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: S3W-16702

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 21 October 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive when the report by Health Facilities Scotland’s independent assessor on each NHS board’s audit of its cleaning process will be made available to the Parliament.

Question reference: S3W-16600

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 26 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 9 October 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what income was received from prescription charges in 2007-08, broken down by NHS board.

The income received from prescription charges in 2007-08, broken down by NHS board, is set out in the following table:

NHS Board	Prescription Charge Income^1,2 (£000)
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	3,460
NHS Borders	1,131
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	1,552
NHS Fife	3,488
NHS Forth Valley	3,019
NHS Grampian	5,781
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	9,985
NHS Highland	3,278
NHS Lanarkshire	5,471
NHS Lothian	7,351
NHS Orkney	201
NHS Shetland	282
NHS Tayside	3,758
NHS Western Isles	292
Total	49,048

Notes:

1. Excludes charges to English stoma providers

2. The NHS Scotland total may not equal the sum of the NHS boards total due to rounding.

Question reference: S3W-16515

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 6 October 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what the level of public funding was for stair lifts in (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2007-08.

Data collected by the Scottish Government on adaptations to the homes of disabled people does not distinguish between different types of adaptations. Information for the period requested on public expenditure on adaptations such that is available is contained in the answer to question S3W-16514 on 6 October 2008. 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./webapp/wa.search.

Question reference: S3W-16514

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 6 October 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what the level of public funding was for home adaptations for disabled people in (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2007-08.

Local authorities'' expenditure on adaptations to their own stock and expenditure by local authority social work departments on minor adaptations and equipment is not separately recorded.

2006-07

£ Million

2007-08

£ Million

Private Sector Adaptations

17.688

Adaptations by Registered Social Landlord

11.244

13.260

Note: *Figures for 2007-08 are not yet available.

Question reference: S3W-16226

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 25 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual expenditure for pandemic preparedness was in (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2007-08; what it will be for 2008-09, and under which budget heading this funding occurs.

In 2006-07 identifiable expenditure on pandemic flu preparedness was £10,739,435 from the Public Health and Workplace Health budget, £8,000 from the Civil Defence and Emergency Planning budget and £2,750 from the General Register Office for Scotland''s (GROS) budget.

In 2007-08 identifiable expenditure was £5,236,505 from the Public Health and Workplace Health budget, £38,583 from the Civil Defence and Emergency Planning budget, £9,000 from the Scottish Prison Service and £2750 from GROS'' budgets.

In 2008-09, resource funding of £8,000,000 and capital funding of £2,900,000 is available for pandemic flu preparedness from the Improving Health and Better Public Health budget. The estimated expenditure from the Civil Defence and Emergency Planning budget is £6,000.

In 2007-08, there was a higher pandemic flu expenditure from the Civil Defence and Emergency Planning budget. This reflects a contribution towards a UK-wide programme of public engagement research.

General pandemic preparedness work and associated expenditure in other areas of the Scottish Government is carried out as part of normal Scottish Government activity and separate costs are therefore not available.

Question reference: S3W-16230

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 24 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance has been issued on the medical management in standard police cells and legalised cells of prisoners who (a) have an untreated drug dependency and (b) are enrolled in a drug treatment programme.

Medical management of prisoners in standard police cells and legalised cells of prisoners with an untreated drug dependency or who are enrolled in a drug treatment programme is determined at a local level. Each police force in Scotland has arrangements in place for the health care of those in their custody. A prisoner would generally only be allocated a legalised police cell if there were not enough time to take him or her to a prison, having been remanded or convicted in court. Prisoners would therefore only spend a very short time in such a cell before either being taken back to court or transferred to a prison.

The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland and Her Majesty''s Inspectorate of Constabulary are currently looking at the range of existing arrangements for provision of medical services in police custody with a view to identifying best practice models which can be deployed to suit local circumstances.

Question reference: S3W-16231

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 23 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive when the contract with Medacs Healthcare for the provision of non-specialist medical services will end and when NHS boards will take over these services.

Provision of medical services in police custody is determined at a local level, and each police force in Scotland has arrangements in place for the health care of those in their custody. In January 2009, Tayside Police and NHS Tayside will begin a three year pilot partnership to provide police surgeon services, covering custody health care, forensic services, and training and development. The model of service provision subsequently adopted will be informed by the evaluation of the pilot.

Question reference: S3W-16228

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 22 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how much income will be lost to each NHS board from abolition of prescription and appliance charges.

The estimated cost of the phased abolition of prescription charges over the next three years is £17 million, £24 million and £32 million, respectively. An allocation of £17 million, based on income in 2007-08, has been made to boards for 2008-09 and is split as follows:

NHS Board	£000
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	1,207
NHS Borders	396
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	536
NHS Fife	1,212
NHS Forth Valley	1,044
NHS Grampian	1,999
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	3,459
NHS Highland	1,143
NHS Lanarkshire	1,894
NHS Lothian	2,543
NHS Orkney	70
NHS Shetland	98
NHS Tayside	1,298
NHS Western Isles	102

The precise effect on each NHS board''s annual income will be monitored during the course of each financial year and will inform future allocations to boards.

Question reference: S3W-16232

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 22 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what annual funding will be available to each NHS board in areas where there are one or more prisons, or legalised police cells, on the assumption that responsibility for non-specialist medical services will be transferred from the Scottish Prison Service.

The funding arrangements for NHS boards regarding the proposed transfer of primary health care services from Scottish Prison Services (SPS) to the NHS is still to be determined.

In recognition of the significant scope of the work involved in the transfer of these services, a National Programme Board for Prisoners'' Healthcare is currently being set up. A key focus of the National Programme Board will be to oversee preparatory work in the area of finance and funding.

Current estimates are that this work and the necessary legislation will take approximately three years prior to any transfer of services taking place.

Question reference: S3W-16229

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 22 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what additional costs are predicted on the basis of an increase in demand for prescriptions.

The estimated cost of the phased abolition of prescription charges over the next three years is £17 million, £24 million and £32 million, respectively, which allows for an expected increase in demand for prescriptions consistent with our policy intentions. Additional headroom over and above these estimates has been included in the Scottish budget for the current spending review period and arrangements are in place to monitor a range of factors including the volume of prescriptions dispensed.