Carol Mochan

23 Apr 2024 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether it has funded local government adequately to deliver the services that it has responsibility for.

23 Apr 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it has taken to decrease the time that it takes for women to obtain an endometriosis diagnosis.

Answer · Jenni Minto: We know that diagnosis time for endometriosis is not acceptable and needs to improve. We recognise the time to diagnosis is not itself an effective measurement of improved health and well-being outcomes for those living with endometriosis. It is vital that we…

18 Apr 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many secondary school physical education teachers were employed by each local authority in 2023-24.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The following table shows the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) Secondary teachers with Physical Education reported as their main subject by each local authority. Head teachers and Depute head teachers are not included. Teacher FTE numbers for individual …

18 Apr 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many primary schools have physical education teachers based within them, broken down by local authority.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Primary Teachers are generalists; therefore, they deliver the totality of the Curriculum including PE. Specialist PE teachers are predominantly based in secondary schools. The table shows the number of Primary schools in each authority with teachers listing …

18 Apr 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of how many children currently walk or cycle to school.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The Scottish Government funds Sustrans to undertake the annual Hands Up Scotland survey which provides information on the mode of travel to school used in Scotland. The most recent survey report was published in May 2023. It showed that in 2022, the percentag…

18 Apr 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of safe walking routes to schools, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Assessment of the safety of walking routes is a responsibility of local authorities under section 51 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980. The Scottish Government expects local authorities to keep their criteria for providing school transport under review an…

18 Apr 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with allied health professional organisations, and what was discussed.

Answer · Neil Gray: Carolyn McDonald, in her capacity as Chief Allied Health Professions Officer (CAHPO) met most recently with the Allied Health Professions Federation Scotland (AHPFS) on 3 April, 2024. Discussion included the National Care Service, Education, Government Consul…

18 Apr 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it is monitoring the effectiveness of the smoke-free perimeter around hospital buildings, and how many on-the-spot fines have been issued since the Health (Tobacco, Nicotine etc. and Care) (Scotland) Act 2016 came into force.

Answer · Jenni Minto: We have committed to undertaking an evaluation of the effectiveness of the smoke-free perimeter around hospital buildings as part of the first Implementation Plan of the recently published Tobacco and Vaping Framework. We do not centrally hold information on …

18 Apr 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients have asked to access their medical records in (a) the last 12 months and (b) each of the previous 10 years.

Answer · Neil Gray: The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. Requests for access to medical records is a function conferred in law to the data controllers. NHS Scotland is made up of a federated group of independent organisations including heal…

18 Apr 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many medical records team leaders currently work in the NHS, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Neil Gray: The information requested is not held centrally and is a matter for each health board. Health boards have a legal obligation under Public Records (Scotland) Act 2011) to identify a person with responsibility over their records. They decide on the best way to …

18 Apr 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with NHS Scotland regarding how NHS boards record complaints about food provision to patients during hospital stays.

Answer · Neil Gray: Operational guidance regarding the provision of food is provided to Boards from Health Facilities Scotland (a division of National Services Scotland). Boards carry out quality assurance activity of their catering services through several mechanisms. Patient E…

17 Apr 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of the number of any social care contracts that have been returned from the third or private sectors to the responsible local authority, and whether it can provide a list of any such instances, broken down by local authority, in each of the last five ye…

Answer · Maree Todd: The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested as this is a matter for local Health and Social Care Partnerships. The information is not held centrally.

17 Apr 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of any variation in pay, terms and conditions for social workers across different local authorities.

Answer · Angela Constance: Scottish Government conducted a survey of job vacancies advertised in myjobscotland in September 2023, as part of joint work with COSLA on social workers pay variation across Scotland. This survey indicated that at that time there was a difference of average …

17 Apr 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many NHS Scotland services and departments still use paper-based medical records.

Answer · Neil Gray: The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The Digitisation of records is an operational responsibility of individual Health Boards and GP practices, therefore, it may be available from local Health Boards.

17 Apr 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what elements of human resources functionality are provided to NHS Scotland by private contractors.

Answer · Neil Gray: In NHS Scotland, human resource departments only use private contractors or external organisations for specific services such as training or coaching which cannot be delivered within the organisation. Private companies are also used to provide certain IT plat…

17 Apr 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what work it is doing with faith groups, including churches, to ensure that they understand how the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 potentially impacts on their practice, in light of reports that some faith communities are unsure about what impact the Act could have on th…

Answer · Siobhian Brown: As part of its Faith and Belief Engagement Strategy, Scottish Government regularly meets with representatives from a wide variety of faith and belief communities across Scotland to discuss issues of interest to them. This has included discussions with officia…

5 Apr 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-08992 by Humza Yousaf on 17 June 2022, what it has done to support NHS boards to test the introduction of models of care for long COVID, and how this has benefitted the management of other long-term and complex conditions, including Myalgic Encephal…

Answer · Jenni Minto: We have established a £10 million long COVID Support Fund, which aims to support NHS Boards to increase the capacity of existing services providing support to people with long COVID, develop these into more clearly defined pathways and to provide a more co-or…

3 Apr 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it takes to hold public bodies and their leaders to account on the use of public money, in order to ensure that spending is closely aligned to have an impact on reducing inequality and poverty.

Answer · Tom Arthur: Corporate governance and accountability arrangements for public bodies are in place and built around an established series of statutory and administrative mechanisms. These ensure consistent processes and parameters, based on the principles in the Scottish Pu…

3 Apr 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work of NHS Education for Scotland in relation to its Youth Academy.

Answer · Neil Gray: The NHS Scotland Youth Academy aims to enhance opportunity for Scotland’s young people to join the health and social care workforce. It is currently engaged in developing learner pathways, raising awareness of career opportunities and creating connections bet…

3 Apr 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on developing a strategy to consider the concept of 20-minute neighbourhoods in Scotland.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: Local Living and 20 minute neighbourhood is one of the national planning policies set out in the Fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4), adopted by Scottish Ministers in February 2023. NPF4 Policy 15, Local living and 20 minute neighbourhoods supports the…

3 Apr 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how often it has met with Professor Marmot in the last three years; what was discussed, and what action it has taken following any such meetings.

Answer · Jenni Minto: Scottish Government (SG) officials have met with Professor Sir Michael Marmot on various occasions during the period April 2021 - April 2024. Professor Marmot’s evidence-based approach to tackle health inequalities underpins the work of our Care and Wellbeing…

3 Apr 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on helping to make land and buildings owned and/or operated by the NHS available to local communities to be used to support community health and wellbeing.

Answer · Neil Gray: Land and Assets is one of the three main areas of focus for the Anchors workstream of the Place and Wellbeing Programme. All NHS Boards submitted Anchor Strategic Plans in October 2023 setting out how they will maximise their footprint as owners of land and a…

3 Apr 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Minister for Public Health, Women’s Health and Sport during her evidence to the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee on 28 June 2022 that "as part of the strategic reform of health, our emerging care and wellbeing portfolio is creating a sustainable he…

Answer · Jenni Minto: Tackling health inequalities and improving population health remain clear, ongoing aims of the Scottish Government. Through the Place and Wellbeing Programme we are supporting local action to tackle health inequalities by: supporting health boards to operate …

2 Apr 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met trade unions from the college sector, and what was discussed.

Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Government meets with campus unions on a bi-annual basis, and representatives of the college sector in a number of forums regularly, where a range of matters important to the sector are discussed. We expect college management and unions to work …

2 Apr 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that colleges across Scotland undertake pay negotiations in the spirit of the Fair Work Framework.

Answer · Graeme Dey: As set out in the Letter of Guidance issued by the Scottish Government to the Scottish Funding Council on 29 March 2024, implementation of Fair Work First must be the guiding criteria to promote fairer work practices for staff within the college sector. The …

2 Apr 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding any implications for Scottish social security payments to women in Scotland as a result of the findings in the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman report, Women’s State Pension age: our findings on the Department for Wor…

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-26524 on 23 April 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-committee…

2 Apr 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that there are no compulsory redundancies within the college sector.

Answer · Graeme Dey: Operational decisions on pay and staffing matters are the responsibility of individual colleges. The Scottish Government expects every effort to be made, in consultation with trade unions, to protect jobs. The Scottish Government has been clear that compulso…

2 Apr 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what work it has undertaken to encourage small and medium-size companies to consider apprenticeship places as an opportunity to grow their workforce.

Answer · Graeme Dey: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-26094 on 26 March 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-committee…

2 Apr 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what work it has undertaken to encourage school leavers to consider social care as a career pathway.

Answer · Maree Todd: The Scottish Government recognises the importance of encouraging young people to enter the social care workforce, and are working with partners to provide future sustainability to the sector and create additional career choices for those looking to leave educ…

2 Apr 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with (a) COSLA and (b) individual local authorities regarding any role that local government can play in increasing apprenticeship provision for traditional trades.

Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Government has not had discussions with COSLA or local authorities regarding apprenticeship provision for traditional trades. Skills Development Scotland have operational responsibility for apprenticeship provision and regularly engage with local…