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-11883

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 14 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 22 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been invested in support programmes for families of children with cancer in each year since 2008.

Question reference: S4W-11882

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 14 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 22 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what initiatives it funds to support the families of children with cancer.

Question reference: S4W-11879

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 14 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 22 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what measures are being taken to improve awareness of childhood cancers among parents and families.

The Scottish Government established a paediatric cancer Managed Service Network in 2011 with funding from the National Delivery Plan for Children and Young People’s Specialist Services (NDP) to ensure that children and young people with a diagnosis of cancer attain the best possible outcomes, have access to appropriate specialist services, as locally as possible that are both safe and sustainable and that the pathway of care is as equitable as possible.

Children’s cancer services were identified as a priority for investment during the development of the NDP. The NDP was published in January 2009 and £32 million was allocated to improve a number of specialist services. Over the three years of the NDP £5.4 million was allocated to paediatric cancer with £3.2 million recurring year on year from 2011.

The managed service network for children and young people with cancer provides a range of information and resources to GPs and health professionals and information for parents and families. In addition, we are working with the Teenage Cancer Trust on their schools education programme to raise awareness of cancer among children and young people. The guidance on children unable to attend school due to ill-health which contains advice on the duty to provide education to children, wherever they are, if they are unable to attend school due to ill-health is currently being reviewed with a view to new guidance being published later this year.

Question reference: S4W-11884

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 14 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 22 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what steps are in place to ensure that children undergoing treatment for cancer have access to learning facilities and materials.

Question reference: S4W-11885

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 14 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 22 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what the availability of access to proton therapy at hospitals is, broken down by NHS board.

Proton beam therapy is currently provided by only a small number of treatment centres in the world. Access to high energy proton beam therapy for all appropriate patients in Scotland is managed through an agreed and confirmed referral pathway, through the UK panel on proton beam therapy. 15 patients from across Scotland were referred for proton beam therapy between 2008 and 2012. Due to the small number, data cannot be provided on a board-by-board basis due to patient confidentiality.

Question reference: S4W-11886

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 14 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 22 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether an assessment of the benefits of proton therapy for childhood cancers has been carried out.

<>The Department of Health published proposals in October 2012 for the NHS to invest £250 million in building proton beam therapy facilities at the Christie Hospital in Manchester and University College London Hospital, to develop a UK proton beam therapy service. This summarises the evidence of benefits of proton therapy: http://www.dh.gov.uk/health/2012/10/proton-beam-therapy/.

With regard to current patients, due to the small numbers involved arrangements are in place on a UK-wide basis to collect, collate and report on outcomes for all UK patients, including children, who access proton beam therapy. The audit is ongoing, and it is expected that, given the long-term outcomes being measured, meaningful outcomes data will be available in 5 to 10 years.

Question reference: S4W-11880

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 14 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 22 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what measures are being taken to improve awareness of childhood cancers among (a) GPs and (b) health professionals.

Question reference: S4W-11953

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 22 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when it (a) received and (b) will publish the evaluation report on the NHS board elections pilot.

The Scottish Government received the Final Report of the Statutory Evaluation into Health Board Elections and Alternative Pilots on 11 December 2012 from the London School of Economics. On 20 December 2012 the report and its supporting documents were placed in Scottish Parliament Information Centre and published on the Scottish Government website. The web links below will allow access to the documents.

1 Health Board Elections and Alternative Pilots: Final Report of the Statutory Evaluation

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2012/12/8580

2. Health Board Elections and Alternative Pilots: Research Findings Summary

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2012/12/1328

3. Health Board Elections and Alternative Pilots: Literature Review

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2012/12/3926

Question reference: S4W-12122

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 22 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is undertaking an investigation into allegations of bullying and harassment in the Scottish Ambulance Service and, if so, what form the investigation is taking and when the results will be published.

As I have previously stated, I want a zero tolerance approach to bullying and harassment in NHSScotland. I expect all allegations of bullying and harassment to be fully investigated in line with the Preventing and Dealing with Bullying and Harassment PIN Policy published in December 2011. I am aware that the allegations are being investigated, but cannot provide any further details at this stage.

Question reference: S4O-01702

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 January 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the inappropriate use of social unavailability codes by NHS boards to meet waiting times targets.