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-11005

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 19 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government who (a) was invited to and (b) attended the Biannual Stakeholder Forum on the Mental Health Strategy on 23 June 2017.

Question reference: S5W-11004

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 19 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what progress on the Mental Health Strategy was reported to the Biannual Stakeholder Forum on 23 June 2017.

The Minister for Mental Health’s opening address to the first Bi-annual Forum on the Mental Health Strategy, which took place on 23 June 2017, contained updates on the progress of various actions in the Strategy. The speech has been published on the SG website at the following link: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Health/Services/Mental-Health/Strategy/StrategyImplementation/Biannualforum-speechbyMinisterforMentalHealth

Question reference: S5W-11040

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 01 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-10617 by Shona Robison on 1 September 2017, how many dental patients' registrations were placed in abeyance in each year since 2011.

The following table shows the number of dental patients' registrations placed in abeyance, by each year since 2011:

Year	No. of registrations in abeyance

2011	52,468
2012	45,818
2013	40,060
2014	37,079
2015	39,156
2016	43,934

Source: ISD Scotland

The intention is going forward from January 2018 to exclude those patients in abeyance, with the next publication of registration and participation statistics.

Question reference: S5W-10953

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 25 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 13 September 2017

This information has been collected by Information Services Division.

The numbers of patients under 18 who were discharged from Scottish hospitals with a main diagnosis of eating disorders and eating disorder-related conditions (ICD-10 code F50) for the financial years 2014-15 and 2015-16 are shown in Table 1. Please note that the figures for the Financial year 2016-17 have not been published yet and are therefore currently unavailable.

Table 1: The number of patients¹ under 18 years old² discharged from acute (SMR01) and psychiatric (SMR04)³ hospitals in Scotland⁴with a main diagnosis⁵ of eating disorders⁶, Financial Years 2014-15 and 2015-16.

Age Group	Number of Patients for Financial Year 2014-15	Number of Patients for Financial Year 2015-16
5-13	26	22
14-17	66	57

Source: SMR01 and SMR04, ISD Scotland.

Question reference: S5T-00651

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 11 September 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce congestion on the approaches to the Queensferry Crossing.

Question reference: S5W-10682

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by James Wolffe QC on 7 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Lord Advocate has received details regarding the proposed safer drug consumption facility and heroin assisted treatment service in Glasgow, including what legal and policy changes this would require and, if so, what his response was.

Question reference: S5W-10783

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 6 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the holding answer to question S5W-09972 by Paul Wheelhouse on 25 July 2017, when it will provide a full response, and for what reason it was unable to answer the question in full by the expected answer date.

Question reference: S5W-10615

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 07 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of unmet demand for registration with an NHS dentist, broken down by NHS board.

The responsibility for the overall provision of NHS dental services in an area rests with the NHS Board.

There are now over 4.9 million people registered with a NHS dentist, a record figure and we have also seen an unprecedented increase in the numbers of dentists providing NHS dental services, up 35 per cent under this government.

However we recognise that there are parts of Scotland where access continues to be challenging, mainly in remote areas and island communities. For this reason we have targeted the Scottish Dental Access Initiative (SDAI) and Recruitment and Retention Allowances at these areas. For example the funding available through the SDAI is for those dentists wishing to establish new, expand or purchase existing NHS dental practices in areas of unmet patient demand. On the basis of assessments made by NHS Boards, the following areas are currently included within the SDAI grant scheme:

Grantown, Invergordon, Nairn, and Wick within NHS Highland;
NHS Shetland;
Isle of Lewis within NHS Western Isles.

Question reference: S5W-10618

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 07 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether dental patients whose registrations have been placed in abeyance are included in Information Services Division Scotland statistics, and, if so, what impact would excluding them have on figures for the proportion of the population registered with an NHS dentist, broken down by NHS board.

Patients placed in abeyance are included in the official NHS dental registration and participation statistics published by Information Services Scotland (ISD).

The following table shows the number (and percentage) of people registered with NHS General Dental Services, as at 31 March 2017, and the impact on these figures, excluding those people in abeyance:

Patients registered with NHS General Dental Services, as at 31 March 2017; by NHS Board of patient

All Patients

Excluding Registrations

in Abeyance

NHS Board	Number	% of population	Number	% of population
Scotland	4,974,136	92.0	4,930,121	91.2
Ayrshire & Arran	350,333	94.5	349,233	94.2
Borders	93,572	81.7	93,146	81.3
Dumfries & Galloway	131,350	87.9	130,807	87.5
Fife	321,328	86.8	317,004	85.6
Forth Valley	278,342	91.4	276,052	90.7
Grampian	463,613	78.8	460,231	78.3
Greater Glasgow & Clyde	1,107,036	95.3	1,100,230	94.7
Highland	263,889	82.0	254,043	78.9
Lanarkshire	614,642	93.6	612,499	93.3
Lothian	776,382	88.2	773,724	87.9
Orkney	17,109	78.3	16,737	76.6
Shetland	20,641	89.0	20,611	88.8
Tayside	364,484	87.7	363,291	87.4
Western Isles	22,154	82.4	17,197	63.9
Unknown	149,261	n/a	145,276	n/a

Source: ISD Scotland

Background notes

1. Registrations in abeyance are those with a dentist that resigned on or before 31^st March 2017.

2. Dentists have up to 3 months following the completion of treatment to submit claims. Some forms may be still to be admitted which may affect registration and attendance data.

The effect across Scotland is marginal with around 44,000 patients out of a total count of approximately 4.97 million affected (0.9 per cent).

Question reference: S5W-10683

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the need for pill testing at festivals and venues.