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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S4W-12770

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 27 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what the average salary is of a consultant working in (a) the NHS and (b) an NHS accident and emergency department.

The average salary of a consultant working in NHS Scotland is £87,500. This is based on the latest figures available for the financial year April 2011 to March 2012.

It is not possible to provide the average salary of a consultant working in an NHS accident and emergency department as this information is not held centrally.

Further information on Workforce Statistics can be found on the website at: www.isdscotland.org/workforce.

Question reference: S4W-12766

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 27 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish its response to the evaluation of direct elections to NHS boards.

Question reference: S4W-13188

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 27 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that effective consultation is carried out with communities likely to be affected before any national developments are put forward in the National Planning Framework 3.

Question reference: S4W-12717

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 27 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many GP practices have phone lines that are not (a) free to call or (b) charged at a local rate.

Question reference: S4T-00253

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 18 February 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to NHS boards for the delivery of paediatric services.

Question reference: S4O-01801

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 February 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when the feasibility study of future uses of Shambellie House will be published.

Question reference: S4W-11977

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 28 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what legal requirements there are for local authorities to consider planning applications for housing developments in relation to their impact on local health services.

Question reference: S4W-11978

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 24 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether there is a legal requirement for a transplant patient to be informed prior to the operation of any risk associated with an organ as a result of the donor’s (a) health or (b) lifestyle.

There is no legal requirement for a transplant patient to be informed of the risks with donated organs as a result of a donors health or lifestyle. Guidelines on this are provided in Guidelines for Consent for Solid Organ Transplantation, published in March 2011.

The guidelines are available at www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/pdf/guidelines_for_consent.pdf.

In the field of organ donation/transplantation each and every donor/recipient combination represents a balance of risk between the benefit of transplant and the risks associated with a particular organ and the transplant surgery. The decision to proceed with a transplant is ultimately down to the recipient and the transplant surgeon. A transplant surgeon and recipient may decide to go ahead with a procedure if they decide that the risk associated with potential transmission of infection or malignancy is outweighed by the risk of not being allocated an organ in time.

Question reference: S4W-11907

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 17 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) farming and (b) other commercial lets are not subject to electrical safety standards.

This information is not held by the Scottish Government.

Electrical safety standards normally apply to all farms and commercial lets due to them generally being places of work to which the health and safety at work legislation applies. This legislation, which is reserved to the UK Government, places a duty on employers and the self-employed to ensure their work places are safe. This includes taking precautions against the risk of death or injury from electricity.

However, in general where new buildings are constructed or new work is carried out to existing properties, Scottish building regulations apply. There are electrical safety standards within these regulations. The intention of these regulations is to provide buildings with new electrical installations that are safe and this supports the health and safety legislation that applies when a building is used as a place of work. It should be noted that the building regulations exempt certain types of low-risk agricultural buildings, for example, those that are not normally frequented by people.

Question reference: S4W-12144

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 21 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to implement the recommendation of Equally Well: Report of the Ministerial Taskforce on Health Inequalities that "The Government should continue to reform the funding of primary care services, to meet the needs of groups and communities most at risk of health inequalities".

The recommendations set out in the 2008 report of the Ministerial Task Force on Health Inequalities Equally Well remain pertinent in the Scottish Governments commitment to addressing inequalities that persist in Scotland.

Scottish Enhanced Services Programme funding of £13 million has been allocated to Health Boards for 2012-13. Changes have been introduced to enhance local autonomy, whilst providing greater discretion for NHS boards to consider how spend assists primary care in delivering the aims of the quality strategy taking account of the 2020 vision for sustainable health care.