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-30445

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2016
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 16 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-29221 by Jamie Hepburn on 14 January 2016, what (a) organisations and (b) stakeholders it (i) has met and (ii) plans to meet it in its development of an updated mental health strategy.

We are currently engaging with a wide range of stakeholders including people who use services, service providers and professional bodies about the next mental health strategy which will be produced in 2016, and informed by that engagement with interested parties. We will continue to do so as the strategy takes shape. This is an open process and all organisations and individuals who want to contribute can do so. This process is also being informed by stakeholder engagement events being run for the Scottish Government by the Scottish Association for Mental Health and Voices of Experience. We will publish information about this stakeholder engagement alongside development and publication of a new strategy, which will include details of a range of stakeholders that we have met as part of the process.

Question reference: S4W-29605

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 01 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 16 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when it will provide a substantive answer to question S4W-28109, which received a holding answer on 19 November 2015, and what the reason is for the delay in providing such a response.

Question reference: S4W-28109

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 16 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of the nature of reductions in funding for each of the NHS special boards in its 2015-16 budget.

NHS Special Health Boards received differential funding dependent upon their relationship with directly patient facing services.

In terms of efficiency savings, four of the special health boards generated efficiency savings which were returned to the Scottish Government and reinvested in patient facing services in the other health boards. The other special boards retained their efficiency savings for local reinvestment. Savings are agreed with boards as part of their annual financial planning process.

The following table shows the uplifts(reductions) for Special NHS Boards in 2015-16. Draft Budget figures are also provided for 2016-17.

	2014-15 Baseline	Baseline	Efficiency	2015-16 Baseline	2016-17 Budget	2016-17 Budget
Board		Uplift 1%	Savings		Uplift	Baseline
	£000s	£000s	£000s	£000s	£000s	£000s
NHS National Waiting Times Centre Board	45,495	455		45,950	590	46,541
Scottish Ambulance Service	209,967	2,100		212,066	6,475	218,541
NHS National Services Scotland	282,029	2,820	(1,500)	283,349	10,045	293,394
Healthcare Improvement Scotland	15,454	155	(450)	15,158	336	15,494
The State Hospital	33,859	339		34,197	87	34,284
NHS 24	62,104	621		62,725	1,891	64,616
NHS National Education Scotland	390,156	3,902	(1,500)	392,557	16,100	408,657
NHS Health Scotland	18,898	189	(1,050)	18,037	180	18,217

Question reference: S4W-30321

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 March 2016
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 11 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason a reported 2,000 fewer homes received assistance from the Home Energy Efficiency Programmes Scotland in 2014-15 than in 2013-14.

The reduction in the number of measures installed through our Home Energy Efficiency Programmes Scotland (HEEPS) schemes is primarily the result of changes made by the UK Government to the Energy Company Obligation (ECO). HEEPS funding is blended with ECO to help deliver more expensive measures such as solid wall insulation. Figures published by the Department of Energy and Climate Change indicate that, based on the share of ECO measures delivered, £184 million of ECO funding was spent in Scotland in 2013-14. However, due to changes to ECO introduced by the UK Government in December 2013, ECO spend in Scotland in 2014-15 fell to £110 million. To help mitigate against this reduction the Scottish Government increased its fuel poverty and domestic energy efficiency budget in 2014-15 and increased the levels of assistance available to households.

Question reference: S4W-30203

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 29 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 11 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on the percentage breakdown of new doctors by specialism in each year since 2010-11.

Question reference: S4W-30258

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 March 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many members of staff each NHS board has employed through private agencies on a (a) locum and (b) permanent basis in each year since 2010-11, and how much this has cost.

Question reference: S4W-30256

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 March 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much each NHS board has paid for (a) laboratory services, (b) supplies, (c) equipment and (d) other services that were not part of a service-level agreement in each year since 2007-08.

Question reference: S4W-30255

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 March 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much each NHS board has paid private hospitals and clinics for services that were not part of a service-level agreement in each year since 2007-08.

Question reference: S4W-30257

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 March 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many service-level agreements each NHS board has reached with private suppliers in each year since 2007-08, broken down by the value of each agreement.

Question reference: S4W-30574

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 March 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when it will provide a substantive answer to question S4W-29604, which received a holding response on 29 February 2016, and what the reason is for the delay in providing the answer.