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: S4F-02444

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 01 December 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 December 2014

To ask the First Minister what response the Scottish Government has received to its representations to the UK Government regarding the implications of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership for health services in Scotland.

Question reference: S4O-03771

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage people to attend further education courses.

Question reference: S4W-22798

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 October 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 5 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been referred to the Edinburgh transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) centre since October 2012; how many were approved to receive TAVI; how many reverted to conventional surgery, and how many reverted to no procedure and palliative care.

The information requested is provided in the following table:

Table 1: People referred to the national TAVI service since October 2012

Total referrals for consideration of TAVI	317
Those who need assessed	22
Those who need tests	26
Those who have had TAVI	127
Those suitable for TAVI	12
Those suitable for conventional surgery	45
Those not suitable for TAVI	85

Source: National TAVI service, October 2014

Question reference: S4W-22842

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 October 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 4 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what the salary has been of each (a) university and (b) college principal or chief executive officer in each of the last five years, and what the annual change in salary has been expressed as a percentage.

Question reference: S4W-22723

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 October 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 4 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish a register of interests for all members of the independent review group considering the safety of mesh devices.

Question reference: S4W-22681

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 October 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 29 October 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what clinical trials and studies into synthetic mesh products are being conducted in Scotland; how many have taken place since 1998, and how much each (a) NHS board and (b) doctor was paid for participating.

Question reference: S4W-22682

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 October 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 29 October 2014

To ask the Scottish Government where the centres of excellence for the removal of defective mesh products are in Scotland; how many doctors are trained and able to remove such products, and what type of procedure is most commonly used to do so.

Pathway documents have been developed by the expert group and the Deputy Chief Medical Officer is now working with healthcare planners to implement the necessary changes to deliver this new service.

Currently NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, NHS Ayrshire and Arran, NHS Lothian and NHS Grampian have accredited subspecialist surgeons and are developing multi-disciplinary teams that are able to provide clinical support to women experiencing complications. The Glasgow team has consistently demonstrated adequate expertise accompanied with relevant workload and success rates in dealing with advanced mesh complications requiring highly specialised surgical techniques.

Depending on individual conditions, some patients will require treatment in the local hospital, some will need referral to the regional centre and some will require referral to the national centre. The pathway document details the referral criteria specific to each patient presentation and guides patients and their surgeons to the best place to provide further treatment tailored to their individual condition.

The Deputy Chief Medical Officer has written to all NHS boards requesting information on current practice in the surgical treatment of stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse, including confirmation of the number of subspecialist urogynaecologists.

NHS boards are in the process of collating this information, which will be published once available.

The most common procedure used to treat women experiencing complications is partial removal of mesh device (or excision of mesh erosion). This procedure is performed by a number of surgeons around the country and, in most situations, no further treatment is required. However, if further partial removal is required and/or if complete removal is being considered, the pathway document developed by the expert group indicates forward referral to the national centre where expertise will be concentrated to provide such highly-specialised service to patients. This service will also deal with patients who have developed complications such as fistula tracts or bladder or bowel involvement.

Question reference: S4W-22685

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 October 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 29 October 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether the independent review into mesh devices will publish all minutes and notes of its activity.

Question reference: S4W-22688

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 October 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 29 October 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has informed the European Commission (EC) of its advice to NHS boards regarding suspending the use of mesh devices pending the results of the independent review and whether it has contacted the EC Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks working group looking at the safety of surgical meshes used in urogynecological surgery in relation to this matter.

Question reference: S4W-22695

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 October 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 29 October 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the discussion of the matter at the meeting of the Working Group on Transvaginal Mesh Implants on 18 June 2013, whether discussions have taken place with NHS management regarding the potential financial resource implications in relation to the multi-disciplinary approach to complications with mesh surgery.