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-11806

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 21 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to ensure that all clinical portals meet the standard in Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights as underpinned by the judgement in I v Finland (20511/03).

European Court of Human Rights Judgment 20511/03 makes clear the measures that need to be in place to protect the confidentiality of health data relating to staff as well as patients. In relation to clinical portals, health boards have chosen solutions with comprehensive access permissions and audit trails.

Furthermore, the Scottish Government has funded a national contract for a privacy breach detection tool that can work across multiple applications. This tool is already operational in some boards, and due to be released in all the territorial boards. These technical measures are backed up with an overall policy on accessing records on patients and staff, as well as training and guidance.

Question reference: S4W-11807

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 21 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether NHS (a) Ayrshire and Arran, (b) Highland, (c) Grampian, (d) Forth Valley, (e) Shetland and (f) Western Isles has a clinical portal and, if not, when it will have one.

NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Grampian, Forth Valley and Western Isles all have advanced plans for making the clinical portal priority information available to frontline staff during 2013.

NHS Highland and Shetland are still considering their options based on the experiences of other boards.

The eHealth Strategy commits that by 2014 all territorial Health boards will be using clinical portals (or electronic windows to information) and the priority items agreed by clinicians will be available at the point of care. This commitment is on track for successful delivery.

Question reference: S4O-01672

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing last met the chief executive officers of NHS boards.

Question reference: S4W-11711

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 18 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients were removed from the cancer waiting time targets due to death in each of the last two years and how many of those were beyond the 62-day target.

Question reference: S4W-11618

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 17 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many doctors in forensic paediatrics at levels (a) ST6, (b) ST7 and (c) ST8 there (a) were in 2010-11 and (b) are currently.

The specific information requested is not available centrally.

Furthermore, “forensic paediatrics” is not a recognised sub-specialty training programme within the current educational training programme. Those wishing to specialise in forensic paediatrics will usually train in community child health, which includes training in child protection and which may include an element of specialist training in forensic paediatrics. Others will train in general paediatrics.

Question reference: S4W-11427

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 November 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 13 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on whether the remit of the Health Research Authority of the NHS in the rest of the UK to improve the speed at which health research is approved will be beneficial to researchers in Scotland.

The Health Research Authority (HRA) is a NHS organisation established as a Special Health Authority to protect and promote the interests of patients and the public in health research in England.

Scotland has a very efficient NHS research approval systems, and the Scottish Government's Chief Scientist Office is a member of the HRA Collaboration and Development Steering Group, that was established to lead on projects for improvement in the research journey.

Question reference: S4W-11439

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 November 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 13 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what cost per quality-adjusted life year the Scottish Medicines Consortium considers acceptable.

The SMC published a policy statement which clarified how it uses a tool called the Quality Adjusted Life Year (QALY) as part of its decision-making as to whether or not a medicine is value for money for the NHS in Scotland.

The QALY is not the only criteria for decision-making. QALYs are an important tool in assessing the benefits of a medicine but the decision on whether to accept a medicine for use is a wider judgment on its clinical and cost-effectiveness. A link to the statement on the SMC website is attached:

http://www.scottishmedicines.org.uk/About_SMC/Policy_Statements/A_Guide_to_Quality_Adjusted_Life_Years.

Question reference: S4W-11443

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 November 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 13 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it had at (a) official and (b) ministerial level with the UK Government before making the decision to reduce the nursing student intake in each of the last two years.

Question reference: S4W-11445

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 November 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 13 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many students enrolling at each university nursing school in each of the last five years were from (a) Scotland, (b) the rest of the UK, (c) the rest of the EU and (d) non-EU countries.

The numbers of students enrolling at each university nursing school in each of the last five years that were from (a) Scotland, (b) the rest of the UK, (c) the rest of the EU and (d) non-EU countries are detailed in the following tables:

2007

HEI

Country of Birth

Rest of EU

Non-EU

Rest of UK

Scotland

Total

Napier	19	23	64	366	472
GCU	6	15	37	411	469
RGU	9	11	22	231	273
Dundee	12	8	49	402	471
Stirling	9	14	42	269	334
UWS	8	14	47	778	847
Total	63	85	261	2,457	2,866

2008

HEI

Country of Birth

Rest of EU

Non-EU

Rest of UK

Scotland

Total

Napier	18	29	56	388	491
GCU	5	27	28	464	524
RGU	1	11	27	199	238
Dundee	7	6	40	369	422
Stirling	4	13	33	293	343
UWS	5	12	64	708	789
Total	40	98	248	2,421	2,807

2009

HEI

Country of Birth

Rest of EU

Non-EU

Rest of UK

Scotland

Total

Napier	32	28	79	421	560
GCU	6	27	21	508	562
RGU	7	10	23	222	262
Dundee	14	14	34	368	430
Stirling	8	21	31	308	368
UWS	12	16	50	709	787
Total	79	116	238	2,536	2,969

2010

HEI

Country of Birth

Rest of EU

Non-EU

Rest of UK

Scotland

Total

Napier	35	33	78	386	532
GCU	14	36	29	454	533
RGU	18	9	24	242	293
Dundee	19	9	45	337	410
Stirling	15	18	12	337	382
UWS	13	8	6	735	762
Total	114	113	194	2,491	2,912

2011

HEI

Country of Birth

Rest of EU

Non-EU

Rest of UK

Scotland

Total

Napier	33	43	66	359	501
GCU	12	21	27	376	436
RGU	9	9	21	235	274
Dundee	17	15	52	294	378
Stirling	9	19	17	256	301
UWS	6	10	2	654	672
Total	86	117	185	2174	2562

Source: Data from NHS Education for Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-11433

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 November 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 13 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what the terms of reference are of the Scottish Medicines Consortium's Patient and Public Involvement Group; who the group's members are, and what method was used to appoint them.

The role of the SMC's Patient and Public Involvement Group are articulated on the SMC website. A link is attached:

http://www.scottishmedicines.org.uk/Public_Involvement/Role_of_Patient_and_Public_Involvement_Group.

The current Patient and Public Involvement Group members are listed on the SMC website. A link is attached:

http://www.scottishmedicines.org.uk/Public_Involvement/Who_We_Are.

Patient and Public Involvement Group members are recruited from the general public and are normally appointed for three years. Further information on how to apply for vacancies are set out on the SMC website. A link is attached:

http://www.scottishmedicines.org.uk/Public_Involvement/PAPIG/PAPIG_Recruitment.