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: S5W-10732

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 14 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many cases have been investigated by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission in each year since 2007, and what proportion has involved referrals to the High Court for appeal.

The following table sets out the number of cases each year since 2007-08 in which the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission investigated and issued a decision, and the number of those cases which resulted in a referral being made to the High Court:

Year	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17
Number of cases concluded by SCCRC	145	98	104	93	141	159	190	179	172	159	128
Number of cases referred by SCCRC to the High Court	10	8	7	15	4	6	11	4	3	2	3

More statistics and information concerning the Commission's consideration of cases is contained in their Annual Report, a copy of which is laid in Parliament.

Question reference: S5W-10733

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 14 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 6 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle the link between fuel poverty and poor physical and mental health.

The Scottish Government is committed to tackling fuel poverty and reducing health inequalities.

The Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum includes members from NHS Scotland and we will continue to work with them to build on existing and, as necessary, develop new partnerships alongside wider joined-up approaches. This will build on the progress already made, in particular with NHS Health Scotland which, in response to our Fairer Scotland Action Plan, has pledged to work in partnership with NHS Boards to develop national referral pathways between NHS services and local advice services, including the provision of energy advice, to maximise the income of patients.

The Scottish Government encourages collaborative working that will help mitigate the impacts of fuel poverty on health and wellbeing and this was set out in a joint Ministerial letter, issued in May, to NHS Chief Executives and Directors of Public Health. In addition to this, a cross-Ministerial meeting will take place later this year to bring together Ministers with a range of portfolio responsibilities, including health, to harness opportunities for joint working across portfolios and inform development of the new fuel poverty strategy.

Question reference: S5F-01497

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 04 September 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 September 2017

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government will provide an update on the management of Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority.

Question reference: S5O-01196

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 August 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when it will respond to the recommendations of the Barclay review of non-domestic rates.

Question reference: S5W-10581

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to promote health visiting as an attractive career.

Question reference: S5W-10579

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £40 million committed to in 2014 for the training and recruitment of 500 additional health visitors by 2018 has been spent, broken down by financial year.

The Scottish Government allocated £2 million, £6.8 million, and £19m in 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2017-18 respectively for additional Health Visitors. In 2016-17, funding for Health Visitors was included in the new Outcomes Framework (totalling over £160m) issued to Health Boards. All of this funding supported the provision of an additional 500 health visitor posts. In addition, a further £3.3m has been allocated to Health Boards over the same period in respect of Health Visitor training.

The above funding will allow us to meet the manifesto commitment by 2018, investing over £40m by 2017-18.

Question reference: S5W-10578

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the need for additional health visitors beyond 2018.

The Scottish Government’s commitment to an additional 500 health visitors by 2018 was based on the national application of a validated caseload weighting tool to support consistency in determining Health Visitor numbers across Scotland. The tool is based on population data and allows calculation of the number of Health Visitors required and weight this according to local deprivation.

The information from the application of the Health Visiting caseload weighting tool should be used locally by NHS Boards in conjunction with the Nursing and Midwifery Workload Workforce Planning tool to determine local Health Visiting staff requirements. The Nursing and Midwifery Workload Workforce Planning tool takes account of the workload attributed to the individual patient, enables professional judgement and local context in which care is being provided to be considered. Caseload Weighting Tool All of this information should be considered to enable NHS Boards to use evidence-based decision making on future requirements for Health Visitor staffing.

In addition the National Health and Social Care Workforce Plan which was published on 28 June sets out how we will work withall major stakeholders across Health and Social Care to secure sustainable NHS staffing.

Question reference: S5W-10573

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many health visitors have completed Registered Specialist CPH Nurse – Health Visitor training in each of the last six years.

The numbers competing Registered Specialist Community Public Health Nurse – Health Visitor training in each of the last six years at 18 July 2017 is contained in the following table:

Year	Numbers Completing Health Visitor Training
2011*	61
2012	52
2013	57
2014	57
2015	115
2016**	183
Total	525

Source:

*Data from 2011 to 2015 – NHS Education for Scotland Nursing & Midwifery Annual Statistical Supplement available on request from NHS Education for Scotland

**NHS Education for Scotland management information

In addition to the above course, students can choose the Specialist Community Public Health Nursing Generic course. The total number of students who completed both courses from 2011 to 2016 is 658.

Question reference: S5W-10575

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the additional 500 health visitors committed to in 2014 have been (a) trained and (b) recruited.

The commitment to increase the number of qualified health visitors by 500 is unprecedented and is almost a 50% increase in the number of qualified health visitors in Scotland. From March 2014 to March 2017 there are at least an additional 242 Whole Time Equivalent health visitors in post. The total number of students completing health visitor training courses from the September 2014 to June 2017 is 486.

Question reference: S5W-10572

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many health visitors have completed training in each of the last six years.

The numbers competing health visitor training courses in each of the last six years at 18 July 2017 is contained in the following table:

Year	Numbers Completing Health Visitor Training
2011*	61
2012	58
2013	68
2014	75
2015	187
2016**	209
Total	658

Source:

*Data from 2011 to 2015 – NHS Education for Scotland Nursing & Midwifery Annual Statistical Supplement available on request from NHS Education for Scotland

**NHS Education for Scotland management information