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-15934

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 25 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it plans to take to encourage more smokers to attempt to quit.

On 9 April we embarked on a four-month national and local TV, radio, community action and social media campaign. The intention of the campaign is to motivate smokers who are ready to quit – focused on areas where smoking rates are highest and linking to the NHS free stop-smoking support available to help them.

In addition we have maintained funding for NHS Health Boards for stop-smoking services since 2013 at around £10,000,000.

Question reference: S5W-15518

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 23 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many cases of self-harm have been recorded in each year since 1999, also broken down by NHS board.

The recording of self-harm is complex because the decision to report ‘intentional self-harm’ on the patient’s record lies with the clinician. The assessment of intent is a clinical one and subject to variation.

The number of recorded cases of self-harm is shown in the following table for the calendar years 1999 to 2016, broken down by NHS board of treatment. Please note that the complete figures for 2017 and 2018 have not yet been published.

Ref No: IR2018-00574

Extract Date: March 2018

Number of cases with self-harm diagnoses 1 by health board of treatment, 1999 - 2016.

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Ayrshire & Arran	1,472	1,452	1,537	1,668	1,577	1,534	1,428	1,387	1,383	1,223	1,254	1,357	1,399	1,198	1,136	1,201	1,093	1,172
Borders	323	316	352	416	373	396	367	324	354	406	375	350	378	301	343	306	345	334
Dumfries & Galloway	433	410	410	395	385	305	282	253	271	334	323	313	319	301	369	328	349	355
Fife	888	894	926	1,026	1,014	830	803	865	971	1,003	1,063	958	961	1,004	1,085	926	826	921
Forth Valley	898	846	895	927	791	677	586	603	618	636	655	593	680	698	877	843	858	735
Grampian	1,530	1,606	1,676	1,706	1,745	1,398	1,413	1,307	1,380	1,430	1,407	1,484	1,620	1,500	1,694	1,403	1,240	1,310
Greater Glasgow & Clyde	4,189	4,270	4,429	4,358	3,816	3,651	3,081	3,472	3,794	4,135	4,164	4,380	4,471	4,034	3,962	3,524	3,715	4,668
Highland	523	568	523	446	412	732	695	797	767	667	651	643	713	626	780	714	797	712
Lanark shire	1,374	1,478	1,834	1,760	1,659	1,504	1,314	1,245	1,431	1,596	1,438	1,397	1,425	1,451	1,616	1,552	1,742	1,708
Lothian	3,033	2,073	1,734	3,105	2,912	2,577	2,300	2,576	3,149	2,743	2,318	2,398	2,308	2,249	2,395	2,384	2,166	2,021
Orkney	29	35	25	27	29	21	23	23	22	38	35	33	37	29	39	101	61	48
Other 2	*	-	-	*	*	*	-	*	-	6	*	*	*	*	7	*	*	*
Shetland	44	69	48	56	61	68	70	69	46	41	67	45	53	49	70	62	90	60
Tayside	1,560	1,705	1,548	1,535	1,322	1,318	1,097	1,074	1,080	1,189	1,142	1,080	1,090	1,163	1,046	1,074	947	1,070
Western Isles	53	61	56	99	73	92	82	83	83	87	54	80	70	86	65	43	58	42
Source: SMR01, SMR04 Notes * - Denotes values which have been suppressed to protect patient confidentiality.
1 - A self-harm diagnosis is based on current classifications in Chapter V of the ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders.
2 - Due to small numbers, the National Facility, Non-NHS Provider/Location, and State Hospital health boards have been grouped under Other to protect patient confidentiality.

Question reference: S5W-15522

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 19 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many adult carer places have there been on college courses in each year since 1999, also broken down by college.

Information on the number of adult carers at Scottish colleges has only been collected since the 2013-14 academic year. At the time of first collection not all colleges were in a position to provide this information.

The following table shows the number of college students who have declared caring responsibilities, 2013-14 to 2016-17.

College Students who have declared caring responsibilities, 2013-14 to 2016-17

College	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17
Argyll College	-	-	24	-
Ayrshire College	4	20	119	569
Borders College	105	254	110	62
City of Glasgow College	1,644	1,520	1,727	1,879
Dumfries and Galloway College	-	-	-	42
Dundee and Angus College	34	740	835	656
Edinburgh College	-	514	783	959
Fife College	35	101	67	63
Forth Valley College	21	161	212	229
Glasgow Clyde College	269	830	883	906
Glasgow Kelvin College	382	640	203	136
Inverness College	48	148	293	320
Lews Castle College	55	67	90	55
Moray College	35	139	201	224
New College Lanarkshire	25	12	-	3
Newbattle Abbey College	-	1	3	14
North East Scotland College	-	40	99	128
North Highland College	14	38	42	110
Orkney College	18	52	100	113
Perth College	62	162	167	169
SRUC Land Based	-	-	-	24
Shetland College of Further Education	2	10	22	38
South Lanarkshire College	-	2	158	329
West College Scotland	80	539	980	1,413
West Highland College	-	6	11	-
West Lothian College	-	-	36	142
Total	2,833	5,996	7,165	8,583
Source: SFC College Data

NOTE: Data collection is still under improvement and numbers should not be compared across years.

Question reference: S5W-15517

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had on capping the costs that lawyers can recover in NHS criminal negligence cases, including with (a) legal and (b) health organisations.

Where a claim for compensation is made following any prosecution this would be a civil matter.

Under the Civil Litigation (Expenses and Group Proceedings) (Scotland) Bill which is currently before the Scottish Parliament, Scottish Ministers would be given a power to make regulations which would cap the success fees which can be charged under success fee agreements. The Government has indicated an intention that it is minded to follow the recommendations of Sheriff Principal James Taylor in his Review of the Expenses and Funding of Civil Litigation in Scotland, which means the caps would be set at 20% of the first £100,000 of damages, 10% of the next £400,000 and 2.5% of anything above £500,000 (inclusive of VAT).

Question reference: S5W-15524

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the postage costs for the NHS has been in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S5W-15525

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the NHS publication and printing costs have been in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S5W-15520

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many NHS surgeon positions remained unfilled in each year since 1999, also broken down by NHS board.

NHSScotland staff numbers have increased by over 10% under this Government to a record high of than 127,000 WTE, with staff in post numbers of consultants working in surgical specialities increasing by over 40% in the same period.

Information on how many NHS surgeon positions remained unfilled in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS Board, is not centrally held. Specific local information may be available from individual NHSScotland Boards.

Information on consultant vacancy figures, of which consultants working in surgical specialities is a sub category, is published by ISD Scotland and is available at the following web links:

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2018-03-06/Consultant_Vacancies_D2017.xls .

and

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2012-11-27/Consultant_Vacancies_S2012.xls?40942485 .

Question reference: S5W-15516

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been paid out as a result of successful criminal negligence cases brought against the NHS in each year since 1999, also broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S5O-02019

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 April 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it takes to encourage more diesel taxi owners to convert to liquefied petroleum gas.

Question reference: S5W-15617

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 18 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-15082 by Maureen Watt on 14 March 2018, whether guidance has been issued that confirms that a person must not be assumed to have Significantly Impaired Decision Making Ability (SIDMA) unless it has been properly established that a mental disorder has affected that person's ability to believe, understand and retain information, and to make and communicate decisions.

The Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 sets out the principles according to which those who perform duties under the Act must discharge those functions. This includes professionals such as medical practitioners who take decisions concerning compulsion.

Scottish Ministers are under a duty to prepare, publish and revise a Code of Practice under the 2003 Act. The Code sets out guidance to professionals on their duties, therefore doctors, mental health officers and others exercising statutory functions under the Act are under a duty to have regard to the Code.

Volume 2 of the Code deals with the range of issues relating to civil compulsory powers and includes specific sections that make clear which criteria should be met before the various orders and certificates may be granted. It makes particular mention on the concept of significantly impaired decision making ability (SIDMA), in that:

SIDMA must always be linked to a person’s mental disorder but it should not necessarily be taken to be synonymous with mental disorder
SIDMA means a significant impairment in relation to decisions about the provision of medical treatment for mental disorder
A person’s decision making ability should not be considered to be significantly impaired by reason only of a lack of deficiency in a faculty of communication
Similarly, it should not be taken as equivalent to disagreeing with the opinions of professionals

Other forms of guidance are available - the Mental Welfare Commission have published good practice guides for practitioners on various issues, one of which is called 'Consent to Treatment'. Similarly, the General Medical Council publishes guidance for all UK doctors, entitled 'Consent: patients and doctors making decisions together'.