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-23750

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 27 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when any remaining parts of the National Health and Social Care Workforce Plan will be published, and whether it has any plans to update any parts of the plan.

Question reference: S5W-23681

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 20 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware that a report by the Mental Welfare Commission in 2014 cast doubt on claims that chemical restraint is only used in exceptional circumstances.

Question reference: S5W-23680

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 20 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to commission and publish a renewed study on trends in the prescribing of psychoactive medications for people with dementia, in line with commitment 18 in Scotland's National Dementia Strategy 2017-2020.

Question reference: S5W-23642

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 20 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of (a) medical students, (b) nurses, (c) dentists and (d) allied health professionals in each year since 1999 have been domiciled in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-23651

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of medical graduates need to become GPs to address the reported GP shortage.

To meet the goal of increasing the numbers of GPs by 800 in the next ten years, we need to take a number of actions, including increasing the number of medical places at universities, and taking steps to encourage medical graduates to choose general practice. To that end, between 2015-16 and 2020-21 the Scottish Government will have increased the annual intake of medical places in Scottish universities from 848 to 1038 (190 places, a 22% increase) including funding Scotland’s first Graduate Entry Medical programme (scotGEM) and widening access places.

We have also announced 85 additional medical school places to be shared between three universities: Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow. The new courses will focus on general practice offering a new route for experienced healthcare professionals to enter medicine. 25 of these places will be available at the University of Edinburgh.

AY 15-16	AY 16-17	AY 17-18	AY 18-19	AY 19-20	AY 20-21
848	898	898	953	1,013	1,038

Question reference: S5O-03430

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 20 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce and phase out the use of plastic cutlery and straws in the public sector.

The Scottish Government is committed to reducing use of single use plastics. The EU Single-Use Plastics Directive will lead to a ban on these items across the EU and we continue to look at how we can lead by example following our ban of single use beverage cups from the Scottish Government estate. Zero Waste Scotland provides a range of tools and supports that can assist any public sector organisation looking to make progress on these issues.

Question reference: S5O-03445

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 June 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support third sector groups to help address loneliness among older people.

Question reference: S5W-23640

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 19 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many organisations applying to it for funding in the last year have had their applications rejected.

The Scottish Budget authorises expenditure to support policy objectives, including funding to public bodies and grant schemes for particular activities. Individual Ministerial portfolios can provide funding in response to funding applications within their portfolio area. Information on such applications and funding is not collated centrally.

The Scottish Government annual accounts report on funding at a portfolio level: the 2018-19 accounts are currently in preparation and will be available by the end of September 2019. The Scottish Government publishes all Scottish Government spend over £25,000, on a monthly basis on its website.

Question reference: S5W-23641

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 19 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has awarded in the last year to organisations that have applied to it for funding.

Question reference: S5W-23643

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many emergency beds there have been in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

The information requested is not held centrally. Official statistics assign beds to specialities. Official statistics do not assign beds based on admission type: elective or emergency.

The link to the latest annual publication below provides data on average available staffed beds by specialty and NHS Board of treatment.

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Hospital-Care/Publications/2018-09-25/2018-09-25-Annual-QuarterlyAcuteActivity-Report.pdf?17126101256