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-29186

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 January 2016
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 20 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the outcome of Operation Alexander in December 2015, what plans it has in 2016 to prioritise the targeting of shops that sell new psychoactive substances.

Operation Alexander is a co-ordinated enforcement operation by local authority trading standards services against new psychoactive substance suppliers. Further action is a matter for local trading standards authorities.

The Scottish Government are working closely with the UK Government on the detail of the UK-wide psychoactive substances bill which is due to become law in April 2016. The legislation will make it an offence to produce, supply, offer to supply, possess with intent to supply, import and export psychoactive substances. The Bill will also create an offence for possession of psychoactive substances within a custodial setting.

Question reference: S4O-05241

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 January 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and what issues were discussed.

Question reference: S4W-28863

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 December 2015
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 21 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to implement the recommendation by the Scottish Public Inquiry into Hepatitis C/HIV acquired infection from NHS treatment in Scotland with blood and blood products (Penrose Inquiry) that all reasonable steps be taken to offer a hepatitis C test to everyone who had a blood transfusion before 1991.

The single recommendation of the Penrose Inquiry report was that the Scottish Government should offer a hepatitis C test to everyone in Scotland who had a blood transfusion before September 1991 and who has not already been tested. A short life working group has been established by Health Protection Scotland to take this recommendation forward involving key stakeholders such as patient representatives, the Scottish Government and the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service. It will consider what further action should be taken and oversee the implementation of any additional interventions. Initial scoping work has been carried out with regard to the estimated size of the target group and an options appraisal is in progress on possible future actions.

Anyone who considers themselves to be at risk of hepatitis C infection, or who believes they may have been infected via NHS blood or blood products, can receive a test for hepatitis C from their GP practice at any time.

Question reference: S4W-28864

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 December 2015
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 21 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to the question S4W-28639 by Maureen Watt on 2 December 2015, how much recurring funding has been provided to NHS boards, and what proportion of this has been spent on new hepatitis C therapies.

Question reference: S4W-28736

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 9 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what reviews of staffing levels at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre have been carried out in each year since 2010 and what the outcomes were.

The Scottish Government expects all NHS boards to have robust workforce planning arrangements in place, and that these are subject to regular review.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has confirmed that reviews of medical staffing at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre occur on an annual basis. As a regional centre these reviews reflect the needs of all West of Scotland NHS boards. As all oncologists in the West of Scotland are employed through the Beatson Centre, this has an overall impact on the medical staff distribution and allocation of sessions.

The Beatson Centre has conducted reviews of the oncology wards primarily to consider the impact of the introduction of the Acute Oncology Assessment Unit (2012-13), increased daycase activity (2012-13) and the introduction of the four bedded High Acuity Unit (2015). In 2014, the service also undertook a focussed review of the provision of clinical nurse specialists and their input to the management of patients. A review of staffing overall was undertaken in advance of the Satellite Radiotherapy Unit opening on 30 November 2015.

As a consequence of the above reviews, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has confirmed that staffing at the Beatson Centre has increased from 657 whole time equivalent (WTE) in March 2010 to 726 WTE in November 2015.

Question reference: S4W-28737

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 9 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what reviews of admissions policy for patients requiring specialist care at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre have been carried out in each year since 2010, in particular for patients taken ill during evenings or at weekends, and what the outcomes were.

The Scottish Government expects all NHS boards to keep services under regular review to ensure that they are of the highest quality, and meet the needs of local people.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has confirmed that a review of patients requiring unscheduled care admissions was undertaken in 2012 and resulted in the opening of the Acute Oncology Assessment Unit (AOAU) in 2013. This included a detailed review of patients with cancer attending emergency departments for unscheduled care requirements. The AOAU was developed and opened to address this need.

The health board has also confirmed that unscheduled care activity including telephone contact via the dedicated AOAU and national cancer helpline continues to be monitored on a regular basis. Revised consultant on-call arrangements were implemented in 2014 to take account of unscheduled admissions over the seven day period. The Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre has an admissions/bed management policy, updated in 2009 and reviewed bi-annually.

Question reference: S4W-28638

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 2 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what budget it has allocated to support the implementation of the Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Framework 2015-2020 Update.

Question reference: S4W-28639

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 2 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether protected funding is available to support the initiation of patients onto antiviral therapy, in line with the Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Framework 2015-2020 Update.

NHS boards meet the costs of antiviral therapy for HIV from core budgets. The costs of antiviral therapy for hepatitis C is supported by the £28 million funding the Scottish Government provides under the Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Framework. NHS boards can determine how best to use that funding, and funding from their own core budgets, to reflect local need. However, under the framework boards are set an annual treatment target hepatitis C. During 2015-20 the aim is for at least 1,500 people per year will be initiated onto antiviral therapy.

In recognition of the new, highly effective therapies for hepatitis C which were approved for use by Scottish Medicines Consortium in 2014, the Scottish Government has provided additional recurring funding to NHS boards from 2015-16 to assist with the costs of new drugs, including hepatitis C therapies.

Question reference: S4W-28473

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 30 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to update its Diabetes Action Plan: Quality Care for Diabetes in Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-28472

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 30 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it will take with NHS boards to tackle diabetes.