Parliamentary questions
Finlay Carson
905 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
14 Mar 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to allowing potential cancer patients to self-refer to Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services.
Answer · Neil Gray: At present, no consideration has been given for patients to self-refer to a Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Service. The focus remains on working towards population based coverage to an RCDS for eligible patients by Spring 2026. While we will continue to monitor emer…
14 Mar 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what data it holds on how many patients have been diagnosed with a blood cancer through Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services.
Answer · Neil Gray: The recently published University of Strathclyde evaluation report https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/88280/7/Maguire-etal-2024-Final-report-of-the-evaluation-of-rapid-cancer-diagnostic-services.pdf showed that 13.5% of cancers diagnosed through the Rapid Ca…
13 Mar 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to provide funding for defibrillators to be made available in all schools across Scotland.
Answer · Jenni Minto: As set out in answer S6W-14642 on 6 March 2023 , funding for local authorities is provided through the annual block grant settlement from the Scottish Government. Local authorities should use funding resources allocated to them in the manner which they believ…
13 Mar 2024 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assistance it is providing to the arts sector in Dumfries and Galloway.
21 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on whether it remains committed to expanding the number of Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services to ensure population-based coverage.
Answer · Neil Gray: As reflected in Scotland’s Cancer Strategy for Scotland, published June 2023, we are committed to “expanding and evaluating Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services to ensure population-based coverage”. The University of Strathclyde published a final evaluation repo…
21 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish its final evaluation of Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services.
Answer · Neil Gray: A final report of the first two years of Scotland’s early adopter Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services, was published by the University of Strathclyde on Thursday 29 February highlighting its success, and can be found at: Final Report of the Evaluation of Rapid …
21 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to complete the Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey on a yearly basis.
Answer · Neil Gray: The Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey (SCPES) is part of the Scottish Care Experience Survey Programme. The Scottish Care Experience Survey programme is currently under review and the frequency of data collection will be considered as part of that rev…
21 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what measures are in place to ensure that data for all cancer types, including haematological cancers, is collected in each of Scotland's 14 NHS boards as part of the 2024 Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey.
Answer · Neil Gray: The Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey is designed to collect information on experiences of all cancer types involving an inpatient stay or day case, where it is appropriate to do so. 10% of responses to the 2018 Cancer Patient Experience Survey were f…
21 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the results from the 2024 Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey.
Answer · Neil Gray: The results of the 2024 Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey will be published in September 2024. The exact time and day of publication will be preannounced at least 4 weeks before publication.
20 Feb 2024 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what measures are being taken to maintain educational facilities in rural areas.
14 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many hectares of new woodland creation it expects will be delivered through sources of funding other than the Forestry Grant Scheme in the 2024-25 planting scheme, and for each subsequent planting season.
Answer · Mairi Gougeon: The Scottish Government supports new woodland creation on privately owned land through the Forestry Grant Scheme. Planting is recorded against financial years and in 2022-23, that last year for which published data is available, all recorded new woodland crea…
14 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many hectares of new woodland creation the Forestry Grant Scheme will deliver in the 2024-25 planting season, and for each subsequent planting season.
Answer · Mairi Gougeon: The Scottish Government supports new woodland creation through the Forestry Grant Scheme. Planting is recorded in line with financial years. The Scottish Government expects to deliver 9,000 hectares of new woodland creation through the Forestry Grant Scheme i…
14 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what sources of funding for new woodland creation, other than the Forestry Grant Scheme, it expects to become available for the 2024-25 planting season, and for each subsequent planting season.
Answer · Mairi Gougeon: The Forestry Grant Scheme will remain the principal source of funding from the Scottish Government for woodland creation in the 2024-5 planting season. The scheme will continue beyond that date but no budget has been set at this stage. The Woodland Carbon Co…
14 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many hectares of proposed new woodland creation are currently being processed by Scottish Forestry for the 2024-25 planting season, and for each subsequent planting season.
Answer · Mairi Gougeon: The Scottish Government supports new woodland creation through the Forestry Grant Scheme. Planting is recorded in line with financial years. Scottish Forestry has already approved 5,715 hectares of applications to plant new woodland in the 2024-25 financial y…
14 Feb 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many hectares of new woodland creation have been approved for the 2024-25 planting season, and for each subsequent planting season.
Answer · Mairi Gougeon: The Scottish Government supports new woodland creation through the Forestry Grant Scheme. Planting is recorded against financial years; the hectarage of new woodland creation approved for planting in the 2024-25 financial year, and each subsequent year, is sh…
14 Feb 2024 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to ensure that women in Wigtownshire have the choice to give birth as close to home as possible.
31 Jan 2024 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on transport infrastructure projects in the south of Scotland.
30 Jan 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what dental service provision is available for any young people who require braces but do not have access to an NHS dentist to carry out the necessary preparatory work required by their orthodontist.
Answer · Jenni Minto: All patients can self-refer to an Orthodontist, without having seen a General Dental Practitioner. Orthodontists have access to all items of service within the NHS Statement of Dental Remuneration (SDR), should any preparatory work be required.
29 Jan 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how its national Good Food Nation Plan will support food production in Scotland.
Answer · Mairi Gougeon: High-quality, nutritious food which is sustainably produced is key to our wellbeing – in economic, environmental, social and health terms. The national Good Food Nation Plan sets out six over-arching Outcomes which indicate key areas to further develop our st…
25 Jan 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much grant funding has been awarded in real terms under the Scottish Dental Access Initiative in the NHS Dumfries and Galloway area in each of the last two years.
Answer · Jenni Minto: NHS Dumfries and Galloway have had no Scottish Dental Access Initiative funding awarded in the last two years.
25 Jan 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many applications under the Scottish Dental Access Initiative in the NHS Dumfries and Galloway area have been (a) made and (b) approved in each of the last 12 months.
Answer · Jenni Minto: NHS Boards are responsible for receiving and approving applications for the Scottish Dental Access Initiative (SDAI). Successful applications are then sent to the Scottish Government for processing. As such, the Scottish Government does not hold information…
25 Jan 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the average processing time, from application to a final decision, has been for applications under the Scottish Dental Access Initiative in the NHS Dumfries and Galloway area in each of the last 12 months.
Answer · Jenni Minto: This information is not held by the Scottish Government. Scottish Dental Access Initiative applications are first submitted to NHS Dumfries and Galloway for initial processing and approval.
25 Jan 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many dental surgeries in the NHS Dumfries and Galloway area have offered NHS services in each month since January 2022.
Answer · Jenni Minto: Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. Information in relation to the number of dental practices providing NHS dental services in the Dumfries and Galloway area is held by the Health Board.
25 Jan 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a complete breakdown of the fee structure for NHS dental payments (a) before and (b) after 1 November 2023.
Answer · Jenni Minto: The current fee structure for NHS dental payments, as of 1 November 2023, is detailed in Determination I of the Statement of Dental Remuneration (SDR), which can be accessed online at: Statement of Dental Remuneration | Scottish Dental . The fee structure …
25 Jan 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason dentists treating patients privately are reportedly unable to issue NHS prescriptions, in light of reported concerns that this means that patients who are unable to get NHS dental appointments have to pay for both appointments and any medication.
Answer · Jenni Minto: Dentists that choose to provide a wholly private service would be required to resign their NHS list number and would therefore be unable to issue NHS prescriptions.
25 Jan 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its evaluation is of the provision of NHS dental services in Dumfries and Galloway in the last year.
Answer · Jenni Minto: The Scottish Government is aware of emerging access issues within NHS Dumfries and Galloway, noting that this is an area which has suffered disproportionately with dental workforce issues in the past – an issue which has only been heightened by the significan…
25 Jan 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government for how long NHS Dumfries and Galloway has qualified for the Scottish Dental Access Initiative.
Answer · Jenni Minto: The Scottish Dental Access Initiative (SDAI) was introduced in 1997. Over the course of this period, areas of NHS Dumfries and Galloway included within the scheme have varied depending on the access to NHS dental services at a particular time. The whole NHS …
25 Jan 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that thousands of people in the Galloway and West Dumfries constituency have been deregistered as NHS dental patients, and the reported lack of NHS dental services, what measures it is considering to ensure the continuation of free dental prescriptions.
Answer · Jenni Minto: Unregistered patients who require urgent care can access services through the Public Dental Service’s (PDS) weekend and evening clinics, and will be able to receive a free NHS prescription if this is clinically required.
24 Jan 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what work has been done to upgrade the NHS Scotland Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC) funding formula, and when any update will be published.
Answer · Michael Matheson: The Scottish Government remains committed to ensuring funding is distributed equitably across the country as set out in the 2021-22 Programme for Government. The existing National Resource Allocation Formula (NRAC) is updated on an ongoing basis for a range o…
17 Jan 2024 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support and improve the network of community hospitals.