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-23583

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 8 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) timescale and (b) criteria will be for applications to the agri-environment climate fund in March 2015.

Our current plan is to launch the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme in January 2015 and customers will be invited to apply online from March 2015, with contracts issued from late 2015.

High level guidance was available on-line from 15 December 2014, and detailed scheme guidance will be available to customers for January 2015. We will also be running pillar 2 roadshows around Scotland from February 2015.

Question reference: S4O-03888

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 January 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to increase the number of mental health officers being trained.

Question reference: S4W-23775

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the pilot project in England that allowed GPs to prescribe double glazing and loft insulation for patients living in cold, damp homes, which reportedly reduced GP and outpatient visits by a third.

The Scottish Government welcomes any initiative that helps give people affordable, warm homes. We are committed to tackling fuel poverty and would encourage anybody in Scotland to call the Home Energy Scotland hotline on 0808 808 2282 to get expert impartial advice on improving the energy efficiency of their home.

As the recently published 2014 Progress Report on the Scottish Fuel Poverty Statement highlights, we are working with stakeholders to help join up the messaging between the link worker programme and the Home Energy Scotland advice and support provision. One of the aims is to raise awareness of fuel poverty and the assistance that is available amongst patients and health professionals, including link workers.

Question reference: S4W-23773

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 7 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what the priorities are for the Minister for Sport, Health Improvement and Mental Health.

In line with the objectives set out in the programme for government my main priority is to work with my ministerial colleagues and their teams across government and with the wider public sector and the third sector to tackle inequalities in our society. I will focus my efforts on ensuring that the policies under my direction contribute fully to help make Scotland’s communities vibrant, thriving and resilient places where people can achieve their full potential, where they can access the appropriate level of support and services that help them do this.

Question reference: S4W-23774

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 6 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government on what date the expansion of the child and adolescent mental health services unit in Dundee will be complete.

Question reference: S4W-23586

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 19 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government when it will consult on its proposed Succession Bill.

<>The Scottish Law Commission (the Commission) reviewed the law of succession and issued a report in 2009 - Report on Succession (Scot Law Com No 215). The report made recommendations on a range of succession issues including:

Intestacy (where a person dies without making a will), protection against disinheritance, protection for cohabitants, bonds of caution (a form of indemnity insurance) for executors-dative and a range of technical issues on jurisdiction, choice of law: wills and survivorship.

The Scottish Government carried out a period of informal pre-consultation dialogue with a number of stakeholders on the report’s key recommendations. There was a lack of consensus amongst those stakeholders consulted as to some of the recommendations in relation to the first three bullet points above. Given this and in order to avoid delay in reforming the largely technical law on the administration of estates and succession, on 14 August 2014 the Scottish Government issued a consultation on technical issues relating to succession:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2014/08/1185. This consultation sought views on the technical issues relating to succession law and bonds of caution. The consultation closed on 7 November 2014. Responses are currently being analysed and will inform the Succession Bill announced in the Programme for Government on 26 November 2014.

A second consultation on the more complex and substantive proposals for reform of succession will follow in 2015.

Question reference: S4W-23422

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 16 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to improve the level of secure inpatient care provision for children and young people with mental health issues.

There are three inpatient mental health facilities for children and adolescents (over the age of 12), and one inpatient mental health facility for children (under the age of 13) in Scotland.

We are working with NHS directors of planning to determine the most appropriate and clinically effective and safe model of secure Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services inpatient care in Scotland.

We have also been working with NHS boards to develop a new model of ‘hospital at home’ type care and treatment which has now been introduced across many NHS boards. This new approach creates new capacity. In the areas where the new approaches are most advanced this has been demonstrated to have had the effect of significantly reducing the need for unscheduled and temporary admissions of under 18s to adult psychiatric hospital beds.

Question reference: S4O-03830

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 December 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support enterprise and business across the South Scotland parliamentary region.

Question reference: S4T-00866

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 08 December 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support hospital emergency departments in light of reports of increased waiting times and concerns that GP closures over the festive period will exacerbate the situation.

Question reference: S4W-23423

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 5 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government which NHS boards provide child and adolescent mental health services up to age (a) 16 and (b) 18.

Details of the service provision for child and adolescent mental health services is publicly available and can be found in the Information Services Division (ISD) publication Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in NHS Scotland: Characteristics of the workforce supply (table 8), which was published on 25 November 2014 and covers the period up to 30 September 2104.

https://isdscotland.scot.nhs.uk/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2014-11-25/2014-11-25-CAMHS-Report.pdf?51534670592

NHS Scotland CAMHS Service Age Provision as at 30 September 2014 by NHS Board.

NHS Board	Service Age Provision as at 30 September 2014
Ayrshire and Arran	Up to 18th birthday if still in full time education.
Borders	Up to 18th birthday.
Dumfries and Galloway	Up to 18th birthday, but occasionally beyond. Child Clinical Psychology Service; up to 18th birthday provided in full-time secondary education (not tertiary i.e. not college), up to 16 if not in school.
Fife	Up to 18th birthday.
Forth Valley	Core CAMHS is up to 18th birthday, Learning Disabilities CAMHS is up to 16th birthday.
Grampian	Up to 18th birthday.
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	Up to 18th Birthday across all services.
Highland	Up to 18th birthday if in full-time secondary education otherwise up to age 16 years. Learning Disabilities CAMHS up to 19th birthday provided still in full-time education
Lanarkshire	Tier 3 Child & Family Clinic Teams: up to 16th birthday, up to 18th birthday if referred before 16th birthday or at a point before 18th birthday when it is suitable to discharge them (currently under review). CAMHS Learning Disabilities, Primary Mental Health & CAMHS for Accommodated Young People (CAYP) Teams: up to 18th birthday.
Lothian	Up to 18th Birthday across all areas.
Orkney	Up to 18th birthday.
Shetland	Up to 18th Year if in full time education, and up to 16th Year if not in full time education.
Tayside	Up to 18th birthday provided in full-time secondary education (not tertiary i.e. not college). Learning Disability and Tier 4 services are up to 18years
Western Isles	Up to 18th birthday