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-17461

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 4 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-24346 by Maureen Watt on 17 February 2015, whether a code now exists, and what consideration it has given to collecting this information.

Question reference: S5W-17444

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 29 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many pupils have (a) sat and (b) passed the SQA health and food technology exam in each year since 2007, broken down by level of exam.

Question reference: S5W-17366

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 27 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to S5W-17210 by Kevin Stewart on 19 June 2018, whether it will provide the information for affordable new-build homes, broken down by local authority.

The following table shows a breakdown of new build homes completed in 2016-17 and 2017-18 by local authority area:

Local Authority	2016-17	2017-18
Aberdeenshire	204	192
Angus	17	88
Argyll & Bute	141	90
City of Aberdeen	101	205
Clackmannanshire	29	106
Dumfries & Galloway	96	44
Dundee	85	104
East Ayrshire	22	45
East Dunbartonshire	80	20
East Lothian	60	138
East Renfrewshire	60
Edinburgh	667	711
Falkirk	100	8
Fife	455	781
Glasgow	959	1040
Highland	215	272
Inverclyde	0	68
Midlothian	103	81
Moray	66	119
North Ayrshire	35	119
North Lanarkshire	113	280
Orkney Islands	63	32
Perth & Kinross	59	172
Renfrewshire	108	77
Scottish Borders	115	42
Shetland	26	36
South Ayrshire	94	43
South Lanarkshire	251	222
Stirling	66	53
West Dunbartonshire	69	30
West Lothian	157	66
Western Isles	18	24
Total	4,634	5,308

Question reference: S5W-17071

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 22 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to review the implementation of health and social care integration.

I made a commitment in Parliament on 2 May to review the progress of the Integration Authorities through the Ministerial Strategic Group for Health and Community Care (MSG), and that outputs arising from such a review would be shared with the Health and Sport Committee of the Scottish Parliament.

A broad range of work is already underway to track progress with integration, including a review that is currently underway by Audit Scotland, which is due for publication in November. In addition, the Scottish Government and its partners in local government, the NHS and the third and independent sectors is taking forward work to understand progress on financial and governance arrangements and impact in terms of service redesign, the balance of care and outcomes for people using services.

I provided a written update with Councillor Peter Johnston on 22 June to the Health and Sport Committee on relevant actions agreed by MSG.

Question reference: S5O-02270

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 June 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce loneliness and isolation among older people.

Question reference: S5W-17253

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on implementing the recommendations of the Review on Access to New Medicines to allow people with type (a) 2 and (b) 3 of 5q spinal muscular atrophy to access the treatment, Spinraza.

I wrote to the Health and Sport Committee on 17 May to provide a further update on the Scottish Government’s progress in delivering the recommendations from the Review of Access to New Medicines. A copy to which can be found here:

http://www.parliament.scot/S5_HealthandSportCommittee/General%20Documents/Letter_to_HS_Comm_Montgomery_review_17_May.pdf

On 7 May 2018, the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) published advice accepting nusinersen (Spinraza®) for restricted use for treatment of 5q spinal muscular atrophy (Type 1 SMA). The SMC were unable to recommend nusinersen (Spinraza®) for the treatment of types 2 and 3 spinal muscular atrophy because the company’s justification of the treatment’s cost in relation to its health benefits when used in types 2 and 3 was not sufficient.

I understand that the manufacturer, Biogen, have indicated their intention to make a resubmission to the Scottish Medicines Consortium.

Question reference: S5W-17252

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 20 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to people with all forms of spinal muscular atrophy.

It is the role of the Scottish Government to provide policies, frameworks and resources to NHS Boards. In this context, it is a matter for NHS Boards to plan, budget for, and deliver the services required to meet the assessed needs of their resident populations - within the allocations provided.

The Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014 makes clear that it is also the responsibility of Integration Authorities to commission and plan services and supports to meet the needs of their local population. Integration Authorities are expected to extensively engage with their local communities, when commissioning services and supports, to ensure that they best meet local need.

Additionally the Scottish Muscle Network, funded by NHS Scotland National Services Division, brings together a wide range of stakeholders across health and social care, to drive forward improvement in services and support for neuromuscular conditions.

Question reference: S5W-17130

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to review the diagnosis and treatment of the genetic condition, 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, also known as DiGeorge syndrome, and whether it has made any assessment of studies of the condition.

Prenatal microarray is the test recommended by the Scottish Genetics Consortium for investigation of foetal anomaly. This would detect 22q11 deletion (DiGeorge Syndrome) as well as the vast majority of other significant chromosomal imbalances. Microarray is a standard test in the investigation of congenital anomalies in Scotland.

There is no specific treatment for 22q11 deletion (DiGeorge syndrome) as it can cause a variety of clinical conditions. Accordingly, treatment will depend on what conditions are affecting the patient, however, guidelines for the management of 22q11 deletion (DiGeorge syndrome) in Scotland has been published by the Scottish Paediatric & Adolescent Infection and Immunology National Managed Clinical Network (SPAIIN). These are available on the SPAIIN website: http://www.spaiin.scot.nhs.uk/di-george-review-guidelines/

Question reference: S5W-17131

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how its work in implementing the UK Strategy for Rare Diseases will help patients with the genetic condition, 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, also known as DiGeorge syndrome.

The Scottish Government is fully committed to empowering people in terms of their health and social care. In 2014 the Scottish Implementation Plan “It’s Not Rare to Have a Rare Disease” was published.

The Rare Disease Implementation Oversight Group was created in order to monitor the progress implementation of the plan, and to ensure that the 51 Commitments in the UK Strategy for Rare Diseases are being met. On 28 February 2018, the group published the Rare Disease Scotland Progress Report. The report provides an update on the work being undertaken in Scotland, that will help improve the lives of people living with rare and genetic conditions, including DiGeorge syndrome.

The report is available on the Scottish Government website: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2018/02/8601

It also co-incides with the second progress report from the UK Rare Disease Policy Board on the UK Rare Disease Strategy: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-rare-disease-policy-board-second-progress-report

Question reference: S5W-17129

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to calls for the introduction of screening for the genetic condition, 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, also known as DiGeorge syndrome.