Tom Mason

22 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it measures progress with carbon capture.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: There are no commercial scale Carbon Capture Utilisation Storage (CCUS) facilities operational in the UK at present. This situation arises as a consequence of the cancellation of UK Government financial support to progress Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Pro…

22 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the £292.17 million anticipated loss of income tax revenue in the period to 2023-24, as a result of behavioural responses to policy changes in its 2018-19 budget, is avoidable if tax policy is changed.

Answer · Derek Mackay: The Scottish Fiscal Commission’s’ report [May 2019] shows the latest estimates of losses in income tax revenue due to behavioural change from the 2019-20 policy decision to be £45 million over the period 2019-20 to 2024-25. The same report forecasts the overa…

22 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Fraser of Allander Institute statement that Scotland’s “earnings growth appears to be lagging the rest of the UK”, which could have a negative impact on both growth in the tax base and changes in the tax rates.

Answer · Derek Mackay: As highlighted by the Scottish Fiscal Commission’s latest report, forecasts for future earnings growth in Scotland have improved over the past six months. The SFC attribute this in part to Scotland’s record low unemployment rate and the Scottish Government’s …

22 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much money is contributed by charities toward NHS Grampian equipment purchases and staffing hires.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The information requested is not collected or held centrally by the Scottish Government and would require to be obtained from NHS Grampian.

22 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in recruiting for GP positions in the NHS Grampian area.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: NHS Grampian have been working on a range of local initiatives to improve GP recruitment in the North East of Scotland. These include:Employing seven Career Starts Doctors this year.Working closely with the undergraduate team to promote general practice to me…

22 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress of the independent review of the Clean Air for Scotland Strategy, which was announced in November 2018.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The Cleaner Air for Scotland review is progressing well. The review Steering Group is currently drafting its report for submission to Ministers.

22 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Fraser of Allander Institute statement that “a strategy is needed for managing reductions in some areas, and not just a strategy for where new money will be spent.”

Answer · Derek Mackay: The Scottish Government manages Scotland’s public finances in a competent, responsible and balanced way. This Government has a strong track record in this respect as we continue to invest in Scotland’s economy and public services in the face of Westminster au…

22 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what effect the opening of the AWPR has had on air pollution in Aberdeen, particularly in the King Street area.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The opening of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral route has removed 50% of traffic from the city centre. According to latest local air quality data, pollution levels for the King Street area are low and have been for most of 2019. The Scottish Government conti…

22 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to analysis by the Scottish Fiscal Commission suggesting that its tax forecasts for 2017-18 and 2018-19 were too optimistic, with an estimated gap of nearly £600 million.

Answer · Derek Mackay: The latest forecasts [May 2019] for Scottish income tax are higher in every future year than the previous forecasts [December 2018], in large part due to an improved picture for earnings growth. The SFC’s reconciliation estimates are still only forecasts, an…

22 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it will measure the impact of the AWPR on air pollution in Aberdeen over the next five years.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The Scottish Government continues to provide practical and financial assistance to Aberdeen City Council to assist them with monitoring and implementing their action plan to improve air quality and reduce air pollution in Aberdeen. Aberdeen City Council will…

22 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the next annual Zero Waste Scotland carbon metric technical report, and for what reason such a report has not been released since 2017.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) last published its annual carbon metric technical report in September 2018. The report is available on ZWS’s website and covers carbon metric figures for 2016. The next report is due to be published in summer 2019, covering carbon …

22 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to revised figures by Quarterly National Accounts, which record construction output being down by 0.4% and output in the production sector decreasing by 0.8%.

Answer · Derek Mackay: Growing Scotland’s economy and supporting businesses and jobs is a top priority for the Scottish Government. The latest national accounts statistics show that Scotland’s economy grew by 1.3% in 2018, with the production sector growing by 2.8% and the service …

22 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what effect its plan of increased productivity and balanced wage growth to increase the savings ratio has had on consumption growth.

Answer · Derek Mackay: Scotland’s Economic Strategy sets out the need to pursue a more balanced form of economic growth, through a greater contribution from investment and net trade, rather than consumption in order to achieve growth that is sustainable in the long-term. Experimen…

22 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the economic impact has been of the measures to "unlock innovation, drive increased productivity and tackle inequality" as a result of injecting £270 million into the Economy, Jobs and Fair Work budget as part of the total funding of £2.4 billion in enterprise and skills from the 20…

Answer · Ivan McKee: The impact of this investment is clear. Scotland’s economy is growing, unemployment is at a record low (3.2%) and below the UK (3.8%), exports are growing faster than anywhere else in the UK and productivity is increasing. We know that greater investment in i…

21 May 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve NHS Grampian’s performance in meeting the 18 weeks referral to treatment target of at least 90%.

7 May 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether all outstanding Agri-Environment Climate Scheme claims from farm businesses in the north east for the 2017 claim year will be paid by the end of June 2019.

1 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-22373 by Jeane Freeman on 5 March 2019 and her comment that “We are now working closely with NHS Grampian, and all other Health Boards across Scotland, to prepare plans for 2019-20, which will focus on key areas that require improvement”, for what r…

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Annual Operational Plans (AOPs), introduced last year, have been developed to manage performance across the whole system, including financial, operational and quality and safety performance. The AOPs cover a financial year which the member knows runs fro…

24 Apr 2019 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason ScotRail's annual average figures record that one in five trains arriving or terminating at Aberdeen station are more than five minutes late.

Answer · Michael Matheson: Performance problems at Aberdeen are particularly disappointing given the unprecedented increase in service level, rolling stock and infrastructure investment for Aberdeen. Over the last few periods, 8 out of 10 trains have arrived at Aberdeen Station within …

16 Apr 2019 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many deaths there were in 2018 in the NHS Grampian area that can be attributed in some way to the use of Xanax.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: National Records of Scotland (NRS) will publish the 2018 Drug Related Deaths in Scotland report (as National Statistics) in July 2019.

26 Mar 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-21814 by Jeane Freeman on 5 March 2019, whether it considers that NHS Grampian provides the "best care available" to patients, in light of reports that the NHS is routinely recorded as underperforming.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: NHSScotland provides extremely high quality care and is a world leader, internationally recognised, for the improvements in care and safety brought about by our Patient Safety Programme. We will continue to work towards ensuring that every patient receives sa…

26 Mar 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-21814 by Jeane Freeman on 5 March 2019, what the proposed NHS staffing legislation, to be used in conjunction with unannounced Healthcare Improvement Scotland inspections, will involve.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The aim of Health and Care (Staffing) Bill is to provide a statutory basis for the provision of appropriate staffing in health and care service settings, enabling safe and high quality care and improved outcomes for service users. The Bill requires Health Boa…

26 Mar 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-21811 by Jeane Freeman on 5 March 2019, for what reason Scottish Government "information about clinical nurse specialists is incomplete and only available for Paediatric and Cardiology but not both combined."

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) data has been published on the ISD website available here: https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2018-12-04/Clinical_Nurse_Specialists_S2018.xls . Due to data quality concerns, the following nine N…

26 Mar 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-21814 by Jeane Freeman on 5 March 2019, what its response is to the Healthcare Improvement Scotland progress check of the improvement action plan submitted by NHS Grampian.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Health Improvement Scotland (HIS) have asked NHS Grampian to submit an updated action plan by the 10th April as per the HIS process. They will then review what progress has been made in addressing the issues identified and determine what future actions will…

13 Mar 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government how relevant it considers the number of subjects a pupil can study in school is to their future career prospects.

25 Feb 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to a recent Healthcare Improvement Scotland report, which states that “to improve care, NHS Grampian must ensure that older people who are admitted to hospital are accurately assessed within the national standard recommended timescales".

Answer · Jeane Freeman: In response to a Press and Journal article of 21 February 2019 regarding the Older People in Acute Hospitals inspection report at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, a Scottish Government spokesperson said: We welcome the positive progress NHS Grampian has demonstrated…

25 Feb 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of recent ISD Scotland statistics on emergency waiting times, for what reason NHS Grampian has a weekly average of 86.9% admittance within four hours, which is short of the 100% target.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: One of the key priorities for the Scottish Government is that all NHS Health Boards across Scotland must sustainably deliver against the emergency access standard. This means 95% of all patients attending accident and emergency should be seen, treated, admitt…

25 Feb 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that a charity-funded cardiac paediatric nurse treated more than 350 patients in the first year and a half that she was in post, for what reason NHS Grampian has not funded and recruited such nurses.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The paediatric cardiac nurse in NHS Grampian currently has a caseload of 180 patients and has made contact with more than 350 patients since taking up post. Each patient has a variety of clinical needs and therefore in some instances no more than one contact …

25 Feb 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason NHS Grampian reportedly relies on charitable organisations to provide a cardiac paediatric nurse.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: As specialist cardiac services are based in central Scotland, NHS Grampian have advised that before the existing cardiac paediatric nurse was appointed there was limited local infrastructure and expertise to support a locally based cardiac paediatric nurse. …

25 Feb 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many cardiac paediatric nurses the NHS employs, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The exact information requested is not centrally available. Information on the headcount and whole time equivalent of nursing and midwifery staff by specialty, including paediatrics, broken down by NHS Board can be found on the workforce statistics site at: …

22 Jan 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Scottish Funding Council reporting a 143,496 reduction in college student numbers since 2007, and whether it considers that this has contributed to the reported 6% increase in skill shortages in vacancies since 2011 that has been recorded by employers.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: Skills shortages are reported in the Employer Skills Survey and cover all levels including senior management, not just those leaving education. In the 2017 Survey, 6% skill shortage vacancies were reported, this is unchanged from 2015. College headcount has …