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: S4F-01316

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 April 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 April 2013

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s position is on reports that nurses spend around 279,000 hours a week on non-essential paperwork.

Question reference: S4W-14012

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 17 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of reports that the Scottish Ambulance Service may charge a pregnant woman £30 for a journey in the case of false labour.

Question reference: S4W-14011

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 17 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government under what circumstances the Scottish Ambulance Service charges patients for journeys.

The Scottish Government fully funds the Scottish Ambulance Service to deliver its core responsibilities in support of NHSScotland. These responsibilities include the Accident & Emergency (999) Service, the Air Ambulance Service and the Patient Transport Service. This means transporting patients to, from, and between NHS Healthcare facilities and providing the clinical care and support required on that journey.

The Scottish Ambulance Service is permitted to generate income by operating in a private capacity as long as this does not impact adversely on the delivery of their core responsibilities. Under these circumstances they would therefore be providing care and / or undertaking journeys that do not fall within their core NHS responsibilities. Examples of when this could happen include:

Journeys between two private residences or facilities, for example from a private residence to a Nursing Home or between two Nursing Homes.
If the journey was to provide a service for an NHS Trust in England, for example transporting a non-Scottish resident home or to an English healthcare facility.
Providing medical cover at a private event, for example football matches, music festivals and other privately organised events.

Under these examples there are likely to be very few occasions where a patient is charged by the Scottish Ambulance Service, rather the cost is likely to be charged to a local authority, an NHS Trust in England or the organisation running the private event. However patients, or their families or carers, are free to ask the Scottish Ambulance Service to undertake journeys in a private capacity should they wish to do so.

Question reference: S4W-13808

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 17 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government on what date it decided to appoint Dr Frances Elliot to its Directorate for Chief Medical Officer and Public Health.

Following initial discussions in late 2012 and early 2013 about the need to strengthen national senior clinical capacity within Scottish Government to drive the priority agenda around Health and Social Care Integration, unscheduled care, primary care and improving services for people with multiple and long term conditions, it was agreed that additional senior medical capacity was required to support the Chief Medical Officer with specific expertise and national recognition in these areas. Dr Frances Elliot was identified in mid-January 2013 as having this unique set of appropriate skills and experiences.

Question reference: S4W-13807

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 15 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the Healthcare Environment Inspectorate should be independent of government.

Question reference: S4W-13805

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 15 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what power it has under the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 to direct Healthcare Improvement Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-13804

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 15 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many Healthcare Environment Inspectorate reports have been subject to amendment prior to publication.

Question reference: S4W-13803

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 15 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many vacancies have arisen in the Healthcare Environment Inspectorate in each of the last 12 months and whether they were advertised externally.

Question reference: S4W-13802

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 15 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many inspectors at the Healthcare Environment Inspectorate have regulation of care qualifications.

Question reference: S4W-13806

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 15 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that there is a conflict of interest for an employee of a public body such as Healthcare Improvement Scotland to have a family member on its board.

All members of NHS boards are expected to carry out their responsibilities in line with the board member’s Code of Conduct surrounding any potential conflicts of interest and any conflict of interests would be recorded on the Register of Interests. Further details on these can be found on the Healthcare Improvement Scotland website via the following link:

http://www.healthcareimprovementscotland.org/about_us/our_board.aspx.