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-18017

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 13 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many times a designated medical practitioner (a) refused and (b) agreed to certify that it was necessary to give electroconvulsive therapy to a patient who resisted or objected to the treatment, in the last year for which information is available.

Question reference: S4W-18009

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 13 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what tests mental health professionals are required to apply when determining whether or not a patient has the capacity to consent to or refuse electroconvulsive therapy.

All patients who receive ECT must either give informed consent or be protected by the legal safeguards within the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 and the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003.

Capacity to consent to treatment is assessed in line with the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 and professional guidance based on case law regarding capacity to consent to treatment.

There are a number of approaches to capacity but the current position as recommended by the Law Commission is to use a ‘functional approach’ in determining whether a person has the capacity to make a decision. What this approach focuses on is ‘whether an individual is able to make a decision at the time when that decision has to be made’. To demonstrate capacity individuals should be able to understand: broadly what the treatment is; its principle benefits, risks and alternatives and be able to make a choice; and understand in broad terms what the consequences will be of not receiving the treatment. The individual should be able to retain the information provided long enough to use it to come to an informed decision and then be able to communicate that decision.

A person’s ability to consent may change and this should be kept under regular review together with the person’s care plan.

Question reference: S4W-18015

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 13 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of patients treated with electroconvulsive therapy commits suicide.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s operate a suicide reporting and learning system which assists NHS boards to improve the way suicide reviews are carried out and to help identify and reduce such risks.

Information on the number of cases where a suicide took place during the period when the person was being treated with ECT is not available due to the very low numbers involved and the need to maintain patient confidentiality.

In interpreting this information it should be noted that in such circumstances there may be no causal link between ECT and the suicide; and that there is a strong association between major depression and suicide. The vast majority of ECT administered in Scotland is for major depressive disorder.

Question reference: S4W-18014

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 13 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of patients treated with electroconvulsive therapy for depression relapses within 12 months.

Question reference: S4W-18012

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 13 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that the use of electroconvulsive therapy in the absence of informed consent constitutes inhuman or degrading treatment.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a safe and effective treatment for severe mental illness with clinical evidence to support that it produces good outcomes for patients. It is used when the illness is severe and life threatening, when a rapid response is required, or when other treatments have failed.

Individuals unable to provide informed consent to treatment are protected by legal safeguards included in the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 and the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000. This includes authorisation of treatment by independent psychiatric opinion, arranged by the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland.

The Scottish ECT Accreditation Network (SEAN) aims to ensure the continuous improvement of services for patients receiving ECT. It shares experiences and helps disseminate examples of good practice, supporting clinicians to be responsive to patient’s preferences, needs and values wherever possible.

The SEAN annual report for 2012:http://www.sean.org.uk/AuditReport/Main.html reports that overall, 70% of patients who completed an episode of ECT showed a definite improvement. The percentage of patients who showed improvement was higher for patients without capacity (77%), than with capacity (67%).

Question reference: S4W-17339

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 20 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 4 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how much each local authority has spent on supporting (a) bus services and (b) new bus routes in each of the last five years, and how much each was given for these through (i) block local government finance arrangements and (ii) bus route development grants.

The amount spent by each local authority to support private operators in the provision of bus services for the last five years is set out in the following table. The table distinguishes between the costs of tendered services and other costs. The other costs, includes spending on bus route development.

Bus route development was centrally funded for the period 2004-05 to 2007-08. In that period, fifty projects were approved, with a total value of £27 million.

From 2008-09, the funding was transferred to local authorities as part of the local government finance settlement.

Support for Bus services, Gross Expenditure and Annual bus subsidy for tendered mileage (Excluding loan and leasing charges)£ thousands

	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
Scotland	42,434	43,503	50,751	46,642	49,021
Aberdeen City	0	0	0	0	0
Aberdeenshire	2,059	3,650	4,009	3,654	3,066
Angus	1,261	1,350	1,832	1,876	2,078
Argyll and Bute	625	1,167	1,173	1,266	1,386
Clackmannanshire	266	377	386	314	272
Dumfries and Galloway²	0	3,162	3,271	3,248	3,312
Dundee City	773	660	511	496	444
East Ayrshire	280	453	387	403	516
East Dunbartonshire	348	337	345	527	545
East Lothian	558	903	918	870	905
East Renfrewshire	146	357	317	444	460
Edinburgh, City of	2,944	2,195	1,990	2,305	2,924
Eilean Siar	1,925	1,995	2,338	3,001	3,221
Falkirk	1,462	1,641	1,640	2,003	2,123
Fife	3,384	3,681	4,053	4,229	4,437
Glasgow City	1,142	1,069	1,465	1,977	2,202
Highland	2,992	2,261	2,371	3,230	4,902
Inverclyde ¹	0	159	294	412	426
Midlothian	1,267	1,459	1,039	733	640
Moray	729	800	911	620	608
North Ayrshire	634	569	479	672	662
North Lanarkshire	833	897	921	921	895
Orkney Islands	355	397	407	450	529
Perth and Kinross	2,314	2,608	2,570	2,863	2,595
Renfrewshire	545	297	595	837	889
Scottish Borders	9,001	2,509	10,902	3,859	3,517
Shetland Islands	0	0	0	0	0
South Ayrshire¹	0	531	358	502	519
South Lanarkshire	462	361	481	481	467
Stirling	2,889	4,384	1,614	1,607	1,697
West Dunbartonshire	252	410	356	356	360
West Lothian	2,988	2,864	2,818	2,486	2,424

Source: as reported on the Local Financial Return (LFR 5) for roads and transport

Figures include expenditure on support to private operators only.

1. Councils unable to provide data for 2007-08

2. 2007-08 Dumfries and Galloway figures should be treated with caution.

Support for Bus services, Gross Expenditure and Annual bus subsidy for tendered mileage (Excluding loan and leasing charges)£ thousands

	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
Scotland	10,261	9,485	10,313	10,428	8,996
Aberdeen City	570	419	322	249	191
Aberdeenshire	0	0	0	0	0
Angus	0	0	0	0	0
Argyll and Bute	0	0	0	0	0
Clackmannanshire	127	180	381	224	74
Dumfries and Galloway²	2,796	337	233	56	49
Dundee City	111	29	72	163	0
East Ayrshire	209	111	137	188	146
East Dunbartonshire	135	146	157	244	154
East Lothian	0	0	0	0	0
East Renfrewshire	157	86	137	193	130
Edinburgh, City of	0	406	455	0	0
Eilean Siar	384	714	770	238	176
Falkirk	195	356	273	283	267
Fife	669	1,033	1,125	1,137	905
Glasgow City	1,083	1,226	1,560	1,804	1,796
Highland	141	134	131	542	815
Inverclyde ¹	0	183	154	191	121
Midlothian	0	0	0	0	0
Moray	275	333	142	100	114
North Ayrshire	234	193	251	311	187
North Lanarkshire	937	1,009	1,036	1,036	1,007
Orkney Islands	0	0	0	0	0
Perth and Kinross	0	0	0	0	0
Renfrewshire	45	117	194	290	286
Scottish Borders	0	0	0	0	0
Shetland Islands	1,121	1,460	1,332	1,732	1,112
South Ayrshire¹	0	134	187	179	147
South Lanarkshire	888	728	1,077	1,081	1,026
Stirling	0	0	0	0	0
West Dunbartonshire	184	151	187	187	293
West Lothian	0	0	0	0	0

Source: as reported on the Local Financial Return (LFR 5) for roads and transport

Figures include expenditure on support to private operators only.

1. Councils unable to provide data for 2007-08

2. 2007-08 Dumfries and Galloway figures should be treated with caution.

Question reference: S4O-02497

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service regarding the planned closure of control rooms across Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-16856

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 26 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Lesley Thomson on 20 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many reports alleging domestic assault to injury were received by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13, also broken down by the number of cases (i) prosecuted on indictment, (ii) prosecuted on complaint, (iii) made subject to a direct measure as an alternative to prosecution and (iv) where no other proceedings were taken.

The following tables show the number of charges alleging assault to injury with a domestic aggravator for each year in 2011-12 and 2012-13. The tables have been broken down into those prosecuted on Indictment, on complaint, subject to a direct measure and where no proceedings were taken.

The database is charge-based. The figures quoted therefore relate to the number of charges rather than the number of individuals charged or the number of incidents that gave rise to such charges.

The main reason for no proceedings being taken is insufficient admissible available evidence.

2011–12 Number of Charges: 4,006

Prosecuted on Indictment	121
Prosecuted on Complaint	3,413
Direct Measure	64
No Proceedings taken	376

2012–13 Number of charges: 4,118

Prosecuted on Indictment	182
Prosecuted on Complaint	3,347
Direct Measure	33
No Proceedings taken	430

Question reference: S4W-16857

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 26 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Lesley Thomson on 20 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Lord Advocate will publish his policy and guidance for prosecuting domestic violence.

Policy and guidance to prosecutors for offences involving domestic abuse is published and is contained within the joint protocol between the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) and the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS): “In partnership, challenging domestic abuse” which is available on the COPFS website. The protocol is kept under review and the current version has been in force since 2008.

Question reference: S4O-02354

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 September 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made in distributing financial support to farmers who experienced losses due to extreme weather earlier this year.