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-20581

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 24 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what modelling it carried out to calculate the suggested £2.2 billion increase in economic output as a result of the childcare policies outlined in the white paper on independence.

The Scottish Government modelled the impacts of increased female participation using a Computable General Equilibrium model of the Scottish economy. As outlined in the Childcare and Labour Market Participation – Economic Analysis paper, an increase in output by £2.2 billion could arise from matching Sweden’s female participation rate. Such an expansion is modelled to take place over a number of years.

Question reference: S4W-20463

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 23 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is participating in the national heart failure audit and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Heart disease remains a clinical priority for NHSScotland and the Scottish Government. There has been substantial investment and redesign in cardiology services which has contributed to NHSScotland reducing mortality rates from coronary heart disease by over 43% in the last 10 years.

Scotland is not participating in the national heart failure audit which is being carried out in England and Wales. The Scottish Government’s preferred approach to supporting improved care for patients with heart failure is to work with the Scottish Patient Safety Programme to encourage consistent delivery of the heart failure bundle across the whole of Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-20465

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 23 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve the treatment and care of patients with heart failure.

The Better Heart Disease and Stroke Care Action Plan, emphasises the Scottish Government’s commitment to tackling heart disease as a clinical priority for NHSScotland and specifically highlights the need for a greater strategic focus on improving the care of people with heart failure.

The Heart Failure Hub has been established as a subgroup of The National Advisory Committee on Heart Disease in order to take forward a national programme of work in relation to heart failure. The group brings together clinicians, managers, the voluntary sector and patients to ensure a co-ordinated approach to tackling the many challenges facing heart failure teams in NHS boards across Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-20466

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 23 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how the (a) treatment, (b) care and (c) life expectancy of patients with heart failure in Scotland compares with the rest of the UK.

Scotland has some of the best health service data in the world and on an annual basis produces information on a range of heart conditions in Scotland. There is evidence, that life expectancy for people with coronary heart disease, the main cause of heart failure, is increasing year on year in Scotland. Information is not collected centrally to allow directly comparable statistics on the life expectancy of patients with heart failure in the rest of the UK.

Recent data suggests that the number of people surviving 30 days after hospital discharge with a diagnosis of heart failure is also increasing but there is scope for further improvement. The Scottish Government is prioritising quality improvement strategies for heart failure and will continue to work with the Scottish Patient Safety Programme to encourage reliable delivery of the heart failure bundle to advance the treatment, care and life expectancy of people living with heart failure across Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-20117

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 9 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent to date on public question and answer events relating to the white paper on independence.

Question reference: S4W-20116

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 9 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £450,000 budgeted for the white paper on independence public information campaign has been spent.

Question reference: S4W-20118

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 9 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many copies of the white paper on independence have been distributed in (a) Scotland, (b) England, (c) Wales, (d) Northern Ireland and (e) internationally.

Question reference: S4O-03099

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 2 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what economic modelling the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth has carried out on the childcare policies contained in the white paper on independence.

Improving access to childcare would reduce an important barrier to participation in the labour market faced by parents with young children, which would be expected to have positive impacts on the Scottish economy.

The Scottish Government has carried out economic modelling that showed that if Scotland’s female participation rate was to increase to Swedish levels, this would lead to an increase in output of £2.2 billion and a rise in government revenues of around £700 million in the long-run. The details of this modelling are provided in the Childcare and Labour Market Participation – Economic analysis paper, which was published in January 2014.

Question reference: S4T-00657

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 31 March 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the report by ISD Scotland into nursing vacancies.

Question reference: S4W-20219

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 26 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to the supplementary to question S4O-03002 by Alex Neil on 12 March 2014 (Official Report, c. 28811), what evidence the cabinet secretary has to support the claim that the "Scottish health service is the safest in the world".

We have a range of data from the Scottish Patient Safety Programmes which supports progress in Acute Care, Primary Care, Mental Health and Maternity and Paediatrics.

We can also look to the views of international experts such as Prof Don Berwick, the man asked by UK PM David Cameron to help fix NHS England’s NHS who said "The Scottish Patient Safety Programme, marks Scotland as a leader, second to no nation on earth, in its commitment to reducing harm to patients, dramatically and continually."

Location	Total
Scotland	52216
England	2658
Northern Ireland	108
Wales	136
International	29