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-17199

Asked by: Siobhan McMahon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how it supports people with muscular dystrophy into work.

We want to ensure that people living with neuromuscular conditions, including their families, get access to the best possible care and support.

We have funded three neuromuscular care advisor posts in the South East and Tayside, the North of Scotland, and the West of Scotland for two years. These regional care advisors will be able to signpost people living with neuromuscular conditions and their families to services and support in their local area.

We also fund the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives to provide advice to employers on supporting and promoting health, safety and wellbeing in the workplace. This includes offering advice on adjustments that can be made in the workplace to accommodate employees with limiting health conditions and guidance on employers’ obligations under the Equality Act.

Question reference: S4W-17200

Asked by: Siobhan McMahon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have (a) been hospitalised and (b) died from asbestos poisoning in each year since 2007, broken down by NHS board.

The specific information requested is not available centrally as there are no exact ICD-10 diagnosis codes which solely relate to asbestos poisoning. It is also likely that acute asbestos poisoning is very rare. Information on the number of hospital admissions and deaths for asbestos-related conditions are available and provided in the following tables.

Table 1: shows the number hospital admissions for asbestos-related conditions for each of the last six financial years ending 31st of March, broken down by health board.

Health Board of Treatment	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
Golden Jubilee National Hospital	3	21	84	109	97	85
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	50	45	81	81	92	69
NHS Borders	9	10	13	23	17	6
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	31	19	21	43	43	28
NHS Fife	192	158	181	141	172	259
NHS Forth Valley	25	31	31	28	37	28
NHS Grampian	101	179	226	216	241	214
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	532	496	603	627	711	656
NHS Highland	53	84	77	118	108	127
NHS Lanarkshire	100	115	98	91	72	76
NHS Lothian	282	290	293	319	261	281
NHS Orkney	-	3	5	7	1	2
NHS Shetland	-	-	2	-	10	2
NHS Tayside	96	74	85	84	130	109
NHS Western Isles	1	-	-	7	10	10
Totals	1,475	1,525	1,800	1,894	2,002	1,952

Table 2: shows the number of deaths caused by asbestos-related conditions for each of the last six financial years ending 31st of March, broken down by health board.

Health Board of Treatment	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
Golden Jubilee National Hospital	-	-	-	1	-	1
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	9	4	9	11	11	9
NHS Borders	1	1	1	3	5	-
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	2	4	4	4	3	4
NHS Fife	20	21	25	13	11	19
NHS Forth Valley	6	4	2	6	5	3
NHS Grampian	11	9	16	19	18	15
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	35	44	31	44	49	43
NHS Highland	5	9	2	6	8	13
NHS Lanarkshire	16	10	15	19	13	13
NHS Lothian	24	27	22	24	23	16
NHS Orkney	-	-	1	1	-	1
NHS Shetland	-	-	1	-	-	1
NHS Tayside	10	10	10	8	18	14
NHS Western Isles	-	-	-	-	-	1
Totals	139	143	139	159	164	153

Source: ISD Scotland, SMR01.

Question reference: S4W-17202

Asked by: Siobhan McMahon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many fixed penalty notices have been issued under the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2010 for (a) failing to comply with display restrictions and (b) selling tobacco from automatic vending machines.

Question reference: S4W-17203

Asked by: Siobhan McMahon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 25 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) violent and (b) non-violent crimes have been recorded against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in each year since the introduction of the Offences (Aggravation by Prejudice) (Scotland) Act 2009.

Question reference: S4W-17201

Asked by: Siobhan McMahon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 24 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many civil servants it employs and what information it has on how many are members of a trade union.

Figures on civil servant employment are already in the public domain. The information requested can be found on the Office for National Statistics website by searching for the Quarterly Public Sector Employment Survey. The latest version is available at:

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/pse/public-sector-employment/q2-2013/stb-pse-2013q2.html

The Scottish Government figure (excluding agencies) is contained in table 10. The most recent figure as at 30June 2013 is 5,070 civil servants.

As at 30 June 2013, 1,985 civil servants had deductions direct from salary for trade union membership. The number of civil servants who pay for their membership directly is not known.

Question reference: S4O-02375

Asked by: Siobhan McMahon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 September 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure patient safety at Monklands, Wishaw and Hairmyres hospitals.

Question reference: S4O-02327

Asked by: Siobhan McMahon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what assistance it is providing to staff at the Philips Lighting plant in Hamilton following the company's announcement that it will phase out the production of luminaires at the plant.

Question reference: S4W-16179

Asked by: Siobhan McMahon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 28 June 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 26 July 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what the average waiting time for a paediatric assessment for (a) autism spectrum disorder and (b) Asperger syndrome (i) is and (ii) was in each of the last three years, broken down by NHS board.

This information requested is not held centrally.

Waiting times information for Child and Adolescent Mental Health services is published quarterly by NHS Information Services Division (ISD) at the website http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Waiting-Times/Publications/.

The information collected by ISD is aggregate level data only at NHS board and month level. The information is not collected at disorder/syndrome level.

Question reference: S4W-15810

Asked by: Siobhan McMahon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 June 2013
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 3 July 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what funding is available specifically for sexual abuse counselling services.

We are providing £3.6 million to support rape victims for 2012-15 which enables us to support a wide variety of projects and organisations, many who provide services including counselling.

We are supporting the Rape Crisis Helpline which will receive £260,000 of Scottish Government funding a year for 2012-15 (Total £780k). The helpline offers free and confidential support and information for women and men who have experienced sexual violence.

The 14 Scottish Rape Crisis Centres over Scotland are funded through our Rape Crisis Specific Fund. They will receive £50,000 each per year, a total of £700,000 per year for the next 3 years (£2.1m 2012-15). Providing emotional and practical support, information and advocacy to anyone affected by sexual violence, regardless of whether that abuse may have happened recently or in the past.

In addition SurvivorScotland was allocated £850,000 to take forward the National Strategy for Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse in 2012-13 and a further £800,000 for 2013-14.

This funding is supporting 22 statutory and voluntary organisations to develop a wide range of services for survivors, including counselling.

Question reference: S4W-15591

Asked by: Siobhan McMahon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 June 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 25 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) full- and (b) part-time bank nurses have been employed by NHS Lanarkshire in each year since 2007.

The information requested on how many (a) full time and (b) part time bank nurses have been employed by NHS Lanarkshire in each year since 2007 is not centrally held.

Information that is held centrally on bank nurses can be found on the ISD website by following the link below.

https://isdscotland.scot.nhs.uk/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2013-05-28/Bank_Nurses_M2013.xls?40608722

Further information on the statistics, including information on how the data are collected and notes to aid interpretation, is given in the “Background Information” section of the Workforce statistics website at www.isdscotland.org/workforce.