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-19487

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 24 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it indicated in recent discussions and correspondence with the British Dental Association that the total amount in overpayment of dentists to be recovered would not exceed £3.5 million and, if so, whether this remains the case.

Question reference: S4W-19484

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that the non-time-limited registration system for dentists introduced in 2010 gave the impression that registrations were increasing.

The non-time limited registration system was introduced to ensure a long-term relationship between patient and practitioner. Patient registrations actually fell for the period between December 2009 and March 2010 as a result of removal of duplicate registrations, and deceased patients.

Subsequent increases in the number of patients registered with a dentist are due to a number of factors including the significant increase in the number of dentists providing NHS general dental services in Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-19491

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the accuracy of the data used by Practitioner Services to reclaim alleged overpayments of NHS dentists.

Question reference: S4W-19485

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it did not put in place measures to ensure that duplicate registrations of dentists could be identified and removed.

To support the implementation of non-time limited registration Practitioner Services were required to make changes to their payment system (MIDAS), which included matching the Community Health Index with registration data held in MIDAS. This exercise identified potential duplicate registrations, deceased and embarked patients with active registrations in MIDAS.

Practitioner Services now carry out regular matching exercises to ensure that duplicate registrations do not continue in the system.

Question reference: S4W-19482

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what factors led to the recent alleged overpayment of NHS dentists.

The overpayment recovery process which is underway relates to duplicate registrations of NHS dental patients.

A duplicate registration occurs where a) the patient information submitted by a dentist on a claim, either electronically or in paper form, does not match the information already held by MIDAS (the system used by Practitioner Services to pay dentists), and (b) the information is inaccurately captured.

Question reference: S4W-19483

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that the alleged recent overpayment of dentists is a result of its introduction of a non-time-limited registration system in 2010.

<>I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-19482 on 20 February 2014. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

A duplicate registration is not dependent on the period of the registration, whether time limited or non-time limited.

Question reference: S4W-19486

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether a majority of dentists opposed the non-time-limited registration system introduced in 2010.

Question reference: S4O-02936

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on promoting the German model of work-sharing and work-time accounts as a means of moderating the worst effects of the recession.

Question reference: S4T-00593

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 February 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of figures from the SQA that suggest a reduction in the numbers enrolling for national exams, what action it is taking to ensure access to courses.

Question reference: S4W-19163

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 24 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government when it will next increase the level of vocational training allowance and by what amount.