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-20675

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 17 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve the prevention of cardiovascular disease.

The prevention of cardiovascular disease is one of the six priorities identified in the Scottish Government’s Heart Disease Improvement Plan (2014).

We know that a significant proportion of cardiovascular disease is preventable and influenced by behaviours. That is why we are taking decisive action in a number of areas to address these. One of the top priorities is encouraging physical activity as there is clear evidence to link this with the prevention of cardiovascular disease. Our Physical Activity Delivery Plan, ‘A More Active Scotland’, sets out the actions the Scottish Government and partners are taking to support and encourage people in Scotland to be more active, more often.

Being overweight and obesity can result in increased risk for cardiovascular disease, so our ambition is to halve child obesity in Scotland by 2030, and significantly reduce diet-related health inequalities. Taking a preventative approach, will contribute to reducing the likelihood of children becoming overweight or obese in young adulthood and later life.

Our new Alcohol Framework, sets out our priorities for preventing alcohol-related harm, building on existing measures to change Scotland’s relationship with alcohol, including world-leading minimum unit pricing and we are also actively progressing work to reduce smoking rates - our vision is for a tobacco-free Scotland by 2034.

Question reference: S5W-20736

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 16 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to improve (a) respite and (b) residential care options for people with neurological conditions, and what action it can take to ensure that they are not placed in older people's care homes if it is considered that other options would be preferable.

Integration Authorities have been established to ensure a greater emphasis on community-based and more joined-up and anticipatory care which will benefit a wide range of people including people with neurological conditions.

Further to this we have developed a draft National Action Plan on Neurological Condition, which is currently open for public consultation. We want to ensure that people living with neurological conditions have consistent access to the best possible care and support. This plan sets out a vision for driving improvement in the care, treatment and support available to people living with neurological conditions – and their carers - in Scotland.

Within the draft plan are a number of commitments to support Integration Authorities to improve services and support for people with neurological conditions, including respite care.

Question reference: S5W-20676

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 16 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to undertake an audit of care for (a) cardiology and (b) lipidology services.

Scotland has now formally contracted to be part of the UK National Cardiac Audit Programme. This will allow Scottish data on performance in secondary and tertiary cardiac care to be audited and benchmarked to support a quality improvement approach to data collection. This will cover acute treatment of heart attacks, implantation of pacemakers and defibrillators, cardiac surgery, management of adult congenital heart disease and, in due course, follow-up of heart attack patients and management of heart failure. We anticipate being able to move forward with this soon.

We do not have plans to audit lipid services. The National Advisory Committee for Heart Disease (NACHD) are considering how a national Familial Hypercholesterolemia strategy may be developed and taken forward. Any potential audit of lipid services will be included as part of these discussions.

Question reference: S5F-02970

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 January 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 January 2019

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to a letter reportedly signed by all stroke clinicians in Scotland calling for the urgent introduction of a thrombectomy service.

Question reference: S5W-20731

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 10 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to develop national standards to support people with chronic pain, and what steps it is taking to establish a chronic pain waiting time action plan.

Current guidelines on the treatment of chronic pain will be taken from authorative professional sources such as the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN)

SIGN will be carrying out a scoping exercise this year to look into whether SIGN 136: Management of Chronic Pain should be updated.

The Waiting Times Improvement Plan which was launched in October 2018 will ensure that all patients have swift and safe access to the full range of services from NHSScotland. The Plan will direct investment of more than £850 million to substantially and sustainably improve waiting times in the face of rising demand for services. Officials are working with all territorial Health Boards to ensure that they have appropriate plans in place to support the implementation of the Improvement Plan.

Question reference: S5W-20730

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 10 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has paid to third sector organisations to deliver services in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S5W-20733

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 9 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much it will provide each year to support the implementation of the Neurological Conditions National Action Plan 2019-24; whether the local implementation leads referred to in the plan will be new posts, and whether it will make annual progress reports on the plan.

Question reference: S5W-20673

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 9 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many people have a cholesterol level (a) between 5 and 6.5 and (b) above 6.5 mmol/l, broken down by (i) local authority and (ii) NHS board area.

Question reference: S5W-20674

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 9 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to reinstate data collection on cholesterol levels in the Scottish Health Survey.

Question reference: S5W-20728

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 8 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-20025 by Kevin Stewart on 28 November 2018, whether it will consider funding a new study into the potential contribution of adaptations to social housing and the grant level that is required to ensure maximum returns.