Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-27074

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 3 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how many times, and on which dates, it has met with local government to discuss a Fiscal Framework for local government since the publication of the Verity House Agreement on 30 June 2023.

Ministers and officials meet COSLA and individual local authorities on a regular basis to cover a range of issues, including a fiscal framework for local government.

Specific meetings to discuss a fiscal framework with local government are noted below.

5 July 2023

7 July 2023

14 July 2023

21 July 2023

28 July 2023

11 August 2023

18 August 2023

21 August 2023

1 September 2023

9 September

15 September

10 October 2023

9 November 2023

6 December 2023

7 February 2024

13 March 2024

19 March 2024

11 April 2024

Question reference: S6O-03415

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to address any issues in relation to the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in the college and university estate.

Question reference: S6O-03337

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported situation facing former clients of McClure Solicitors, what discussions it has had regarding enabling the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission to consider groups of complaints, rather than considering complaints purely on an individual basis.

Question reference: S6W-25481

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 11 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the announcement by the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 24 January 2024 regarding additional funding for local authorities of £600 million, how much the Scottish Government will receive in Barnett consequential funding, and if the quantum is not yet known, when it expects to (a) receive and (b) publish this information.

Question reference: S6W-25183

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 20 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in (a) Scotland and (b) each NHS board are currently waiting for elective vasectomy surgery.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government the member may wish to contact NHS Boards directly for information.

Public Health Scotland does not hold procedure level information only the speciality which in this case would be Urology.

PHS continues to work in collaboration with the Scottish Government, NHS Boards and key stakeholders to improve waiting times information. Statistics relating to the waits patients experience for Inpatient or Day Case treatment at specialty level are published up to 20 September 2023 in the link below.

Stage of treatment waiting times - Inpatients, day cases and new outpatients quarter ending 30 September 2023 - NHS waiting times - stage of treatment - Publications - Public Health Scotland

Question reference: S6W-25182

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 20 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when each of Scotland’s NHS boards last performed an elective vasectomy surgery.

Question reference: S6W-23616

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 15 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the letter of 21 September 2023 from the Minister for Public Health and Women's Health to Michael Marra, how many of the 142 women who were waiting for urethral bulking, fascial sling repair or colposuspension have now undergone the procedure for which they were waiting.

Across NHS Scotland a total of 89 patients have been treated for fascial sling repair, urethra bulking or colposuspension since this summer. This excludes patients from NHS Tayside who have been treated via independent sector support. Treatment has been booked for 38 patients in December and January, and further patients are currently in the pre-assessment stage and will be offered a date early in the new year.

As the member will know, the Centre for Sustainable Delivery’s (CfSD) National Elective Coordination Unit (NECU) is supporting a nationally coordinated campaign to support treatment of these patients, which was intended to conclude by November 2023. However, due to a number of complexities this has progressed more slowly than expected.

Programmed work locally within Health Boards is often booked 6-8 weeks in advance, and as such a lead in time for treatment options was longer than initially anticipated. This must also be balanced with clinical prioritisation, with Health Boards continuing to prioritise urgent and suspected cancer pathways within this specialty and subspecialty area.

Each of the three procedures identified also requires enhanced governance processes before patients are identified, particularly when patients are moving from their board of residence, including high vigilance scrutiny checklists to support a person-centred approach. To support a clinically safe and governed pathway, several cross board clinical engagement meetings were required to agree the governance pathway.

A small number of patients have also declined the offer of treatment outwith their local board area.

We will continue to work with Health Boards and NECU to ensure all patients receive treatment as soon as possible.

Question reference: S6W-22631

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what policies it has in place to prevent the auto-deletion of any messages by ministers and special advisors before they become part of official records.

Question reference: S6W-21227

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, following the meeting of 20 July 2023, on which two further dates its Tax Advisory Group will meet in 2023.

Question reference: S6W-20637

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 8 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the review of credit card spending by the civil service, announced by the First Minister on 8 August 2023, what the terms of reference will be; who will lead the review; to whom it will report; how many civil servants will be assigned to work on the review; what the estimated budget is for the review, and how long it anticipates the review will last.

Scottish Government Internal Audit have initiated an independent review which will focus on the following areas:

1) Review of policy and compliance

2) Analysis of transactions to identify areas of non-compliance e.g. personal use, unauthorised expenditure.

Resource of 2 members of staff and budget for 15 days have been allocated for the review. This will be funded through standard arrangements for providing an internal audit service. A draft report on the review is anticipated to be provided to the Permanent Secretary and Director of Procurement and Property by 1 September, with interim findings on focused transactions review expected before then.

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