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: S3W-35355

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 July 2010
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 28 July 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases of bovine neonatal pancytopaenia (bleeding calf syndrome) were reported in (a) 2009 and (b) 2010, broken down by Scottish Agricultural College Veterinary Service area.

In 2009 SAC confirmed 48 cases of bovine neonatal pancytopenia (bleeding calf syndrome) on 35 farms in Scotland. For 2010, on 4 June, 72 cases had confirmed from 61 farms (six dairy farms and 55 beef suckler farms). Submissions have been received by all of Scotland''s eight Disease Surveillance Centres, though we do not have figures for each centre. Four of the beef farms involved had cases diagnosed in their calves in 2009.

Question reference: S3W-35038

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 27 July 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the current waiting time is for (a) drug and (b) alcohol treatment, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S3W-35051

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 July 2010
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 July 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether all patients with a dual diagnosis of a mental health condition and drug or alcohol addiction will be offered treatment for both conditions in order to aid recovery.

Question reference: S3W-35010

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 July 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has carried out Priority Action 5 of the NHS Quality Improvement Scotland report, Getting to GRIPS with Chronic Pain in Scotland, to review Scottish Government-funded pain management programmes provided outwith Scotland and consider investment in the development and provision of Scottish regional and local pain management programmes, including a residential facility for patients unable to attend as outpatients and, if so, what the outcome was.

Question reference: S3W-35009

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 July 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how much money it has allocated to the Long Term Conditions Alliance Scotland in relation to the management of chronic pain in the last two years.

The Scottish Government has not allocated any specific funding to the Long Term Conditions Alliance Scotland (LTCAS) in relation to the management of chronic pain.

LTCAS is, however, responsible for the administration of the self management fund, for which the Scottish Government has made £4 million available during the period 2009‘10 to 2010-11. A number of successful applications to the fund are expected to bring real benefits to people living with chronic pain in Scotland. Details of all successful applications can be found on the LTCAS website.

Question reference: S3W-35011

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 July 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what clinical standards have been developed by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland for secondary care chronic pain services and when they will be implemented.

Question reference: S3W-35031

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 July 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to treat the estimated (a) 75% of drug users and (b) 50% of people with an alcohol problem who may also have a mental health problem as outlined in the Audit Scotland report, Overview of Mental Health Services.

It is primarily the responsibility of NHS boards to work with other key agencies to provide appropriate services for these groups in a holistic and integrated way.

In 2007 the Scottish Government published the Closing The Gaps guidance to boards, with a series of recommendations including that local substance misuse and mental health services should have in place an agreed assessment tool to identify co-morbidity and enable the package of care to be matched to the range of needs.

Both Changing Scotland''s Relationship with Alcohol: A Framework for Action and Scotland''s national drugs strategy The Road to Recovery recognises the need for better integration of services, to ensure that barriers to an individual''s recovery - such as a mental health problem “ are addressed in conjunction with treatment for drug and alcohol problems. This is a fundamental element of progress in the national health target HEAT A11 which includes an expectation that by 2013 90% of clients will wait no longer than three weeks from referral to treatment to appropriate drugs treatment to support their recovery. A referral to treatment time appropriate to alcohol treatment will be defined and incorporated into a refined target covering both drugs and alcohol by April 2011.

Question reference: S3W-35013

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 July 2010

The information requested on the funding provided to the Long Term Conditions Alliance Scotland is given in the following table:

Financial Year	Amount
2006-07	£160.00
2007-08	£80,135.00
2008-09	£568,949.41
2009-10	£747,609.89
2010-11	£563,000.00

The following is the original answer (published on 26 July 2010); see below.

The information requested on the funding provided to the Long Term Conditions Alliance Scotland is given in the following table:

Financial Year	Amount
2006-07	£160.00
2007-08	£80,135.00
2008-09	£568,949.41
2009-10	£747,609.89
2010-11	£976,054.00

Question reference: S3W-35017

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 23 July 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) children and (b) adults were registered as (i) overweight, (ii) obese and (iii) morbidly obese in each NHS board in each of the last two years.

Most of the data requested is not held centrally. However, information is held on the numbers of patients aged 16 and over, who are registered to a Scottish general practice and have been recorded as being obese (with a body mass index/BMI of 30 or more). This data is available through the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) of the new General Medical Services contract. QOF is a part of the new General Medical Services contract, and comprises a framework of indicators that practices much achieve against in order to receive QOF funding.

Tables 1 and 2 show the numbers of patients aged over 16, with a BMI of 30 or over, included on QOF obesity registers for Scotland and in each NHS Board, for the financial years 2007-08 and 2008-09.

Table 1 Numbers of Patients Aged 16 and Over Included on General Practice QOFRegisters for Obesity, 2007-08

NHS Board	Practices with Reportable QOF Data	Number of Practices on which this Count is Based	Total List Size (All Ages) of these Practices	All Practices	Total list Size (all ages) of these Practices



Ayrshire and Arran	29,115	59	387,649	59	387,649
Borders	7,418	25	115,011	25	115,011
Dumfries and Galloway	12,504	35	154,898	35	154,898
Fife	27,145	56	369,872	57	370,503
Forth Valley	22,512	57	305,507	57	305,507
Grampian	48,597	84	563,312	84	563,312
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	88,946	271	1,298,690	274	1,301,574
Highland	24,094	102	319,423	102	319,423
Lanarkshire	47,671	98	587,685	98	587,685
Lothian	48,015	120	841,193	126	860,803
Orkney	2,158	13	20,057	15	20,244
Shetland	2,019	10	22,222	10	22,222
Tayside	35,657	70	414,308	71	414,419
Western Isles	2,274	12	27,661	12	27,661
Scotland	398,125	1,012	5,427,488	1,025	5,450,911

Table 2. Numbers of Patients Aged 16 and Over Included on General Practice QOF Registers for Obesity, 2008-09

	Practices with reportable QOF data	Number of practices on which this count is based	Total list size (all ages) of these practices	All practices	Total list size (all ages) of these practices



Ayrshire and Arran	28,838	59	388,169	59	388,169
Borders	6,698	25	115,908	25	115,908
Dumfries and Galloway	11,811	35	155,343	35	155,343
Fife	25,767	57	373,201	57	373,201
Forth Valley	21,105	56	299,919	57	307,186
Grampian	43,468	76	486,176	84	566,029
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	83,270	271	1,306,295	274	1,309,231
Highland	23,756	102	321,561	102	321,561
Lanarkshire	43,153	98	590,103	98	590,103
Lothian	45,098	120	845,379	125	865,664
Orkney	2,010	13	20,263	14	20,322
Shetland	1,941	10	22,327	10	22,327
Tayside	36,339	69	415,376	69	415,376
Western Isles	2,395	12	27,631	12	27,631
Scotland	375,649	1,003	5,367,651	1,021	5,478,051

Source: Information Services Division Scotland.

Notes:

1. QOF registers can potentially include a mixture of patients who are defined as obese and morbidly obese, but as the QOF reports only the total numbers of patients on the obesity register in each practice the figures can not be broken down to count each group separately.

2. QOF obesity registers can include patients newly recorded as being obese and those previously recorded as being obese, so the numbers for the two years are also likely to include many of the same patients.

3. The QOF-reported prevalence of obesity, at around 7% for Scotland, is much lower than the rates reported in population surveys (for example the 2008 Scottish Health Survey reported that 26% of men and 27.5% of women aged over 16 years were obese).

Question reference: S3W-35036

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 23 July 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how much each local authority spent on mental health services in each of the last five years.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-24327 on 11 June 2009 which set out net revenue expenditure on social work services for adults with mental health needs for the period 1998-99 to 2007-08. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Information for 2008-09 is set out in the following table:

	2008-09 £000
Scotland	88,986
Aberdeen City	5,010
Aberdeenshire	3,895
Angus	1,130
Argyll and Bute	1,386
Clackmannanshire	1,204
Dumfries and Galloway	2,321
Dundee City	1,336
East Ayrshire	1,786
East Dunbartonshire	1,839
East Lothian	1,321
East Renfrewshire	1,217
Edinburgh, City of	8,514
Eilean Siar	592
Falkirk	2,915
Fife	7,106
Glasgow City	8,944
Highland	2,665
Inverclyde	1,333
Midlothian	822
Moray	1,575
North Ayrshire	1,582
North Lanarkshire	6,343
Orkney Islands	539
Perth and Kinross	2,124
Renfrewshire	3,372
Scottish Borders	2,275
Shetland Islands	980
South Ayrshire	2,620
South Lanarkshire	4,263
Stirling	1,569
West Dunbartonshire	4,152
West Lothian	2,256

Source LFR 3 Returns.

Note: For comparisons which span 2007-08 and 2008-09, the rolling up of the former Supporting People ring-fenced grant created a discontinuity (increase in net expenditure) as the expenditure supported by the rolled up grant was included from 2008-09.