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: S5T-01738

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 24 June 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it will reduce the reported long waits for inpatient and day-case dental treatment.

Question reference: S5W-23716

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 10 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 24 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the freight capacity of Scotland’s railways.

The Scottish Government recognises that rail freight supports sustainable, inclusive economic growth and contributes to the wider climate change targets and has, therefore, worked closely with the rail freight industry to understand the capacity of the rail network for freight and areas where growth can be facilitated. This work has been informed by studies carried out by Network Rail to determine the demand and capacity for freight services including the Scotland Route Study, the Freight Network Study and the Industry Growth Plan for Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-23687

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 07 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 21 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on directly elected Lord Provosts and mayors in Scottish local authorities, and whether it has any plans to introduce such a policy.

The Scottish Government jointly launched the Local Governance Review with COSLA to consider how powers are shared across national and local government, and with communities. Engagement extended beyond local government to consider all public services. Summary reports of the initial findings can be found at https://www.gov.scot/democracymatters . We didn't specifically ask about directly elected Lord Provosts and mayors in Scottish local authorities. Instead, we asked a short set of broad questions about the future of local democracy in Scotland. From over 350 responses from individuals, communities and public institutions, whether or not we should have provosts or mayors didn’t appear in the analysis. On 16 May 2019, the Scottish Government and COSLA announced the initial findings and set out next steps. A further round of widespread engagement will take place later in 2019 in order to help create a new system of community-led decision-making that can become integrated into Scottish society.

Question reference: S5W-23715

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 10 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the Department of Transport regarding the integration of HS2 into the Scottish railway system.

The North of HS2 to Scotland Working Group (comprising representatives from Transport Scotland, the Department for Transport, HS2 Ltd and Network Rail) was set up in 2016 to deliver the Scottish and UK Governments' joint commitment to identify potential infrastructure improvements that could be implemented over the next 10 years to improve the capacity, resilience and journey time on the rail routes between Scotland and England. This Group meets every two months, with the next meeting scheduled for 3 July 2019. The group has been examining options on both the East and West Coast routes to Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Question reference: S5W-23660

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the statement in the recent Royal College of General Practitioners report, From the Frontline, that 26% of GPs are unlikely to be working in general practice in five years’ time.

This was a small sample of only 165 Scottish GPs and of the 43 that said they would leave in the next 5 years over half of them were over the age of 55. There are a variety of reasons why GPs leave the profession. The new GP contract, agreed with the BMA and GPs addresses the concerns raised by the BMA and ensures GPs are able to spend more time with patients and less on bureaucracy, making a career in general practice an even more attractive career choice.

We have committed to increasing GP numbers by at least 800 in the next 10 years and are investing in a package of retention initiatives for GPs who may be considering leaving the profession, including support for GP appraisals, mentoring, coaching and a new Staying in Practice Scheme.

Question reference: S5W-23658

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recent Royal College of General Practitioners report, From the Frontline, what its position is on the need to substantially increase monitoring of GPs’ physical and mental wellbeing through the overhaul of appraisals and the development of dedicated health services for doctors.

Appraisal support

To support GP’s in preparing for appraisal the Scottish Government (SG) has funded a series of workshops delivered by NHS Education for Scotland (NES). They have been available across Scotland free of charge with reimbursement of backfill costs for their practice where required. The workshops have been well attended and well received. One of the main aims of the workshop is to reduce perceptions of appraisal as a burden to practitioners.

A wide demographic of participants have taken part, including newly qualified GPs and those with more experience. Each cohort of delegates and their learning needs will be very different, the facilitators are required to be flexible and responsive to this, adapting content and delivery style as required.

Another facility to support GPs is the GP Coaching Service . This scheme, launched in 2018, is also funded by SG and hosted by NES. It is aimed at GPs either experiencing difficulty with some of the challenges of GP practice in Scotland, at a crossroads in their career or thinking of leaving. It provides a wholly safe and confidential space that is tailored to the needs of the GP. The coaches are all professionally qualified and experienced in coaching individuals from all professions within the health service.

Service to supportdoctors physical and mental wellbeing

The General Medical Council (GMC) is undertaking a UK-wide review into the health and wellbeing of the medical profession. A Scottish unit has been setup within the wider UK work and is co-chaired by the GMC and Mr David Garbutt, Chair of NES. Along with the GMC and NES, stakeholders of this Scottish group include the SG, British Medical Association Scotland, the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges in Scotland, and many of the individual Royal Colleges in Scotland.

The aim of this group is to begin initiatives that seek to remedy the causes of ill health and poor wellbeing in doctors in Scotland with immediate effect. One of the work streams is to develop a proposal for a service in Scotland for unwell doctors akin to the successful Practitioner Health Programme and GP Health Service in England. The work on this proposal is currently being undertaken by stakeholders of the Scottish GMC Advisory Group and will be presented to the Scottish Government in the coming months.

Question reference: S5W-23662

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recent Royal College of General Practitioners report, From the Frontline, how it plans to develop an information campaign that informs the public of changing care models and supports GPs and their teams to deliver more effective care to patients.

Question reference: S5W-23661

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the statement in the recent Royal College of General Practitioners report, From the Frontline, that the proportion of NHS spending allocated to general practice should be raised to 11% from the current 7.75%.

Question reference: S5W-23657

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recent Royal College of General Practitioners report, From the Frontline, how it plans to increase investment in IT infrastructure urgently to improve accessibility, reliability and inter-operability of clinical systems.

Scotland’s Digital Health and Care Strategy, published last year, commits to putting in place the underpinning architectural and information governance building blocks for the effective flow of information across the whole care system. Work is already under way to tackle recognised issues such as interoperability, accessibility and reliability, including commencing work to deliver a new national digital platform. We have also developed, in consultation with Primary Care stakeholders such as the RCGP, a new £65 million GP IT systems contract (confirmed in February this year) that will deliver enhanced functionality and clinical and service benefits to GPs and patients from its first phase in mid-2020.

Question reference: S5W-23574

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 03 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the outcome was of the National Planning Board meeting in May 2019 that considered proposals for the delivery of a national thrombectomy service for stroke patients, and what the timetable is for the roll out of this service.

The National Planning Board considered the next stage of the proposals for the establishment of a Scottish thrombectomy service at their meeting in May 2019. The proposals have been designed and developed by the Directors of the Planning Thrombectomy Advisory Group and their work is ongoing to design a national plan.

The Board agreed that ensuring the current interventional neuroradiology service has the necessary strong foundations and components in place is a necessary condition for the future provision of a safe and effective specialist thrombectomy service. Given the international shortage of interventional neuro-radiologists, one of the critical elements of a future service is the recruitment and retention of those specialists.

Until the plan is finalised, costs and timescales will not, and cannot be known. However, the Scottish Government has made clear that investment will be made available.