Asked by: Eagle, Tim (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - Highlands and Islands)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-21266 by Jenni Minto on 22 September 2023, how many undergraduate students in the fifth year of the Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS5) programme have been trained in Campbeltown in each year since 2022-23, and how many of those trainees (a) remained in Campbeltown, (b) relocated elsewhere in NHS Highland and (c) relocated elsewhere outside of NHS Highland, since 2022-23.
Answered by Minto, Jenni - Minister for Public Health and Women's Health
This information is not held by the Scottish Government. Details regarding the Campbeltown workforce including students on clinical outreach placement will be held by NHS Highland.
Asked by: Kerr, Stephen (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - Central Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an assessment of how full fiscal autonomy could impact on (a) household incomes, (b) taxation levels and (c) welfare provision in Scotland.
Answered by Robison, Shona - Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government
The Scottish Government believes that independence would deliver the best deal for Scotland – providing control over all public spending decisions, as well as the suite of fiscal powers necessary to unlock Scotland’s full economic potential.
However, until such a time as the people of Scotland can choose a different constitutional arrangement, moving to full fiscal autonomy for the Scottish Government would create a fairer system that would protect public services and allow investment in our economy.
The Scottish Government outlined its views on full fiscal autonomy in its evidence to the 2014 Smith Commission, when Scotland’s devolved fiscal arrangements were last subject to substantial review.
Full fiscal autonomy would mean that all onshore and offshore taxes would be designed and set in Scotland, including tax rates, allowances, thresholds and the tax bases. For any reserved taxes, revenues would be assigned to the Scottish budget.
At the same time, the Scottish Parliament would also take responsibility for key elements of domestic expenditure, including currently reserved areas of welfare. The Scottish Government’s position reflects significant issues with current devolved fiscal arrangements, and particularly with the approach taken by the previous UK Government.
Even where the new UK Government is not willing to pursue full fiscal autonomy for Scotland, it has the opportunity to agree a set of substantial improvements to devolved fiscal arrangements - including through agreement to fiscal flexibilities that are commensurate to the level of risk the Scottish Government currently manages within its responsibilities. Such powers are essential to manage and smooth the funding volatility and uncertainty which affects our current finance arrangements.
Asked by:
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has undertaken, or is carrying out, on the current recruitment and retention levels of retained firefighters in the Highlands and Islands.
Answered by Brown, Siobhian - Minister for Victims and Community Safety
Recruitment and retention of Wholetime and On Call firefighters is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) Chief Fire Officer and Board.
In common with other fire and rescue services both across the UK and internationally there are recognised challenges to the recruitment and retention of firefighters in rural areas. Scottish Government is supportive of the work that SFRS is doing to enable recruitment in these areas.
SFRS continues to recruit all year round and actively recruit for on call firefighters across local areas by holding community open days and events. Within many areas across Scotland, SFRS has targeted recruitment campaigns on a variety of platforms and many of these highlight the local people who are already helping their community.
Asked by: Briggs, Miles (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - Lothian)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many visits by NHS dentists to schools there have been in each year since 1999.
Answered by Minto, Jenni - Minister for Public Health and Women's Health
This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government but may be retrievable from individual Health Boards. All state primary schools are involved in the basic inspection. The sample size for schools and the detailed inspection should be available from Public Health Scotland, which manages the National Dental Inspection Programme (NDIP).
Asked by:
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the average response time was to wildfire incidents by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Brown, Siobhian - Minister for Victims and Community Safety
The Scottish Government does not hold this information.
Asked by: Kerr, Stephen (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - Central Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations’ reported claim of a £10 billion funding shortfall for decarbonising social housing.
Answered by Allan, Alasdair - Acting Minister for Climate Action
Our consultation on proposals for a Social Housing Net Zero Standard estimated the total upfront costs of installing clean heating systems and improving energy efficiency in social housing would be around £6 billion by 2045, with an average cost per home of around £14,000.
Financing the clean heat transition for social housing will require both public and private contributions, with the recent Green Heat Finance Taskforce Part 2 report exploring how to attract greater private investment including through mechanisms which spread repayment costs over a longer timeframe. The Scottish Government will respond to the Taskforce report in the coming months.
Asked by: Hamilton, Rachael (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-35639 by Maree Todd on 27 March 2025, which NHS boards will be supported to provide suicide bereavement support.
Answered by Todd, Maree - Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport
We are continuing to work closely with partners to design and plan the expansion of suicide bereavement support across Scotland, taking account of the evaluation findings and existing local provision.
In addition to delivering suicide bereavement support services in Highland and Ayrshire & Arran Health Boards, Suicide Prevention Scotland has progressed discussions to establish suicide bereavement support which connects to existing local and national provision in several NHS Board areas. These are: Borders, Tayside, Fife, Shetland, Dumfries & Galloway and Greater Glasgow & Clyde.
We will continue our discussions with the remaining health boards over the coming months.
Asked by: Grant, Rhoda (Scottish Labour - Highlands and Islands)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with NatureScot regarding maintaining and growing native oyster populations in Marine Protected Areas, and what actions are being considered.
Answered by Martin, Gillian - Acting Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy
MPAs are managed in line with the conservation and management advice provided by NatureScot. Management measures are already in place to achieve the conservation objectives for native oysters where they are a protected feature, by reducing the pressures that affect them. Additional protection is being considered for native oysters through the proposed PMF management areas as part of development of the inshore fisheries management measures.
The Scottish Government, with support from NatureScot, is currently developing a Marine and Coastal Restoration Plan which will support the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy objective of accelerating restoration and regeneration.
Asked by: Briggs, Miles (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - Lothian)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what (a) review it (i) has undertaken and (ii) plans to undertake and (b) engagement it has had with the UK Government in light of reports that an estimated 30,000 women across the UK were prescribed stilbestrol, and how many women affected were resident in Scotland.
Answered by Minto, Jenni - Minister for Public Health and Women's Health
I have the utmost sympathy for the women who may have been adversely affected by diethylstilbestrol (otherwise known as DES or stilbestrol).
The regulations for the licensing, safety and efficacy of medicines is currently reserved to the UK Government and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Any review of diethylstilbestrol (otherwise known as DES or stilbestrol) would ultimately be a matter for them to consider.
Asked by: Briggs, Miles (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - Lothian)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many children and young people have received a private diagnosis for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in each year since 1999.
Answered by Todd, Maree - Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport
The Scottish Government does not collect this data.
The Scottish Government is committed to implementing the National Neurodevelopmental Specification: Principles and Standards of Care for Children and Young People, published in September 2021, which specifies service standards that all children’s services should follow, to ensure access to support is effective and consistent across Scotland.