Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-10895

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to reduce any reliance on agency nurses in the NHS.

The Scottish Government is taking appropriate steps to ensure we have the necessary staffing in place to support our NHS services. Over the lifetime of this parliament we are committed to investing more than £11 million in further domestic and international recruitment to support NHS staffing levels.

Student nurses and midwives entering funded degree programmes will increase in 2022-23 to a total recommended intake of 4,837. This will be the tenth successive increase, doubling the number of students who were funded in the last decade.

To ensure appropriate shift cover where there is increased demand the majority [54.9%] of temporary staffing cost comes from the NHS Staff Bank. Bank staff are NHS staff, on NHS contracts at NHS rates of pay.

The usage of bank and agency staff was vital during the height of the pandemic, the most pressured time our NHS has ever seen. The use of short term staff in an organisation as large and complex as the NHS is inevitable and is not related to one specific issue.

Their use helps ensure service continuity during times of planned and unplanned staffing gaps including sickness absence and leave. Boards receive monthly agency spend reports and each Board has identified an Executive Lead to take overall responsibility for this area.

Question reference: S6W-10524

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-09811 by Lorna Slater on 16 August 2022, whether it will provide a list of the stakeholders who are being engaged in the discussions.

Officials from all four UK administrations are engaging on the issue of sustainable long-term alternatives to the control of bracken. At this time, plans for stakeholder engagement have not been finalised. Initial talks with the Bracken Control Group have taken place and their advice on other interested parties will be considered. Those involved will include representatives from farming, environment and wildlife.

Question reference: S6W-10523

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action is being taken to ensure that bus services are accessible to disabled people.

The legislation governing disabled access and vehicle construction is reserved to the UK Government. Since 1 January 2020 all coaches, single and double decker buses have had to be fully accessible.

However, the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that transport is accessible for all. Scottish Ministers' have made clear their expectations that Scotland's transport providers and public services will continually improve their performance to help disabled people make better journeys. That is why the Scottish Government launched in 2016 Scotland's Accessible Travel Framework, which is shaped by disabled people to improve the overall journey experience and remove the barriers which prevent them travelling. The Framework sets out a 10 year plan in which 48 actions are to be delivered over the 10 year period. These include:

Scottish Government provided £35,000 to Neatebox who have developed and trialled an app focusing on bus travel for disabled users with the primary focus on wheelchair users who require use of particular designated space when using the bus, and
In March 2021, the Scottish Parliament passed legislation that extends the National Concessionary Travel Card to eligible disabled children under the age of five, allowing free bus travel to accompanying companion using the National Entitlement Card. This will give around 4,000 eligible disabled children across Scotland access to the same benefits as those aged five and over, helping to reduce household costs for their families.

Question reference: S6W-10516

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what support is in place to cover any financial costs and loss of earnings of community representatives who take part in planning enquiries.

In planning proceedings the parties are normally expected to meet their own expenses and expenses are only awarded on grounds of unreasonable behaviour.

Unreasonable behaviour would be deemed if another party to the appeal has acted unreasonably and this caused the party making the claim to incur unnecessary expense, either because it should not have been necessary for the case to come before Scottish Ministers or because of the manner in which the party against whom the claim is made, has conducted their part of the proceedings.

Question reference: S6O-01346

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it supports property purchases, direct payments to property owners and the use of non-disclosure agreements as a means of removing objections to large-scale windfarm applications.

Question reference: S6W-10166

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 30 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to expanding free nursery provision at the age of two to children in receipt of Disability Living Allowance.

1140 hours of high quality funded Early Learning and Childcare is available to all three and four year olds in Scotland, and two year olds who will benefit most. National eligibility criteria for access to funded early learning and childcare at age two is largely aligned to free school meals criteria, as well as care experienced families. Local authorities also have powers to provide discretionary access to a funded ELC place for any child they see fit.

As set out in Best Start, Bright Futures: Tacking Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2022-26 , we will review eligibility to inform the future development of childcare policy in Scotland. This work will ensure a coherent joined up system for families with children of different ages and identify the best approach to expanding access to funded childcare for more of the identified priority family groups, including families with a disabled adult or child.

Question reference: S6W-10133

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 22 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps are taken to ensure that standards are applied fairly across higher education when determining grades at undergraduate level.

Question reference: S6W-10134

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 19 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what role it plays in monitoring whether best practice is followed by Scottish universities, regarding the moderation and cross-marking of student assessments.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has a statutory obligation under section 13 of the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 2005 to secure that provision is made for assessing and enhancing the quality of higher education provided by fundable bodies in Scotland.

On our behalf, to meet this obligation the SFC, supported by the Quality Assurance Agency, works with institutions so that they meet an agreed set of expectations for academic standards and quality, as measured against agreed sector reference points such as the UK Quality Code, to ensure that best practice is followed regarding moderation and marking of assessments, including the use of external expertise and examiners.

Question reference: S6W-09838

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 16 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many pre-clearing funded undergraduate university places were offered to applicants living in Dumfries and Galloway in 2022, broken down by institution.

Question reference: S6W-09818

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the reported delays on the NHS 24 111 calls service.

In the face of the substantial increase in demand placed on the service by the COVID-19 pandemic, NHS 24 continues to provide a highly effective, safe triage system to the people of Scotland.

As a result of this increased demand, and changes to service delivery, the Scottish Government increased funding to NHS 24 by over £20m last year for additional recruitment.

This additional funding has supported the additional recruitment of 575 full time equivalent call handlers and 140 full time equivalent clinicians to date, including through the recently established 24/7 mental health hub.

It has also supported the opening of two new NHS 24 call centres in Dundee and Glasgow, which opened in December 2021 and May 2022 respectively.

We continue to work with NHS 24 to support improvement in the performance of the 111 service, including engaging with partners and stakeholders through the national Redesign of Urgent Care programme.

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