Questions and answers

Question reference: S4W-06412

Asked by: David McLetchie, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 March 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 23 April 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the statement by Nicola Sturgeon on 21 March 2012 (Official Report, c. 7456) regarding waiting times management by NHS Lothian, what private providers are being used by the board to tackle the waiting times backlog and at what cost; whether it considers that the extra £4.8 million invested by it and NHS Lothian is sufficient to deal with the backlog, and whether it will provide additional funding to the board to deal with this issue, should it prove necessary.

NHS Lothian has commissioned additional capacity with a number of providers, including other health boards, to support delivery of the waiting times backlog to the end March. To date there have been three main providers of independent sector capacity; Spire Healthcare, Nuffield Health and BMI Ross Hall. A limited amount of additional capacity has also been provided by the Edinburgh Clinic.

It is not possible at this time to confirm what the actual costs of this provision will be.

NHS Lothian has confirmed that further independent sector capacity will be required for Quarter 1 of 2012-13 and work is ongoing to confirm the required expenditure.

NHS Lothian is responsible for ensuring that patients still waiting for an appointment get the treatment they need, and the board has provided an assurance that they will ensure they have sufficient funding to fulfil their responsibilities. The Scottish Government has already provided an additional £1.6 million from waiting times funding to help clear the backlog. This is in addition to the £12.4 million Access Support Funding made available to the board in 2011-12 to deliver current waiting times targets. An expert Scottish Government team is also engaged in helping the board work through the longer term sustainability issues associated with this issue.

Question reference: S4O-00884

Asked by: David McLetchie, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 April 2012
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects to receive a report from NHS Lothian on its inquiry into its management culture.

Question reference: S4W-05468

Asked by: David McLetchie, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Lesley Thomson on 1 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been (a) charged with and (b) convicted of an offence relating to the smuggling of mobile phones into prisons.

Bringing or introducing or attempting to bring or introduce a personal communication device, which includes a mobile phone and any component part thereof, into a prison is an offence under section 41(1)(a) of the Prisons (Scotland) Act 1989, as amended by the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010. Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) does not have data on the number of people charged with this offence. Since the provisions came into force on 13 December 2010, a total of 28 charges have been reported to the COPFS of which 17 were prosecuted. In six out of the nine charges in which proceedings have concluded there was a finding of guilt. A further eight charges are still the subject of on-going court proceedings.

Question reference: S4W-05469

Asked by: David McLetchie, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Lesley Thomson on 1 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners have been (a) charged with and (b) convicted of possession of a mobile phone.

Being in possession of a personal communication device, which includes a mobile phone and any component part thereof, whilst inside a prison is an offence under section 41ZA(3) of the Prisons (Scotland) Act 1989, as amended by the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010.

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) does not hold data on the number of prisoners charged with this offence but since these provisions came into force on 13 December 2010, 119 charges, relating to prisoners possessing personal communication devices whilst inside prison, have been reported to the COPFS by the police. There have been convictions in 58 of the 69 charges in which proceedings have concluded. A further 47 charges are still the subject of ongoing court proceedings.

Question reference: S4O-00767

Asked by: David McLetchie, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 February 2012
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide an update on the progress made in response to its request to NHS Lothian to carry out an internal audit of the application of its waiting time practices and management.

Question reference: S4W-05470

Asked by: David McLetchie, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 28 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been prohibited from making visits to prisons as a result of having been caught attempting to smuggle in a mobile phone.

I have asked John Ewing, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

In the period between 1 January 2011 and 31 January 2012, 12 visitors were caught attempting to bring a mobile phone into the prison.

Four visitors were banned as a result.

Two of the remaining visitors were placed on closed visits and in the case of the other six it was believed that it was a genuine mistake on the part of the visitor, so no further action was taken.”

Question reference: S4W-05366

Asked by: David McLetchie, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 13 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been charged with attempting to purchase tobacco on behalf of someone under 18 since April 2011.

Information on the number of persons charged is not held centrally. Information on the number of persons proceeded against in Scottish courts in 2011-12 will not be available until publication of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2011-12 Statistical Bulletin. This is due to be published in November 2012.

The dates of all Scottish Government Official and National Statistics publications are pre-announced, and the up to date list of future publications can be found at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Search/Forthcoming.

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Services advise that 22 charges have been reported to them under the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2010 for buying or attempting to buy tobacco for persons under 18, since April 2011.

Note:

1. The information for this question has been extracted from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service's Case Management Database. The database is a live, operational database used to manage the processing of reports submitted to procurators fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies. If a Procurator Fiscal amends a charge submitted by a reporting agency the database will record details only of the amended charge.

2. The database is charge-based. The figures quoted therefore relate to the number of charges rather than the number of individuals charged or the number of incidents that gave rise to such charges.

Question reference: S4W-05363

Asked by: David McLetchie, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 13 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people under the age of 18 have been charged with attempting to purchase alcohol in each year since 2009.

Question reference: S4W-05365

Asked by: David McLetchie, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 13 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people under the age of 18 have been charged with attempting to purchase tobacco since April 2011.

Information on the number of persons charged is not held centrally. Information on the number of persons proceeded against in Scottish courts in 2011-12 will not be available until publication of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2011-12 Statistical Bulletin. This is due to be published in November 2012.

The dates of all Scottish Government Official and National Statistics publications are pre-announced, and the up to date list of future publications can be found at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Search/Forthcoming.

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Services advise that one charge has been reported to them under the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2010 for buying or attempting to buy tobacco when under 18, since April 2011.

Notes:

1. The information for this question has been extracted from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service's case management database. The database is a live, operational database used to manage the processing of reports submitted to procurators fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies. If a Procurator Fiscal amends a charge submitted by a reporting agency the database will record details only of the amended charge.

2. The database is charge-based. The figures quoted therefore relate to the number of charges rather than the number of individuals charged or the number of incidents that gave rise to such charges.

Chamber and committees