Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-08915

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 17 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how much debt to public bodies in Scotland there has been in each year since 1999.

The Scottish Government does not collect the detailed breakdowns of debts owed to Public Bodies. The information that is collected by Scottish Government will not necessarily distinguish between debts owed by individuals and debts owed by companies and other organisations.

Every Public Body produces and publishes an Annual Report and Accounts, and within this publication will report on amounts owed to them. The information within these accounts on debts owed to the Public Body may be at a relatively high level and may not distinguish between the different types of debt owed to them.

These annual accounts will normally be available online on the website of the individual entity. In the earlier period covered by the request – i.e. starting from 1999 – it may be necessary to approach the Public Bodies directly.

Question reference: S6W-08922

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 15 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many investigations into government leaks to the media it has undertaken in each year since 1999, and how many people responsible for any such leaks have been identified.

Question reference: S6W-08924

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 15 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been diagnosed with an eating disorder in each year since 1999.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) does not hold comprehensive data on the number of people diagnosed with an eating disorder since 1999.

However, we can provide data on the number of child and adult patients admitted in NHS psychiatric or general/acute hospitals, either as day cases or inpatients, with an eating disorder in any diagnostic field, for the period 2007-2021. The data is disaggregated by age group (child or adult), calendar year, and health board of residence.

Child Patients 2007 -2021

Number of child 1 patients 2 admitted to a general/acute or mental health specialty 3 , either as an inpatient or day case, with an eating disorder 4 ; by year of admission and NHS health board of patient residence, 2007 - 2021.

	Year of Admission
NHS Board	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Ayrshire and Arran	*	5	*	5	*	*	8	*	5	5	*	*	7	13	*
Borders	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	5	5	15	5	5	9
Dumfries and Galloway	*	*	*	*	-	*	*	8	6	*	*	6	*	*	9
Fife	*	*	6	*	6	5	*	*	*	*	6	10	9	9	16
Forth Valley	-	*	*	-	*	8	*	*	*	7	8	8	9	19	16
Grampian	7	*	9	7	11	16	7	12	10	9	14	9	10	14	22
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	16	7	7	8	9	10	17	25	13	13	16	14	17	32	38
Highland	5	11	5	*	*	14	9	14	17	6	7	*	8	17	26
Lanarkshire	*	6	*	6	7	8	12	7	*	10	11	12	19	17	26
Lothian	15	12	16	17	17	14	18	25	35	25	22	23	28	31	45
Orkney	*	*	-	-	*	*	*	*	*	-	-	-	*	-	*
Other	*	-	*	-	-	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	-	-	-
Shetland	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	-
Tayside	*	7	11	9	8	10	12	12	9	12	6	11	7	22	18
Western Isles	-	-	-	-	-	-	*	*	*	-	*	*	*	-	-
Total	60	62	69	61	72	94	98	119	109	102	108	122	125	184	233

Notes

* - Denotes values which have been suppressed to protect patient confidentiality.

1. A child is defined as someone whose age on admission was less than 18

2. Patients will be counted multiple times if they have been admitted within the same board in different years, or different boards in the same year, or both. A patient will be counted as both an adult and a child in the year they turn 18 if they had an episode when they were 17 and a subsequent episode that year aged 18.

3. The numbers represented show those who have been admitted to hospital and do not include those diagnosed in other settings. Therefore, these figures are likely to be undercount of the total number of people diagnosed with an eating disorder

4. Patients identified are those with an ICD-10 code of F50 in any of 6 diagnostic fields. Further information can be found on the ICD-10 website: https://icd.who.int/browse10/2019/en.

5. The "Other" category is a combination of the following health board categories: "Rest of UK (Outside Scotland)", "Outside the UK", "No Fixed Abode" and "Unknown residency".

Adult Patients 2007 - 2021

Number of adult 1 patients 2 admitted to a general/acute or mental health specialty 3 , either as an inpatient or day case, with an eating disorder 4 ; by year of admission and NHS health board of patient residence, 2007 - 2021.

	Year of Admission
NHS Board	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Ayrshire and Arran	19	17	17	18	20	13	16	15	15	23	19	21	19	23	23
Borders	7	7	*	7	8	11	11	7	*	10	*	9	10	14	9
Dumfries and Galloway	7	9	9	11	13	6	10	14	13	17	17	15	12	14	17
Fife	22	15	21	10	14	14	17	18	17	17	26	21	21	21	23
Forth Valley	7	7	8	9	17	10	15	11	9	13	19	19	24	34	28
Grampian	36	30	35	27	31	36	33	47	41	32	40	41	37	38	28
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	47	53	51	45	37	61	58	68	67	63	67	65	80	64	71
Highland	17	11	24	23	36	21	26	34	27	24	34	41	41	37	23
Lanarkshire	24	17	17	20	26	34	26	23	27	41	34	47	39	36	40
Lothian	57	56	48	46	32	69	62	60	58	63	49	58	66	91	77
Orkney	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	-	*	-	*	*
Other	*	*	*	*	*	5	*	22	39	50	29	20	23	30	22
Shetland	*	*	*	*	-	*	*	*	-	*	-	*	*	*	*
Tayside	17	15	15	23	22	29	22	26	19	21	23	21	16	17	27
Western Isles	-	-	*	*	-	*	*	-	-	*	*	*	*	*	*
Total	264	241	261	249	261	313	307	349	345	379	368	387	391	424	392

Notes

* - Denotes values which have been suppressed to protect patient confidentiality.

1. An adult is someone whose age on admission was 18 or older.

2. Patients will be counted multiple times if they have been admitted within the same board in different years, or different boards in the same year, or both. A patient will be counted as both an adult and a child in the year they turn 18 if they had an episode when they were 17 and a subsequent episode that year aged 18.

3. The numbers represented show those who have been admitted to hospital and do not include those diagnosed in other settings. Therefore, these figures are likely to be undercount of the total number of people diagnosed with an eating disorder.

4. Patients identified are those with an ICD-10 code of F50 in any of 6 diagnostic fields. Further information can be found on the ICD-10 website: https://icd.who.int/browse10/2019/en.

5. The "Other" category is a combination of the following health board categories: "Rest of UK (Outside Scotland)", "Outside the UK", "No Fixed Abode" and "Unknown residency".

Question reference: S6W-08916

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 15 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to bring forward a Public Debt Bill.

Question reference: S6W-08918

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 14 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much debt on school meals has been written off in each local authority in each of the last five years.

The information you have requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. It is for local authorities to decide whether to write-off outstanding debts for school meals, ideally by taking into account the needs and circumstances of any affected families.

The Scottish Government recognises the work which has been undertaken by Aberlour on this issue and the First Minister has committed that officials will work with COSLA to understand this issue more fully.

Local authorities also have the flexibility to offer free school meals to families who do not meet the regular eligibility criteria but are experiencing financial hardship. I would encourage any family who thinks that they may have become eligible for free school meals to apply for them as soon as possible.

Question reference: S6W-08921

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 14 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the average waiting time to access chronic pain services has been in each NHS board in each year since 1999.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05286 on 10 January 2022. 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

A set of data tables for the most recent Chronic Pain Waiting Times publication, which was released on 8 March 2022, can be found at https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/chronic-pain-waiting-times/chronic-pain-waiting-times-quarter-ending-31-december-2021

Data is available from the quarter ending 31 December 2015 to the quarter ending 31 December 2021.

Question reference: S6W-08917

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 14 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the current level of debt on school meals is in each local authority.

Information about the levels of debt on school meals across Scotland is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. The handling of school meal debts is a matter for local authorities, taking into account the local needs and circumstances of all families within their respective local areas.

The Scottish Government recognises the work which has been undertaken by Aberlour on this issue and the First Minister has committed that officials will work with COSLA to understand this issue more fully.

Question reference: S6W-08923

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 14 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to help GPs to identify the signs and symptoms of an eating disorder.

During Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2022, we welcomed the training offer that Beat, the UK’s eating disorder charity, has developed to ensure that our future workforce feels confident to support anyone who comes forward with concerns about disordered eating.

We were also pleased to announce additional funding for Beat which includes Beyond the Symptoms training for GPs and healthcare professionals. This supports them to identify when a patient has an eating disorder and confidently intervene early. This funding was in addition to the £5 million additional investment to support those with eating disorders in 2021-22.

More generally, our Programme of Government commits to ensuring that by 2026 each GP Practice will have access to a mental health and wellbeing service; creating 1,000 additional dedicated staff who can help grow community mental health resilience and direct social prescribing.

Question reference: S6W-08927

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how much has been spent on providing temporary accommodation for anyone requiring it in each local authority area in each year since 1999.

As set out in the response to S6W-06821 on 10 March 2022, the vast majority of homelessness funding provided to local authorities in the annual local government finance settlements since 1999 has been included in the block grant. It is at each local authority’s discretion as to how they use this resource to prevent and respond to homelessness, which includes providing temporary accommodation. This has been supplemented in recent years by additional, identifiable resource as follows:

Financial year	Rapid Rehousing Transition Plans	Homelessness Support
2017-18	£0m	£22.5m
2018-19	£2m	£23.5m
2019-20	£8m	£23.5m
2020-21	£8m	£23.5m
2021-22	£8m	£23.5m
2022-23	£8m	£23.5m
Total	£34m	£140.0m

Housing Benefit covers the costs of temporary accommodation for individuals who are in and out of work, as long as their income is not too high.

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

Question reference: S6W-08920

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many people who have resettled in Scotland through the (a) Syrian Resettlement Programme and (b) Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme are still currently living in temporary accommodation.

Scotland is committed to playing our part in welcoming and supporting all Asylum Seekers, Refugees and displaced people.

The UK’s Syrian Resettlement Programme, also known as the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS), ended in March 2021. The programme matched people with accommodation identified by local authorities prior to their arrival in the UK. All 32 of Scotland’s local authorities participated in the programme, supporting 3,328 refugees to settle in communities across the country.

All 32 local authorities have also confirmed their participation in Afghanistan Relocation and Resettlement Schemes. So far, there have been 127 families (520 individuals) relocated to 20 Scottish local authorities.

It is the Home Office who have responsibility for hotel accommodation for Afghan families across the UK. Its data currently shows that there are 12,000 people in hotels across the UK.

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