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-00020

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 May 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 25 May 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to ensure that classroom assistants who have been encouraged to give up their posts to undertake teacher training are given an assurance of employment on satisfactory completion of their probationer year.

The Scottish Government does not employ teachers and cannot therefore offer a guarantee of employment beyond the offer of employment for a one-year probationary period.

However, under the terms of the budget agreement, local authorities have undertaken that in addition to providing places for all new probationer teachers in August 2011 there will be sufficient teaching posts available for which all who successfully complete their probation in summer 2011 can apply.

Question reference: S4W-00018

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 May 2011
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 25 May 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what reduction in the number of acute hospital beds it envisages in the current parliamentary session.

Question reference: S4W-00021

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 May 2011
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 25 May 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Medicines Consortium proposes to take action in light of the study in The New England Journal of Medicine claiming that bevacizumab is as effective as ranibizumab in the treatment of wet macular degeneration.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) appraises all newly licensed medicines for clinical and cost-effectiveness and publishes advice for NHSScotland. The SMC does not appraise a medicine to treat a condition for which the pharmaceutical company that manufactures it does not hold a marketing authorisation (license) for the treatment of that condition.

Whilst bevacizumab (Avastin) is licensed for the treatment of other conditions, it is not licensed for the treatment of eye conditions. Responsibility for obtaining a marketing authorisation for bevacizumab to treat wet age-related macular degeneration rests with the pharmaceutical company that manufactures it. The pharmaceutical company would then be able to submit clinical and cost-effectiveness evidence for consideration by the SMC.

Question reference: S4W-00016

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 May 2011
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 25 May 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to abolish the Scottish Patient Safety Alliance.

The Scottish Patient Safety Alliance and its National Advisory Board have been subsumed within the arrangements to implement the NHSScotland Healthcare Quality Strategy, including the establishment of the Quality Alliance Board and the Safe Delivery Group. These arrangements will ensure that patient safety remains a top priority but within the wider context of the aims of the Quality Strategy.

Question reference: S4W-00017

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 May 2011
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 25 May 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had discussions with the General Medical Council to ensure that undergraduate medical teaching and appraisal and revalidation processes cover (a) teaching patient safety and (b) the importance of human factors in the safe practice of medicine.

The undergraduate medical curriculum is approved by the General Medical Council (GMC) and encompasses teaching patient safety and the importance of human factors in the safe practice of medicine.

Undergraduate medical students are not subject to appraisal and will not be required to revalidate because, by the nature of their undergraduate status, they are not qualified or licensed to practice. Revalidation applies only to doctors who hold a licence to practice and those doctors will be required to bring evidence to their annual appraisal of all aspects of their practice, including from clinical incidents, and patient feedback.

There have therefore been no discussions between the GMC and the Scottish Government on undergraduate medical teaching and appraisal and revalidation processes.

Question reference: S3W-40094

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 March 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 22 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has undertaken research on the reason for the increase in the number of prisoners on remand.

The population of remand prisoners has increased over the past decade, but the latest figures for 2009-10 show an average daily remand population 9% lower than the previous year.

There has been internal analysis of the reasons for the increase in the remand population. Trends in the number of remand prisoners are monitored through regular prison statistics publications and the most recent prison population projections statistical release includes discussion of the factors contributing to increases in the remand population during the late 2000s.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice/PubPrisons.

Question reference: S3W-40578

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2011
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 21 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage increase there has been in the production of lean (a) beef, (b) lamb and (c) pork since the publication of the report, A Scottish Diet, in 1993.

Question reference: S3W-40569

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2011
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 21 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has made since May 2007 in relation to the incidence and prevalence of alcohol-related brain damage.

Since May 2007, the Scottish Government has continued work to translate the principles and recommendations of Mind the Gaps (2003) and A Fuller Life (2004) reports into practical advice on action needed to move the joint agenda forward and support joined-up local delivery to improve the awareness, support and service provision for people who have both mental health and substance misuse problems.

The Closing the Gaps “ Making a Difference report, published in December 2007, sets out six recommendations to be implemented by a range of partners including: NHS boards, Alcohol & Drug Partnerships (ADPs) (formerly Alcohol and Drug Action Teams (ADATs)) and local authorities.

In 2010, the Mental Welfare Commission (MWC) Missed Opportunities report set out two recommendations for the Scottish Government in relation to alcohol-related brain damage. We have sought and received the advice of the Scottish Ministerial Advisory Committee on Alcohol Problems (SMACAP) Essential Services Working Group on these recommendations and are currently considering next steps.

Question reference: S3W-40568

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2011
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 21 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made since May 2007 of the incidence and prevalence of alcohol-related brain damage.

Question reference: S3W-40574

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2011
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 21 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what action has been taken to deliver the recommendations in Eating for Health: A Diet Action Plan for Scotland.

Over the 15 years since Eating for Health: a Diet Action Plan for Scotland was published, work between government, stakeholders and the food industry has continued moving towards delivering the 71 recommendations. Full details of progress up to 2005 was published in the review of the Scottish Diet Action Plan.

The Scottish Government remains fully committed to the themes set out in the original plan and continues to support these through policies like the Obesity Route Map, Recipe for Success: the National Food and Drink policy, Improving Maternal and Infant Nutrition: A Framework for Action and through our work with the Food Standards Agency Scotland.