Seòmar agus comataidhean

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Testing questions body text for accordion

Criathragan Hide all filters

Displaying 256 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6O-00431

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to help tackle the reported affordable housing crisis in Edinburgh.

Question reference: S6O-00253

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 September 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure the future workforce can have access to vocational skills training, in light of the current staff shortages in certain sectors.

Question reference: S6T-00184

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 September 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports of staffing shortages at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital leading to health professionals warning about patient safety.

Question reference: S6O-00165

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 16 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason Scotland's Mental Health First Aid is reportedly not running any training courses at present.

Scotland’s Mental Health First Aid programme is delivered as a face-to-face training event. In order to comply with the Scottish Government’s COVID-19 guidance and to protect public health, the delivery of these training courses was paused by Public Health Scotland (PHS), which holds the licence for this training to operate in Scotland. A range of online resources was made available by PHS and NHS Education for Scotland throughout the pandemic. In recognition of the changing context, PHS is working to ensure that the delivery of the Mental Health First Aid programme can resume safely. These courses will restart in November 2021.

Question reference: S6W-02481

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 13 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to reimburse payments made by local authorities and assessment centres to the SQA for exam-related services that were not provided in academic year 2020-21.

Charges for National Qualifications have remained unchanged since 2012-13 despite changes in costs. While charges contribute towards the cost of awarding National Qualifications they do not cover the full costs. In addition, 2020 and 2021 late entry fees have been waived and there have been no charges for appeals. There are therefore no plans to reimburse National Qualifications payments.

For 2021, SQA estimates that the costs of providing certification for national qualifications was £41.7m, while income from local authorities, colleges and independent schools is expected to be £30.5m. The remaining cost is covered by SQA’s grant in aid budget from the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S6T-00139

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 September 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the use of face-to-face GP appointments.

Question reference: S6W-01822

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients have had a genomic profile carried out on their tumour in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

The Scottish Genetic Laboratory Consortium is commissioned by NHS Services Scotland National Services Division (NSD) through four Laboratory sites in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow.

Genetic services are a matter for NSD and local Health Boards therefore the information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

However we can advise that the Scottish Genetic Laboratory Consortium use a number of testing methodologies for accurate tumour profiling.

Next generation sequencing (NGS) for the most common cancers is now available across all four Scottish Consortium Laboratory sites. The application of NGS means that several clinically important genetic variants can be tested for simultaneously. Such testing expedites rapid and accurate diagnosis of the particular cancer and informs the most appropriate treatment for patients based on the genetic profile of their tumour which can also be referred to as Precision Medicine.

NGS testing is being delivered by the Consortium laboratories for colorectal cancer, lung cancer and melanoma as well as a number of less common solid tumours.

Question reference: S6W-02100

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 25 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of the (a) assessment criteria used, and (b) weighting of the submitted bids, in relation to the process to determine the new contract for the provision of Scottish National Standardised Assessments.

The Evaluation Guide and Award Criteria published as part of the Invitation to Tender determined the Quality: Price ratio for the evaluation process as 75:25. The emphasis placed on quality reflects the importance the Scottish Government attaches to delivering a high quality assessment resource to schools, and recognises the requirement for a range of technical, educational and psychometric expertise to deliver the complex and multi-faceted Services associated with the Contract.

The Award criteria for the Quality Analysis element of the evaluation identified a series of questions across a range of areas, including Assessments and Reporting; Technical; Service Management; Security; and Transition, Implementation and Business as Usual. Some of these questions were identified as mandatory, requiring a minimum score of 2 in order for the tender to progress to the Price Analysis. The rationale for this approach is that if suppliers are unable to fulfil particular aspects of the service, the service would not be viable, irrespective of cost. Mandatory items are clearly identified within the published Evaluation and Award Criteria.

The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 Statutory Guidance (amended 2021) states that regulated contracts must be awarded to the most economically advantageous tender. The Guidance clarifies that this means contracts cannot be awarded on the basis of lowest price or lowest cost alone.

Question reference: S6W-02098

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 25 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether the current service provider submitted a bid for the new contract for the provision of the Scottish National Standardised Assessments and, if so, whether the bid it submitted was higher or lower in value to the bid submitted by the provider that has been selected.

ACER UK Limited was one of three companies to submit a tender for the contract for phase two delivery of the national standardised assessments in Scotland – incorporating both the Scottish National Standardised Assessments and their Gaelic equivalent, the Measaidhean Coitcheann Niseanta airson Foghlam tron Ghidhlig.

ACER’s tender did not progress to the Price Analysis stage of the evaluation as it did not achieve the minimum requirements for the Quality Analysis stage. Cost comparisons with the successful tender cannot therefore be drawn.

Question reference: S6W-02099

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 25 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of the new contract for the provision of Scottish National Standardised Assessments, including details of any differences that exist between the new contract and the previous contract.

The new contract will see the continued provision of online assessments for children and young people in P1, P4, P7 and S3. The Specification of Requirements published as part of the Invitation to Tender identified the areas in which continuity of provision is required (general assessment principles, presentation policy and coverage; reports coverage; training coverage; branding), and highlighted some areas around which enhancements were sought. The primary difference between the phase 1 contracts and the phase 2 contract is that rather than continuing to deliver two online systems through two separate contracts, phase two will see the establishment of a single assessment platform, which will provide access to both the Scottish National Standardised Assessments (SNSA) and their Gaelic Medium Education equivalents, the Measaidhean Coitcheann Niseanta airson Foghlam tron Ghidhlig (MCNG).

Tell us your views

Seòmar agus comataidhean

Questions and answers

Criathragan Hide all filters

Answer

Answer

Answer

Answer

Answer

Answer

Answer

Answer

Answer

Answer