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-11013

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 March 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 15 April 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made in implementing the diabetic retinopathy screening programme across Scotland.

The national overview follow-up report published by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland and Diabetes UK Scotland in March 2008 of boards'' performance against the diabetes clinical standards confirmed that a national diabetic retinal screening programme is available across NHSScotland. It noted that IT difficulties remained in some boards, and work is in hand to resolve these as a matter of urgency.

Progress is monitored regularly by the diabetic retinopathy screening programme''s executive board, which reports to the Scottish Diabetes Group. This reflects the priority given by the Scottish Diabetes Framework and action plan to the programme.

Question reference: S3W-11012

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 March 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 15 April 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients have received annual diabetic retinopathy screening in each NHS board in each of the last three years.

2005“06

NHS Board	Recorded within Last 15 Months		Recorded Over 15 Months Ago		Not Known		Totals
Argyll and Clyde	5,010	65.3%	1,525	19.9%	1,139	14.8%	7,674
Ayrshire and Arran (a)	10,507	78.3%	0	0.0%	2,907	21.7%	13,414
Borders	2,982	73.7%	0	0.0%	1,064	26.3%	4,046
Dumfries and Galloway	3,286	56.9%	1,593	27.6%	898	15.5%	5,777
Fife	9,762	70.9%	2,308	16.8%	1,704	12.4%	13,774
Forth Valley	7,562	70.3%	1,795	16.7%	1,407	13.1%	10,764
Grampian	12,457	77.9%	1,392	8.7%	2,142	13.4%	15,991
Greater Glasgow	16,870	53.2%	7,998	25.2%	6,816	21.5%	31,684
Highland	4,399	80.1%	71	1.3%	1,025	18.7%	5,495
Lanarkshire	13,213	65.2%	2,611	12.9%	4,433	21.9%	20,257
Lothian	15,972	61.8%	7,310	28.3%	2,562	9.9%	25,844
Orkney	596	80.8%	31	4.2%	111	15.0%	738
Shetland	483	64.8%	21	2.8%	241	32.3%	745
Tayside	12,391	85.1%	1,266	8.7%	911	6.3%	14,568
Western Isles	799	87.5%	106	11.6%	8	0.9%	913
Scotland 2005	116,289	67.7%	28,027	16.3%	27,368	15.9%	171,684

2006“07

NHS Board	Screened Within Last 15 Months		Screened Over 15 Months Ago		Not Known		Totals
Argyll and Clyde	10,248	66.0%	3,293	21.2%	1,978	12.7%	15,519
Ayrshire and Arran	11,780	79.1%	1,936	13.0%	1,184	7.9%	14,900
Borders	3,458	78.5%	601	13.6%	345	7.8%	4,404
Dumfries and Galloway	5,325	82.9%	613	9.5%	485	7.6%	6,423
Fife	10,772	74.4%	2,472	17.1%	1,241	8.6%	14,485
Forth Valley	8,456	72.7%	1,785	15.4%	1,386	11.9%	11,627
Grampian	14,035	77.6%	2,075	11.5%	1,978	10.9%	18,088
Greater Glasgow	18,156	53.4%	11,135	32.9%	4,678	13.8%	33,969
Highland	5,685	72.4%	1,131	14.4%	1,040	13.2%	7,856
Lanarkshire	14,508	65.2%	3,687	16.6%	4,046	18.2%	22,241
Lothian	21,158	75.6%	4,629	16.5%	2,200	7.9%	27,987
Orkney	710	87.9%	43	5.3%	55	6.8%	808
Shetland	624	75.5%	108	13.1%	94	11.4%	826
Tayside	12,944	83.1%	1,669	10.7%	972	6.2%	15,585
Western Isles	612	61.3%	295	29.5%	92	9.2%	999
Scotland 2006	138,471	70.8%	35,472	18.1%	21,774	11.1%	195,717

2007-08

NHS Board	Screened Within Last 15 Months		Screened Over 15 Months Ago		Not Recorded/Not Known		Totals
Ayrshire and Arran	13,721	86%	1,421	8.9%	785	4.9%	15,927
Borders	3,415	75%	792	17.3%	375	8.2%	4582
Dumfries and Galloway	6,071	90%	358	5.3%	304	4.5%	6733
Fife	13,518	88%	1,083	7.1%	729	4.8%	15,330
Forth Valley	10,662	88%	909	7.5%	569	4.7%	12,140
Grampian	17,008	82%	2,084	10.0%	1,785	8.6%	20,877
Greater Glasgow	38,644	80%	5,646	11.6%	4,086	8.4%	48,376
Highland	9,545	80%	1,348	11.2%	1,036	8.6%	11,929
Lanarkshire	19,923	84%	2,219	9.4%	1,590	6.7%	23,732
Lothian	25,404	86%	2,622	8.8%	1,688	5.7%	29,714
Orkney	739	90%	59	7.2%	21	2.5%	819
Shetland	628	74%	156	18.3%	69	8.1%	853
Tayside	14,205	86%	1,438	8.6%	977	5.9%	16,620
Western Isles	897	88%	71	7.0%	52	5.1%	1020
Scotland 2007	174,380	83.5%	20,206	9.7%	14,066	6.7%	208,652

Source: Scottish Diabetes Survey.

Question reference: S3W-10577

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 February 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 11 March 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in light of estimations that 1 in 20 people carry the thrombophilia gene and that around 3,000 people die of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in Scotland each year, there are any plans to increase the level of information available to doctors and patients on the risks of DVT.

As an interim measure until the revised SIGN guideline is available, the Chief Medical Officer and the Chairman of NHS Quality Improvement Scotland have written to NHS boards asking them to ensure that consistent and accessible patient information on the prevention and management of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is available. Boards have therefore been asked to use the standard patient information leaflets provided with the letter. We have also commissioned Lifeblood, the thrombosis charity, to develop a general information leaflet on DVT. We expect GPs to make people aware of this leaflet and to display it so that it is available to the general public.

Question reference: S3W-10576

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 February 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 11 March 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any plans to review and change assessment guidelines for deep vein thrombosis.

Question reference: S3W-10575

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 February 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 11 March 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any plans to record figures on deep vein thrombosis.

Question reference: S3W-07393

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2007
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 13 December 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases taken on by claims companies have been settled out of court in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S3W-07392

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2007
Current Status: Answered by Elish Angiolini on 12 December 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many reports have been made to procurators fiscal about people from claims companies pretending to be solicitors in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S3W-07391

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2007
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 12 December 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it will make to the UK Government to regulate claims companies under the Companies Act 2006.

Claims companies inEngland and Wales are regulated by the Secretary of State under the Compensation Act 2006,pending the establishment of the Legal Services Board under the Legal Services Act2007. There is no equivalent regulatory structure in Scotland, but there is currently an active debate underway about the regulation andbusiness structures of the Scottish legal profession in Scotland, prompted by a report of the Office of Fair Trading.Ministers await the outcome of a consultation by the Law Society of Scotland, whichconcludes in January, and will thereafter work with the legal profession to agreea way forward. This will provide an opportunity to consider what measures mightbe necessary in Scotland to regulate claims companies.

Question reference: S3W-06894

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 November 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 3 December 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to increase the level of recruitment of neonatal nursing staff.

Question reference: S3W-06893

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 November 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 3 December 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many training places have been available in each year since 1997 for post-registration specialist qualifications in neonatal nursing.

Information onthe number of training placesthat have been available in each year since 1997 for post-registrationspecialist qualifications in neonatal nursing is not available centrally.

Howeverprovisional informationprovided by NHS Education for Scotland for Specialist Practitioner Qualificationsince 1997 is as follows:

Year of Completion	Glasgow Caledonian University	Napier University	Total
1997-98	0	0	0
1998-99	0	0	0
1999-2000	0	8	8
2000-01	2	3	5
2001-02	2	5	7
2002-03	3	0	3
2003-04	0	11	11
2004-05	0	2	2
2005-06	1	6	7
Total	8	35	43