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-10201

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 12 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 1 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) NHS and (b) National Services Division's budget has been for orthodontic treatment in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S4W-10205

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 12 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 1 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how much in fees has been paid out for orthodontic treatment in each year since 2007.

The amount in fees that has been paid out for orthodontic treatment in each year since 2007 is shown in the following tables.

Practitioner Services Division Total Fees Paid to Orthodontic Specialists Item of Service Treatments During Period

Orthodontic Fee Spend (£)

Scotland	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
	14,902,355	16,220,017	17,973,315	18,246,379	18,957,211	20,547,355

The figures above do not include fees paid to non-orthodontic General Dental Practitioners who undertake orthodontic treatment as these figures are not held.

Question reference: S4W-10203

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 12 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 1 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what the criteria are for approving orthodontic treatment; when these were agreed and what changes were made to previous criteria as a result.

The purpose of NHS General Dental Service (GDS) provision, including orthodontics, is to secure and maintain the oral health of the patient. Orthodontic cases have always been assessed on this basis. Orthodontic Treatment Need gives an evidence based framework to the system (IOTN) and brings clarity to the system.

The use of IOTN was first proposed in the Dental Action Plan (DAP) in 2005, and was introduced with effect from 1 October 2011 as an assessment method to ensure that NHS orthodontic resources are focussed clearly on those children who have a clinical need for treatment and who will have an oral health benefit at completion of treatment.

Question reference: S4W-10204

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 12 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 1 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) children and (b) adults have received orthodontic treatment in each year since 2007.

The number of people who have received NHS orthodontic treatment under the General Dental Services (GDS) and the number who have attended an outpatient orthodontic specialty are shown in the following tables.

General Dental Services Orthodontic Treatment

Financial Year

2007-08

2008-09

2009-10

2010-11*

2011-12*

All ages	93,217	96,488	99,178	98,815	101,214
eChildren (ages 0-17)	89,403	92,321	94,251	93,373	94,278
Adults (ages 18 and over)	3,814	4,167	4,927	5,442	6,936

SMR00 Orthodontic Outpatient Attendance

Financial Year

2007-08

2008-09

2009-10

2010-11*

2011-12*

All ages	10,091	10,481	10,937	10,235	9,464
Children (ages 0-17)	7,993	8,030	7,941	7,453	6,985
Adults (ages 18 and over)	2,098	2,451	2,996	2,782	2,479

Note: *Data for 2010-11 and 2011-12 are provisional.

Question reference: S4F-00915

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 October 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 October 2012

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the latest labour market statistics suggesting that there has been a quarterly increase in unemployment in Scotland compared with a fall across the rest of the UK.

Question reference: S4O-01283

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 September 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish its plans for broadcasting in an independent Scotland before the referendum.

Question reference: S4W-08317

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of how it calculated the underspend in the (a) Rural Affairs and the Environment, (b) Education and Lifelong Learning and (c) Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth portfolio that were reported in Provisional Outturn 2011-12 and Shovel-Ready Projects.

The Provisional Outturn 2011-12 and Shovel-Ready Projects paper of 27 June 2012 provided unaudited figures in respect of performance against budget. As in previous years, the Scottish Government will publish an Analysis of Major Variances (including these DEL variances) based on audited figures in the Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts. The accounts for the year ended 31 March 2012 are expected to be published in late September.

Question reference: S4W-08502

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 29 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 11 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish prescribing guidelines for the drug, eculizumab.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has issued two pieces of advice for eculizumab (Soliris^®) for NHS Scotland.

Number 436/07 was issued on 8 November 2011 and is not recommended for use in NHS Scotland for the treatment of patients with paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria (PNH). The manufacturer did not supply any health economic analysis and cost-effectiveness was not demonstrated in an independent economic analysis therefore eculizumab cannot be recommended for use within NHS Scotland.

Number 767/12 was issued on the 13 February 2012 and is not recommended for use in NHS Scotland, in the absence of a submission from the holder of the marketing authorisation, for the treatment of patients with atypical haemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS.)

There are no plans to issue any further prescribing guidance.

Manufacturers are free to resubmit to SMC at any time.

Question reference: S4W-07798

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 27 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether HM Revenue and Customs has indicated that it is likely to (a) inhibit or (b) veto decisions of the Scottish Government in respect of fiscal policy and whether any similar discussions have taken place with the (i) Bank of England or (ii) Treasury with respect to a Scotland separated from the rest of the UK using sterling.

In evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Finance Committee on 30 May 2012, HMRC set out the limitations of the role they would play in the collection and administration of the two replacement taxes devolved by the Scotland Act 2012:

“If it (the Scottish Government) wants something that has a different framework or different rates, we would have to look at the details of what it wanted to do and decide whether it made sense for us to try to adapt our systems to operate that or whether we would need to say that it was so different that there would be no point in our trying to operate it.”

The Scottish Government engages in discussions with the Bank of England and UK Government on matters of importance to the Scottish economy.

Under independence fiscal policy would be the responsibility of the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S4W-08042

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 27 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what reduction there has been in the length of police training for new recruits in each of the last eight years.