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-28019

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 5 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government from which departmental budget lines its £55 million loan to the Local Affordable Rented Housing Trust has been sourced, broken down by amount provided.

Question reference: S4W-27931

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many diversions from accident and emergency wards have taken place in each month since 2010 because of (a) bed shortages and (b) other non-clinical reasons, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S4T-01151

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 02 November 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on reports that nearly 5,000 children will be homeless or in temporary accommodation at Christmas.

Question reference: S4W-27868

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 02 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 30 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress of the Ministerial Group on Offender Reintegration.

Question reference: S4W-27866

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 02 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 30 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) statutory and (b) regulatory obligations regarding energy-efficient measures in new-build homes (i) local authorities and (ii) housing associations have had to implement since 2007.

Local authorities and housing associations must ensure that new build homes meet the statutory requirements for energy efficiency set out within Scottish building regulations. These apply to all new homes regardless of tenure. Over the last ten years this aspect of building regulations was reviewed and improved in May 2007, October 2010 and, most recently, in October 2015.

Local authorities and housing associations must also ensure that all social rented homes have the energy efficiency measures and meet the minimum energy efficiency standards required in the regulatory Scottish Housing Quality Standard and, by 2020, meet the regulatory Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing.

Question reference: S4W-27869

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 02 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 30 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce homelessness in people released from prison.

The Ministerial Group on Offender Reintegration has identified a number of actions to help improve the housing outcomes for those serving short term sentences: the Prisoners (Control of Release) (Scotland) Act 2015 gives the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) discretion to release an individual from custody by up to two days before their release date, where it will assist them in accessing services such as housing or healthcare following their release; independent research has been commissioned by the Scottish Government to examine the importance of, and barriers to, securing stable accommodation. The report will be published in autumn 2015; a housing improvement project has been established at HMP Perth, to explore improvements to the interaction between SPS and housing providers and; SPS have appointed a housing and welfare manager to support the development of a housing pathway for both transition into prison, and return into the community.

Question reference: S4W-27867

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 02 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 30 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what housing options support it provides to prisoners prior to their release.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

“The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) enables housing providers to attend prisons either through regular surgeries or through visits so that they can provide housing advice and assistance to prisoners during their sentence and prior to release. Five establishments also have partnership agreements with third sector organisations to offer housing advice and support. SPS has also appointed a policy manager (housing and welfare) to review the current provision of housing services for prisoners across each establishment and to make recommendations about how to improve the housing outcomes for people leaving prison.”

Question reference: S4W-27933

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many diversions from the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Glasgow there have been because of bed shortages.

Question reference: S4W-27932

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on reports that six people, one of whom was diagnosed with a stroke, have been diverted from the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Glasgow because of bed shortages.

The safety of patients and the quality of care they receive are key priorities for the Scottish Government. It is vital that patients have confidence that when they access healthcare, they will get the best possible care and treatment, which is why each NHS board has systems in place to cope with peaks in demand, such as diverting patients to other areas.

Nonetheless, I recognise diverting patients to other wards, or indeed another hospital, due to any reason other than for clinical reasons, is disruptive to the patient and I would expect NHS boards to have appropriate plans in place to manage peaks in demand that cause minimum disruption to patients.

I also recognise that despite improvements over the summer, the level of variation in performance at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) A&E is unacceptable. I have addressed this directly with the chair of the board and have set out that I expect any steps necessary to be taken to ensure the A&E is resilient as we go towards winter.

A number of factors are contributing to the delays including the Immediate Assessment Unit (IAU) seeing a higher number of patients than initially predicted. But the board has provided reassurance that it is fully committed to tackling these issues and is putting in place a number of immediate steps to tackle the situation, for example creating additional capacity within the IAU and additional bed capacity by transferring some planned orthopaedic surgery to Gartnavel General Hospital.

The national unscheduled care team is also working closely with the local team and one of the areas they are focussing on includes looking at unscheduled patient flow into QEUH and reconfiguring patient pathways to ensure that patients unlikely to be admitted are streamed appropriately ensuring quality and timely patient care. They are also working with the teams to ensure alignment of and early implementation of the six essential actions.

Officials will maintain close liaison with the senior management team over the next few weeks and months to ensure that all appropriate actions are being progressed to ensure the best patient care.

Question reference: S4W-27934

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether and, if so, for what reasons the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Glasgow has diverted patients from its accident and emergency ward.