Jackie Baillie

11 Feb 2026 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding its draft Budget 2026-27 and the associated level 4 tables, whether it will provide a detailed breakdown of the £1,052.7 million allocation in the budget line, "Health Capital Investment".

Answer · Neil Gray: The opening Health Capital position in each year begins with a projected overcommitment that is then managed to arrive at a breakeven outturn position.The following table provides a forecast of costs in 2026-27 under a breakeven assumption, but are subject to…

11 Feb 2026 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the current average cost per appointment is for the NHS service, Near Me, and what the estimated total annual operating cost of the service is in each financial year from 2025-26 to 2029-30.

Answer · Neil Gray: While part funded by the Scottish Government, Near Me is also funded by and delivered through partner organisations. As a result, the Scottish Government does not centrally hold the information required to provide a ‘cost per appointment’. However…

11 Feb 2026 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its publication, Our Health and Social Care App: MyCare.scot - National Rollout High-Level Summary, what the total annual estimated cost is of building and operating the MyCare.scot app in each financial year from 2025-26 to 2029-30.

Answer · Neil Gray: The Full Business Case for the Digital Front Door (DFD) programme has been approved and includes a range of financial projections over the five-year period, and delivery options. The wider DFD programme includes the delivery of the MyCare.scot app and all ass…

11 Feb 2026 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the UK Government's press release of 3 February 2026, Government to cover travel costs of children with cancer, which accepted the proposal by Young Lives vs Cancer for a £10 million travel fund to support the cost of the young people travelling for treatment, what (a) …

Answer · Jenni Minto: The Young Patients Family Fund (YPFF) is designed to support the families of all babies, children and young people from birth to age 18 who require inpatient care in Scotland regardless of diagnosis.Financial support for travel to hospital appointments is ava…

10 Feb 2026 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many advanced level nurses in primary care have been trained in each year since 2021.

Answer · Neil Gray: Advanced level nursing education is not commissioned or controlled by the Scottish Government. We therefore would not hold this information.

10 Feb 2026 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the draft Scottish Budget 2026-27 and the level 4 tables that were published in conjunction with it, whether it will provide a breakdown of the £1,275.1 million in funding set aside for NHS Delivery.

Answer · Neil Gray: Neil Gray: Public Services Delivery Scotland (PSDS), formerly known as NHS Delivery, will be established on 1 April 2026. It will bring together the functions - and existing budgets - of NSS and NES under the Common Services Agency, building on the strengths …

10 Feb 2026 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-00312 by Humza Yousaf on 22 June 2021, how many entrants there have been to accredited pre-registration radiography specialty courses in each of the last five years.

Answer · Neil Gray: Radiography education is not commissioned or controlled by the Scottish Government. The following table sets out the number of entrants to accredited radiography courses at Scottish Universities each academic year. Figures for the 2024-25 academic year are no…

10 Feb 2026 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many radiology speciality training places have been made available in each of the last five years.

Answer · Neil Gray: A total of 164 Clinical Radiology specialty training places were advertised for recruitment in Scotland over the last five years. The breakdown per year is: 34 in 2021, 37 in 2022, 36 in 2023, 23 in 2024, and 34 in 2025. All of these posts were filled success…

10 Feb 2026 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the total cost is of a (a) Hospital Specialty and (b) General Practice Specialty Training Programme place.

Answer · Neil Gray: Based on 2025-26 pay scales, the estimated average annual cost is £117,922 for a Hospital Specialty training place and £115,792 for a General Practice Specialty training place. These estimates assume banding supplements of 50% for hospital placeme…

9 Feb 2026 · Topical Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that a former Chief Nursing Officer offered the parents of Sophia Smith £20,000 and a holiday following her death in the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in 2017.

5 Feb 2026 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S6W-32146 and S6W-43022 by Neil Gray on 19 December 2024 and 27 January 2026 respectively, and in light of it being able to provide a breakdown in its answer to question S6W-32146, whether it will provide the information requested in question S6W-4302…

Answer · Neil Gray: In 2026-27, we will build on the progress already achieved, with £100 million available to support further reductions in waiting times and to enhance patient flow across the Health System. This will ensure continued improvements in timely access to care…

5 Feb 2026 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-43013 by Neil Gray on 27 January 2026, regarding the additional £135.5 million allocated to planned care in 2025-26, whether it plans to baseline this funding into 2026-27.

Answer · Neil Gray: In 2025-26, we allocated £135.5 million to Health Boards, directing this funding towards specialties experiencing the longest waits. The most recent data demonstrates that this targeted investment is delivering improved outcomes for patients across Scot…

2 Feb 2026 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when data on cancer mortality by deprivation levels will be published.

Answer · Neil Gray: Public Health Scotland (PHS) published the annual update to cancer mortality statistics in Scotland on 27 January 2026. Cancer mortality deprivation data has not been published due to the lack of available census data. Once the population data required for th…

2 Feb 2026 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the process is for Healthcare Infection Incident Assessment reports, and under what circumstances ministers are notified of these.

Answer · Neil Gray: The process for Healthcare Infection Incident Assessment reports is detailed in Appendix 14 of the National Infection Prevention and Control Manual (NIPCM).The Infection Prevention and Control Team (IPCT) or Health Protection Team (HPT) for community incident…

2 Feb 2026 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many Healthcare Infection Incident Assessment reports were received from (a) NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, (b) NHS Lothian and (c) other NHS boards, broken down by hospital, between 2015 and March 2018, also broken down by how many were red alerts and notified to ministers, and what…

Answer · Neil Gray: The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

1 Feb 2026 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many MRI scanners each NHS board has.

Answer · Neil Gray: NHS Health Boards hold this information, not the Scottish Government, and I suggest the Member should direct her question to the Boards.

1 Feb 2026 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many CT scanners each NHS board has.

Answer · Neil Gray: The Scottish Government does not routinely collect this information.However, in the following table is the information that we do hold from 2024:Health BoardCT ScannersNHS Ayrshire & Arran4NHS Borders1NHS Dumfries & Galloway2NHS Fife3NHS Forth Valley2…

1 Feb 2026 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been allocated in (a) 2025-26 and (b) the draft Scottish Budget 2026-27 for replacing radiotherapy equipment.

Answer · Neil Gray: No allocations have yet been issued for 2025-26, but will be issued in due course once final costs are known.The forecast funding envelope for 2026-27 is £31.2 million.

1 Feb 2026 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the £45 million rolling programme of ring-fenced capital funding for replacing radiotherapy equipment, which was set out in the National Radiotherapy Plan, how much has been allocated each year, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Neil Gray:   2022.232023.242024.25TotalHealth Board££££NHS Grampian-4,260,0003,156,0007,416,000NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde6,815,000987,0006,917,00014,719,000NHS Highland32,000880,000748,0001,660,000NHS Lothian2,590,0003,620,0004,076…

1 Feb 2026 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its Endoscopy and Urology Diagnostic Recovery and Renewal Plan, how many one-stop clinics each NHS board has, broken down by (a) set-up cost, (b) annual operating cost and (c) how many appointments each has delivered, each year

Answer · Neil Gray: The following table details the number of urology hubs and one-stop urology clinics located through NHS Scotland.NHS BoardServiceNHS Ayrshire & ArranUrology Hub in the Ballochmyle Suite at University Hospital Ayr. One-stop diagnostic clinics are conducted…

1 Feb 2026 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its Endoscopy and Urology Diagnostic Recovery and Renewal Plan, how many urology diagnostic hubs each NHS board has, broken down by (a) set-up cost, (b) annual operating cost and (c) how many appointments each has delivered each year.

Answer · Neil Gray: The following table details the number of urology hubs and one-stop urology clinics located through NHS Scotland.NHS BoardServiceNHS Ayrshire & ArranUrology Hub in the Ballochmyle Suite at University Hospital Ayr. One-stop diagnostic clinics are conducted…

26 Jan 2026 · Topical Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that then health secretary, Shona Robison, u-turned on a promise to carry out an independent audit of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital before it opened to patients.

21 Jan 2026 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what additional funding will be made available to (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) Argyll and Bute Council to fund the pledge to deliver free Learn to Swim sessions, which was set out in the draft Scottish Budget 2026-27.

Answer · Maree Todd: The draft Scottish Budget 2026-27 delivers a significant uplift in funding to sport. This allows us to deliver on our key ambition of ensuring every child has the opportunity to learn basic swimming skills, building confidence and safety in and around water.W…

20 Jan 2026 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding its draft Budget 2026-27, what any projected funding gap for commissioned social care services will be to meet the obligated uplift to at least the real Living Wage in 2026-27 if this budget is passed.

Answer · Tom Arthur: The draft Budget 2026-27 sets out a further £160 million investment to enable the payment of the Real Living Wage to adult social care workers in commissioned services in the next financial year. This will take the total Scottish Government investment i…

20 Jan 2026 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding its draft Budget 2026-27 budget and level 4 tables that were published in conjunction with its draft Budget, whether the baseline used to calculate the total funds to implement the 2026-27 pay uplift in commissioned social care services was the current real Living Wage amount …

Answer · Tom Arthur: The draft Budget 2026-27 set out a further £160 million investment to enable the payment of the Real Living Wage to adult social care workers in commissioned services in the next financial year. The baseline used to calculate the additional £160 m…

20 Jan 2026 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding its draft Budget 2026-27, what its response is to the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities' (COSLA) assessment that, despite calling for an additional £750 million for social care, there is no additional funding for social care after pay uplifts.

Answer · Tom Arthur: The Scottish Government are fully aware that the budgetary pressures on the Health and Social Care system in 2026-27 have never been greater. After the disappointing UK Government Spending Review in June, we called on the UK Chancellor to increase funding, bu…

20 Jan 2026 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding its draft Budget 2026-27, what its response is to the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities' (COSLA) assessment that there is a £15 million funding gap in meeting the estimated £175 million cost of delivering the real Living Wage to adult social care workers.

Answer · Tom Arthur: The draft Budget 2026-27 set out a further £160 million investment to enable the payment of the Real Living Wage to adult social care workers in commissioned services in the next financial year.The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government has …

14 Jan 2026 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government which NHS boards received brokerage funding in 2024-25, broken down by the amount.

Answer · Neil Gray: Details of brokerage received by individual NHS Boards in 2024-25 are contained within each Board’s published 2024-25 Annual Report and Accounts, and publicly available Board papers.

14 Jan 2026 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the Scottish Spending Review 2026, what savings are expected in each year from each (a) territorial and (b) special NHS board to achieve the savings of £247 million in 2026-27, £290 million in 2027-28 and £220 million in 2028-29.

Answer · Neil Gray: All NHS Boards are required to deliver at least 3% recurring savings against baseline funding each year to support long-term fiscal sustainability. It is for individual Boards to determine how best to deliver these efficiencies without impacting patient care.…

14 Jan 2026 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the Scottish Spending Review 2026, how it plans to achieve a reduction of £384 million in 2026-27, £374 million in 2027-28 and £303 million in 2028-29 in efficiency savings in the health and social care portfolio, and how many jobs will be impacted each…

Answer · Neil Gray: As set out in the Scottish Spending Review 2026, the majority of these efficiency and reform savings will come from the 3% target NHS Board recurring savings.The NHS Scotland Finance Delivery Unit (FDU) is hosted by Scottish Government and aims to work with a…