- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 September 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Adam Ingram on 23 September 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-15371 by Adam Ingram on 27 August 2008, for what reason it did not provide the necessary matched funding to allow it to take up the European Commission grant for the provision of free fruit and vegetable scheme.
Answer
There was no need for the Scottish Government to provide match funding in order to participate in the EU school fruit scheme. The regulations associated with the EU scheme allow Scotland to claim up to 100% of eligible costs of an extension, up to the value of 50% of the overall scheme value for each participating local authority, in lieu of the fact that Scotland already funds a free school fruit scheme.
However, despite being successful in our bid for EU funding, Scotland is unable to gain any real benefit from participation in the scheme due to UK Treasury rules requiring 72p in every pound claimed from the EU under this scheme to be immediately repaid to the UK Treasury.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 September 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 22 September 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions ministers have had with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) regarding road issues at sites 5 and 6 at Almondbank, Perthshire, where the Scottish Government is a tenant of DEFRA.
Answer
Scottish Government officials have had some discussion with Defra regarding a proposal by them to transfer the legal title and maintenance responsibilities for part of the road serving Site 6 Almondbank from Defra to Scottish Government. As the full implications of taking title and financial responsibilities for the road are extremely complex, these are having to be carefully considered and no decision will be taken until all the implications of ownership have been fully explored and quantified.
The Scottish Government owns Site 6 and is not a tenant of DEFRA who own Site 5.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 August 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 13 September 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive which cancers are not audited for the purpose of determining whether they meet the cancer waiting times targets, broken down by (a) regional cancer network and (b) NHS board.
Answer
In answer to this question we will note which cancers are audited. There are no regional or NHS board differences, so the following are valid across NHSScotland. All monitoring is for new diagnoses only, not recurrent disease. The cohorts are applicable for patients treated from 1 July 2010.
There are three different cohorts monitored against cancer waiting times targets:
1. All patients with a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukaemia or acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, biphenotypic or bilineal acute leukaemia are audited against a target of one month (31 days) from referral to treatment.
2. All patients aged under 16 diagnosed with cancer (ICD-10 C00-C96, excluding C44 M-809 (basal cell carcinoma)) are audited against a target of one month (31 days) from referral to treatment.
3. The following cancer types are monitored against the two targets announced in Better Cancer Care, namely 62 days from urgent referral with a suspicion of cancer to first treatment and 31 days from decision to treat to treatment:
| Tumour Type | ICD-10 Codes Included |
| Breast | C50, D05 |
| Colorectal | C18-20 |
| Head and Neck | C00-14, C30-32, C76.0 |
| Lung | C33-34 |
| Lymphoma | C81-85 |
| Melanoma | New primary invasive (i.e. Clark level > 1) melanoma of any site except eye. Includes C43 (Skin) Proven secondary melanoma where the origin of the primary lesion has never been identified. |
| Gynaecological | C53, C56, C48 (only if ovarian type), D39.1 |
| Upper gastro-intestinal | C15-16, C17.0, C22-25 |
| Urology | C60-68 |
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 August 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 9 September 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases of NDM-1 have been recorded in the last 12 months and what the outcome was for each case
Answer
Health Protection Scotland (HPS) has confirmed there have been no recorded cases of NDM-1 over the past 12 months.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 September 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 9 September 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) average, (b) median and (c) longest delays are in courts hearing applications for all forms of guardianship under the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 in each of the last three years
Answer
This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court Service (SCS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCS who will reply in writing.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 August 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 3 September 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Patient Rights (Scotland) Bill will ensure that every patient for whom an insulin pump is deemed appropriate will receive it as well as education and support for its effective use.
Answer
The Patient Rights (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament on 17 March 2010. The policy content of the Bill is set out in the Policy Memorandum. The bill is now going through the parliamentary process and the final shape of the bill will be a matter for Parliament.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 August 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 3 September 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, under the Patient Rights (Scotland) Bill, it will retain a waiting time guarantee for diagnostic procedures as at present or have a specific guarantee included under the overall referral to treatment guarantee.
Answer
The Patient Rights (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament on 17 March 2010. The policy content of the bill is set out in the Policy Memorandum. The bill is now going through the parliamentary process and the final shape of the bill will be a matter for Parliament.
The current waiting time standard of six weeks for key diagnostic tests is a milestone target towards delivery of the 18 weeks referral to treatment target. Recently published waiting time statistics for 30 June 2010, showed that NHSScotland effectively delivered a four week wait for the key diagnostic tests.
It is intended that by late Spring next year to publish data showing NHSScotland''s performance against the 18 weeks referral to treatment time target. We will however continue to publish stage of treatment waiting times, including waits for key diagnostic tests to ensure that all patients are accessing these services quickly.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 August 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 3 September 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what rights will be given to children under the Patient Rights (Scotland) Bill and whether they will be given a guarantee of access to appropriate education if they are an inpatient for a specific length of time.
Answer
The Patient Rights (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament on 17 March 2010. The policy content of the Bill is set out in the Policy Memorandum. The bill is now going through the parliamentary process and the final shape of the bill will be a matter for Parliament.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 August 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 3 September 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what services are not proposed to be part of the 12-week guaranteed maximum waiting time contained in the Patient Rights (Scotland) Bill; what guarantees will be for a shorter period than 12 weeks, and for what provisions.
Answer
The Patient Rights (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament on 17 March 2010. The policy content of the bill is set out in the Policy Memorandum. The bill is now going through the parliamentary process and the final shape of the bill will be a matter for Parliament.
The current waiting time standards and targets which are less than 12 weeks are access to the GP practice team, key diagnostic tests, cancer, accident and emergency, drug rehabilitation. The Scottish Government expects NHS boards to deliver on these standards and targets as well as implementing recommendations on access contained in clinical guidelines.
- Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 August 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 3 September 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how the Patient Rights (Scotland) Bill differs from the patients’ charter in respect of the provision of compensation.
Answer
The Patient Rights (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament on 17 March 2010. The policy content of the bill is set out in the Policy Memorandum. The bill is now going through the parliamentary process and the final shape of the bill will be a matter for Parliament.
