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: S4W-10388

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 6 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-09794 by Alex Neil on 22 October 2012, when it will consult on the draft Adult Health and Social Integration Bill.

Following the public consultation on proposals to integrate adult health and social care, Scottish Government officials have continued to engage with stakeholders. Health and social care professionals, carers, service users and their families have been involved at every stage of policy development. In addition, the Scottish Government has established a Bill Advisory Group whose broad membership represents a range of statutory, third and independent sector partners and whose remit is to provide advice and support to inform the development of the legislation.

Question reference: S4F-00956

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 05 November 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 November 2012

To ask the First Minister what steps it is taking to improve treatment for people with dementia.

Question reference: S4W-10294

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 5 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-09291 by Michael Matheson on 11 September 2012, for what reason the report of the audit of pain management services anticipated by the end of September 2012 has not been published and when it will be published.

As explained in my previous response of 11 September, to the question S4W-09291, raised by Jackie Baillie MSP on behalf of the Cross Party Group, the change of publishing date was due to additional factual accuracy checks being undertaken.

I am pleased to advise that the Update Report on Scottish Pain Management Services was published by Healthcare Improvement Scotland on 26 October 2012 and is available on their website at the following link:

http://www.healthcareimprovementscotland.org/programmes/long_term_conditions/chronic_pain/chronic_pain_update_report.aspx.

Question reference: S4W-10295

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 5 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-09736 by Michael Matheson on 27 September 2012, whether it will provide specialist services for chronic pain treatment in Scotland rather than sending patients to Bath at a cost in excess of £1.1 million since 2008-09.

Question reference: S4W-10296

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 5 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what specific treatment is provided for chronic pain patients at the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases in Bath.

Question reference: S4W-10436

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 1 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to S4W-09790 by Alex Neil on 22 October 2012, whether it will provide the information that was requested and confirm that table 3.02 on page 29 of the Draft Budget 2013-14 is wrong to show a real-terms reduction in the health budget lines of £189.3 million from 2012-13 to 2013-15.

As table 3.01 on page 29 shows the resource budget is increasing in the Health portfolio from £11,128.4 million in 2012-13 to £11,841.4 million in 2014-15 – a significant cash terms increase of £713m, or 6.4 per cent. In real terms, as shown in Table 3.02, this is a rise from £11,128.4 million in 2012-13 to £11,270.8 million in 2014-15 in the resource budget.

Territorial Health Boards, who provide frontline point of care services will receive above inflation increases in resource in 2013-14 and 2014-15 of 3.3 per cent and 3.1 per cent which represents real terms increases of 0.8 per cent and 0.6 per cent respectively.

In addition, the short to medium term outlook will see capital resources under severe pressure given the significant real terms reduction in capital resources available to the Scottish Government over the 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review period from 2011-12 to 2014-15. In response to this situation however, the Scottish Government has put in place arrangements to support a programme of £2,500m of revenue financed investment across Scotland to boost infrastructure investment. Of this total investment, £750m is being directed towards projects within Health as Non Profit Distributing (NPD) projects or via the hub initiative.

Question reference: S4W-10340

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 1 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what minimum requirements were set out in guidance it issued to NHS boards on developing an access policy as required by the Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011.

Question reference: S4W-10331

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 1 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether body armour is routinely issued to (a) frontline, (b) special operations and (c) other ambulance staff and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Body armour is not routinely issued to ambulance personnel.

However, the Scottish Government has worked with the Scottish Ambulance Service to enhance the equipment for their specialist operations teams to deal with a specific major incident.

The Special Operations Response Teams (SORT) are specially trained and equipped, including body armour, to deliver life-saving clinical interventions to patients, including members of the other emergency services, who may be injured during certain types of major incident such as firearms attacks.

In any other circumstance where a staff member makes a request for body armour, a risk assessment is carried out in line with Scottish Ambulance Service policy.

Question reference: S4W-10334

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 1 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government when a risk assessment on the use of body armour by ambulance staff was last conducted.

Question reference: S4W-10336

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 1 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether body armour will be issued to ambulance staff who have been previously assaulted on duty.

The Scottish Ambulance Service has no plans to introduce body armour for ambulance personnel. The only exception is the body armour available to the Scottish Ambulance Service’s Special Operations Response Team to respond to specific major incidents.

In any other circumstance where a staff member makes a request for body armour, a risk assessment is carried out in line with Scottish Ambulance Service policy.