Chamber and committees

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

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S4W-14201

Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 1 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government which England-based wholesaler it has contracted to provide wigs and other hairpieces for people with hair loss arising from cancer and alopecia; whether this wholesaler will provide salon, measuring, fitting and associated services; how many salons in Scotland have been affected by this decision, and how many providers in Scotland will face closure as a consequence.

The information requested is not held centrally. NHS National Procurement, a division of NHS National Services Scotland advises that the new contract for the supply of Wigs and Associated Services, starting on 1 June 2013, has been put in place with six suppliers. These are A&A Studios, Dimples, Healthcare Europe, Holms of Greenock, LA Hair Solutions and Parrucche, of which Dimples is based in Manchester, England, and the remaining five suppliers based in Scotland.

All successful suppliers are required to provide a range of facilities to meet the needs of NHSScotland and to provide this service either through their own premises, or through agents on their behalf, or a mixture of both, with all the tendered premises assessed by NHSScotland.

Question reference: S4W-14364

Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 30 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what the cost to the NHS has been of providing wigs and other hairpieces in each year since 2007.

The information requested is not held centrally.

National Procurement, a division of NHS National Services Scotland, has advised that the contract value for the supply of wigs and associated services is as follows:

Contract Year	Total
2006-07	£959,935.95
2007-08	£883,959.58
2008-09	£1,021,912.56
2009-10	£1,472,595.93
2010-11	£1,589,673.58
2011-12	£1,723,157.31

Source: NHS National Procurement

Question reference: S4W-14369

Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 30 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many nurses were on the Commodities Advisory Panel for the most recent award of contracts to provide hairpieces for NHS patients.

This information is not held centrally.

National Procurement, a division of NHS National Services Scotland, has advised that the Commodity Advisory Panel has the following designations as members:

Business Manager

Clinical Manager

Consultant Dermatologist

Head of Nursing (Oncology & Haematology)

MacMillan Clinical Nurse

Nurse Consultant Cancer

Nurse Practitioner

Nursing Auxiliary

Prostheses Nurse Advisor

Senior Charge Nurse

Service Manager Head and Neck Directorate

Two Surgical Appliance Officers

Nursing Sister

Head of Service Assistive Technology

Two Strategic Sourcing Officers

Question reference: S4W-14366

Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 30 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many adult wigs the NHS has provided in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S4W-14367

Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 30 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what the average time is between a doctor prescribing a hairpiece and the patient receiving it.

Question reference: S4W-14368

Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 30 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what companies have been awarded NHS contracts to provide hairpieces since 2007.

This information is not held centrally.

National Procurement, a division of NHS National Services Scotland, has advised that the last three Contract awards for the supply of wigs and hairpieces were as follows:

From 1 December 2006 to 30 November 2009, SFD001 Wigs Contract suppliers were A&A Studios, Holms of Greenock, Turvey and Sturrocks

From 1 December 2009 to 31 May 2013, NP506/09 (SFD001) Wigs Contract suppliers were A&A Studios, Holms of Greenock, LA Hair Solutions and Turvey.

From 1 June 2013 to 31 May 2015, NP506/13 Wigs Contract suppliers are A&A Studios, Dimples, Healthcare Europe, Holms of Greenock, LA Hair Solutions and Parrucche.

Question reference: S4W-14365

Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 30 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many children have received wigs from the NHS in each year since 2007.

The information requested is not held centrally. National Procurement, a division of NHS National Services Scotland, has advised that children’s and adults’ wigs are recorded using the same codes. The total number of wigs purchased by Contract year is available in the following table:

Contract Year	Number of Wigs
2006-07	7,884
2007-08	7,560
2008-09	7,655
2009-10	11,278
2010-11	11,357
2011-12	11,466

Source: NHS National Procurement

Question reference: S4W-14371

Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 29 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what actions it can take if a bidder has made a false or misleading claim in a tender document.

Question reference: S4W-14370

Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 29 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures the veracity of statements made by companies bidding for supply contracts.

The Scottish Government, prior to awarding contracts, engages with existing or previous customers of the bidding companies to obtain information on past performance. This engagement covers information provided by the bidding companies. In addition, the Scottish Government can access other information and tools to support the assessment of bidding companies. For example, we can obtain information regarding the financial standing of the firm from independent sources.

Question reference: S4W-14145

Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-13200 by Michael Matheson on 5 March 2013, what restrictions relating to new medicines apply to ulipristal acetate that are additional to the restriction removed on 9 November 2012 and under what conditions it can be made available without prescription.

Ulipristal acetate is licensed as an emergency hormonal contraception. For this indication it is a prescription only medicine. The usual route for obtaining the medicine is via prescription from a qualified prescriber.

Exceptionally, it may be possible for ulipristal acetate to be obtained through a patient group direction (PGD) facility where such a direction has been put in place by a NHS board.

It is for NHS boards to determine when to establish a PGD and for what service. Scottish Government does not hold information on NHS board PGDs.