Questions and answers

Question reference: S4W-15020

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 30 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on Glasgow Local Medical Committee's recommendation that GPs working under contract to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde do not provide letters of support for patients making benefit applications when requested by the patient and whether any other local medical committees have made a similar decision.

The Scottish Government supports the role of GPs in contributing to the welfare assessment process and this is reflected contractually in both our General and Primary Medical Services Regulations. GPs have a statutory obligation, negotiated on a UK basis, to provide information to DWP, and those agencies acting on its behalf, in relation to medical certificates and assessments used to determine entitlements to benefits.

Local Medical Committees (LMCs) represent NHS GPs in their localities and any advice from an LMC is a professional matter between that Committee and the practitioners it represents. GP practices are contracted to provide General or Primary Medical Services by NHS boards and it is for each Health Board to ensure that its contractors are delivering the services required by their contracts. GPs are not contractually required to provide patients making benefit applications or appeals with letters of support.

The Scottish Government shares the profession’s concerns that the established contractual and agreed methods for GPs to directly provide medical information to the DWP are not being used effectively by the Department. These issues were discussed at a meeting on 13 March 2013 between Scottish Government officials and the Chair of the British Medical Association’s Scottish General Practitioners’ Committee (SGPC).

On 20 April 2013, with the support of the SGPC, the Deputy First Minister and the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing wrote to the UK Government’s Secretary of State for Work and Pensions expressing concern about the apparent weaknesses of DWP’s processes for obtaining medical evidence for people subject to Work Capability Assessments and the strain being put upon primary care practices as a result of requests for medical evidence to support appeals.

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions replied on 8 May 2013 informing the Deputy First Minister that he believed that DWP processes were effective and are subject to on-going review in order to continue to improve effectiveness. The Scottish Government will closely monitor the outcomes of DWP’s further review work and Scottish Minsters will continue to press their concerns with the department.

Question reference: S4F-01388

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 May 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 May 2013

To ask the First Minister what steps the Scottish Government is taking to tackle bullying in the NHS.

Question reference: S4W-14573

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 13 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to extend access to superfast broadband to those urban areas that do not have it.

The Scottish Government has committed over £240 million of public funding to the Step Change 2015 programme, which will deliver a step change in next generation broadband connectivity to those areas where the market will currently not go.

We are also collaborating with Scotland's seven cities through the Scottish Cities Alliance. Digital connectivity is a key priority of the Alliance and we are working collectively to deliver world class digital connectivity, capacity and usage across the cities and their regions and improved mobile coverage along our main transport links.

Question reference: S4O-02107

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S4W-14262

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 1 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S4W-08944 and S4W-08941 by Roseanna Cunningham on 15 August 2012, what progress has been made on the transfer of the administration of employment tribunals.

The UK Government has been considering the transfer of the administration of reserved tribunals to the Scottish Ministers. In his response to the Cabinet Secretary for Justice’s letter of 12 October 2012, the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice indicated that he would be in a position to provide an update on this issue shortly. We are still awaiting the UK Government’s update.

Question reference: S4W-14105

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government who will benefit from the social wage and how.

Through the Social Wage we have defended and extended key core universal services, rights and benefits to deliver the social and economic circumstances for everyone to benefit.

Key commitments include: the removal of prescription charges, benefitting every Scottish citizen and potentially saving those with long term illnesses around £104 per year; free eye examinations, benefiting every Scottish citizen and having delivered almost two million examinations in 2011-12; free personal care, benefitting over 77,000 older, vulnerable people in our society; council tax freeze, benefitting over 1.8 million homes; sustainable domestic water charges benefitting all Scottish households on a public water supply; free university tuition, saving students around £27,000 a year compared to the cost of the studying in England; concessionary travel to help older and disabled people in Scotland; the abolition of bridge tolls; legislating through the Children and Young People Bill to deliver an increase to 600 hours of free, flexible early learning and childcare to around 120,000 children across Scotland; and the implementation of a Scottish Living Wage for the duration of this Parliament.

Question reference: S4W-14072

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 25 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it provides to local authorities on the planning of places at nursery schools for three-year-olds.

Local authorities are currently required to deliver 475 hours per year of pre-school education to three and four year olds. It is the responsibility of local authorities to ensure that all eligible children are offered a pre-school place.

The Provision of School Education for Children Under School Age (Prescribed Children) (Scotland) Order 2002 sets out the term from which children can take up their funded place, depending on when in the calendar year their 3^rd birthday falls.

Guidance on pre-school education provided under Section 34 of the Standards in Scotland’s Schools Etc. Act 2000 will be updated to reflect changes arising from the Children and Young People Bill.

Question reference: S4W-14074

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 25 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many parents do not obtain a place for their child at a nursery school in the first (a) three, (b) six and (c) nine months of their entitlement due to a lack of available places.

Local authorities are under a statutory duty to secure a place for all prescribed children, where parents wish to have a place for their child, in accordance with where their third birthday falls.

The Scottish Government monitors registration of those eligible children through the annual national Statistical Bulletin on Statistics for Schools in Scotland. This showed in December 2012 that registration for the pre-school entitlement was 96% of eligible children.

Question reference: S4W-14073

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 25 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many parents do not obtain a place for their child at the nursery school of their (a) first and (b) second choice.

Question reference: S4W-14261

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 25 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government on proposals to devolve responsibility for the operation and administration of employment tribunals and when such discussions will be concluded.

The UK Government has been considering the transfer of the administration of reserved tribunals to the Scottish Ministers. In his response to the Cabinet Secretary for Justice’s letter of 12 October 2012, the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice indicated that he would be in a position to provide an update on this issue shortly. We are still awaiting the UK Government’s update.

Chamber and committees