Chamber and committees

<>The exact information is not centrally held. However published information showing whole time equivalent and headcount for administrative services Staff is available on the National Services Scotland, Information Services Division website at the following link: http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Overall-Staff-and-Turnover/.

The Final Report is not due to be published until early August 2012, subject to successful peer review. We will consider the findings, once the final report is published, to help us ensure that eye care policies continue to meet the needs of the people of Scotland.

It is for the prescriber to determine the which products are marked as repeat items and the frequency of supply. This includes whether the supply is continuous or as and when required.

While we have not issued specific guidance on the type of ward or unit to be used for transfers of patients with cognitive impairment, the organisation of care for all people with cognitive impairment will be informed by best clinical practice; and for dementia patients by the Standards of Care for Dementia in Scotland, which describe the standards required in all hospitals to ensure that care for all people with dementia, regardless of setting, is safe, effective and person-centred.

Establishment of a register of all medical implants will be considered when the recommendations of the reviews led by Lord Howe and Sir Bruce Keogh are published.

The prescribing of antipsychotic medications in care homes and other settings will be informed by best clinical practice and by national SIGN guideline 86 on the management of patients with dementia, which includes evidence-based recommendations on interventions to manage challenging behaviour symptoms which can be associated with dementia. This guideline was reviewed in 2009. In addition, there were two major regulatory warnings, in 2004 and 2009, which cautioned that antipsychotics were associated with an increased risk of stroke and death in people with dementia. Evidence shows that both warnings had a effect on prescribing by GPs.

The dementia standards, published last year, state that NHS boards must ensure that systems are in place to ensure that capacity to consent to treatment (including the prescribing of psychoactive medication) is considered and that appropriate documentation is in place, in line with Part 5 of The Adults With Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000. The Act says that if the person cannot give valid consent then the view of any proxy decision maker (a welfare power of attorney or welfare guardian) should be sought. A certificate of incapacity must be completed under section 47 of the AWI when someone lacks capacity to consent – this certificate authorised treatment and ensure treatment is given lawfully.

They also state that services must demonstrate knowledge of whether the person with dementia has appointed someone as their welfare power of attorney or if there is a welfare guardian, and that any challenging behaviour must always be addressed by means of an integrated assessment to establish the cause and put a care plan in place to manage it, in line with the relevant SIGN clinical guidelines.

We have a specific commitment in the national dementia strategy to reduce the inappropriate prescribing of psychoactive medication. We are currently considering the findings and recommendations of an academic report we commissioned into time trends in the prescribing of antipsychotic and other psychotropic medications to older people with dementia between 2001-11 and the report will inform a commitment to reduce inappropriate prescribing of psychoactive medication to be finalised this year.

Clinical decision-making in individual cases is taken by the relevant professional, and of course there are cases when the prescribing of psychoactive medication is appropriate and the best treatment option at that particular time, particularly when psychotic symptoms manifest themselves in behaviour which cannot be managed without medication. For example such drugs may be helpful for some in relieving symptoms such as agitation, delusions or hallucinations, and, although there are risks, where the prescribing of psychoactive medication is appropriate, clinical decision-making will always need to weigh any risk against the risks around not prescribing.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-06713 on 26 April 2012. 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.

This is an operational matter for the Principal Reporter of the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration(SCRA ). Referrals to the Reporter and to children’s hearings are made in respect of individual children, not of their parents, expectant parents or other family members, and the data reporting reflects that. The Principal Reporter intends to write to the member to arrange a more detailed discussion on SCRA data and research.

We have no plans to increase the speed limit on motorways in Scotland to 80 mph.

The power to set speed limits lower than the national speed limit of 30 mph generally applicable on urban roads is already devolved.

Through Scotland’s Road Safety Framework to 2020, we are committed to encouraging local authorities to consider 20 mph zones in all residential areas. Accordingly, Transport Scotland is assisting City of Edinburgh Council with the evaluation of a pilot scheme in South Central Edinburgh, which has designated all side streets and some of the main routes in that area as 20 mph. However, we recognise that it is for each local authority to decide on appropriate speed limits on its local roads, based on available evidence.

As stated in Parliament previously, the Scottish Government has no powers to restrict the operations of freight trains on the rail network.

Night time operation of freight trains is a commercial matter for the consideration of rail freight operating companies and their customers.

Overnight coal trains on the Stirlin- Alloa-Kincardine Railway have not ceased.

Due to reduced demand for coal at Longannet Power Station, fewer coal trains were required recently to support the demand of the power station.