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: S5W-22257

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 28 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the findings of the report, Slavery, Abolition, and the University of Glasgow, by the university, which acknowledges the ways in which it has benefited financially from slavery and estimates the present-day value of all monies given to it, which were fully or partly derived from slavery.

Question reference: S5W-22258

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 28 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider undertaking a study, similar to that undertaken by the University of Glasgow in its report, Slavery Abolition and the University of Glasgow, to understand how Scotland benefited financially from involvement in the slave trade.

Question reference: S5W-21975

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 28 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that NHS boards recruit sufficient numbers of specialty doctors, staff grades and associate specialists (SAS Doctors) in ophthalmology to meet rising demand, in light of the recent Workforce Census for 2018, published by the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, which showed that NHS boards in Scotland are recruiting two SAS posts compared with an "ideal" number of 10.

The National Ophthalmology Workstream developed in 2017 identifies mechanisms to determine that service capacity is adequate to meet clinical need. To promote long term sustainability, Scottish Government Officials are working with stakeholders on the future development of clinical training pathways, including proactively considering specialty training numbers.

The Scottish Government has announced investment of £4 million over the next three years on domestic and international recruitment for NHS Scotland. We have also set out measures, including significant increases in undergraduate medical places that facilitate the recruitment and retention of medical specialists across Scotland.

Question reference: S5O-03104

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 March 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it proposes to improve transport links to Kirkliston.

Question reference: S5W-22255

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 27 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-21243 by Christina McKelvie on 24 January 2019, how it supports local authorities and schools to incorporate the study of Scotland’s role in the transatlantic slave trade into school history curricula.

As set out in the answer to S5W-21243, it is up to teachers and schools to determine what is taught in classrooms. Curriculum for Excellence provides opportunities for young people to learn about current and past attitudes and values and historical events and their impact on society today. This can include learning about Scotland’s role in the transatlantic slave trade. Learning about the transatlantic slave trade is an option in both the National 5 and Higher History national qualification courses. Education Scotland has published resources for teachers on slavery and human trafficking. These includes resources to support teaching and learning about the transatlantic slave trade in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries with an emphasis on the Scottish perspective and impact.

Question reference: S5W-22256

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 27 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether education about Scotland’s role in the slave trade is part of initial teacher training or continuing professional development for history teachers.

Initial teacher education (ITE) programmes in Scotland are offered at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. For undergraduates aspiring to become history teachers, the University of Stirling offers a Bachelor of Education (Secondary) degree programme. This allows students to study the practice of teaching (pedagogy) and two specialist subjects simultaneously. History is included in the suite of subjects offered and Scotland’s role in the slave trade is covered within the course content.

The universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Strathclyde offer ITE programmes at postgraduate level for history graduates. These focus on developing theoretical and practical knowledge in how to teach rather than subject knowledge, given the degree level requirement that is set for entry to these programmes.

In relation to the professional development of history teachers, I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-22255 on 27 March 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx ”.

Question reference: S5W-22218

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 18 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out regarding the impact of (a) inbound and (b) outbound aviation pollution on communities, and whether it will publish the findings.

Question reference: S5W-22153

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 22 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making in meeting its commitment in the Programme for Government to prevent adverse childhood experiences and reduce their negative impacts, and whether it plans to record or monitor the prevalence of these incidents.

The Scottish Government is progressing cross-government action and partnership working to prevent and mitigate adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). For example, we have expanded the Family Nurse Partnership across Scotland to support young first time mothers who are more likely to experience ACEs. We are helping children affected by parental imprisonment by providing
‎ £1.8 million to extend vital support for the families of prisoners between 2016-19 and parenting support is now delivered in all of Scotland’s public prisons. We are improving Joint Investigative Interviews to ensure that people carrying out interviews with children where abuse or other trauma is suspected work in an expert, trauma-informed way, and we are working to develop a ‘Barnahus’ approach to ensure that children who experience severe trauma receive the wrap around support and recovery services they need.

With Scottish Government funding, NHS Education for Scotland are implementing a three year national trauma training programme to support the Scottish workforce to better recognise and respond to children and adults with ACEs and trauma. Education Scotland are facilitating nurture and trauma-informed approaches in schools. We are also working with NHS Health Scotland to raise awareness of ACEs across sectors and support community responses to ACEs.

As part of the long-standing national approach of Getting it right for every child, the Scottish Government are currently developing further guidance to support good record keeping practice and effective use of chronologies to better understand evolving circumstances in a child’s life.

In terms of prevalence, the Growing Up in Scotland (GUS) longitudinal study tracks the lives of representative samples of children and their families from birth and has collected information on the experience of adversity in childhood. It also asks parents about their own adverse childhood experiences to explore associations with resilience and parenting and the intergenerational transmission of ACEs.

In addition, the new Health and Wellbeing Census (expected to be operational from 2020) will replace several school-based surveys and will ask a range of questions about childhood adversities, appropriate for the age and stage of the pupil. We have also incorporated ACEs questions into the 2019 Scottish Health Survey to establish the prevalence of ACEs amongst the Scottish adult population and the links with health outcomes and behaviours.

Question reference: S5W-21976

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to increase recruitment of ophthalmology trainees, in light of the recent Workforce Census for 2018, published by the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, which showed that there were 11 Deanery funded ophthalmology trainee posts unfilled in Scotland.

The data published in the Royal College of Ophthalmologists Workforce Census 2018 does not accord with that published by NHS Education for Scotland (NES), who are responsible for medical trainee recruitment in Scotland.

The fill rate for vacancies in Ophthalmology at both Specialty Training year 1 level (ST1) and ST3 level, have been consistently 100% over each of the past five consecutive years, with the exception of one ST3 post in 2018 that did not fill out of 11 posts in total.

An annual process, managed by the SG Shape of Training Transition Group, considers medical specialty trainee supply and demand. The process takes account of a range of factors including medical profile workforce data (such as the number of trainees about to qualify and gain their Certification of Completion of Training and retirals) as well as responses from Health Boards, Specialty Training Boards, and others with an interest such as Royal Colleges. The Royal College of Ophthalmologists have not submitted a case for increasing Ophthalmology training numbers in Scotland during the recent consultation for 2019 trainee recruitment.

Question reference: S5W-21977

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action is it taking to ensure that NHS boards recruit a sufficient number of consultant ophthalmology posts to meet rising demand, in light of the recent Workforce Census for 2018, published by the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, which showed that NHS boards in Scotland are recruiting or planning to advertise for 11 consultant ophthalmology posts compared with an "ideal" number of 23.

Under this government, the number of Consultants in NHS Scotland has increased by 51.3% to record high levels, with the number of ophthalmology consultants increasing by 45.5% over the same period (Sep-06 to Sep-18). The rate of ophthalmology vacancies has also seen a downward trend over the past two years. The number of Consultants specialising in Ophthalmology who are employed by each Board in NHS Scotland, and the current vacancy picture, is available on the ISD website: https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2018-12-04/Medical-and-Dental.asp .

NHSScotland Boards have fully delegated powers in relation to employment issues. They are required to have the correct staff in place to meet the needs of the service and to ensure high quality patient care. It is for individual health boards to make decisions on the creation of posts and filling of vacancies to meet the needs of the service.

To support Boards, the Scottish Government has invested £4 million pound in domestic and international recruitment efforts across NHS Scotland over the next 3 years.