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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 2702 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S4W-11441

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 whether the Strategic Engagement Group referred to in Health and Wealth in Scotland: A Statement of Intent for Innovation in Health, has been established and what its terms of reference are.

Question reference: S4W-11444

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 risk assessment was carried out of the impact on each university school of nursing and midwifery before making the decision to (a) close the (i) Glasgow Caledonian, (ii) Dundee and (iii) Stirling midwifery schools and (b) reduce the nursing student intake in each of the last two years.

Recommendations regarding the numbers of commissioned places for nursing and midwifery education and training are made by Scottish Ministers on an annual basis and aim to ensure that the right number of nursing and midwifery students are being trained for our NHS. The decision to move to three pre-registration education midwifery education providers aimed to ensure a sustainable national model of pre-registration midwifery education provision and to further develop centres of excellence with a strong research and post graduate presence.

Mechanisms were agreed with relevant Universities to manage the impact of changes in intakes to pre-registration nursing and midwifery programmes; and to enable the transition to three pre-registration midwifery education providers. The Universities not selected to provide pre-registration midwifery education programmes were able to recruit additional nursing students; additional funding was also provided to Universities to expand the provision of post-registration education for NHS board nurses and midwives.

Question reference: S4W-11612

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 13 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what risk assessment it has made of the effect on recruitment for third sector organisations receiving Scottish Government funding that will cease in under six months.

Question reference: S4W-10723

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 13 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the planned reduction in NHS FYO1 posts, what reductions there will be in the intake of (a) students from Scotland, (b) non fee-paying students, (c) fee-paying students from the rest of the UK and (d) students from outwith the EU in each of the next three years.

Question reference: S4W-10720

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 13 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what the change in funding for each university nursing department (a) is in 2012-13 and (b) will be in 2013-14 as a result of the reduction in the student nursing intake in 2010-11 and 2011-12 and how many redundancies each institution expects.

The funding for each nursing school for 2011-12 and 2012-13 is detailed below for comparison. As the intakes for 2013-14 have yet to be decided there are no figures for that academic year.

Year	Institution	Total funding
2011-12	Dundee	7,526,720
	Edinburgh Napier	10,877,280
	Glasgow Caledonian	9,687,040
	Robert Gordon	5,332,000
	Stirling	6,749,280
	West of Scotland	15,170,400
Total		£55,342,720
2012-13	Dundee	7,736,256
	Edinburgh Napier	11,179,476
	Glasgow Caledonian	9,970,686
	Robert Gordon	5,487,174
	Stirling	6,923,070
	West of Scotland	15,655,662
Total		£56,952,324

Data from the Scottish Funding Council

Universities are independent bodies and they manage their own resources, including their staffing requirements for future academic years.

Question reference: S4W-11624

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 13 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-10963 by Alex Neil on 29 November 2012, how many patients have been affected by the use of (a) off licence and (b) unlicensed prescription medicines by the NHS in the last two years for which information is available.

As stated in my answer to question S4W-10963, medicine safety issues are subject matters of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 and are currently reserved issues.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency which is the UK government agency responsible for the regulation of medicinal products and medical devices, does collect information on adverse drug reactions, including those relating to off licence use, via their yellow card reporting system.

However, the system does not distinguish whether or not the medicine has been used on an unlicensed or off-label basis. Likewise, the NHS Information centre also has a system for collecting data, in their case from hospital admissions/episodes, and their system also does not distinguish between licensed and non-licensed use. Further information on the yellow card scheme is available at:

https://yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk.

Question reference: S4W-11615

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 13 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in achieving the five recommendations on forensic paediatric services in respect of (a) child sexual abuse and (b) child physical abuse and neglect that are contained in the report, Forensic Paediatrics: A Report by the Short Life Working Group.

The Report on Forensic Paediatrics in Scotland was published on
21 November 2012. The recommendations contained in the report will be progressed within the Scottish Government work programme to improve the consistency of healthcare and forensic medical services in Scotland. This will include oversight and co-ordination arrangements, the development and implementation of proposals for a national approach to address possible future developments of the service, and oversight of the Forensic Paediatrics in Scotland Report.

Question reference: S4W-10724

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 13 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what information has been provided to medical school students regarding the planned reductions in training posts at FY01, FY02 and ST grades.

There is no planned reduction in NHS FY01 or FY02 posts. However, a fundamental part of the Reshaping the Medical Workforce Project, is consideration of the number of specialty trainee posts available each year. This consideration has, over the last four years, resulted in a reduction of over 200 places on the training establishment in Scotland aimed at helping Scotland’s move from a service delivered by trainee doctors to a service delivered predominantly by trained doctors.

In relation to the provision of information to medical school students, the Scottish Medical Training website is the official website for the application and recruitment process for foundation and specialty training in Scotland and is maintained by NHS Education for Scotland, the body responsible for the commissioning, delivery and quality management of postgraduate medical education in Scotland. The website contains a wealth of information for those interested in undertaking post-graduate medical training in Scotland, including information about the training posts available. Vacancy information in respect of next year’s specialty training is available at:

http://www.scotmt.scot.nhs.uk/applying-to-specialty-training-(hospital).aspx .

Question reference: S4W-11625

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 13 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-10963 by Alex Neil on 29 November 2012, what steps the Patient Safety Programme is taking to examine any adverse effects of the (a) off licence and (b) unlicensed use of prescription medicines by the NHS.

Question reference: S4W-11613

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 13 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what third sector organisations have been given less than 13 weeks' notice of the renewal, extension or cessation of funding in each of the last four years.