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-08639

Asked by: Margaret McCulloch, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 7 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making toward electrification of the Glasgow suburban railway network.

A large proportion of the suburban network is already electrified covering routes between Glasgow and Ayrshire, Glasgow and Edinburgh via Airdrie/Bathgate and via Carstairs, North and South Clyde, parts of Strathclyde South, parts of Lanarkshire and the West Coast Main Line south from Glasgow. On 11 July 2012, Network Rail and ScotRail confirmed a £12 million joint investment to electrify the 8 km stretch of line between Glasgow Central and Paisley Canal by December 2012. The first phase of the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP) will include approximately 160 single track km of electrification across the Edinburgh - Glasgow via Falkirk High and the Cumbernauld lines, part of which are on the Glasgow suburban railway network. Our High Level Output Specification for control period 5 (2014-19) asks Network Rail to plan for the electrification of 100 single track kilometres per annum commencing from the completion of EGIP.

Question reference: S4W-08638

Asked by: Margaret McCulloch, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 7 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what reductions in journey times between Glasgow and East Kilbride would be achieved through electrification.

Question reference: S4W-08635

Asked by: Margaret McCulloch, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 7 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government which capital projects proposed in the Initial Industry Plan Scotland: Proposals for Control Period 5 and beyond it will support.

The High Level Output Specification published on 21 June 2012 sets out the Government’s ambitious investment priorities for the five year (2014 to 2019) Control Period. The £5 billion programme of investment in infrastructure includes:

Phase 1 of the Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvements Programme

Completion of the Borders Railway

Phase 1 of the Aberdeen to Inverness Rail Improvements Project, and

Phase 2 of the Highland Main Line Improvements Project

All of these projects are detailed in our Infrastructure Investment Plan, and the Industry’s Investment Plan.

We will require the rail industry to work together to deliver future phases of the Aberdeen to Inverness Improvements Project and the Highland Main Line Improvements Project, and the rolling programme of electrification, which will cover around 100 single track kilometres per annum to meet future capacity requirements.

Question reference: S4W-08636

Asked by: Margaret McCulloch, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 7 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether the electrification of the East Kilbride line will be (a) initiated and (b) completed in Control Period 5.

Electrification of the strategic rail network is to be delivered in phases starting with Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP). East Kilbride was identified in the Strategic Transport Projects Review as a line which may be included in later phases of electrification. Our High Level Output Specification for control period 5 (2014-19) asks Network Rail to plan for the electrification of 100 single track kilometres per annum commencing from the completion of EGIP. This will include proposals for delivery beyond control period 5 and the electrification of East Kilbride will be considered in that programme.

Question reference: S4W-08637

Asked by: Margaret McCulloch, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 7 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether the proposed electrification of the East Kilbride line will include the dualling of track between East Kilbride and Busby.

Question reference: S4W-08644

Asked by: Margaret McCulloch, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 27 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what the appropriate staffing levels are for consultant-led accident and emergency units.

Question reference: S4W-08645

Asked by: Margaret McCulloch, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 27 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether instances have been reported to the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Cities Strategy of staffing at consultant-led accident and emergency units falling below minimum requirements in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S4W-08643

Asked by: Margaret McCulloch, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 27 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the recruitment of consultants to accident and emergency units.

Staffing levels of units and related recruitment issues are matters for individual health boards. However, the Scottish Government maintains regular contact with all NHSScotland boards on a range of issues. Discussions are currently underway with health boards about their plans to ensure appropriate staffing levels of units, including accident and emergency units, over the next 12 months. These discussions will help inform the Reshaping Medical Workforce project and decisions about future medical undergraduate intake numbers.

Question reference: S4W-08354

Asked by: Margaret McCulloch, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 23 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the recent backlog in the coding of clinical episodes by NHS Lanarkshire will have on the statistics that are published by the Information Services Division.

Clinical coding is carried out for the following national returns: SMR00 (Outpatients), SMR01 (Acute Inpatient and Day Cases), SMR01_1E (Geriatric Long Stay), SMR02 (Maternity Inpatients and Day Cases) and SMR04 (Mental Health Inpatients and Day Cases).

The Information Services Division (ISD) routinely monitors the submission of SMR data from all boards; this includes regular meetings to discuss data submission problems and providing support to help resolve them. For NHS Lanarkshire, SMR data is complete for all the above data sets to March 2012 except for SMR02 data. SMR02 data is complete to January 2011, with incomplete data for February and March 2011. There is currently no data on file from April 2011 onwards. The delay in submission has been due to problems experienced by NHS Lanarkshire following the implementation of their new Patient Management System – TrakCare.

The incomplete SMR02 data will impact on one annual publication which is due to be published in August 2012: Births in Scottish Hospitals, year ending 31 March 2011. ISD is currently working with Lanarkshire to resolve the outstanding data submission issues to meet a rescheduled publication date of November 2012. NHS Lanarkshire is not the only board with incomplete SMR submissions delaying the Births in Scottish Hospitals publication. ISD is working with other boards that are experiencing problems following the implementation of TrakCare. Information on the completeness of SMR data nationally is available at the following ISD webpage.

http://www.isdscotland.org/Products-and-Services/Hospital-Records-Data-Monitoring/SMR-Completeness/.

Question reference: S4W-08646

Asked by: Margaret McCulloch, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 23 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Cities Strategy has had with NHS Lanarkshire regarding (a) performance levels at accident and emergency units and (b) clinical coding.

Both ministers and Scottish Government officials keep in regular contact with NHS boards on a range of matters. NHS Lanarkshire held its annual review in public in Hamilton on 5 July with government officials in attendance as observers.

The NHS board confirmed at the Review that they have completed a substantial recruitment programme investing some £2.4 million over the last 18 months to increase consultant numbers within emergency medicine across Lanarkshire. The board has also added nursing staff to further strengthen each of the three accident and emergency departments (A&E). At the Annual Review NHS Lanarkshire also reiterated their commitment to meeting and sustaining the four-hour A&E HEAT Standard.

I can confirm that the government was aware of the issues NHS Lanarkshire experienced with clinical coding, following the implementation of the board's new patient management system: TrakCare. Information Services Division is currently working with NHS Lanarkshire to resolve the outstanding data submission issues and I have been assured by the board that a robust action plan is in place to ensure the effective maintenance and improvement of local clinical coding. Full details of the actions taken have been submitted to the NHS Lanarkshire Board and are available on their website which can be accessed via the following link: http://www.nhslanarkshire.org.uk/boards/Pages/default.aspx.