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-23013

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 13 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what the cost of the around 600 hospital admissions for shingles and postherpetic neuralgia has been in each of the last three years.

Question reference: S4W-22984

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 12 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with NHS boards regarding displaying the number of nurses on duty.

Application of the Nursing and Midwifery Workload and Workforce Planning tools has been mandatory since April 2013, and all NHS boards are expected to use the tools to inform local nursing and workforce planning.

As part of the wider mandating process, NHS boards are required to develop annual workforce plans and Local Delivery Plans (LDPs). LDPs should set out the approach that the board is taking to ensure the mandatory application of the nursing and midwifery workload and workforce planning tools, how this process is informing workforce planning and how the board is communicating information to key stakeholders.

NHS boards are reviewing processes and developing systems to ensure transparency in terms of reporting nurse staffing numbers and special educational needs and disabilities serves as a forum for sharing best practice.

Question reference: S4W-22985

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 12 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government when data from Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s indicators for palliative and end of life care will be reported (a) at NHS board level and (b) nationally.

Question reference: S4W-22986

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 12 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many cleaning staff have been directly employed by each NHS board in each year since 1999.

Information on how many cleaning staff have been directly employed by each NHS board in each year since 1999 is not centrally held.

Cleaning duties for the hospital environment and patient equipment in NHSScotland are routinely carried out as part of the duties of a number of healthcare professionals which may include domestic staff and nurses, amongst others. Prior to the introduction of Agenda for Change in 2006, catering, domestic, laundry and other services would have been recorded as ancillary staff under the Whitley system. These sub job families are now recorded under hotel services.

Published information on the pre Agenda for Change ancillary staff group from 30 September 1999 to 30 September 2006 can be found by following the link:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Historic-Data/WFG01_HB_REG.xls

Published information on the number of hotel services from 30 September 2007 to 30 June 2014 can be found on the following link:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2014-08-26/Non-Medical_Trend_J2014.xls?44849140

Question reference: S4O-03677

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 November 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what action Police Scotland is taking to address the issue of puppy farms and puppies being imported illegally.

Question reference: S4W-20419

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 28 October 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many ministerial car journeys have been to Yes Scotland meetings, broken down by (a) minister, (b) distance and (c) cost of journey.

Ministers are entitled to use government car service services for all journeys which have as their principal purpose the performance of their ministerial duties; this includes journeys to or from Government business.

In the period to 27 March 2014, there was one occasion where ministers attended ministerial events immediately prior to a Yes Scotland event. The details of this journey are as follows:

The Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities and the Minister for External Affairs and International Development: 16 January 2013 – Scottish Parliament - Glasgow

We do not break the costs down to individual journeys and therefore there are no costs directly associated with this journey.

Question reference: S4W-22390

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 August 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 12 September 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will launch a campaign to raise awareness of the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis and the benefits of early diagnosis.

Question reference: S4W-22392

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 August 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 12 September 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the recent report by the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society that considered the impact of chronic fatigue on people with the condition and whether it will prioritise the management of chronic fatigue for people with long-term conditions.

The National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society and 2020health’s report Invisible Disease: RA and Chronic Fatigue 2014 details the substantial effect that chronic fatigue has on people with rheumatoid arthritis. The findings from this national survey help to highlight the difficulties that people with the condition face. By conducting such valuable research, this should help raise the profile of this symptom of rheumatoid arthritis.

In September 2010 we published a Scottish Good Practice Statement on myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)/chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), for GPs, as part of the process of ensuring that people receive better and more consistent standards of care, including quicker and more reliable diagnosis. Although all NHS boards have been made aware of the statement, it is a matter for individual boards whether or not to take it forward.

Funding had also been provided to NHS Lothian to develop a two year ME/CFS pilot project drawing on a number of approaches including graded exercise, lifestyle management, vocational rehabilitation and pain management. The Scottish Government hopes that other boards might be encouraged to consider a similar approach should evaluation prove successful.

Question reference: S4W-22429

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 August 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 11 September 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what the extent of B-type mismatch between the influenza types covered by the trivalent influenza vaccination and actual strains of infection in the adult population in each of the last three years, broken down by NHS board.

Table 1 summarises the influenza B vaccine strains and circulating influenza B virus types for each of the previous three seasons: 2011-2012, 2012-2013 and 2013-2014. Information has been provided for all ages due to the small numbers of samples in two out of three seasons. Caution is required when interpreting these results due to the low level of influenza B detected and hence samples processed in 2011-12 and 2013-14. Please note that 2012-13 was characterised by a higher than usual influenza B activity and a decision was made to type all influenza B positive samples.

Due to the small number of samples tested for influenza B type in the 2011-12 and 2013-14 seasons, it is not possible to provide figures broken down by health board to avoid deductive disclosure. Whilst the number of samples typed for influenza B for the 2012-13 season are greater we are only able to provide a breakdown by circulating vaccine strain by region due to small numbers of samples tested in some boards (table 2)

Table 1: Flu B vaccine and circulating strains for the last three influenza seasons in Scotland

Season	Flu B vaccine strain (trivalent)	Circulating flu B strains (% total)	Comment regarding sample size
2011-12	Victoria	Victoria (59%), Yamagata (41%)	Based on a small number of samples (n=17), prior to introduction of routine lineage testing for all flu B isolates
2012-13	Yamagata	Victoria (22%), Yamagata (78%)	Based on a larger number of samples (n=667)
2013-14	Yamagata	Victoria (30%), Yamagata (70%)	Based on a small number of samples (n=10)

Table 2: Regional breakdown of circulating Influenza B types in Scotland in 2012-13

Region	Yamagata	Victoria)	All
West	285 (76%)	89 (24%)	374
East	71 (76%)	23 (24%)	94
North	67 (86%)	11 (14%)	78
Total	423 (78%)	123 (22%)	546*

* Whilst the number of samples available for analysis from season 2012-13 was 667 amplification to allow lineage was only possible on 546 of these samples

Unlike influenza A viruses, there are only two lineages of influenza B virus, Yamagata and Victoria. Due to an increasing number of influenza B circulating strains being of the Yamagata lineage (type) in recent years, the World Health organization (WHO) changed the influenza B vaccine strain component of the annual trivalent seasonal influenza vaccine from Victoria to Yamagata in 2012-13.

A ‘mismatch’ is where the flu viruses in the vaccine are significantly different from those circulating in the community. In years when the vaccine strains are not well matched to circulating strains, vaccine effectiveness may be reduced. However, even when the viruses in the vaccine and circulating viruses are not well matched, a vaccine may still offer some protection against circulating viruses. For example, B/Yamagata/Wisconsin strain in the 2012-13 trivalent vaccine provided some protection against B/Yamagata/Massachussetts (contained in the 2013-14 vaccine). However, B/Yamagata strains will not provide protection against B/Victoria. Vaccines containing one influenza B lineage would not be expected to give a significant level of protection against the other lineage. Hence the WHO recommendation for development of quadrivalent vaccines with both B lineages.

Question reference: S4W-22428

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 August 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 11 September 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will set a separate default tariff reimbursement price for quadrivalent vaccines for influenza in at-risk adults and older people.