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: S5W-08801

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much NHS Lanarkshire expects to pay in costs for administrating drugs in each of the next four years, and what projections it has made on what the impact on this would be of an (a) increase and (b) decrease in the (i) cost of drugs and (ii) number of GP prescriptions.

Question reference: S5W-08799

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 11 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what it position is on how the proposal by NHS Lanarkshire to establish dedicated resources to encourage staff to work for the board for longer period reflects on the overall NHS workforce planning strategy since 2007.

The Scottish Government is fully committed to a sustainable NHS. The National Health and Social Care Workforce Plan, which will be published in Spring 2017, will take full account of the many demographic and other influences on our NHS workforce, ensuring it continues to deliver high quality care for generations to come. However, while the Scottish Government provides the policies, frameworks and resources for high quality healthcare in Scotland, it remains the responsibility of NHS Boards – including NHS Lanarkshire – to plan their workforce in order to deliver those services. As part of this planning process, Boards must take account of Scotland’s ageing population and consider how they can support an older workforce.

Question reference: S5O-00996

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when its officials last met Atos Healthcare.

Question reference: S5W-08668

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 10 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what representations it has made to Ineos regarding the working practices, terms and conditions and pension arrangements of employees on the Forties pipeline following the company's purchase of it, and whether any guarantees were given.

Question reference: S5W-08741

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 9 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made regarding Commitment 29 in its Mental Health Strategy 2012-15 to publish guidance setting out the evidence base for employability and mental health.

Question reference: S5W-08793

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 3 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its position will be on any recommendation for a reduction in neonatal services in NHS Lanarkshire arising from the consultation, Achieving Excellence.

The Scottish Government is committed to working with NHS Boards to provide the best neonatal care for babies and families in Scotland. This is reflected in the Scottish Government review - The Best Start - a five year forward plan for maternity and Neonatal are in Scotland. Scottish Government continues to work with NHS Boards through the implementation of The Best Start to ensure appropriate cot capacity and the best care for babies.

Question reference: S5W-08667

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 27 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what SEPA rating for pollution control has been given to the Grangemouth refinery in each of the last five years.

Petroineos Manufacturing Scotland Limited holds the licence that covers the oil refining activities at Grangemouth. SEPA's Compliance Assessment Scheme is designed to demonstrate the level of compliance associated with specific licence conditions and is assessed annually.

The Compliance Assessment Scheme Assessment Reports for regulated sites available at http://apps.sepa.org.uk/compliance/ and the results for the last 5 years are set out in the following table.

Year	Compliance Assessment Scheme	Comments
2016	Poor	Petroineos received a score of Poor for 2016, due primarily to a significant incident in May, with the release to air of approximately 40 tonnes of sulphur. The Operator carried out an investigation and SEPA is satisfied that an appropriate action plan is in place to prevent recurrence. A number of other minor incidents also occurred throughout the year. Despite this the site should receive due credit for minimising flaring and sulphur emissions and continuing to invest in maintaining and upgrading the complex equipment in use there.
2015	Poor	Petroineos's performance was very good in 2015 in terms of maintaining the improvement in sulphur dioxide emissions due to significant reduction from the sulphur recovery plant aided by reduced sulphur flaring due to good reliability. Hydrocarbon flaring was the lowest total ever recorded indicative of good performance to reduce emissions from flaring. Compliance was recorded as poor owing to a prolonged offensive odour from the site affecting a wide area of Grangemouth during December which was considered a significant breach of the odour condition in the permit Compliance was restored and SEPA has continued to monitor the situation.
2014	At Risk	Whilst the refinery had made significant improvements to reduce total sulphur dioxide emissions from the site, SEPA remained concerned with the poor sulphur flaring performance in 2014. In addition to this poor process control associated with an incident on the site resulted in the low performance score for the site. Following discussions with the Operator, SEPA was satisfied that an appropriate action plan had been put in place to prevent recurrence.
2013	Broadly Compliant	SEPA assessed the licence holder as broadly compliant with licence conditions but highlighted several areas for improvement.
2012	Broadly Compliant	SEPA assessed the licence holder as broadly compliant with licence conditions but highlighted several areas for improvement.

Question reference: S5W-08744

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 27 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has undertaken of the impact of the Mental Health Strategy 2012-15 on the employment rate of people with mental health problems.

Question reference: S5W-08743

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 27 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what the employment rates for people with mental health problems are in comparison to the general population.

Information sourced from the Annual Population Survey below shows the employment rate: for the working age population overall and for those with mental health problems.

People with mental health problems are defined as those who responded to the survey reporting :

that they had a physical or mental health condition or illness lasting or expecting to last 12 months or more; and,
that their main health problem was either ‘Depression, bad nerves or anxiety’ or ‘Mental illness or suffer from a phobia, panics or other nervous disorders’.

In 2016 the employment rate for people with mental health problems was 39.0%. This compares with 72.9% for the general population.

Source: Annual Population Survey (January 2016 to December 2016)

Question reference: S5W-08747

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 27 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it has issued to health and social care partnerships regarding employment services for people with mental health problems.

The Scottish Government continues to engage with Integration Authorities to strengthen the links between health, social care and employability, however decisions for the delivery of services at a local level are for Integration Authorities to agree depending on local priorities.

The Scottish Government recognises the very specific challenges that people with mental health conditions can face in securing sustained employment. In designing our devolved employment support programmes, we have made sure to consult with service providers and people who use services to better understand the challenges and how they can be addressed. With devolved employment support, we have an opportunity to do things differently in Scotland and we are currently exploring ways in which we are able to join up devolved employment services with other key areas including health and social care, and justice.

The Mental Health Strategy 2017 – 2027 focuses on the important role of getting a job and staying in work. In particular, action 37 commits to explore with others innovative ways of connecting mental health, disability, and employment support in Scotland.