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: S4O-03710

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 November 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to help rural NHS boards recruit and retain clinical staff.

Question reference: S4O-03660

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 October 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 6 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is giving NHS Dumfries and Galloway to help prepare for winter.

We have worked closely with all NHS boards to develop winter planning guidance which was made available to boards on 23 September 2014. This guidance supports boards so that they have robust plans and contingency measures in place to maintain safe and effective services during the winter period.

We provide a range of support to NHS boards, including NHS Dumfries and Galloway, to assist them to meet the challenges winter places upon them. For example, we have provided over £480,000 to NHS Dumfries and Galloway so far (2013-15) under the Unscheduled Care Action Plan to help improve A&E performance. In addition the Scottish Government is providing £152,000 to help drive reductions in delayed discharges in Dumfries and Galloway ahead of the coming winter.

Question reference: S4W-23008

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 November 2014
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what opportunity the integration of health and social care provides to strengthen and promote public health.

The integration of health and social care will provide a number of specific opportunities for us to strengthen public health services in Scotland, with much greater opportunities for joined-up working and preventative, person-centred care. I believe that public health work, with its strong prevention focus, is one of the most important activities of our health service. The current work around obesity, alcohol and tobacco are clear examples of this. We must ensure public health services in Scotland continue to work well and that they have the profile they deserve. I have therefore asked for a review of public health in Scotland. This review will cover health services, health protection, health improvement and health inequalities. It will identify future priorities and challenges, and will seek to make recommendations for how best we can respond. I am establishing a group of experts to undertake this review and they will report back to me next year.

Question reference: S4O-03573

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 October 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 October 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making in implementing the recommendations of the ICT in Education Excellence Group.

Question reference: S4O-03550

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2014
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 1 October 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made on the rollout of next generation broadband in South Scotland.

The local authorities in the south of Scotland are key investment partners in the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme.

The south of Scotland will receive upgraded infrastructure throughout the four year programme, which will run until the end of 2017.

In the first two phases of the programme, it has been confirmed that cabinets connected to the exchanges in Galashiels and Dumfries will receive fibre broadband. It has also been announced that the following exchange areas will be fibre-enabled: Amisfield, Castle Douglas in Dumfries and Galloway, and Earlston, Lauder, Melrose, Selkirk and St Boswells in Scottish Borders.

By the end of the programme, access to fibre broadband in the south of Scotland is expected to increase from 32% to 94% of premises.

Question reference: S4O-03504

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 August 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 August 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how independence would support rural development funding in rural communities such as in Dumfries and Galloway.

Question reference: S4W-22139

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 July 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 6 August 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many whole-time equivalent radiography staff there were in (a) September 2007 and (b) March 2014.

Information on how many whole time equivalent (WTE) radiography staff there were in (a) September 2007 and (b) March 2014 can be found in the following table.

Radiography staff in NHS Scotland at 30 September 2007 and 31 March 2014.

	Sep 07	Mar 14
Radiography staff NHS Scotland	1,836.8	2,175.7

Source: Scottish Workforce Information Standard System, ISD Scotland

Radiography staff working in NHSScotland have increased by 338.9 WTE or 18.5% during the period of September 2007 and March 2014.

Further information on the statistics, including information on how the data are collected and notes to aid interpretation, can be found on the Information Services Division website at: www.isdscotland.org/workforce

Question reference: S4W-22137

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 July 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 6 August 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many whole-time equivalent oncologists there were in (a) September 2006 and (b) March 2014.

Information on how many whole time equivalent oncologists there were in (a) September 2006 and (b) March 2014 can be found in the following table.

Oncologists in NHS Scotland at 30 September 2006 and 31 March 2014

September 2006

March 2014

	Clinical Oncologists	Medical Oncologists	Total	Clinical Oncologists	Medical Oncologists	Total
Scotland Oncologists WTE	111.2	54.0	165.2	147.6	52.8	200.4

Source: Scottish Workforce Information Standard System, ISD Scotland

The main oncology specialties are clinical and medical oncology, and the numbers of clinical and medical oncologists are shown in the table. In addition to these, there are also surgical oncologists working within specialties such as gynaecology. The number of surgical oncologists is not collected centrally.

Published information on hospital, community and public health services staff by specialty can be found on the workforce statistics web site at

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2014-05-27/HCHS_by_specialty_M2014.xls

Question reference: S4W-22138

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 July 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 6 August 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many whole-time equivalent cancer clinical nurse specialists there were in September (a) 2009 and (b) 2013.

Information on how many whole time equivalent cancer clinical nurse specialists there were in September (a) 2009 and (b) 2013 can be found in the following table.

Due to the multidisciplinary nature of the role a nurse may work in more than one specialty, however only one specialist area is recorded for each nurse. The figures shown do not include those who spend part of their time working in cancer but have been recorded against another specialty.

Cancer clinical nurse specialists in NHS Scotland at 30 September 2009 and 30September 2013

	Sep 09	Sep 13
Scotland - Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialists	170.0	237.7

Source: Scottish Workforce Information Standard System, ISD Scotland

Further published information on the number of clinical nurse specialists by cancer site can be found on the workforce statistics web site at:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2013-11-26/Clinical_Nurse_Specialists_S2013.xls

Question reference: S4F-02243

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 August 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 August 2014

To ask the First Minister what impact privatisation of the NHS in England will have on the budget available to the Scottish Government.