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: S6W-00604

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 11 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 29 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S4W-18890 and S4W-20593 by Alex Neil on 8 January and 4 April 2014 and S4W-27915 by Shona Robison 29 October 2015, the 2011 report, A Study of Medical Negligence Claiming in Scotland, which was published by the No-fault Compensation Review Group that was chaired by Professor Sheila McLean of the University of Glasgow and its consultation on the matter in 2012, whether it will bring forward legislation to introduce a no-fault compensation for patients who have been harmed as a result of clinical treatment.

We have no plans to bring forward secondary legislation to introduce a no-fault compensation scheme at this time.

Despite carrying out considerable research and a number of consultations since no-fault compensation proposals were first introduced in 2007, forming expert groups and looking to other countries, including Sweden, there has never been consensus on the most appropriate compensation or redress model for Scotland, or how such a scheme would meet its objectives within our health and social care framework. The member herself has previously questioned whether a no-fault compensation scheme might introduce an additional administrative burden, a culture of compensation, more litigation and a charter for lawyers.

Working with Healthcare Improvement Scotland and other health and care partners we are creating a health and social care environment that uses knowledge from adverse events to inform continuous improvement to health and care services in a culture that embraces openness and learning, without fear of censure when things go wrong. The Duty of Candour Procedure (Scotland) Regulations, which we introduced in April 2018, places this approach on a legal footing.

We will continue to focus our energies and use all the mechanisms at our disposal in driving forward preventative measures in the delivery of person-centred treatment and care that is safe and of a high quality.

Question reference: S6W-00645

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is on track to meet the proposed summer 2022 deadline for the delivery of personal independence payments by Social Security Scotland.

We remain on track to deliver the disability benefits to the timetable announced in November last year, starting with Child Disability Payment which will be piloted in summer this year and rolled out fully from the autumn.

Adult Disability Payment, our replacement for the UK Government’s Personal Independence Payment, will begin with a pilot for new applications in spring 2022 ahead of national launch by summer 2022.

This is of course subject to the continuing impact of the pandemic on our partners in delivery including in health and social care, local authorities, and the UK Government. We continue to work closely with colleagues in the Department for Work and Pensions to re-plan delivery of the remaining devolved benefits with this in mind.

Question reference: S6W-00660

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many students will be graduating as nurses in the 2021-22 academic year, and how many nurses posts will be available for the graduates.

Students who will be graduating as nurses in the 2021-22 academic year are still completing their education programmes and most are not due to graduate until September. While it is still therefore early in the recruitment process, the following table shows the number of graduates expected from Scottish universities by September and the estimated number of posts to be offered by NHS Boards for newly qualified nurses. At present the number of posts available equates to 87.1% of the total graduate workforce. These numbers are subject to revision as the recruitment process continues and more graduates are offered posts.

No. of graduates expected by September 21 (data based on university predictions)

No. of posts specifically available for newly qualified nurses in NHS Scotland Boards

Nursing

2,963

2,582

Question reference: S6W-00623

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 11 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the additional costs associated with the remedial works and delayed opening of the new Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in Edinburgh.

Question reference: S6W-00455

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 22 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what medicines are excluded from free prescriptions.

All medicines prescribed for patients in Scotland on the NHS are free. Prescription charges were removed by the Scottish Government in 2011. Scottish Ministers believe that prescription charges are a barrier to good health for many people. This is particularly so for those with long-term conditions and those on low incomes who in the past have faced choices about which medicines they can afford to take. Evidence shows that this can lead to deterioration in health, absence from work, or extra hospital admissions.

Scottish Ministers believe that healthcare should be free at the point of access for everyone: this is the founding principle of the NHS. By abolishing prescription charges, we have ensured that everyone can access the medicines they need and make choices about managing and improving their health, whatever their income.

Question reference: S6W-00312

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 22 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many radiotherapy training places have there been in each academic year, since 2015.

Radiography education is not commissioned or controlled by the Scottish Government. The following table sets out the number of entrants to accredited radiography courses at Scottish Universities each academic year. The courses included match the Health and Care Professions Council’s (HCPC) list of accredited courses from 2015-16.

Entrants to accredited pre-registration radiography courses.

Year	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20
Therapeutic Radiography	54	71	47	47	43
Diagnostic Radiography	119	146	140	152	155
Total	173	217	187	199	198

Source: HESA Student Population

Clinical Radiology

The following table gives the overall established number of Clinical Radiology trainee posts in place in each year from 2015 to 2021:

Clinical Radiology Programme Establishment
2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
121	129	139	149	160	172	182

The above table includes Scottish Government funding for 18 additional posts between 2015 and 2017 with a further commitment of another 50 funded posts,‎ 10 per year from 2018.

Source: NHS Education for Scotland (NES) medical trainee establishment data

Question reference: S6W-00453

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 22 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on prescriptions in each of the last five years, and how many people received a prescription.

The cost of medicines and appliances in the past five financial years, 2016-17 to 2020-21, is shown in Table 1. These data relate to community dispensing only.

Table 1 – Gross Ingredient Cost (£), 2016/17 – 2020/21 Year	Gross Ingredient Cost (GIC) (£)
2016-17	1,137,588,236
2017-18	1,170,761,719
2018-19	1,142,104,457
2019-20	1,175,878,909
2020-21	1,118,110,484

Source: Public Health Scotland, PIS (Prescribing Data)

Reference: IR2021-00410

The number of people who have received a prescription in the last five years has recently been provided in an answer to S5W-36221 on 30 April 2021. This presented the number of patients with a paid prescription by financial year from financial year 2009-2010 to financial year 2020-2021 (partial year to December 2020 data).

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

Question reference: S6W-00474

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 22 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many young people aged (a) under 12, (b) 12 to 15 and (c) 16 to 17 have been in hospital with COVID-19 each week in 2021.

This data is available on the Public Health Scotland Education Surveillance Dashboard which provides a three-weekly rolling average of hospital admissions for 2-17 years olds - COVID-19 Education Surveillance dashboard - Enhanced surveillance of COVID-19 in education settings - COVID-19 data and intelligence - COVID-19 - Our areas of work - Public Health Scotland

Equivalent weekly data for children under 2 years is not currently published however, data on Cumulative COVID-19 Hospital Admissions since the start of the pandemic is available and shows that as of 26 May 2021, 238 children between 0-4 years have been admitted to hospital with COVID-19 since March 2020. The full set of data can be found here - https://www.opendata.nhs.scot/dataset/weekly-covid-19-statistical-data-in-scotland/resource/bd8a865f-10e6-47d2-a461-8633c61693fe .

Question reference: S6F-00144

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 21 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 June 2021

To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government is supporting the NHS, in light of reports of wards being full and an increase in patients with serious and complex conditions.

Question reference: S6W-00456

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 18 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what medicines or other products are unavailable from the free prescription service due to shortages of supply, broken down by (a) the reason for each shortage, (b) when it expects each shortage to be resolved and (c) whether it will allow a substitution option for each medicine or product until supplies resume.

Shortages of medicines are an ongoing part of the day to day management of the NHS. The pricing and supply of medicines are reserved to the UK Government. The Scottish Government have regular engagement with the UK Government regarding the management medicine shortages as part of the UK Medicine Shortage Response Group.

Medicine shortages can occur for a range of reasons including supplier difficulty in sourcing core ingredients, removal of drugs from pharmaceutical provider lists and international supply issues. Most shortages are short in nature. Shortages are ameliorated by prescribing alternative medicines or therapeutics until a shortage is over. Information on current and ongoing supply issues relating to individual drugs or devices is shared by NHS Scotland via Medicine Supply Alert Notices (MSAN) with the relevant networks within the service to help prescribers and dispensers meet patients’ on-going medical needs. MSANs are published at SHOW - SGHSC - Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates . The NHS Scotland Prescribing Advisers’ Network provides support to prescribers on the use of alternative products.