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-39830

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2011
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 9 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the cost of awarding contracts to non-Scotland based companies under the Central Heating Programme.

Question reference: S3W-39829

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2011
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 9 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it gave on awarding contracts under the Central Heating Programme.

Within the contract awarded to the Central Heating Programme managing agent, the managing agent was required to contract with suppliers and contractors through a competition process and subsequently in accordance with EU Public Procurement Regulations. The managing agent was responsible for the evaluation of tenders received from suppliers. The evaluation process was aimed at identifying the most economically advantageous tenders with particular emphasis on achieving the best combination of quality and price.

Question reference: S3W-39828

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2011
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 9 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many contracts were awarded to Scottish companies under the Central Heating Programme.

Question reference: S3W-39574

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 February 2011
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 3 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how the Scottish Medicines Consortium incorporates its modifiers into the health-economic case for ultra-orphan medicines and what importance it gives these in the final decision-making process.

Question reference: S3W-39573

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 February 2011
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 3 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to increase the transparency of the Scottish Medicines Consortium’s decision-making process for ultra-orphan medicines and the amount of information made available when modifiers have been used as part of its appraisal process.

Question reference: S3W-39572

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 February 2011
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 3 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the cancer drugs fund proposed for England will produce an imbalance in equality of access to cancer drugs between Scotland and England and, if so, what action it will take.

Decisions regarding the introduction of new medicines are taken by each of the UK countries through their own appraisal arrangements in line with established national priorities.

Scotland''s independent and robust arrangements for the appraisal of newly licensed medicines focus on patients in Scotland having equitable access to clinically and cost-effective medicines to treat all conditions, not just those to treat cancer. This seeks to maintain a focus on equity across all conditions and throughout all parts of Scotland.

The Scottish Government will give due consideration to the outcome of the Department of Health''s consultation on the Cancer Drugs Fund when further information becomes available.

Question reference: S3W-39296

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2011
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 24 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to increase awareness of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests, including the risks and benefits, and whether it will provide information regarding these to (a) GPs and (b) the public.

In 2010 the Scottish Government circulated the prostate cancer risk management programme pack to all general practitioners across NHS Scotland. Full details of this programme can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/health/cancer/publications.

The PSA testing information leaflet, which is included in the prostate cancer risk management programme pack, is available to members of the public from their GP and can also be accessed via the Scottish Government website.

Men who are concerned about prostate cancer can ask their GP for a PSA test. If they do so, they should be provided with full information explaining the risks and benefits, allowing them to make an informed choice about proceeding with the test. The prostate cancer risk management programme pack provides all the relevant information in one concise resource.

Question reference: S3W-39290

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2011
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 24 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) age-standardised incidence for prostate cancer and (b) number of diagnoses of prostate cancer there have been in each year since 1997-98, also broken down by (i) NHS board and (ii) parliamentary constituency.

Data on newly diagnosed cancers in Scotland are recorded on the Scottish Cancer Registry. The most recent calendar year of data currently available is 2008.

Incidence (number of registrations) and age-standardised incidence rates of prostate cancer by NHS board area of residence for calendar years 1997 to 2008.

A copy of the table has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre
(Bib. number 52498) - Table (a)

Ref: IR2011-00325.

Source: Scottish Cancer Registry, ISD.

Data extracted: February 2011.

Incidence (number of registrations) and age-standardised incidence rates of prostate cancer by Scottish parliamentary constituency of residence for calendar years 1997 to 2008.

A copy of the table has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre
(Bib. number 52498) - Table (b)

Ref: IR2011-00325.

Source: Scottish Cancer Registry, ISD.

Data extracted: February 2011.

More comprehensive data on prostate cancer can be found on the Information Services Division website at http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/1488.html.

Question reference: S3W-39293

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2011
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 24 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many attendances at GP surgeries by prostate cancer patients there have been in each year since 1997-98, also broken down by (a) NHS board and (b) parliamentary constituency.

This information is not held centrally however Table 1 shows the estimated numbers of patients attending consultations at Scottish GP practices for prostate cancer related conditions during the financial years 2003-04 to 2008-09.

Patients with prostate cancer will be diagnosed and receive treatment in healthcare settings other than GP practices, and may never consult their GP practice for prostate cancer. They may also consult their GP practice for non-prostate cancer related conditions.

These estimates are based on data from a small sample of general practices in Scotland that participate in the Practice Team Information (PTI) scheme. The patients registered to PTI practices are representative of Scotland as a whole in terms of their age, gender and deprivation profile. However, precise estimates are difficult to generate for small age groups and/or for conditions where patients consult relatively rarely. Confidence intervals are shown to indicate the degree of precision of these estimates.

Table 1

Estimated Numbers¹, with 95% Confidence Intervals², of Patients Attending Consultations with a GP or Practice-employed Nurse for Prostate Cancer, in Scotland.

Financial Year	Estimated Patients	95% Confidence Intervals	Estimated Consultations	95% Confidence Intervals
2003-04	7,471	(6,245-8,696)	27,422	(21,304-33,540)
2004-05	8,667	(7,111-10,223)	28,079	(21,556-34,602)
2005-06	7,067	(5,839-8,294)	22,188	(17,640-26,736)
2006-07	7,833	(6,184-9,482)	23,515	(17,378-29,652)
2007-08	8,146	(6,749-9,543)	22,633	(17,863-27,402)
2008-09	8,371	(7,227-9,516)	23,517	(19,667-27,368)

Notes:

1. Based on data from 59, 53, 51, 49, 48 and 58 PTI practices that submitted complete GP and practice nurse data for the years ending 31 March 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 respectively.

2. As the estimates are based on data from a sample of practices, 95% confidence intervals are included to indicate the relative degree of certainty of these estimates.

Question reference: S3W-39294

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2011
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 24 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many emergency admissions by patients with a primary diagnosis of prostate cancer there have been in each year since 1997-98, also broken down by (a) NHS board and (b) parliamentary constituency.

Figures confirming the number of emergency admissions with a main diagnosis of prostate cancer by NHS board are available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 52507).

Figures confirming the number of emergency admissions with a main diagnosis of prostate cancer by parliamentary constituency are also available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 52501).