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: S4O-02526

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 October 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 October 2013

To ask to the Scottish Government when it will respond to the Audit Scotland report, NHS financial performance 2012/13.

Question reference: S4W-16783

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 23 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what the regulatory regime is for (a) offshore and (b) onshore underground coal gasification; what the licensing arrangements are; which body issues licences and how many have been issued, broken down by region.

The UK Coal Authority is the licensing authority for Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) in Scotland and the UK. The Coal Authority can grant conditional licences to companies which enable prospective operators to secure rights to the coal while projects are developed. There have been six licences granted for UCG in Scotland in the Kincardine and Largo Bay, Firth of Forth and the Solway Firth areas.

Potential UCG operators who have been granted a licence from the UK Coal Authority cannot commence activities in Scotland until all other rights and permissions covering the various elements involved, such as drilling activities where there are robust licensing, permissions, permit regimes and monitoring arrangements which involve approvals from the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Health and Safety Executive and the Scottish Environmental protection Agency (SEPA).

Any development proposal onshore, concerning onshore or offshore underground coal gasification would require planning permission along with the relevant SEPA licences and permits before activities can begin in Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-17513

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 27 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Lesley Thomson on 11 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many prosecutions for cruelty have been made under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 for forcible removal of a dog’s microchip.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) has prosecuted 1879 charges under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 in Courts across Scotland of which 1381 charges have been for causing unnecessary suffering to animals under section 19 of that Act.

The information requested as to whether any of those charges related to the forcible removal of a dog’s microchip is not centrally held on the COPFS database and is therefore not available without a manual extraction of each case record. The costs involved in doing so would be disproportionate.

Question reference: S4W-17328

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 7 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding has been allocated to (a) NHS Fife and (b) the Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy, in each of the last 10 years and how the figure for NHS Fife compares with the national average.

The baseline funding allocations for NHS Fife (also shown as a percentage share of the total allocation for NHSScotland territorial health boards) and the revenue expenditure at the Victoria Hospital Kirkcaldy for the last 10 years are provided in the following table:

NHS Fife	Baseline Allocation	Share of NHS Scotland Territorial Baseline	Expenditure at Victoria Hospital
Year	£m	Percentage	£m
2004-05	356.2	6.59%	58.2
2005-06	399.6	6.65%	67.4
2006-07	430.9	6.70%	73.6
2007-08	462.4	6.73%	84.7
2008-09	479.7	6.76%	86.3
2009-10	490.3	6.77%	85.2
2010-11	502.9	6.76%	80.9
2011-12	507.1	6.71%	101.1
2012-13	520.8	6.71%	Available Nov-13
2013-14	539.5	6.72%	Not Applicable

NHS Fife is funded according to the same formula as all other NHS boards, NHSScotland Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC). This ensures that funds are distributed fairly, on the basis of the relative healthcare needs of each Board area, and fully recognises the influences of remoteness and deprivation. All Boards are expected to manage within these resources, and must prioritise in order to provide high quality services for patients.

The NRAC formula has been phased in from 2009-10. The NRAC formula was introduced to ensure that NHS board funding was better aligned to local characteristics such as deprivation, population age profile and rurality. It is right that this was phased in gradually to minimise disruption to board finances. As a result of this phased process we have ensured that no board has lost out financially and have “levelled up” funding to support this.

NHS Fife has had an above real terms increase in resource funding. In 2013-14 NHS Fife received £539.5 million resource funding, a 3.6% or £18.7 million increase.

Information on individual hospital expenditure across NHS Scotland is available on the NHS National Services Scotland Information Services Division (ISD) website. The most up to date figures available are for the financial year 2011-12.

Question reference: S4W-17330

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 7 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many hospital beds have been available at (a) NHS Fife and b) the Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy in each of the last 10 years and how the figure for NHS Fife compares with the national average.

Table 1 presents the number of average available staffed beds for acute specialties in Victoria Hospital, NHS Fife and NHS Scotland for 2003-04 to 2012-13 and those in Victoria Hospital and NHS Fife as a percentage of NHS Scotland.

Table 1 – Average available staffed bedsfor acute specialties in Victoria Hospital, NHS Fife and NHS Scotland; 2003-04 to 2012-13

Year

NHS Scotland

NHS Fife

Victoria Hospital

Acute beds

Percentage of NHS Scotland

Acute beds

Percentage of NHS Scotland

2003-04	17,710	834	4.7	308	1.7
2004-05	17,559	869	4.9	311	1.8
2005-06	17,537	832	4.7	297	1.7
2006-07	17,505	842	4.8	301	1.7
2007-08	17,344	845	4.9	301	1.7
2008-09	17,374	828	4.8	292	1.7
2009-10	17,078	797	4.7	280	1.6
2010-11	16,673	778	4.7	247	1.5
2011-12	16,470	783	4.8	301	1.8
2012-13	16,230	745	4.6	543	3.3

Source: ISD(S)1, ISD Scotland.

In 2012, NHS Fife General Hospitals and Maternity services (GH&MS) Project saw a transfer of services between the Victoria Hospital and Queen Margaret Hospital.

Question reference: S4W-17329

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 7 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many nurses have been employed at (a) NHS Fife and (b) the Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy, in each of the last 10 years and how the figure for NHS Fife compares with the national average.

Question reference: S4W-17331

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 7 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many complaints have been made regarding the Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy in each of the last 10 years and how this compares with the national average.

National annual statistics for NHS complaints are published by the Information Services Division (ISD) of NHS National Services Scotland.

The 2012-13 statistics were published on 24 September 2013 and are available at: http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Quality-indicators/Publications/index.asp#1143. This publication includes details of complaints since 2007-08.

NHS Fife will be able to provide additional local information in relation to complaints received.

Question reference: S4W-17332

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 7 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of referrals for cancer was treated within the 62-day cancer waiting time target for the Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy, in each of the last 10 years and how this compares with the national average.

Question reference: S4W-17335

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 3 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will include guidance on the appropriate use of low emissions zones in reducing air quality issues in the final Scottish Planning Policy.

Question reference: S4W-17334

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 3 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what research it will undertake on best practice when using the planning system to address air quality issues before finalising the Scottish Planning Policy and the National Planning Framework 3.

The Scottish Government works closely with local authorities, Transport Scotland, Scottish Environmental Protection Agency and other partners to ensure that air quality objectives are achieved. We have no plans at present to commission new research into air quality issues, but we will take into account available evidence before finalising the Scottish Planning Policy and the National Planning Framework 3, due to be published in June 2014.