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: S4F-02534

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 19 January 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 January 2015

To ask the First Minister what steps the Scottish Government has taken to reassure the Jewish community following recent terrorist attacks and the reported rise in anti-Semitism.

Question reference: S4O-03913

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 January 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what assurance it can provide that Clyde and Hebridean ferry services will not be privatised.

Question reference: S4W-23382

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-22893 by Alex Neil on 11 November 2014, what the average length of stay for patients was, and how many were discharged after (a) one, (b) two, (c) three, (d) four, (e) five, (f) six, (g) seven and (h) more than seven days.

The average length of stay (days) for patients in maternity units in Scotland for all discharges for each of the last five years 2008-09 to 2012-13 are as follows:

Number of women discharged from hospital for all discharges, including discharges after delivery and antenatal/postnatal discharges^1,2,3,4 and length of stay in days⁵, financial years 2008-09 to 2012-13

Length of stay (days)⁵

	Total	<1	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8 or more	Mean
2008-09	128,492	57,942	23,329	18,636	12,325	6,925	3,733	2,039	1,146	2,417	1.5
2009-10	124,600	53,830	24,156	19,314	12,338	6,508	3,334	1,922	1,085	2,113	1.5
2010-11	121,301	50,460	24,850	19,837	11,977	6,207	3,240	1,756	1,012	1,962	1.5
2011-12	123,020	51,910	25,212	19,768	11,810	6,257	3,365	1,789	1,040	1,869	1.5
2012-13	118,634	49,160	24,966	19,164	11,253	6,164	3,302	1,759	1,026	1,840	1.5

1 Excludes home births and births at non-NHS hospitals.

2 A mother is counted once when a multiple birth occurs.

3 Includes live and stillbirths.

4 Completeness of SMR02 for antenatal and postnatal records may be much lower for some boards.

5 Length of stay is calculated using date of admission and date of discharge. Where the date of admission and the date of discharge are

the same day the length of stay is calculated as zero days.

Source: SMR02, ISD

Extracted: November 2014

Ref: IR2014-02051 (S4W-23382)

Question reference: S4W-23407

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 3 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-22893 by Alex Neil on 11 November 2014, what guidance it issues on the discharge of patients from maternity units.

Question reference: S4W-23406

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 3 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-22893 by Alex Neil on 11 November 2014, how it monitors the discharge of patients from maternity units.

There is no formal routine monitoring of discharges from maternity unit. Maternity units manage their own capacity as they have a defined cohort of patients which is not impacted upon by other hospital pressures. They do not take patients from other specialities and women are not boarded in other wards or departments. Maternity services do not have the same issues as other specialities as the majority of women are healthy to start with. Discharge from hospital is not a discharge from care, as care is continued in the community by the maternity team.

Question reference: S4W-23190

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 3 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of the prevalence of autism in Scotland; whether it is increasing, and whether it considers that the Scottish Strategy for Autism will have an impact on it.

The Scottish Government focus is on support for people with autism and autism service delivery. We are ensuring the visibility of the population with autism in routinely collected data is a priority and we have commissioned the newly established Scottish Learning Disabilities Observatory to specifically support data collection in this regard. This work is at an early stage.

A key priority under the Scottish Strategy for Autism is improving access to diagnosis and, as a priority, work is underway to develop an improvement programme with diagnostic services to explore ways of improving capacity and ensuring individuals with autism have timely access to diagnostics and thereafter post diagnostic support.

Question reference: S4W-23094

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that the Guidance on Free Personal and Nursing Care in Scotland 2003 pertaining to local authorities on contractual routes for care is fully implemented.

Question reference: S4W-23093

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether local authorities are obliged to follow the recommendations outlined in the Guidance on Free Personal and Nursing Care in Scotland 2003.

Circular CCD5/2003 provides guidance on the operation of free personal and nursing care to local authorities. Local authorities are required by Section 5 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 to act under the general guidance of Scottish Ministers.

We are aware of an inconsistency between this guidance and the Charging for Residential Accommodation Guidance, around the availability of the integrated route of purchasing care and will seek to resolve this at an early opportunity.

Question reference: S4W-23095

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what information it collects on the uptake of the three routes for contractual arrangements outlined in the Guidance on Free Personal and Nursing Care in Scotland 2003.

Question reference: S4W-23186

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the findings of the research paper, Scottish adolescents’ sun-related behaviours, tanning attitudes and associations with skin cancer awareness: a cross-sectional study, that (a) "urgent action is required to promote positive sun-related behaviour and increase skin cancer awareness among Scottish adolescents" and (b) "further research is needed to inform the development of effective sunsafe interventions."

The Scottish Government welcomes the research which was supported though the Scottish Government funded Detect Cancer Early programme partnership with the Teenage Cancer Trust and we applaud the work that the charity does in raising awareness of the importance of early detection of cancer. The Scottish Government has worked with a number of partners and charities on previous and ongoing awareness raising campaigns which aim to educate young people and adults about the risk and harms of sun exposure and sunbed use. This includes the ‘R UV Ugly?’ campaign run in partnership with Cancer Research UK. The Scottish Government is also working with the Teenage Cancer Trust, schools, NHS and other cancer charities to develop a sun awareness education programme to be used in schools or other youth group settings. Key messages on sun safety will be delivered with the emphasis on the point that young people can and do get skin cancer but it can be prevented.

In addition, Scotland has led the way in the UK by being the first country to introduce legislation for sunbed use. This prohibits under-18s from using sunbeds and requires sunbed operators to provide customers with health information on the health risks associated with sunbed use.

In relation to further research, the Chief Scientist Office (CSO) is a major funder of clinical research in Scotland, including research into the causes and treatment of cancer. Scottish-based researchers can apply for funding to the CSO’s Experimental and Translational Research Committee, and its Health Services and Population Health Research Committee. The CSO will contact the lead author of the current study to discuss the findings and to ensure that he is aware of the funding opportunities referred to above.