Parliamentary questions
Jackie Baillie
9,379 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
11 Dec 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether funding to address delayed discharge will be ringfenced in its draft Budget 2025-26, and, if so, what the total amount is that is being ringfenced.
Answer · Neil Gray: The 2025-26 Budget provides almost £2.2 billion for social care and integration – including £200 million to reduce waiting lists, help support reduction of delayed discharge and increase capacity– expanding the hospital and home progra…
11 Dec 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the £100 million of funding that has been allocated in its draft Budget 2025-26 under the budget line Reform and Improvement Measures.
Answer · Neil Gray: To address delayed discharge and reduce waiting lists, £200 million has been allocated in the 2025-26 Budget. Funding will be targeted at specialties with long waits to ensure that by March 2026, no patient will wait longer than 12 months for a new outp…
9 Dec 2024 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether Dumbarton Castle is an important cultural asset.
25 Nov 2024 · First Minister's Question
To ask the First Minister for what reason at least 69,000 patients reportedly waited more than an hour to be triaged in A&E departments in the first half of this year.
19 Nov 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-30461 by Neil Gray on 22 October 2024, whether it will provide a breakdown of how the £4,474,000 allocated to the National Elective Coordination Unit will be spent.
Answer · Neil Gray: Funding allocated to the Centre for Sustainable Delivery’s National Elective Co-ordination Unit from the additional £30m for planned care has been used to support collaborative working with Boards to maximise capacity and provide centralised, coor…
5 Nov 2024 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Government what further policy changes it plans to bring forward to address reported concerns regarding the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill.
25 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) services are appropriately resourced and staffed to meet the needs of the reported over 50,000 people in Scotland with Crohn’s disease and colitis.
Answer · Jenni Minto: The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all people in Scotland living with Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), including Crohn's disease and colitis, are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that…
25 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to fulfil the commitment made in the Children's and Young People's Cancer Plan to expand access to specialist psychological support.
Answer · Neil Gray: The psychological support considerations regarding specialist workforce for children and young people with cancer are currently being reviewed by the Managed Service Network for Children and Young People with Cancer (MSN CYPC) as part of a wider workforce rev…
25 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that all young people with cancer have access to specialist psychological support from the point of diagnosis to a minimum of two years post treatment.
Answer · Neil Gray: The duration of access to psychological support for children and young people with cancer is led by clinical need.In December 2022 Scottish Government committed to making recurring funding available to the existing specialist psychological support services fo…
16 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-26793 by Jenni Minto on 2 May 2024, whether it has any plans to record this data, and what work has been undertaken with key stakeholders to determine the best ways to improve access to spirometry testing in respiratory care.
Answer · Jenni Minto: We recognise the importance of having access to meaningful data in relation to respiratory services and we continue to aim to develop a national respiratory audit programme with Public Health Scotland to achieve this. We have not been able to progress this th…
16 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-26075 by Jenni Minto on 18 March 2024, what the Scottish Expert Advisory Group (SEAG) has identified as specific challenges and opportunities for a Scottish programme, and whether SEAG is exploring examples of the Lung Health Check programmes in pla…
Answer · Jenni Minto: The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) recommendation that the four UK Nations should move towards implementing a programme of targeted lung screening for those between 55-74 with a history of smoking, was based on evidence from the lung health check pi…
16 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-26790 by Jenni Minto on 2 May 2024, when it will provide an update on Public Health Scotland's development of a national respiratory audit programme.
Answer · Jenni Minto: We recognise the importance of having access to meaningful data in relation to improving respiratory services and understanding respiratory care in Scotland. Due to the extremely challenging fiscal position the Scottish Government is facing, we have not been …
9 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported concerns that NHS Scotland is paying too much for clinical disposal needs, and when the contract for this was last tendered.
Answer · Neil Gray: Management of the NHS clinical waste contract is a matter for Health Boards, and management of the NHS’s relationship with the clinical waste contractor is a matter for NHS National Services Scotland’s (NSS) National Procurement and Logistics Serv…
9 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, regarding reported comments from NHS National Services Scotland that "Over 85 per cent of Scotland’s clinical waste is processed in Scotland by [its] contractor", what evidence it can provide that this is the case, in light of reports suggesting that a higher volume of clinical wa…
Answer · Neil Gray: Management of the NHS clinical waste contract is a matter for Health Boards, and management of the NHS’s relationship with the clinical waste contractor is a matter for NHS National Services Scotland’s (NSS) National Procurement and Logistics Serv…
9 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much it cost NHS Scotland to purchase Hassockrigg Ecopark in Shotts.
Answer · Neil Gray: The cost to purchase Hassockrigg Ecopark in Shotts was £4,920,000.
9 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps NHS Scotland took to ensure that Tradebe had sufficient insurance cover in the event of any disruption in the fulfilment of its contract.
Answer · Neil Gray: This is a matter for NHS National Services Scotland. The information requested is not held centrally.
9 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that none of Scotland’s "yellow bag" clinical waste is currently being processed in Scotland.
Answer · Neil Gray: Yellow Stream Waste, which makes up less than 20% of clinical waste in Scotland, requires High Temperature Incineration (HTI). There are no healthcare waste HTI disposal facilities in Scotland.
9 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much money has been provided to Tradebe for clinical waste removal in each year since 2019.
Answer · Neil Gray: This is a matter for NHS National Services Scotland. The information requested is not held centrally.
9 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether Hassockrigg Ecopark in Shotts is lying dormant with no licence to operate.
Answer · Neil Gray: Hassockrigg Ecopark is currently not operating as a waste processing plant. NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) are carrying out essential works on the site to allow the site to operate as an NHS Scotland waste resilience plant. The site has a license and NS…
9 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether allowing the trucking of clinical waste to disposal plants in England and Wales, reportedly amounting to an estimated 25,000 tonnes of waste travelling in 2,500 lorry journeys and over a distance of one million miles, aligns with its (a) sustainability str…
Answer · Neil Gray: Management of the NHS clinical waste contract is a matter for Health Boards, and management of the NHS’s relationship with the clinical waste contractor is a matter for NHS National Services Scotland’s National Procurement and Logistics Service. A…
9 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to build a high-temperature incineration plant in Scotland for the incineration of clinical waste.
Answer · Neil Gray: The Scottish Government currently has no plans to build a high temperature incineration plant in Scotland.
9 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to ensure that clinical waste disposal programmes align with the (a) sustainability strategy and (b) net zero targets.
Answer · Neil Gray: I refer the member to the NHS Scotland Climate Emergency and Sustainability Strategy 2022-2026 which sets out the Scottish Government’s plans to help reduce carbon emissions from clinical waste in NHS Scotland. This publication is available at: .NHS Sco…
8 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans NHS Scotland has to (a) undertake modelling of the blood cancer care workforce and (b) develop national standards for staffing and facilities.
Answer · Jenni Minto: NHS Scotland health care workers supporting those with blood cancer are from a wide range of professions, often supporting patients with other conditions too. There are no plans to model a blood cancer care workforce specifically.National standards for staffi…
8 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many blood cancer clinical nurse (a) specialists are currently employed within NHS Scotland and (b) specialist vacancies there currently are, and what its position is on the development of a new blood cancer support role, with a clinical nurse specialist informed job description.
Answer · Neil Gray: The information requested on (a) how many blood cancer clinical nurse specialists are currently employed within NHS Scotland and (b) specialist vacancies there currently are, is not centrally collected.The information requested on what the Scottish Government…
8 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to ensure that blood cancer is routinely included as a distinct category alongside solid tumours when reporting on key metrics such as prevalence, healthcare utilisation and other appropriate benchmarks.
Answer · Jenni Minto: Public Health Scotland (PHS) records all tumours using the ICD-O3 classification and is therefore able to routinely report on blood cancers in many different ways. This includes a variety of benchmarks such as incidence rates, quality performance indicators a…
8 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to consult with (a) the UK Government and (b) health ministers from other devolved administrations on co-ordinating national cancer registries in the collection, analysis and reporting of blood cancer data.
Answer · Jenni Minto: The key group responsible for co-ordinating the national cancer registries of all the UK nations, as well as the Republic of Ireland, is the UK and Ireland Association of Cancer Registries (UKIACR). Achieving consistency and comparability in the collection, a…
7 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what funding it will provide to Police Scotland to enable the investigation of the reported increase in incidences of online crime, including attempts to defraud individuals.
Answer · Angela Constance: The Scottish Police Authority budget for 2024-25 provides record funding of £1.55bn for policing, an increase of £92.7m despite difficult financial circumstances due to UKG austerity.The allocation of this budget to policing priorities, is for the…
2 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on the clinical waste budget in each year since 2019.
Answer · Neil Gray: The Scottish Government does not spend directly on disposal of clinical waste. However, funding for additional costs associated with delivering clinical waste services was allocated to NHS National Services Scotland to cover resilience measures as detailed in…
2 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what overspend or extra fees have arisen with the 10-year NHS waste management contract that was awarded to Tradebe Healthcare in 2019, which was initially estimated to cost £10 million per year, and what the final estimated cost of the contract is.
Answer · Neil Gray: This is a matter for NHS National Services Scotland. The information requested is not held centrally.
30 Sep 2024 · Topical Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to council leaders withdrawing support for its National Care Service Bill.