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-24646

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 2 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what risk analysis has been undertaken regarding the time of year for the opening of the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People and transfer from the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, including how this will be impacted by weather, the number of daylight hours, the number of procedures planned and overall sickness levels, and whether it will place a copy of this analysis in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe).

Question reference: S5W-24649

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 2 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government (a) at what points in the process and (b) on what dates it approved the (i) overall design and (ii) opening arrangements of the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People.

Question reference: S5W-24637

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 2 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on Multiplex’s suitability for future (a) public projects and (b) NHS projects, in light of its work building the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in Edinburgh and the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow.

In my response to S5W-24397 on 18 July 2019, I set out the events that led to my decision to postpone the move to the new hospital, the work I instructed to identify the factors that led to that decision, and what was required to be done to allow services to move to the new hospital. I also summarised the support being provided to the Board, patients and staff during this difficult period.

NHS Lothian staff are focused on resolving the issues and I will continue to keep Parliament informed of progress of the work being undertaken, the timeframe for moving to the new hospital and any other related issues.

In order to provide the necessary assurance to provide confidence the new hospital meets necessary guidance for safety, I have commissioned NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) to undertake a detailed assessment of the compliance of all building systems which could impact on the safety of patients and staff at the new site. An assessment of water, ventilation and drainage have been prioritised and the completed report on this first phase is expected next month.

An Oversight Board will provide advice to Ministers on the readiness of the facility to open and on the migration of services to the new facility. Membership of this group draws on clinical and technical expertise, and includes representatives from Scottish Government, NHS Lothian, Scottish Futures Trust, NSS and NHS Lothian Joint Staff Side. The group has undertaken its first meeting and will be providing regular progress updates to NHS Lothian staff.

The entire senior leadership in NHS Lothian is working hard to progress with finalising the rectification plans for ventilation. Development of these plans, which will include determining liability for rectification costs, will be subject to scrutiny by the Oversight Board.

To be clear, there are absolutely no plans to ‘pull down’ the building. Any suggestions that this is being planned are simply false.

No services in the current building have ceased or closed in anticipation of the move to the new building. Migration plans are being developed by NHS Lothian to consider whether individual departments could move to the new hospital in a phased manner. Plans for closure of the current building will be developed as part of the migration plans. NHS Lothian are in continued contact with the developer and as revised timelines become clearer, they will be able to agree a vacant possession date.

I was pleased to meet with staff side representatives on 13 August 2019 and set out the importance on information sharing between NHS Lothian and Staff Side partners. I expect NHS Lothian to keep the Trade Unions and Professional Organisations fully sighted on any issues which may affect staff and I communicated that message direct to them when I met.

Details are available on NHS Lothian’s website on the approval, procurement, and project costs:

https://org.nhslothian.scot/CapitalDevelopments/CurrentProjects/
ProudHistoriesNewChapters/BusinessCase/Pages/default.aspx

There has been an additional payment of £11.6 million since the full business case for the project was approved, which relates to a settlement agreement. Audit Scotland requested the external auditor, Scott-Moncrieff, to carry out a high level review of the arrangements around the settlement agreement. Following this review, Scott-Moncrieff, concluded that:

‘The priority of providing a safe and robust facility was in evidence throughout the board’s approach to the resolution of the dispute. Professional advice on technical standards, legal and commercial matters was taken throughout the process.’

The outcome of this review is publicly available in the Annual Audit report for 2018-19 for NHS Lothian.

Annual Service Payments were initiated on 23 February 2019 as per the terms of the contract.

Safe, effective and high quality clinical services continue to be delivered from the existing site in Sciennes and my officials are working very closely with the management of the Board and clinical professional organisations to ensure that we take all the necessary actions to allow the move to go ahead as quickly and safely as possible.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Question reference: S5W-24647

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 2 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is still the plan to close the Royal Hospital for Sick Children on the same day that the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People opens, as was scheduled on 9 July 2019 alongside a 10-day transfer of patients and equipment; whether it or its partners received any representations advising against this arrangement, and, if so, whether it will place a copy of these in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe).

Question reference: S5W-24655

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 09 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 2 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it instructed or advised NHS Lothian not to talk to unions regarding the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People and, if so, whether it will place a copy of this advice in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe).

Question reference: S5W-24657

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 09 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 2 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the BBC report, Union warns Edinburgh’s £150m hospital may never open, which states that UNISON claims that NHS Lothian has paid millions of pounds in a settlement to help resolve some of the problems at the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, how much has been paid; when this was approved; who approved it; when the Scottish Government learned of the arrangement, and whether it will place the details of the arrangement and all accompanying documentation in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe).

Question reference: S5W-24660

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 09 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 2 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of it being considered unsafe to open, for what reason NHS Lothian is reportedly paying approximately £1.4 million per month for the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People; whether the (a) Scottish Government and (b) Scottish Futures Trust (i) advised on or had sight of the agreement and (ii) sought to remove or limit the impact of the contractual obligations that led to this situation, and whether it will place all documentation associated with this arrangement in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe).

Question reference: S5W-24667

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 2 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what learning it has shared with other bodies in the course of building the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, Department of Clinical Neurosciences and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in Edinburgh; what this related to, and who it was shared with.

Question reference: S5W-24654

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 2 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) all (a) correspondence and (b) minutes of meetings it has had with NHS Lothian in the last two years regarding the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People and closure of the Royal Hospital for Sick Children.

Question reference: S5W-24662

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 09 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 29 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether any part of the financing or management of the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People project is included in its target for the Scottish Futures Trust to save between £100 and £150 million a year across its infrastructure programmes.

The Royal Hospital for Children and Young People is part of the Scottish Government’s Non-Profit Distributing (NPD) programme. Of the £139m of annual Benefits delivered by the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) during 2017-18, approximately 12% was attributed to the NPD programme but is not broken down by project. SFT’s Statement of Benefits is subject to an independent, external review undertaken by Grant Thornton.

This reflects the advantages of SFT providing procuring authorities with a centralised support function. It includes the development, roll-out and management of the NPD standard form contract documents across the ten projects, as well as delivering project assurance processes at key milestones during the development and procurement stages of the NPD projects. It also takes into consideration the provision of commercial and financial expertise provided to procuring authorities that attracted value-for-money finance for their projects, which included securing over £750m funding from the European Investment Bank across the NPD programme.