Martin Whitfield

16 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to increase the number of funded undergraduate physiotherapy places, in light of reports of significant workforce shortages and rising demand within the NHS.

Answer · Neil Gray: As autonomous institutions, universities are responsible for their own course provision. With the exception of AHP controlled subjects i.e. Paramedic Science and Prosthetics & Orthotics, the Scottish Government does not direct individual universities on t…

16 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the current vacancy rate is for physiotherapists within NHS Borders.

Answer · Neil Gray: The information requested on what the current vacancy rate is for physiotherapists within NHS Borders can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at: NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence (Vacancy tab).

16 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any impact of reported physiotherapy staff shortages on (a) delayed discharges, (b) hospital-acquired deconditioning and (c) the ability of community teams to meet demand.

Answer · Neil Gray: (a) The Scottish Government is continually working with health boards and local health and social care partnerships to reduce the number of delayed discharges.(b) The Scottish Government issued to all 14 Health Boards on 12 September 2024 the ‘Once for …

28 Nov 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of its youth work budget for the next three years, and what percentage increase is planned.

Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Government highly values youth work in Scotland. The Scottish Government published its budget for 2025-26 on 4 December 2024. Scottish Government budgets are published on an annual basis and information can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/bud…

28 Nov 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of its youth work budget, by local authority area, for the current financial year.

Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Government highly values youth work and continues to fund youth work across Scotland in a variety of ways. Local Authorities are required to provide adequate and efficient Community Learning and Development (CLD), which includes youth work, as se…

28 Nov 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many youth work organisations have had to reduce services or close due to any funding reductions since 2012.

Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Government highly values youth work in Scotland. Local Authorities are required to provide adequate and efficient Community Learning and Development (CLD), which includes youth work, as set out in the Requirements for Community Learning and Devel…

28 Nov 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of its education budget has beenallocated to youth work in each financial year since 2012-13 to the currentfinancial year.

Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Government highly values youth work and continues to fund youth work across Scotland in a variety of ways. Local Authorities are required to provide adequate and efficient Community Learning and Development (CLD), which includes youth work, as se…

28 Nov 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the total amount is that has been allocated in its current Budget for youth work services.

Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Government highly values youth work and continues to fund youth work across Scotland in a variety of ways. Local Authorities are required to provide adequate and efficient Community Learning and Development (CLD), which includes youth work, as se…

28 Nov 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding in total has been allocated fordigital youth work projects, including virtual youth clubs, as part ofits current Budget, and in each financial year since 2012-13.

Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Government highly values youth work and continues to fund digital youth work across Scotland in a variety of ways. Local Authorities are required to provide adequate and efficient Community Learning and Development (CLD), which includes youth wor…

28 Nov 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of primary schools currently meet its target of providing at least two hours of quality physical education per week.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Information on the schools which meet the PE target is available from the school contact details dataset.The percentage of primary schools meeting the target of providing at least two hours of PE per week as of July 2024 is 99.6%

28 Nov 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what percentage of schools have (i) reduced, (ii) increased and (iii) maintained the hours allocated to physical education in each of the last five years.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: This is a matter for individual schools and local authorities. This level of information is not held centrally.I also refer the member to the answer to question S6W-31840 on 12 December 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the…

28 Nov 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of schools do not have access to a dedicated PE teacher.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: All primary teachers are generalists; therefore, they deliver the totality of the curriculum including PE.Special schools may cater to primary and/or secondary and some special schools will therefore have primary qualified teachers that are able to offer PE.S…

28 Nov 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been allocated to improving physical education facilities in schools in each of the last five years.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: This is a matter for individual schools and local authorities. This level of information is not held centrally.

28 Nov 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the most recent data is for participation in physical education among school pupils, broken down by (a) year group, (b) gender and (c) local authority.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The level of information requested in relation to participation in PE is not held centrally. For information on the schools which meet the PE target, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-31840 on 12 December 2024. All answers to written Parliament…

20 Nov 2024 · SPCB Oral Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what support is provided to MSPs when representing the Parliament at external engagements.

14 Nov 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding the percentage of food wasted from school meal services since 2012.

Answer · Gillian Martin: The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. Reducing food waste in schools is important and we therefore continue to develop tools to prevent it. This includes the work undertaken by Zero Waste Scotland to provide a Food Waste …

14 Nov 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of primary school meals is prepared from fresh ingredients.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: All local authorities are under a statutory duty to ensure their menus comply with the standards set out in The Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2020. What food and drink they choose to include on their menus, incl…

14 Nov 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that feedback from pupils and parents regarding the quality of primary school meals is taken into account when developing or improving meal provision.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Local authorities are under a statutory duty to comply with the standards set out in the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2020 when designing menus. How they do this is a matter for local decision making taking int…

14 Nov 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what measures are in place to ensure that all primary school meals meet the nutritional standards set out in the nutritional requirements for food and drink in schools regulations.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Compliance with the standards set out in the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2020 is monitored by Education Scotland Health and Nutrition Inspectors as part of their school inspection programme, helping to ensure …

14 Nov 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of primary school pupils have been classified as overweight in each year since 2012.

Answer · Jenni Minto: In 2023, almost seven in ten children were within a healthy weight range (69%) based on their BMI, this was within the range of 64% - 72% recorded since 1998.The Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) sets out data on children’s weight. The table of children age…

14 Nov 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of the food used in primary school meals is sourced locally.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: All local authorities are under a statutory duty to ensure their menus comply with the standards set out in The Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2020. What food and drink they choose to include on their menus, incl…

14 Nov 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors the quality of primary school meals across local authorities, and how frequently these checks are carried out.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Local authorities have a statutory obligation to comply with the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2020 (Nutritional Regulations).The nutritional quality of local authority school catering provision is evaluated as …

14 Nov 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps are being taken to reduce the amount of saturated fat in primary school meals, and how compliance with these measures is assessed.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: All local authority and grant aided schools in Scotland are under a statutory duty to comply with the standards set out in the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in schools (Scotland) Regulations 2020. The standards in the Regulations are based in sc…

14 Nov 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to ensure that the supply chain for primary school meals is (a) sustainable, (b) environmentally friendly and (c) aligned with the national climate goals.

Answer · Ivan McKee: Under the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014, a public body with an annual procurement spend of at least £5 million must report each year on how, when its procurements involve the provision of food, it is improving the health, wellbeing and educatio…

12 Nov 2024 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to reduce waiting times for dental extractions in rural NHS board areas.

12 Nov 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-25762 by Natalie Don on 13 March 2024, whether it will provide an update on what the average length of time has been between a disclosure check application being received by Disclosure Scotland and the provision of disclosure information in each yea…

Answer · Natalie Don-Innes: I have asked Gerard Hart, Chief Executive of Disclosure Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:Table: The average number of days to process disclosure applications, by application type, calendar year 2016 to October 2024Application Type20162017201820…

11 Nov 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the total budget allocated to child protection services has been in each year since 2012, including the current year to date.

Answer · Natalie Don-Innes: The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Funding for child protection services is provided to local authorities by means of a block grant under the Local Government settlement.It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage t…

11 Nov 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on what the total number of staff dedicated to child protection services has been in each year since 2012, including the current year to date, also broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Natalie Don-Innes: The recruitment and management of staff dedicated to child protection services is a matter for individual local authorities. The Scottish Government does not hold this information.Local authorities have a statutory duty to maintain an adequate workforce to me…

11 Nov 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many children and young people have had their children’s hearings delayed due to administrative issues in the past year.

Answer · Natalie Don-Innes: This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government as it relates to an operational matter for the children’s hearings system.The member should contact the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration, one of the statutory bodies of t…

11 Nov 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many cases in the children’s hearings system have been subject to delay due to a shortage of panel members or professionals since 2012.

Answer · Natalie Don-Innes: This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government as it relates to an operational matter for the children’s hearings system.The member should contact the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration, one of the statutory bodies of t…