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-29287 on 12 September 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Specialty	Committed funding (rounded)
Cancer	£2,750,000
Dermatology	£2,150,000
Endoscopy	£60,000
Ear, Nose & Throat	£950,000
Gastroenterology	£20,000
General Surgery	£330,000
Gynaecology	£470,000
Imaging	£6,900,000
Neurology	£200,000
Ophthalmology	£1,900,000
Orthopaedics	£7,160,000
Paediatrics	£170,000
Endoscopy	£5,740,000
Urology	£800,000
Cardiology	£400,000
Total	£30,000,000

References

1.www.gov.scot/news/first-instalment-of-gbp-300-million-to-reduce-waiting-times/

2.www.gov.scot/news/30-million-to-reduce-waiting-times/

Health Board	Sum of Approved funding	Sum of Funding 'Approved in principle' (Q2 - Q4) (rounded)
Ayrshire & Arran	677,122
Borders	231,000
Dumfries & Galloway	215,638
Fife	1,930,432	248,000
Forth Valley	986,257	1,640,000
Forth Valley (for Fife)	50,855
GG&C	196,366
Golden Jubilee National Hospital	1,392,690	162,000
Grampian	4,574,186	216,000
Greater Glasgow & Clyde	1,599,470
Highland	3,880,867	300,000
Lanarkshire	2,276,392	920,000
Lothian	1,898,395
National Elective Coordination Unit	4,474,000
Shetland	138,629
Tayside	1,758,701
Grand Total	26,514,000	3,486,000

Chamber and committees