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-15451

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 18 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has undertaken of the opportunity cost of missed appointments in relation to medical professionals' time being wasted.

We expect Boards to continue to review the reasons why patients do not attend appointments and look for ways to improve their booking practices and clinic times such as running clinics at night or weekends as well as providing reminder services through text, emails and social media. These type of changes can lead to fewer missed appointments as well as providing more efficient and effective services.

Question reference: S5W-15444

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 18 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many medical appointments were missed in 2017.

Question reference: S5W-15449

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 18 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have missed medical appointments in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) NHS board and (b) category of health appointment.

Information is collected centrally for missed appointments for a first outpatient consultations only. The following tables provide information on the number of first outpatient appointments and the number of patients who did not attend a first outpatient appointment for the last five years by NHS Board.

	2013		2014		2015
Board	Number of Appointments	Number of DNAs	Number of Appointments	Number of DNAs	Number of Appointments	Number of DNAs
Ayrshire and Arran	103,912	11,608	103,880	11,816	108,748	11,835
Borders	32,452	1,918	31,730	1,991	32,742	1,782
Dumfries& Galloway	38,238	2,247	40,482	2,523	40,623	2,749
Fife	100,879	10,904	98,026	9,666	103,237	9,926
Forth Valley	69,356	6,985	70,022	8,558	73,525	7,999
Grampian	117,020	8,866	112,324	8,354	119,218	8,402
Greater Glasgow&Clyde	400,054	58,220	407,857	56,647	397,173	57,796
Highland	70,718	5,377	68,860	6,059	70,840	5,191
Lanarkshire	126,178	15,325	129,308	15,648	128,016	15,724
Lothian	240,726	26,737	247,418	27,789	247,784	29,687
Orkney	3,933	255	4,156	298	3,950	316
Shetland	4,956	304	5,111	413	5,019	388
Tayside	145,277	15,355	146,471	14,845	142,325	14,907
Western Isles	7,011	485	7,148	648	7,617	689
Golden Jubilee	7,340	497	11,085	721	12,274	812
Non-NHS Providers	5,404	292	7,016	303	8,353	376

	2016		2017
	Number of Appointments	Number of DNAs	Number of Appointments	Number of DNAs
Ayrshire and Arran	101,136	10,894	103,660	10,687
Borders	34,275	1,644	33,365	1,738
Dumfries& Galloway	40,550	2,278	37,141	2,057
Fife	103,523	11,072	101,426	11,095
Forth Valley	71,757	6,619	75,591	5,391
Grampian	118,868	8,110	112,294	7,458
Greater Glasgow&Clyde	391,368	55,223	367,547	46,493
Highland	72,391	4,812	73,862	4,994
Lanarkshire	126,742	13,775	129,741	14,019
Lothian	243,661	28,143	239,855	27,033
Orkney	4,173	271	3,817	230
Shetland	5,034	368	4,765	342
Tayside	140,555	13,732	120,304	12,495
Western Isles	8,298	782	6,477	554
Golden Jubilee	13,855	874	14,587	761
Non-NHS Providers	3,653	165	5,044	146

Question reference: S5W-15721

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 17 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it has put in place to help local authorities that face potential reductions to housing support funding.

Housing support services are commissioned by Health and Social Care Partnerships as they are best placed to determine local needs and priorities and make best use of resources.

We are supporting Integration Authorities to improve outcomes across health and social care. In particular we are providing support for the effective commissioning of new and better models of care.

In 2018-19 an additional £66 million is included in the Local Government settlement allocations to support additional spending by local government on social care.

In recent years the delivery of housing support services have been undergoing changes to the traditional models. For example the increased use of technology enabled care. However, although the service models may change, the level of support should not be diminished.

Question reference: S5W-15676

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has undertaken regarding the feasibility of expanding the Glasgow underground and the (a) costs and (b) benefits of doing so.

The responsibility for the operation management and investment in the Glasgow Subway rests with Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT). The Scottish Government has not undertaken any analysis of the feasibility of expanding the Subway. (The Scottish Government is currently providing SPT with up to £246 million towards its Subway Modernisation programme but this does not involve expanding the Subway system.)

Question reference: S5W-15673

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 17 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on the number of mobile phones that have been in use in Scotland in each year since 2012.

Question reference: S5W-15675

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have used the Glasgow underground in each year since 2012.

The Glasgow Subway is the responsibility of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT). Subway patronage figures are reported to SPT's Operations Committee and are available at: http://www.spt.co.uk/corporate/about/minutes-agendas/operations-committee/ .

SPT have provided the following patronage figures for years since 2011-12 (rounded to one decimal place):

Year	Patronage
2011-12	12.9 million
2012-13	12.6 million
2013-14	12.8 million
2014-15	13.0 million
2015-16	12.7 million
2016-17	10.6 million

The lower figure for 2016-17 was affected by the temporary closure of the Subway for approximately eight weeks in summer 2016 for modernisation works.

Question reference: S5W-15507

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 17 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to support the cruise ship industry in the West Scotland region.

The Scottish Government is highly supportive of the cruise industry and its continued growth. Cruise Scotland figures for the 2018 season show an estimated 815 vessel calls at member ports delivering an expected 821,000 passengers right across Scotland. Our public bodies, including VisitScotland and Scottish Enterprise, are working with the industry to help sustainable growth in the industry. This includes increased support for cruise tourism in consumer facing communications from VisitScotland plus closer working with Cruise Scotland at a corporate level.

The Scottish Government has also been working with the cruise industry at the strategic, global level. This is in order to highlight the industry success to date and continued potential sustainable growth in order to encourage further private investment, matching the continued Scottish Government spending on marine infrastructure.

In addition the Scottish Government has run three highly successful Cruise seminars bringing Scottish cruise industry representatives, global operators and relevant Scottish policy makers together.

As part of the Glasgow City Region City Deal, Inverclyde Council and Peel Ports are building an expansion of the quayside and delivering a new visitor centre to further expand cruise ship capacity and facilities at Greenock .

Question reference: S5W-15490

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many Smartcards are used each day on trains, and how much passengers spend using these.

Question reference: S5W-15503

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 17 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to prevent Citizens Advice centres from closing.

The Scottish Government recognises the excellent work that Citizens Advice Bureaux do in helping some of the most vulnerable people in our communities. The Scottish Government includes funding to support the most vulnerable people as part of the block grant which we provide to all local authorities as part of the annual local government finance settlement. This provides flexibility to local authorities and it is for each of them to allocate their resources in the way that best meets local needs. Each Bureau is responsible for putting together its own package of funding, including any core funding from the local authority and project funding from other sources. I commend Bureaux for their use of a variety of approaches to identify funding streams, and I encourage Bureaux to continue to work closely with potential funders and Citizens Advice Scotland to develop sustainable plans for the future.