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-17063

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 July 2018
Current Status: Answered by James Wolffe QC on 2 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what percentage of deaths that were reported to a procurator fiscal were then referred to a pathologist in each of the last five years, broken down by health centre.

The following table shows the number of deaths reported to the Procurator Fiscal in the financial years 2013 to 2018 along with the number and percentage of post mortem examinations carried out as a subset of that total.

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) does not hold information about the health centre areas however the table shows a breakdown of the figures for each of the SFIU area teams.

			Post Mortem Examinations
Financial Year	SFIU Area	Death Reports Received	Total PM examinations	as a % of total death reports received
2013-14	EAST	3,334	1,797	54%
	NORTH	2,082	1,367	66%
	WEST	4,133	2,765	67%
	Total	9,549	5,929	62%
2014-15	EAST	3,301	1,959	59%
	NORTH	1,724	1,387	80%
	WEST	4,148	2,992	72%
	Total	9,173	6,338	69%
2015-16	EAST	3,298	2,120	64%
	NORTH	1,944	1,426	73%
	WEST	4,337	3,073	71%
	Total	9,579	6,619	69%
2016-17	EAST	3,168	1,693	53%
	NORTH	2,825	1,190	42%
	WEST	4,938	2,889	59%
	Total	10,931	5,772	53%
2017-18	EAST	3,124	1,730	55%
	NORTH	2,460	1,243	51%
	WEST	5,272	2,862	54%
	Total	10,856	5,835	54%

Question reference: S5W-17684

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 July 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 31 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made on a no-fault compensation scheme for clinical injury since the publication of its response to the consultation on this issue in April 2014.

We consulted on draft outline proposals for a no-blame redress scheme between March and August 2016.

Since then, we have established an Openness and Learning Unit in the Scottish Government's Quality & Improvement Directorate. The Unit is working with health and care professionals to create a health and social care environment that uses knowledge from adverse events to inform continuous improvement to health and care services in a culture that embraces openness and learning without fear when things go wrong.

When harm occurs the focus must be on personal contact with those affected; support and a process of review and action that is meaningful and informed by the principles of learning and continuous improvement. The Duty of Candour Procedure (Scotland) Regulations place, which we introduced on 1 April, place this on a legal footing.

I am considering the responses to the redress consultation and how a scheme would contribute to openness, learning and continuous improvement, a key element of any redress arrangements. The Scottish Government’s response to the consultation will be published in the autumn.

Question reference: S5W-17061

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 July 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 31 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many deaths were recorded by each health centre in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S5W-17683

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 July 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 31 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of it being introduced in England and Wales, whether it will introduce an NHS indemnity for GPs in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-17241

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 10 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the outcome was of the recent meeting between the Minister for Public Health and Sport and the NHS Tayside blood-borne virus managed clinical network leads.

My predecessor in this role, Aileen Campbell MSP, greatly valued the opportunity to see first-hand the excellent work being done by NHS Tayside. Health Protection Scotland is developing advice for the Scottish Government on how hepatitis C infection could be eliminated in Scotland and once I have received this expert advice I will give further consideration to a strategy to eliminate hepatitis C infection.

Question reference: S5W-17242

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 10 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many hepatitis C virus tests have been offered in each prison in each of the last three years, also broken down by how many (a) were (i) accepted and (ii) declined and (b) resulted in a prisoner being tested positive for the virus.

Question reference: S5W-17369

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 10 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position in on the effectiveness of NHS Tayside’s approach to dealing with the hepatitis C virus, and whether it is considering asking the other NHS boards to adopt a similar approach.

Question reference: S5O-02260

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 June 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the media industry regarding the role that it can play in challenging Islamophobia.

Question reference: S5W-16900

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 01 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 12 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, in the light of the US National comprehensive clinical updated guidelines on using F-18 fluviclovivine (Axumin) in diagnostic imaging in men with recurrent prostate cancer, whether it will recommend that clinicians should consider using Axumin in positronic emission tomography, computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging in helping to determine the best treatment.

The Scottish Health Technologies Group (SHTG) assesses the effectiveness and proven benefit to patients of new technologies, and they advise NHS Scotland where there is a convincing evidence base.

In 2017, SHTG found limited evidence supporting the use of Axumin for the detection of a suspected recurrent prostate cancer. The evidence base will be reviewed again in 2019, if not sooner should substantial new evidence become available.

Question reference: S5W-16782

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 5 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the finding in the British HIV Association (BHIVA) national audit 2015 regarding the increase in the numbers of people in Scotland with HIV who have been assessed as having a (a) cardiovascular health and (b) bone health/fracture risk.

The updated Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Framework published in 2015 sets out the Scottish Government’s commitment to enabling people living with blood borne viruses to lead longer, healthier lives, with a good quality of life. NHS Boards are responsible for local arrangements for the treatment of patients, drawing on expert guidance such as the BHIVA guidelines on the treatment of people living with HIV.