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: S5W-24102

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 14 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action NHS Scotland is taking to increase recycling, and what percentage of NHS waste has been recycled in each year since 2007.

Scottish Government do not hold information on the increase in waste that has been recycled going back to 2007. In 2017 and 2018, roughly 20.5% and 23.7%, respectively, of NHSScotland domestic waste was either recycled, reclaimed or reused.

Scottish Government only have figures for 11 Boards held at a national level, as the current waste data tool is a pilot and linked to the 2016 national contract for domestic waste. Other NHS Boards have individual contracts for their domestic waste and these contractors do not use the waste data tool.

NHS NSS are procuring a new waste data tool that will include the provision for all NHS Boards to upload their waste data, so we should have a complete national record of all waste within the next year.

The NHSScotland Waste Management Action Plan 2016 – 2020 sets out how NHSScotland Boards will meet the legislative targets set out in ‘Making Things Last – A Circular Economy Strategy for Scotland’ and the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012. The Plan includes the following actions:

All NHS Boards will review all waste-related procedures and create a single overarching Waste Recycling and Recovery Plan for domestic waste.
The Waste Recycling and Recovery Plans detail the specific opportunities that the NHS Boards will take forward in order to achieve recycling and recovery targets, and are focused on food waste, recyclables, and residual waste.
The Waste Recycling and Recovery Plans include implementation timetables to ensure sufficient resource and support is provided for waste segregation, education and awareness, and procurement.

In addition, the ‘Sustainability Action’ branding is being used to encourage recycling activities amongst NHS staff, patients, and visitors.

Question reference: S5W-24340

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 6 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Planning (Scotland) Bill legislating to merge Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) into the National Planning Framework 4, when the next SPP review will commence, and what the timescale will be for consultation, consideration and implementation.

Question reference: S5W-24093

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 5 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-23649 by Jeane Freeman on 19 June 2019, how many NHS staff have been employed on (a) full- and (b) part-time contracts in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S5W-24565

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 August 2019
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many temporary ward closures there have been due to staff shortages in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S5W-24561

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 August 2019
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to encourage natural prescribing.

Question reference: S5W-24198

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 31 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had regarding the addition of fluoride to the public water supply.

Question reference: S5W-24194

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 30 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many GP practices were closed to new patient registrations in each NHS board area in each year since 2007.

Management information shows the following number of practices were closed to new patient registrations in each NHS board:

Board/Year	Borders, Fife, Forth Valley, Highland, Lothian, Shetland, and Western Isles	Greater Glasgow and Clyde	Lanarkshire	Orkney	Tayside	Grampian	Dumfries and Galloway	Ayrshire and Arran
2007	0	6	0	0	0	0	Not available	0
2008	0	5	0	0	0	0	“	0
2009	0	5	0	0	0	0	“	0
2010	0	3	0	0	0	0	“	0
2011	0	1	0	1	0	0	“	0
2012	0	1	1	1	0	0	“	0
2013	0	3	1	0	0	0	“	0
2014	0	3	1	0	0	0	“	0
2015	0	2	3	0	4	0	“	0
2016	0	8	5	0	10	0	2	0
2017	0	3	6	0	8	0	2	1
2018	0	5	6	0	14	2	4	1
2019	0	2	5	0	7	0	2	0

Circumstances will arise where a practice experiences capacity issues and is unable to routinely accept new patients onto its list. We expect Health Boards to work with practices as constructively and as flexibly as is appropriate to help manage the situation and ensure that all patients have access to GP services.

Question reference: S5W-24181

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 30 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many people without a fixed abode have been discharged from hospital in each year since 2007.

No-fixed abode also includes individuals with a mobile lifestyle, such as travellers, and people with multiple residences, or those living temporarily with friends or family.

Analysis is based on the number of discharges. Individual patients may appear a number of times in a calendar year and in more than one year.

In 2012 a review of SMR01 data quality, only 67% of the discharge/transfer to code was found to be correct at a Scotland Level, therefore this data should be treated with caution.
(See https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Hospital-Care/Publications/
2012-05-08/Assessment-of-SMR01Data-2010-2011-ScotlandReport.pdf ).

The total number of discharges with a discharge/transfer to code of 'No Fixed Abode' in Scotland each year between 2007 and 2018, reported to NHS Information Services Division is detailed in the following table:

Calendar Year	Number of Discharges
2007	148
2008	154
2009	156
2010	160
2011	258
2012	273
2013	428
2014	424
2015	391
2016	417
2017	533
2018	582

No patient should be discharged into a situation of homelessness. The Health and Homelessness Standards ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/health-homelessness-standards/ ) state that “Admission and discharge procedures should also take account of the patient’s housing status and ensure that no one with a planned discharge leaves to a homeless situation. This holistic approach to combating homelessness means that health workers should be equipped to sign-post homeless people to other appropriate agencies to prevent a continuation of their unsettled lives". However, there will be patients who will choose to discharge themselves into a homeless situation, without accessing any support.

Question reference: S5W-24166

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 30 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been prescribed methadone in each year since 2007.

Information on the number of people who have been prescribed methadone is not held centrally.

NHS Information Services Division (ISD) publish figures on the Scottish Public Health Observatory (https://www.scotpho.org.uk/behaviour/drugs/data/treatment-for-drug-misuse/ ) on drugs used for the treatment of opioid dependency in Scotland, which includes dispensing of methadone hydrochloride. Published figures show that over the ten year period 2007-08 to 2017-18, the number of dispensed items for Methadone has reduced by 14%, from 492,908 dispensed items to 423,656.

Data for 2007-08 to 2017-18 can be seen in the following table:

Year	Number of Dispensed Items
2007-08	492,908
2008-09	493,767
2009-10	510,063
2010-11	534,674
2011-12	515,897
2012-13	488,982
2013-14	464,639
2014-15	439,778
2015-16	433,448
2016-17	432,493
2017-18	423,656

Note that the number of dispensed items equals the number of prescriptions. A prescription with a seven days’ supply of medicine is one item with seven dispensings.

Opioid Substitution Therapy must, however, be just one component in a package of personalised care, treatment and recovery that is offered to individuals alongside harm reduction, mutual aid and wider wrap around support on issues such as mental health, housing and employability.

Question reference: S5W-24174

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 30 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been awarded to the third sector to provide drug and alcohol services in each year since 2007.

This information is not held centrally. Responsibility for sectoral distribution rests with Integration Authorities and Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs). Before integration went live in 2016 this responsibility rested with NHS Boards and ADPs.

In addition to the investment delivered to the third sector through Integration Authorities and ADPs, third sector organisations also have opportunities to bid for funding through the National Development Project Fund, and the Challenge Fund administered by the Corra Foundation. Details of the successful projects and funding levels are available on our webpage here: https://www.gov.scot/policies/alcohol-and-drugs/