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-20991

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 19 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many people (a) have participated in and (b) are expected to complete the NHS programme, Life Begins at 40; what evaluation it has made of it, and what feedback has been received from (i) GPs, (ii) patients and (iii) other programme users.

Question reference: S4W-20994

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 19 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has decided to discontinue the NHS programme, Life Begins at 40 and, if so, who made this decision; when it was taken, and for what reason.

The Life Begins at 40 programme was discontinued at the end of March 2013. The decision was taken by me in January 2013 on the basis of advice on the conclusions from the evaluation of the programme that showed low levels of uptake and completion, and no evidence of benefits to health.

The Life Begins at 40 website is included in a scoping exercise to develop a web-based resource for working age people that will provide a range of advice for employees, employers and GPs on health and wellbeing in the workplace and on managing and returning to work from sickness absence.

Question reference: S4W-20951

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 19 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many women in Scotland have been implanted with the Johnson & Johnson Ethicon TVT-O implant.

Question reference: S4W-20996

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve the health of people aged 40 and above.

The Scottish Government is taking forward a wide range of policies to improve the health and wellbeing of the population of Scotland, improving healthy life expectancy.

Many of our initiatives aim to improve the health of all, such as the promotion of physical activity. Others are targeted at specific groups. Older people, particularly those 40 years or older will benefit from our Detect Cancer Early and Bowel Cancer Screening programmes.

The Scottish Government is working with NHS24 and NHS Health Scotland to develop a new, web-based source of information for people of working age. This advice will include details of how to promote health and wellbeing in the workplace as well as return-to-work advice. The new web-based service is expected to launch next year.

Question reference: S4W-20995

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 14 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government which of the country’s poorest communities use the NHS programme, Keep Well, and what progress it has made on delivering the 2011 SNP manifesto commitment to extend the programme “to cover all of Scotland’s poorest communities by 2012.”

Question reference: S4W-20997

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 May 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 14 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on the NHS programme, Keep Well, and how many people have participated in it.

Question reference: S4T-00695

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 May 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recent reclassification of mesh implants as high risk in the United States, when mesh implants will be banned in the NHS in Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-20797

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 6 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the NHS uses so-called zero-hours contracts.

NHS Scotland use ‘as and when required’ contracts in staff bank services to great effect. These arrangements have the dual benefit of providing a safe and reliable temporary workforce who can help NHS Scotland respond to unexpected circumstances, and allowing those who require it, the flexibility to continue to work without a fixed commitment that other contractual arrangements could not provide.

Question reference: S4W-20795

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 6 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) NHS and (b) NHS 24 staff are employed on so-called zero-hours contracts.

Question reference: S4F-02051

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 April 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 May 2014

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on media reports that "hospital beds in Scotland are disappearing at a faster rate than in almost any country in the western world".