- Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 March 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Christina McKelvie on 16 April 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported 10% rise in Scotland’s suspected drug deaths in 2023, what additional measures it will take to improve access to treatment.
Answer
In response to the increasing risk profile of people using drugs in Scotland, the Scottish Government will continue to work to extend the coverage of MAT standards beyond just Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) so that people and services can be clear on what is expected from services by way of any treatment pathway no matter what type of support service is required.
The Scottish Government is also working with Public Health Scotland and Healthcare Improvement Scotland on a suite of MAT guidance on the applicability of the standards to care, support and treatment for people impacted by alcohol and other non-opioid drugs; as well as continuing to work with the UK Government on developing new UK-wide clinical guidelines for Alcohol Treatment. This guidance will look to introduce new approaches to treatment and will apply to a broad range of settings including primary care, hospital and justice.
In addition, the Scottish Government has committed in response to the Drug Death Taskforce’s recommendations in the ‘Changing Lives’ Report and Cross Government Plan to develop a national specification and overarching guidance for the delivery of person-centred care and support for people impacted by alcohol and drugs, to help save and improve lives by providing clarity and focus. The proposed National Specification will set out the types of services that should be available all across Scotland as well as providing the impetus for adopting improved joint working between the public sector and third sector partners to improve outcomes for people who require support.
- Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 March 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Christina McKelvie on 16 April 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how much has been allocated to drug (a) prevention, (b) treatment and (c) harm reduction initiatives for the financial year 2024-25, and what its position is on whether these resources will be adequate to tackle the reported 10% increase in suspected drug deaths in 2023.
Answer
Full budget allocations for 2024-25 are still to be confirmed.
It is not possible to disaggregate the full budget by these themes as Alcohol and Drug Partnerships receive around three quarters of the total drugs and alcohol budget to distribute at the local level. At a national level, many of the projects and organisations also support all three areas. The published draft budget for 2024-25 has maintained our budget for alcohol and drugs at the same level as 2023-24.
The National Mission funding has brought about major reform and improvement in services for people with drug and alcohol problems including:
- Continuing to widen the access to life-saving Naloxone with an estimated 7 in 10 people at risk having a kit; Police Scotland completing roll out amongst frontline staff.
- Continuing to drive implementation of the MAT Standards across the country. All delivery partners have returned implementation plans and report on progress on either a monthly or quarterly basis.
- A whole systems approach to prevention.
- Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 March 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Christina McKelvie on 16 April 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported 10% rise in Scotland’s suspected drug deaths in 2023, whether it will increase funding levels for treatment.
Answer
Drug deaths remain a public health emergency and services have seen a significant increase in funding as a result of the National Mission. This increase of funding into drug policy represents a 67% increase from 2014-15 to 2023-24 according to Audit Scotland figures published in 2022. The published draft budget for 2024-25 has maintained our budget for alcohol and drugs at the same level as 2023-24.
- Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 20 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that hundreds of sex offenders have been able to change their name in the past two years, what it can do to ensure the safety of the public, particularly in areas like EH14 and EH54, which reportedly have the joint highest number of sex offenders registered across Edinburgh and West Lothian.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 20 March 2024
- Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 8 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to his letter of 10 January 2024, when the Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants’ Rights will attend the multi-agency meeting with Transport Scotland, West Lothian Council, Winchburgh Developments Ltd and Network Rail to further discuss a proposal for a railway station in Winchburgh.
Answer
I am answering the question as this topic now falls into my Ministerial portfolio.
As the Member is aware, the Scottish Government’s understanding of the station proposal is that it is and has always been a developer led station, as outlined in Winchburgh Developments Ltd.’s original Masterplan.
My understanding is that West Lothian Council is responsible for the organisation and invitations for the multi-stakeholder meeting, as set out in the Council Motion from its meeting on 30 May 2023 and I will consider my attendance once I have had an opportunity to fully familiarise myself with the matter.
I can confirm, the Scottish Government welcomes the collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach and I and my officials in Transport Scotland will continue to support the process of exploring options for the delivery of a new station at Winchburgh.
- Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 14 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has for any major rail development projects beyond the end of 2024.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 14 March 2024
- Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 8 February 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the most recent Police Scotland Officer and Staff Numbers statistics showing the number of police officers in Police Scotland's Edinburgh division.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 8 February 2024
- Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 19 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 31 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what the outcomes have been of its £270,000 of funding for the provision of prehabilitation through the eight Maggie’s Centres across Scotland; how many patients have been supported with prehabilitation to date; whether it will provide a breakdown of the different types of cancers that the centres have dealt with, and, in the event that a patient cannot access a Maggie’s Centre, what provision is in place to ensure that there is equity of care across Scotland.
Answer
A report detailing the impact of the initial pilot by Maggie’s can be found here .
From November 2021 to December 2023, 2494 people affected by cancer have been supported via Maggie’s.
During the initial pilot phase, people with 34 different cancer types, including those with multiple cancers, attended the prehabilitation workshops. 59% of attendees were people affected by prostate and bowel cancers. The trend is similar in the period from April to December 2023, however those affected by breast and lung cancers make up a larger percentage of attendees than in the pilot phase.
77% of those providing feedback said the prehabilitation workshops delivered by Maggie’s had a positive impact on their health engagement. In addition, more than 90% said they felt better able to make positive changes to their physical activity, emotional well-being, and diet/nutrition.
The prehabilitation website referred to in response to question S6W-24556 on
25 January 2024 is available to those who prefer to source information online, and a Scottish Health Technology Assessment is in progress to help Scottish Government understand the potential for digital solutions to delivering prehabilitation. Finally, in collaboration with NHS Education Scotland, a training plan is in development that will support national scale up of the Maggie’s workshops via other willing providers.
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-committees/written-questions-and-answers .
- Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to monitor equity of access to prehabilitation for cancer patients (a) nationally and (b) in comparison to other UK nations, and at what intervals the figures will be published.
Answer
Cancer prehabilitation is a complex, multi-modal intervention and personalised to suit individual need. It is not achieved through accessing a single service, nor is it likely to be delivered in a single setting. As such, no single mechanism or metric has been identified for measuring equity of access across Scotland, the UK or internationally. Instead proxy measured are used, such as numbers referred to a specific service/intervention and uptake and/or adherence.
The Centre for Sustainable Delivery is leading improvement work that will define core outcome measures for cancer prehabilitation in Scotland, and where possible this will include activity data.
- Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that patients who require targeted and specialised prehabilitation, as stated in its report, Key Principles for Implementing Cancer Prehabilitation, are accessing prehabilitation, and what the outcomes are for these patients.
Answer
The Centre for Sustainable Delivery is leading improvement and pathway redesign work via their Macmillan National Improvement Advisor for Cancer Prehabilitation. This will see core outcome measures agreed for use across Scotland, and introduce processes for data collection and reporting.
Some targeted and specialised prehabilitation has been developed within NHS settings and further services are being developed with funding from the Macmillan and Scottish Government’s Transforming Cancer Care programme to ensure people can access the right care in the right place at the right time.
