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-19606

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 4 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many doctors from other branches of the medical profession have applied for GP training in each of the last five years.

Recruitment to GP training is co-ordinated on a UK-wide basis by the GP National Recruitment Office to a nationally recognised selection criterion, and has been operating since 2006. After successful selection, applicants will be matched in rank order to their highest available preferred Deanery for the next stage of assessment and, if successful, it will be the Deanery that will make them an offer.

NHS Education for Scotland(NES) is the Deanery for Scotland, and the information in the following table has been provided by them.

Category	2014	2013	2012	2011	2010
1	222	269	332	299	280
2	139	148	171	116	92
3	56	147	239	157	178
Total	417	564	742	572	550

Category 1: candidates on Foundation Programme at application stage.

Category 2: candidates who submitted a Foundation Achievement of Competence Document as evidence of foundation competence. These will have completed a foundation programme in the previous three years and may be applying from another specialty and wish to change career or may have taken time out to work abroad.

Category 3: candidates who submitted an alternative certificate as evidence of foundation competence. These will have been more than three years beyond a Foundation programme and likely established in another specialty, or be overseas doctors.

Question reference: S4W-19637

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 4 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what the expenditure has been on NHS Counter Fraud Services in each of the last five years and what the budget is for 2014-15.

Question reference: S4W-19769

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will confirm that Practitioner Services Division will not pursue the estate of deceased dentists for debts that arose because of problems with the Management Information and Dental Accounting System.

Question reference: S4W-19767

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how much Practitioner Services Division is paying collection agencies to recover debts from dentists arising because of problems with the Management Information and Dental Accounting System.

Question reference: S4W-19763

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government when it was advised that the Management Information and Dental Accounting System had made errors with (a) capitation and (b) continuing care registrations.

On 15 March 2010, Practitioner Services notified the Scottish Government of an issue identified with the overpayment of dental registrations which they found to result mainly from incorrect patient demographic data supplied by dentists. The issue was identified as a result of work required to develop the Management Information and Dental Accounting System to support the implementation of non-time limited registrations.

Question reference: S4W-19766

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what processes to identify duplicate registrations were put in place when the NHS introduced continuous registration; whether it considers that these were fit for purpose, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Question reference: S4W-19765

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government when the Community Health Index of patient identification was introduced by the NHS; when it was first included in the dental payment system, and what the reason was for any delay in introducing it to dental payments system.

Question reference: S4W-19764

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the reported problems with the Management Information and Dental Accounting System and whether it considers it fit for purpose.

<>On the matter of duplicate registrations I refer the member to the answer given to question S4W-19485 on 20 February 2014. 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.

The Management Information and Dental Accounting System (MIDAS) was implemented in 1999 and since then has processed tens of millions of claims and managed the payment of hundreds of millions of pounds to dentists in Scotland.

We are assured by Practitioner Services Division that they continue to meet the strict operational targets which are in place for MIDAS. Payments managed by MIDAS are subject to regular internal and external audit. These provisions are in place to ensure that MIDAS is operating within the required accuracy and timeliness performance measures.

Question reference: S4W-19762

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide the original Practitioner Services Division GP17 forms to dentists who have been asked to pay back overpayments because of problems with the Management Information and Dental Accounting System and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Question reference: S4W-19761

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many dentists have been asked to pay back overpayments that arose because of problems with the Management Information and Dental Accounting System (MIDAS) and, in light of such problems reportedly arising over an eight-year period, for what reason some dentists have been asked to repay within six weeks, and what proportion of dentists this represents.

A total of 2,131 dentists are included in the process for repaying overpayments.

We expect the first recoveries to be made in March 2014. We have instructed Practitioner Services to make these recoveries at the same time as backdated payments to dentists for the 2013-14 pay award. This will help mitigate the financial impact of the recovery process.

The precise mechanics of the recovery process is a matter for Practitioner Services, however we are not aware of any dentists being asked to repay within six weeks.