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-14632

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 17 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether the NHS workforce planning tools are used by all NHS boards.

A suite of nursing and midwifery Workload tools has been developed covering 95% of all service areas within NHS Scotland. Speciality-specific Workload tools have been used by all territorial boards; the Neonatal and SCAMPS(Paediatric) tools are used on a twice daily basis by every relevant unit in NHS Scotland. The majority of NHS boards are also involved when piloting and developing a tool.

As of April 2013, all NHS boards are expected to use the workload tools to inform local nursing and midwifery workforce planning. The application of the workload tools is mandatory to support evidence based decisions in relation to Nursing and Midwifery establishments and should form part of a broader approach that incorporates professional judgement and quality measures.

Question reference: S4W-14634

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 17 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that the NHS maintains its level of (a) quality and (b) service provision.

The Scottish Government is taking a number of steps to ensure that the NHS maintains its level of (a) quality and (b) service provision.

The Healthcare Quality Strategy for Scotland is our means to achieve care that is safer, more effective and more person-centred. We are protecting the health budget and investing in the NHS workforce and facilities. We want to support staff caring directly for patients to lead the improvement in quality, and we have recently announced that the successful Scottish Patient Safety Programme will be extended to primary care.

We will be bringing forward legislation to integrate adult health and social care, and over £50 million is being invested to transform unscheduled care in Scotland.

To ensure we have the right number of staff and the right mix of skills in place we worked with staff representatives to develop workforce planning tools that are now mandatory for NHS boards. We have recently announced the development of a new bed planning tool which will help ensure that hospitals and communities have the right beds in the right place to treat patients as Scotland’s health service faces the challenge of an ageing population.

We also remain committed to minimum unit pricing for alcohol. We believe this policy, agreed by Parliament, backed by expert opinion and now vindicated by the recent court ruling, is the most effective pricing measure to address the availability of the high-strength low-cost alcohol that is doing so much damage to our communities.

Question reference: S4W-14633

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 17 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what role staff representatives played in the development of the NHS workforce planning tools.

Representatives from the Royal College of Nursing Scotland, Royal College of Midwifery, UNISON and Unite have been involved with the development of the workload tools since their inception and continue to be represented on the Nursing and Midwifery Workload and Workforce Planning Programme National Steering Group.

Short life working groups, including practitioners and staff representatives from the relevant specialties, have been formed to inform the development of each speciality specific workload tool.

Question reference: S4O-02075

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made with the Detect Cancer Early Programme.

Question reference: S4O-02023

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government on what basis the share of UK debt to be assigned to an independent Scotland should be calculated.

Question reference: S4O-01998

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 April 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what support is available to ensure that the university, college and SME sectors in Scotland are well placed to take advantage of the opportunities under the EU’s Horizon 2020 funding programme.

Question reference: S4O-01954

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 21 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking with regard to the environmental impact of the test firing of depleted uranium munitions by the MOD at the Dundrennan range on the Solway coast.

The Scottish Government is strongly opposed to the testing by the MoD of depleted uranium shells in Scotland.

The OSPAR Convention (the Convention for the protection of the marine environment of the North East Atlantic) of which the UK is a signatory, prohibits the dumping of low and intermediate level radioactive substances including waste within the marine environment. It is for UK Government and MoD to ensure that the requirements of the OSPAR Convention are being met. However, I am writing to the UK Government asking for confirmation that the testing of these shells is not in breach of the OSPAR Convention.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency continues to liaise with the MoD on the environmental aspects of its activities on the Dundrennan range, including the environmental implications of any future testing of depleted uranium munitions.

Question reference: S4O-01958

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 March 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 March 2013

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

Question reference: S4O-01903

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 13 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it will give to the potential implications of the Courts Reform (Scotland) Bill on the Scottish Courts Service proposals in Shaping Scotland’s Court Services.

The Scottish Court Service consultation on future court structures is separate from the courts reform work in that the SCS work is on the court estate and getting that right for the 21^st Century. In developing its proposals, however, the Scottish Courts Service has taken account of the proposals regarding the Courts Reform (Scotland) Bill, and other potential reforms to court business – as is set out in Part 1 of the consultation document.

While I cannot prejudge the outcome of the SCS consultation on future court structures and the decisions of the independent SCS board, I have recognised that we need to think radically about how we deliver services in the future.

The Courts Reform (Scotland) Bill will implement the Scottish Civil Courts Review led by Lord Gill. It will address Lord Gill’s criticisms that the Scottish civil courts are “slow, inefficient and expensive”. It is about making sure that the civil justice system is intelligible and coherent for people wanting to use it, that they get their disputes raised and dealt with quickly and appropriately, without unnecessary cost or delay.

The reforms to the civil courts set out in the Bill are in no way driven by financial pressures on the courts’ estate.

Question reference: S4W-12817

Asked by: Aileen McLeod, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 1 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many consultants specialising in emergency medicine were employed by the NHS in September (a) 2006, (b) 2007, (c) 2008, (d) 2009, (e) 2010, (f) 2011 and (g) 2012 and what the annual change was, expressed as a percentage.

The information requested on how many consultants specialising in emergency medicine were employed by the NHS as at 30 September for each of the last seven years can be found in the following tables.

Table 1 shows the total headcount of consultants specialising in emergency medicine and the percentage change each year.

Emergency medicine	Headcount	% change from the previous year
Sep-06	76	x
Sep-07	82	7.9%
Sep-08	113	37.8%
Sep-09	101	-10.6%
Sep-10	136	34.7%
Sep-11	141	3.7%
Sep-12	151	7.1%

Source: ISD Scotland.

Table 2 shows the total whole time equivalent (WTE) of consultants specialising in emergency medicine and the percentage change each year.

Emergency Medicine	WTE	% change from the previous year
Sep-06	75.8	x
Sep-07	81.0	6.9%
Sep-08	107.2	32.3%
Sep-09	94.8	-11.5%
Sep-10	128.4	35.3%
Sep-11	133.8	4.3%
Sep-12	144.4	7.9%

Source: ISD Scotland.