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-27620

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 1 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage healthy eating among children and young people, and what its position is on the findings in the Scottish Health Survey 2014 that 14% of children meet the recommended minimum daily fruit and vegetable consumption and 31% are at risk of becoming overweight.

The Scottish Government notes the 2014 Scottish Health Survey’s figures concerning children’s weight and diet.

We recognise the need for action and accordingly already have a broad range of actions underway including: statutory nutritional standards for food and drink in schools; the inclusion of food and health as a core topic with the Curriculum for Excellence; the extension of free school meals; the launch of Beyond the School Gate guidance for local authorities and other partners to improve food provision for young people in the vicinity of schools; the Eat Better Feel Better campaign to promote healthier eating messages with a specific focus on families from deprived areas, and the Healthier Scotland Cooking Bus which teaches practical cooking skills to children, teachers and local community groups across Scotland and the funding of child healthy weight intervention programmes.

We are also committed to support a pre-9pm ban on broadcast advertising of food high in fat, sugar and salt, to improve child public health. The Scottish Government has been clear that the advertising of unhealthy food should be restricted before the 9pm watershed, and that if the UK Government is unprepared to take this step, the power should be devolved to the Scottish Parliament. We believe that this step will help to rebalance promotions of food towards healthier options such as fruit and vegetables.

Question reference: S4W-27619

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 1 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce child health inequalities, and what its position is on the finding in the Scottish Health Survey 2014 that children in deprived areas are more likely to have unhealthy eating habits and be overweight.

Equally Well, the report of the Ministerial Task Force on Health Inequalities, shifted the emphasis of our approach from dealing with the consequences of health inequalities to tackling the underlying causes of poverty and employment while providing support for families to improve physical and social environments. This has been reflected in the latest Programme for Government published at the beginning of September 2015. More specifically for children the Government’s commitment is set out in our revised Child Poverty Strategy for Scotland which introduced a framework to measure progress against key outcomes.

We have also made a fundamental shift to focus on preventative spending with our Early Years Framework and the Getting it Right for Every Child approach places a strong emphasis on giving children, particularly those who are most disadvantaged, the best possible start in life to make a real difference to their future health and life chances and significant proportions of government programmes concerning healthy weight and diet are focused on our most deprived communities.

Question reference: S4W-27258

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 August 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have not been registered with a GP in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S4W-27012

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 August 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government which NHS boards will take part in the pilots of the peer approved clinical system and when these will begin.

Question reference: S4W-27019

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 August 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the criteria used during the Scottish Medicines Consortium Patient and Clinician Engagement group process.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) developed the Patient and Clinician Engagement (PACE) process with input from stakeholders. The Scottish Government has previously stated that there will be a formal review of the new SMC approach in 2015-16 and that we are open to considering any further changes. The Scottish Government is currently working with the SMC on the remit of the review which will be shared with stakeholders prior to publication.

Question reference: S4W-27017

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 August 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the New Medicines Fund has been spent on (a) medicines not yet assessed, (b) medicines approved, (c) individual patient requests for medicines not approved and (d) medicines approved by the Scottish Government but not approved by the Scottish Medicines Consortium.

Question reference: S4W-27014

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 August 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of NHS boards’ implementation of the guidance that approval of individual patient treatment requests should be based on clinical need.

There has been significant increase in patient access to orphan, ultra-orphan and end of life medicines through the changed approach to individual patient treatment requests. In 2012-13 around 50 patients across Scotland accessed orphan, ultra-orphan and end of life medicines through this route. By 2014-15 this has increased tenfold to around 500 patients accessing orphan, ultra-orphan and end of life medicines through this route. The Scottish Government expects that in the future there will be reduced reliance on individual requests as the changes introduced by the Scottish Medicines Consortium are expected to deliver substantially improved access to end of life, orphan and ultra-orphan medicines for patients across Scotland. The Scottish Government does not have access to the clinical details of individual patients.

Question reference: S4W-27011

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 August 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government when guidance on the introduction of the peer approved clinical system will be published.

Question reference: S4W-27013

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 August 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether the peer approved clinical system will be based on an assessment of a patient’s clinical need.

Question reference: S4W-27018

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 August 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of how the Scottish Medicines Consortium takes account of recommendations from Patient and Clinician Engagement groups in its final decisions.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) developed the Patient and Clinician Engagement (PACE) process with input from stakeholders. The Scottish Government’s position remains that the views of those involved in PACE should be a determining factor in decisions made. The Scottish Government has previously stated that there will be a formal review of the new SMC approach in 2015-16 and that we are open to considering any further changes. The Scottish Government is currently working with the SMC on the remit of the review which will be shared with stakeholders prior to publication.