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-25138

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 24 April 2015

To ask the Scottish Government in what ways obese people have received psychological services or counselling as part of their treatment process in each of the last five years.

Guidance issued by the government to accompany its funding of NHS weight management programmes recommends these programmes should include physical activity, dietary change and behaviour change components. Health boards decide what approach to take locally and while the government does not hold detailed information on how psychological interventions for obese people are applied across primary care, specialist weight management or specialised surgical services, the government is aware that boards have incorporated psychological interventions listed in the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network clinical guidelines 115 on the management of obesity.

Approaches differ depending on the patient, their needs and who referred them as they may already be engaged with a psychology service. Weight management programmes have access to some level of psychological provision from the least intensive cognitive-behavioural components incorporated within the standard weight management programme to intensive individual psychological assessment and therapy. Patents can be seen individually or as groups dependent on an assessment of their required level of support.

Question reference: S4W-25166

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 23 April 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-24760 by Shona Robison on 17 March 2015, whether GPs can complete their training with no input or experience in mental health.

No. The training pathway which enables a GP to be entered on the GMC’s list of registered general practitioners is through the accumulation of awareness and competencies across very broad training curricula.

In terms of mental health, three essential requirements must be demonstrated by trainees to show that they can apply the core competencies in a real life work setting: i) contextual (e.g. legal issues, continuity of care, and others); ii) attitudinal (e.g. how own beliefs and value systems may influence interactions with patients); and iii) scientific (e.g. the evidence base for the care of people with mental health problems and learning disability).

These competencies are regularly assessed throughout the training pathway and unless the trainees are assessed as having required the competencies to a satisfactory standard, they will not be able to receive their Certificate of Completion of Training.

Question reference: S4O-04244

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 April 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 April 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what is being done to ensure early diagnosis and appropriate ongoing support for mental health patients.

Question reference: S4W-25108

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 21 April 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to revise the Code of Practice for Part 5 of the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000.

Question reference: S4W-25140

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 21 April 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what actions it is taking to address obesity.

Our commitment to tackling obesity is set out in our prevention of obesity route map, one of a coherent group of policy frameworks and guidance which includes: Improving Maternal and Infant Nutrition: A Framework for Action; Better Eating, Better Learning – A New Context For School Food; Recipe for Success and a ten year Physical Activity Implementation Plan. The government continues to update and support the necessary action across a broad front that makes it easier for people to be more active and have a healthy diet.

Question reference: S4W-25111

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 21 April 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to produce guidelines on the use of antipsychotics for older people with dementia.

Clinical guidelines on the appropriate use of antipsychotics to help manage stress and distress symptoms exhibited by all people with dementia are contained in the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network national clinical guideline for the management of people with dementia (SIGN 86).

Revised polypharmacy guidance published by the Scottish Government in March 2015 reinforces the principles on the appropriate review and reduction of the use of antipsychotics in people with dementia and identifies three groups which practitioners should prioritise for review: people in care homes, those with vascular dementia, and those with dementia who also have a history of cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease or other vascular risk factors.

The Scottish Government’s first Standards of Care for Dementia in Scotland (2011) set out clear standards on responding to stress and distress in people with dementia in all care settings. Managing symptoms should involve the development of a multidisciplinary and integrated care plan and psychoactive medication should only be used where there is no appropriate alternative and where there is clear benefit to the person receiving the medication.

Question reference: S4W-25137

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 21 April 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what steps is it taking to encourage the use of psychological therapies as a regular component of obesity treatment.

The government provides £3.5 million for NHS weight management programmes. These programmes must follow the evidence based recommendations of the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network national clinical guideline 115 on the management of obesity. Guidance issued with the funding recommends weight management programmes should include physical activity, dietary change and psychological or behavioural change components. Boards need to agree locally what approach to take drawing on evidence and experience to date in delivering sustainable weight loss.

Question reference: S4W-25110

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 21 April 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what is being done to raise awareness of the risks associated with giving antipsychotic drugs to older patients with dementia.

Practitioners’ awareness of the risks associated with giving antipsychotics to all people with dementia is supported by the clinical advice contained in the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network national clinical guideline for the management of people with dementia (SIGN 86).

The revised polypharmacy guidance published by the Scottish Government in March 2015 reinforces the risks and benefits in this area of dementia treatment and care, and the Scottish Government first Standards of Care for Dementia in Scotland (2011) set out clear standards on responding to stress and distress in people with dementia in all care settings, including on the use of antipsychotics, and we fund education and training initiatives that offer alternatives to psychoactive medication which are being rolled out nationally.

Question reference: S4W-25107

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 21 April 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to revise the National Care Standards for Care Homes for Older People.

Question reference: S4W-25112

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 21 April 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) youngest and (b) oldest age is at which a person will be considered for bariatric surgery.