Miles Briggs

30 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when the next Scottish Road Maintenance Condition Survey is due to be carried out.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The annual Scottish Road Maintenance Condition Survey is arranged by Scottish Local Authorities and not by the Scottish Government. The 2022 survey was completed in September and the next survey will commence during March 2023 subject to favourable weather co…

29 Nov 2022 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps are being taken to increase the allocation of police officers in Edinburgh.

29 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is regarding the impact in Scotland of the UK Parliament Joint Committee on Human Rights inquiry, The right to family life: adoption of children of unmarried women 1949-1976.

Answer · Clare Haughey: The Scottish Government welcomes the inquiry and acknowledges that the submissions made to the inquiry by people affected in England and Wales will correlate with the experiences we have heard about in Scotland. We remain committed to taking steps to address…

28 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many buildings it (a) has assessed and (b) is due to assess for unsafe cladding through the Single Building Assessment pilot.  

Answer · Shona Robison: We have expanded our Single Building Assessment programme to more than 100 buildings which will be assessed as part of the expanded pilot programme. We are in contact with the representatives of those buildings to plan next steps. Twenty-one of those building…

24 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to undertake a public information campaign to help veterans access any support that they are entitled to.

Answer · Keith Brown: The Scottish Government’s 2021-22 Programme for Government committed to securing improved opportunities for veterans, ensuring that those who have been willing to risk their lives in the service of the nation can access good jobs once their time in the milita…

24 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what recent review it has undertaken of the support available to military early service leavers.

Answer · Keith Brown: The previous Scottish Veterans Commissioner highlighted the importance of improving the transition process for Early Service Leavers in his Positive Futures reports on transition in Scotland. Much of the transition process is reserved; however, we have take…

24 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of the help available to veterans to access any support that they are entitled to.

Answer · Keith Brown: This Scottish Government has consistently championed our Veterans being the first Devolved Administration in the UK to create a Veterans Ministerial portfolio and the first nation in the UK to establish a Veterans Commissioner. In August, we published our re…

24 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many local authority-funded care home places there have been in each year since 1999, and, of those, how many were provided by (a) local authority- or charity-run and (b) independent care homes.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: The number of resident places by funding category (i.e. publicly funded) is not available. However, Public Health Scotland have published the estimated number of long stay residents in care homes for older people by funding category and by local authority sin…

24 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of NHS staff have been (a) full- and (b) part-time in each year since 1999.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The requested information on what percentage of NHS staff have been (a) full- and (b) part-time in each year since 1999 is not centrally held. Information on how many NHS Scotland Staff currently in post, broken down by (a) full time and (b) part-time in each…

24 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to develop a strategic housing land availability assessment for Scotland.

Answer · Tom Arthur: The Scottish Government has no plans to develop a strategic housing land availability assessment (SHLAA) for Scotland. SHLAA is part of the English planning system for housing, as expected by the English National Planning Policy Framework. Scotland has its o…

24 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government which local authorities have indicated that they plan to delay the introduction of short-term lets regulations.

Answer · Shona Robison: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-11301 on 21 October 2022. 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-committ…

24 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many GP surgeries have closed in each year since 1999.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: As at 1 st October 2021, there were 922 GP Practices. This data was published on 14 th December 2021 – ( GP Workforce and practice list sizes 2011 - 2021 - Publications - Public Health Scotland ). The Scottish Government does not hold figures for how many…

24 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support it will provide to help sustain local swimming pools.

Answer · Maree Todd: The Scottish Government places great importance on leisure facilities and recognises the significant challenges that are facing operators such as leisure trusts, particularly with swimming pools, as increased operational costs continues to put pressure on the…

24 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of NHS staff have been agency staff in each year since 1999.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The requested information is not centrally held. Data is published annually, by NHS Education for Scotland on the total medical agency spend by NHS Scotland Boards; and the total WTE hours and cost for Nursing and Midwifery bank and agency staff, but this dat…

24 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much student accommodation, in terms of the number students accommodated, has been built in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The Scottish Government has no direct role in placement of students in accommodation or in the provision of student accommodation, whether that is university halls of residence, private purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) or private rented tenancies . …

24 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many socially rented homes have reported damp and mould in each year since 1999.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government does not have a reporting system in place to track instances of damp and mould in all socially rented homes. Data on the presence of mould and damp is collected through the Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS), including from a samp…

23 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has recently evaluated infusions and injections for the treatment of chronic pain, and, if so, whether it will provide details of the treatments and methods by which they have been evaluated.

Answer · Maree Todd: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-12496 on 5 December 2022. 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-committ…

23 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how many Ukrainian refugees, who were initially residing on the MS Victoria, have since been moved to long-term accommodation.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government’s priority is to ensure that displaced people from Ukraine are able to stay in appropriate temporary accommodation and get the right support ahead of moving into safe, sustainable longer-term accommodation. We do not want people to sp…

22 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what part infusions and injections will have in future plans to treat chronic pain.

Answer · Maree Todd: I understand how important infusions and injections are for those patients receiving them, and that work is needed to improve care for people with chronic pain and the sustainability of our pain management services.It is our intention that people can access s…

22 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the debate on chronic pain services on 16 November 2022, during which several members expressed support for NHS specialist chronic pain services being provided as a priority for patients requiring treatment following a referral from a clinician, whether it will clarify whethe…

Answer · Maree Todd: The Framework for Pain Management Service Delivery – Implementation Plan was published in July 2022 and sets out the actions the Scottish Government are taking to improve care and services for people with chronic pain. The Implementation Plan acknowledges …

22 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many short-term let businesses currently operate in Scotland.

Answer · Shona Robison: Since short-term lets as a category have not previously been subject to regulation, there are no official statistics on the size of the sector. However, there are a variety of data sources which can provide indirect evidence of how the sector has evolved in r…

17 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-05564 by John Swinney on 10 January 2017, whether it will provide an update on how many school support staff each local authority has employed in each year since 2010, broken down by category of employment.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Data on school support staff are collected as part of the annual school staff census. National Statistics on selected categories of school support staff (pupil support assistants, home-school link workers, behaviour support staff, educational psychologists, …

14 Nov 2022 · SPCB Oral Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what discussions have taken place to consider providing cross-party groups with access to broadcasting services in committee rooms.

10 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of non-electric heat in buildings is directly supplied by renewable sources.

Answer · Patrick Harvie: In 2020, 6.4% of non-electrical heat demand was met by renewable technologies. This represents an increase of 4.5 percentage points (up from 1.9%) since 2010 and an increase of 0.2 percentage points from 2019. The most recent statistics on renewable heat in …

10 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any unmet need during the development of its proposals for a National Care Service.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: Following the high level assessment of unmet need raised in the Independent Review of Adult Social Care, the Scottish Government considered unmet need in its consultation for the National Care Service. Unmet need in adult social care is continually monitored…

10 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been unable to take forward self-directed support packages in each year since their introduction.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: This information is not currently available centrally. However a Data Strategy for Health and Social Care is due to be published in early 2023, which will set the strategic direction on the improvement of data collection and use for the health and social car…

10 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how the assumptions in the Financial Memorandum for the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill, which reportedly show that just 10% of adult carers will access short breaks and only 14% will use easy access support, were calculated.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: Short Breaks The Financial Memorandum estimate for the cost of personalised short breaks for adult carers under the Carers Act, as amended by the National Care Service Bill, is based on the following assumptions: 1) The number of adult carers accessing pers…

10 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many adults with incapacity have been subject to a delayed discharge from hospital that was recorded as a code 9 reason in each year since 1999.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: The Scottish Government is committed to safely reducing delayed discharge and is actively working with partners. People who no longer require hospital treatment benefit from being at home or in a community setting. Decisions about care and treatment should al…

10 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding has been recovered in total by each local authority for homelessness prevention from payments made through Integration Joint Boards.

Answer · Shona Robison: The majority of homelessness funding provided to local authorities is provided via the block grant, Scottish Government has provided £11.2 billion to Local Authorities as part of the block grant in 2022-23. It is at each local authority’s discretion as to how…

10 Nov 2022 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what employability programmes have been developed to help former prisoners find employment.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: We are delivering person-centred, tailored services to those further from the labour market through a combination of locally designed services (No One Left Behind) and our national employment service Fair Start Scotland. We provide support that is flexible, p…