Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Thursday, December 22, 2011

Official Report 1091KB pdf

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Scottish Executive Question Time

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General Questions

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Hospital-acquired Infections

1. To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to prevent hospital-acquired infections. (S4O-00509)

Reducing healthcare-associated infections is an absolute priority for the Scottish Government. To achieve such a reduction, we have put in place a comprehensive rolling programme of actions. That work is overseen by the national HAI task force and supported by a budget of more than £20 million for 2011-12.

In addition, we have established the healthcare environment inspectorate to provide assurance, by means of announced and unannounced inspections, not only that our hospitals are clean, but that infection control policies and guidance are being implemented effectively. The success of those actions is demonstrated by the welcome fact that the number of C difficile and MRSA infections has fallen by more than 70 per cent since the beginning of 2007.

I thank the cabinet secretary for her answer and for assisting me in getting information from NHS Lanarkshire about the norovirus outbreak at Monklands hospital.

Is she aware that Professor Hugh Pennington has said:

“A much higher number of ward infections in a single health board also raises the question about the effectiveness of norovirus outbreak control at that board”?

Given the massive scale of the outbreak at Monklands, which is not yet over, is she minded to order an inquiry into the cause of the outbreak and the effectiveness of the actions that have been taken?

I take all such issues extremely seriously and I genuinely think that all members should acknowledge that. I have presided over a radical reduction in infections in our hospitals, so let there be no doubt about how seriously I take the matter.

As I said last week—or perhaps it was the week before—to Elaine Smith, norovirus is generally a community-acquired infection and it spreads extremely rapidly, so its presence in a hospital does not necessarily mean that the hospital’s infection-control procedures or cleanliness are in doubt. All the measures that I outlined in my initial answer have been put in place to assure us that infection control and hygiene and cleanliness in hospitals are up to scratch.

We continue to liaise closely with NHS Lanarkshire, and I am satisfied that it is taking the right steps to get the norovirus outbreak under control. I know that Elaine Smith received the most recent update yesterday, which was that one ward—ward 22—was still closed, but it was hoped that it was about to reopen following a deep clean; that one ward was open with restrictions; that all other wards were open and all previous restrictions had been lifted; and that there were no new symptomatic patients at that stage. We can therefore be hopeful that the outbreak is under control. I will certainly continue to give my support to NHS Lanarkshire and other boards in ensuring that they do everything that is required to deal with norovirus over the winter period.

Question 2 has been withdrawn by Roderick Campbell. He has provided me with an explanation and I am perfectly satisfied with the reasons for the withdrawal.

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Year of Creative Scotland 2012

3. To ask the Scottish Government what it considers the benefits will be of the year of creative Scotland 2012. (S4O-00511)

The year of creative Scotland is a chance to spotlight, celebrate and promote Scotland’s cultural and creative strengths on a world stage. We want to inspire our people and our visitors and to boost Scotland’s key tourism and events industries and our wider economy by embracing London 2012 and building on Scotland’s profile as a world-class tourism destination as we journey towards homecoming 2014 and beyond.

I welcome the cabinet secretary’s assertion that the year of creative Scotland will put Scotland’s culture and creativity in the international spotlight. I ask her to encourage organisations in the Central Scotland region to apply for money from the £6.5 million national lottery funding programme that is supporting the year of creative Scotland, so that they may take part in it fully.

A number of events have already been planned and funded using the additional £6.5 million of national lottery funding for the year of creative Scotland. I say to organisations in Central Scotland and beyond that the final deadline for the culture and tourism opportunity and the first-in-a-lifetime award is 31 January 2012. More information can be found on the Creative Scotland website. I am sure that Clare Adamson and other MSPs will want to encourage local organisations to get the benefit of those opportunities during 2012.

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Employment and Regeneration (Deprived Areas)

4. To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to tackle high unemployment and stimulate economic regeneration in deprived areas. (S4O-00512)

The Government’s economic strategy sets out the actions that we are taking to accelerate economic recovery, create jobs and promote growth. It contains a range of measures to boost employment throughout the country. Additionally, our regeneration strategy builds on the Government’s economic strategy and sets out the blueprint for tackling Scotland’s areas of deprivation and poverty.

Local authorities also have a key role to play in delivering local economic development and regeneration. That includes work to create the right conditions locally to attract investment, create employment and support local people to access employment.

The latest unemployment figures show that, after two areas in the city of Glasgow, Cunninghame South has the highest level of unemployment in Scotland. For North Ayrshire as a whole, the situation is no better and it has been steadily worsening since before the recession. We are consistently above the Scottish average for all the indicators of deprivation, so there is now a real concern in my constituency and throughout North Ayrshire that unemployment—particularly youth unemployment—has reached a crisis level and cannot be tackled purely by local measures.

What assistance can the cabinet secretary offer North Ayrshire to help to address the situation?

I acknowledge all Margaret Burgess’s points on the challenges that are faced by the economy in North Ayrshire, particularly her points on the implications for employment and consequently the efforts to tackle deprivation.

The Government is concentrating on a range of interventions to support new investment and new opportunities in areas such as North Ayrshire. To maximise the effectiveness of Government intervention, we are in dialogue with the enterprise agencies and the local authority. I assure Margaret Burgess that the Government will continue that and will find ways in which to support company and business development and create employment in North Ayrshire. Our support for the Irvine Bay Regeneration Company, which was recently confirmed by the Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and Capital Investment, Alex Neil, is an example of further effort to encourage regeneration in North Ayrshire.

The cabinet secretary will be aware that unemployment levels in Ayrshire are higher than the national average, as Margaret Burgess said. Will he consider favourably the possibility of creating enterprise areas in Ayrshire, particularly in Prestwick in South Ayrshire?

I am aware of the propositions for enterprise area status in Mr Scott’s and Margaret Burgess’s constituencies and those of my other colleagues in Ayrshire. Ministers are considering those proposals and I hope to be able to set out the conclusions of that decision-making process in the new year.

Does the cabinet secretary agree that, at a time of high unemployment, we need good-quality front-line careers advice? Does he share my concern that Skills Development Scotland is yet again cutting front-line staff and recruiting more senior managers?

I am aware that a voluntary severance scheme is under way in Skills Development Scotland. A number of such schemes have been operating in the public sector, and they are part of the orderly preparations that the Government must make in order to operate within the fixed budget. I am sure that even Mr Findlay would acknowledge the Government’s important commitment that there will be no compulsory redundancies in the organisations for which it is responsible.

On careers advice, it is important that we move with the times. I have seen some impressive work that Skills Development Scotland has done to ensure that young people and others are equipped with accessible online information and the highest-quality careers development support. SDS’s world-leading work to modernise the careers service is worthy of examination by all members.

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Royal Alexandra Hospital (Children’s Ward)

5. To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde regarding public consultation on the future of the children’s ward at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley. (S4O-00513)

Ministers and officials regularly discuss matters of local importance with national health service boards. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is undertaking a clinical review of in-patient paediatric services at the RAH in Paisley, but no decisions have been taken. The board has assured me that any formal proposals will be based on the need to maintain and improve the quality of the service that is provided to local children and their families, and that it will ensure that its thinking is fully informed by meaningful engagement with local stakeholders.

Parents in Renfrewshire are rightly concerned about the potential loss of this highly regarded facility. I welcome the cabinet secretary’s recent intervention to ensure the continuation of medical facilities at the Lightburn hospital in Glasgow. Will she give children and parents in Renfrewshire an early Christmas present and intervene to ensure the continuation of the children’s ward at the RAH in Paisley?

I would never question or criticise a member who comes to the chamber and stands up for the views of their constituents, but I ask Neil Bibby to listen to the answer that I gave. There are no proposals on the table. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is undertaking a review. If proposals are forthcoming, they will be considered through public engagement and, ultimately, if required, ministerial approval in due course. As Neil Bibby said, I demonstrated again this week that I look closely and carefully at all proposals that come to me. Where I think that they are right, I approve them, and where I think that they are misguided, I do not. I will give due consideration to any proposal that comes before me, including in this case.

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A75 (Dunragit Bypass)

6. To ask the Scottish Executive when the Dunragit bypass on the A75 will be completed. (S4O-00514)

Significant preparatory work has already been completed on the A75 Dunragit bypass. In spring 2012, we will commence the next phase of land purchase and preparation of contracts in readiness for procurement and construction. The Government intends to proceed with this vital link as soon as capital funds become available.

I am grateful for that response, and I think that we can now take it as read that the Dunragit bypass will be constructed. That being the case, I invite the minister to give the people of Springholm and Crocketford the perfect Christmas present—this is a good time to do it—by assuring them that their communities will be bypassed within the lifetime of his Government’s 15-year infrastructure plans, given that those two communities will be the only ones on the A75 without a bypass once the Dunragit bypass is complete.

It is worth pointing out the gift that we were given by the Tory and Lib Dem Government at Westminster, which was a £1.3 billion cut, and a 36 per cent cut to our capital programme. That obviously limits the amount of work that we can do on capital projects. However, with the A9, the new Forth crossing, the M74 and the Borders rail link, we are making substantial progress on transport infrastructure in Scotland, which was let down for many years by Tory, Lib Dem and Labour Governments.

We will make progress on the scheme. Six projects were identified in the route action plan for the A75 in 1997, but it is worth bearing it in mind that nothing happened in the five years following that. We have made progress with the four schemes that have been completed in the intervening period, and we will make progress on and complete the Dunragit bypass as soon as funds become available.

The minister’s Government stalled the Dunragit bypass at the same time as it stalled the Hardgrove to Kinmount improvement scheme on the A75. Can he advise us whether that scheme will be completed at the same time as the Dunragit bypass?

I think that I tried to answer that point. Elaine Murray said that we stalled the project. It is worth bearing it in mind that, for five years after the route action plan was agreed in 1997, nothing happened, so it is hard for her to accuse us of stalling. We will proceed with the Dunragit bypass. We are about to move towards compulsory purchase and we will proceed as soon as funds become available.

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Oil Industry

7. To ask the Scottish Government what it considers the impact will be on the oil industry of the United Kingdom’s recent use of its European Union veto. (S4O-00515)

Following the United Kingdom veto decision, the First Minister wrote to the Prime Minister on 11 December to ask for an urgent meeting of the joint ministerial committee to assess the implications for Scotland. The economic implications of the UK veto are unknown while discussions continue to evolve in Europe. However, the North Sea oil and gas industry makes a huge contribution to the Scottish and UK economies—it supports more than 200,000 jobs in Scotland alone—and we continue to work closely with the sector and its supply chain to attract investment, create jobs and grow the economy.

Given the oil and gas industry’s strong expressions of concern about the impact of potential European Union regulations on the North Sea health and safety regime, does the minister agree that the United Kingdom Government’s political grandstanding is not a backdrop against which to ensure that the future of a vital industry is properly safeguarded during the important negotiations?

I am a stranger to grandstanding activities myself, as members know.

When I attended the energy council with Charles Hendry, we were in agreement that the proposed EU directive on health and safety in the North Sea is unwanted by the sector and by Aberdeen, and unnecessary, because we have extremely high standards of health and safety. We have learned lessons from difficult events over the years, and there is a rigorous and effective regime in Scotland and the UK. I am pleased to say that we are at one with our colleagues in the UK Government on the matter and that we will fight the cause together.

I call Bill Kidd to ask question 8.

It appears that the member is not in the chamber to ask his question. I will expect Mr Kidd to explain later this afternoon why he chose not to be here.

Johann Lamont has not lodged question 9, for understandable reasons.

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National Health Service Boards

10. To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met NHS boards and what was discussed. (S4O-00518)

Ministers and Government officials meet representatives of all national health service boards on a regular basis. Meetings cover a wide range of matters of current interest that affect health services.

I draw members’ attention to my declaration of interests.

Does the cabinet secretary remember resolving the dispute over the NHS consultant contract, at a time when health boards were advertising posts on a split of nine clinical sessions to one non-clinical session, rather than 7.5 to 2.5? Although that advertising has stopped, is she aware that in some health board areas new consultants are being pressed to accept 9:1 contracts?

Does she recognise the dangers of requiring non-clinical elements, including service development and redesign, audit and appraisal, teaching, training and—not least—patient safety, to be delivered in only four hours a week? Does she agree that such an approach is disturbing and will she look into the issue for us?

I am very aware of the issue. I will be a little modest and deny that I resolved the issue; it was resolved through the good offices and good sense of the British Medical Association and NHS boards, through the management steering group.

What was objected to, with some justification, was the blanket advertising of 9:1 contracts, which is no longer happening. Beyond that, it is appropriate for contract decisions to be taken on an individual basis and for an appropriate contractual arrangement to be reached. In some circumstances, there might be a reason why such a split of working time would be appropriate for more junior consultants, whereas it would not be appropriate for more senior consultants. However, it is critical to ensure that patient safety and quality are paramount. Those are the yardsticks by which I judge all decisions in the area that we are considering and others.

When the cabinet secretary next meets NHS boards, will she impress on them her stated commitment to the need for the highest standards of cleanliness in our hospitals, to help to stop the spread of infections such as norovirus, which, although it is initially brought in from outside, quickly spreads if wards are dirty and control measures are not robust enough?

I will resist the temptation to give Elaine Smith exactly the same answer that I gave her when she asked that question just a few questions ago. The matter is important, so I take no issue with her raising it again. I understand the seriousness with which she, as a constituency MSP, has reacted to the recent outbreak of norovirus in Lanarkshire.

I say again that I place the utmost priority and importance on the tackling of infections. We have put in place a range of measures to ensure that hospitals have the highest standards of cleanliness, hygiene and infection control. I say again that the success of those efforts is demonstrated by the reduction of more than 70 per cent in infections such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile since 2007. We will not be complacent; we will continue to press forward and reduce hospital infections to the lowest possible level.