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-12577

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been admitted into acute NHS settings from care homes in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

Apologies for the delay in my response.

The requested information is not available centrally. NHS hospital data submitted centrally does contain information on where patients are admitted to acute NHS settings from. However, it is not possible to explicitly identify all patients who are admitted from care homes. There are a number of reasons for this, including the recording of admissions from care home admissions as “admissions from private residences” or using the “no additional detail” code if the information on the admission location is not known. ISD will follow up these specific issues with NHS Boards to identify potential resolutions, although the longer term solution may be to use record linkage to link individual care home records to hospital admission data to give a more accurate picture of where patients have been admitted from.

Question reference: S5W-16223

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government which drugs are available through the NHS in England but not in Scotland, and vice-versa.

Medicines that have been approved for use in Scotland and not England:

Bevacizumab (Avastin)
Fulvestrant (Faslodex)
Regorafenib (Strivarga)
Nusinersen (Spinraza)

The Scottish Medicines Consortium published advice on 7 th May 2018 which accepted both Regorafenib (Strivarga) and Nusinersen (Spinraza) for use by the NHS in Scotland.

The first three medicines are used to treat certain indications in ovarian, breast and liver cancer respectively. Nusinersen (Spinraza) has been accepted for restricted use in type 1 spinal muscular atrophy.

Medicines that have been approved for use in England and not Scotland:

Cabozantinib (Cometriq)
Pertuzumab (Perjeta)
Atezolizumab (Tecentriq)
Obinutuzumab (Gazyvaro)
Eculizumab (Soliris)
Etelcalcetide (Parsabiv)
Elosulfase alfa (Ataluren)

The first five medicines are used to treat certain indications in thyroid, skin, breast, bladder and lymphatic cancers respectively. The remaining medicines are used in the treatment of kidney disease, a rare metabolic disorder and Duchenne muscular dystrophy respectively.

In the case of Perjeta, my officials most recently met with the manufacturer, Roche, on 4 May. Roche has also held discussions with NHS NSS National Procurement and I expect that dialogue to continue in order that Roche can bring forward a new submission to the Scottish Medicines Consortium for their consideration.

Question reference: S5W-16178

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many opioids have been prescribed by (a) GPs and (b) hospitals in each year since 1999, broken down by type of opioid.

The Dispenser Payments and Prescription Cost Analysis report provides, on annual basis, information on the volume of drugs prescribed in the community, including opioid analgesics and for the treatment of opioid dependency.

The report is published on the National Services Scotland Information Services Division website:-

www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Prescribing-and-Medicines/Community-Dispensing/Dispenser-Remuneration/

The information requested in part b) of the question is not available in a format which can be aggregated by substance or therapeutic group.

Question reference: S5W-16158

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that, based on the NHS Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC) formula, NHS Lothian is predicting a £31 million shortfall in funding; what contingency measures the board is considering to meet this, and whether ministers plan to review the NRAC formula.

NHS Lothian have clarified in a press release that they are not predicting a £31 million shortfall in funding. As with all NHS Boards, we are continuing to work with NHS Lothian to ensure public money is being used effectively to deliver better services, better care and better value. We expect NHS Lothian to continue to reform their elective services to improve waiting times and outcomes for patients.

The National Access Collaborative is supporting NHS Boards in that respect and, in 2018-19, NHS Lothian will also receive a share of £175 million to support reform, along with a resource budget uplift of 2.1% (£28.9 million) – the highest percentage uplift of any Territorial Board. This uplift includes a £8.6 million share of additional NRAC parity funding and takes the Board’s annual resource budget to £1,384 million and within 0.8% of NRAC parity.

The NRAC formula remains the most objective way to ensure funding equity and is reviewed and updated on an annual basis.

Question reference: S5O-02093

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 May 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that the planning system supports the development of infrastructure in areas with a growing population.

Question reference: S5W-16303

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 9 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what percentage of pupils with additional support needs (ASN) there were in each Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation decile in each of the last five years.

a) Number of pupils with additional support needs (ASN) by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD), 2013-2017

SIMD Decile	Year
SIMD Decile	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
1 = Most Deprived	21,896	22,609	23,462	26,132	27,197
2	16,019	16,870	18,314	22,802	24,232
3	13,394	14,550	16,107	19,075	20,923
4	13,992	14,932	16,316	17,816	19,107
5	12,758	13,615	14,778	16,143	17,554
6	11,934	12,981	14,562	15,294	16,348
7	12,090	13,247	15,000	15,035	16,399
8	11,371	12,228	13,590	14,087	15,484
9	9,648	10,580	11,547	13,286	14,504
10 = Least Deprived	7,364	7,808	8,497	10,372	11,352
Unknown	895	887	808	259	256

Unknown represents pupils where postcode data was not available for assigning to a datazone

b) Percentage of pupils with additional support needs (ASN) by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD), 2013-2017

SIMD Decile	Year
SIMD Decile	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
1 = Most Deprived	16.67	16.11	15.34	15.34	14.83
2	12.19	12.02	11.97	13.39	13.22
3	10.20	10.37	10.53	11.20	11.41
4	10.65	10.64	10.67	10.46	10.42
5	9.71	9.70	9.66	9.48	9.57
6	9.08	9.25	9.52	8.98	8.92
7	9.20	9.44	9.81	8.83	8.94
8	8.66	8.72	8.88	8.27	8.44
9	7.34	7.54	7.55	7.80	7.91
10 = Least Deprived	5.61	5.56	5.55	6.09	6.19
Unknown	0.68	0.63	0.53	0.15	0.14

Unknown represents pupils where postcode data was not available for assigning to a datazone

Question reference: S5W-15931

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 8 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-14095 by Aileen Campbell on 8 February 2018, how much was spent in 2017-18 in smoking cessation campaigning, and how much it plans to spend in 2018-19.

The Scottish Government spends approximately £500,000 per year to reduce smoking prevalence. These funds are not static and each year we focus on different aspects to help build a collective reduction in tobacco use. Marketing activity linked to smoking cessation in 2017-18 was £552,975 which covers campaign insight, creative testing, production and implementation. A large part of the funding spent in 2017-18 relates to the media campaign now taking place.

Some £50,000 from the 2018-19 budget will pay for the continuation of the current campaign. In addition £300,000 is being invested to alert the public to a planned extension of the ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces to a specific distance outside hospital buildings.

Question reference: S5W-16111

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 8 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-14772 by Maree Todd on 6 March 2018, in light of (a) the reported staff shortages in adult social care and (b) its campaign to recruit more people to work in the childcare sector, whether it plans to work with (i) the Scottish Founding Council, (ii) the SQA and (iii) others to collect the information regarding the number of training places that are made available.

Information on the provision of training places for the social services workforce is published in the Workforce Skills Report, published biennially by the Scottish Social Services Council. The data is collected from a number of sources including the Scottish Qualifications Agency, Scottish Funding Council and Higher Education Institutes. The latest report was published in October 2017 and can be accessed at http://www.sssc.uk.com/about-the-sssc/multimedia-library/publications?task=document.viewdoc&id=4743

Question reference: S5W-16383

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 8 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the return rate has been for bowel cancer screening tests in each year since the programme was established, also broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S5W-15690

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 4 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that delays in renewed treatment for chronic pain due to staff shortages have led to suicide attempts by some return patients, including the testimony given to the Cross Party Group on Chronic Pain by a patient from the NHS Lanarkshire area in March 2018.

The Scottish Government places a high priority on mental health and the prevention of suicide. That is why we have a range of support on offer. In the first instance if anyone is being treated for chronic pain, and there is a change in their circumstances, they should contact the health professional or clinician handling their care to make them aware and to discuss this as soon as possible. GPs are also well placed to advise and guide people regarding appropriate treatment or management of symptoms. If people who are experiencing feelings of distress or despair wish to talk to someone out of hours, they can call NHS24 on shortcode 111 or Samaritans, who provide confidential non-judgemental emotional support, on 116 123. Both these services are available 24 hours per day. Breathing Space, a telephone and web service, also offers free and confidential advice for people experiencing low mood, depression or anxiety, whatever the cause. This service can be contacted on 0800 83 85 87, 6pm to 2am Monday to Thursday, and 6pm Friday through the weekend to 6am Monday.

In terms of waiting times, an additional £50 million has been made available to NHS Boards to improve waiting times for all stages of a person’s journey through the NHS – the outpatient consultation, any tests required and treatment. £6.2 million has been provided to NHS Lanarkshire as part of this initiative. Each Board makes the decision on where this funding is invested within their area, based on local service needs and priorities for investment.

Further to NHS Scotland's Information Services Division's consultation last year into the publication of chronic pain waiting times, it is carrying out further work over the next six months to explore the collection of waiting times data for return patients and will report on its findings later in 2018.

With regard to the reported shortage of chronic pain staff in Scotland, I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-15247 on 22 March 2018. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx