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-10629

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many iPads have been provided to NHS staff in each year since 2010.

Question reference: S5W-10627

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 1 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many preschool health checks have taken place in each local authority in each year since 1999, also expressed as a percentage of the school roll.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government

The 2005 universal core program, Health for All Children (Hall 4) sets out the minimum routine screening, surveillance and health promotion checks which all children and young people should receive. A New Look at Hall 4 (2011) sets out the way forward for the successful delivery of Health for All Children (Hall 4) in the early years. This now requires to be delivered in the context of duties and provisions set out in the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, supporting guidance and the Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) policy. The programme set out in Hall 4 can be delivered by any member of the primary care or wider Child Health Support Team, including General Practitioners, Family Nurses, Early Years Support Workers or Health Visitors.

The Universal Health Visiting Pathway, published in October 2015, outlines a core home visiting programme as a minimum standard to be offered to all families with pre-school children. The programme consists of 11 home visits to all families, 8 of which are in the first year of life. It also sets out 3 Child Health Reviews between 13 -15 months, 27-30 months and 4-5 years. We expect full implementation of the universal health visiting pathway by 2020.

The 27-30 month review, introduced in April 2013 is offered to every child in Scotland reaching the appropriate age. The most recent publication of statistics on the child health 27-30 month review was published in February 2017. Figures for 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 are provided in the accompanying excel workbooks. http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Child-Health/Publications/2017-02-07/2017-02-07-Child-Health-27m-review-Summary.pdf?

Question reference: S5W-10626

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 1 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many reports it has received of patients being absent or going missing from mental health facilities in each year since 1999.

Information on patients being absent or going missing is collected by Information Services Division through evidence on abscondment (from detention) This may have limited data.

The number of patients who have gone absent or missing from mental health facilities in each year since 1999 are shown in Table 1.

Patients who have gone absent or missing have only been determined by the code for abscondment. This may have resulted in limited data.

Due to the potential risk of disclosure and to help maintain patient confidentiality some values in the table below have been suppressed. These values are indicated by "<5". For more information see ISD's disclosure control policy:

http://www.isdscotland.org/AboutISD/Confidentiality/Disclosure_Protocol_v2.3_Fullversion.pdf

Table 1: NHS Scotland, 1999/2000 - 2015/2016: Absent or missing patients among SMR04 population, by financial year.

Financial Year	Patients
1999-2000	5
2000-2001	15
2001-2002	16
2002-2003	5
2003-2004	13
2004-2005	12
2005-2006	13
2006-2007	15
2007-2008	8
2008-2009	5
2009-2010	<5
2010-2011	<5
2011-2012	5
2012-2013	5
2013-2014	5
2014-2015	6
2015-2016	<5
Total	140

Question reference: S5W-10702

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that the opening of the new Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in Edinburgh has been delayed; what the reasons are for this, and what action it is taking to ensure that further delays will be avoided.

The Scottish Government having discussed the situation with NHS Lothian understand the Board's decision to delay opening of the new hospital.

Their decision has been made in order to protect the commissioning period to ensure that the new facility is fully safe and ready to accept patients and staff. This follows their recent review of construction progress and quality. During any commissioning period there are significant works to carry out such as fully equipping the hospital, staff recruitment familiarisation and induction, snagging where required, testing of equipment and facilities and adequately stocking of the hospital. The Board wish to ensure a smooth transition of their clinical teams to the new facility reducing any risk to patient and staff safety.

The Scottish Government will be working closely with the Board to ensure that no further delays arise and agree with the Board's decision at this point in time not to set a definite specific revised date for opening. NHS Lothian will be closely monitoring the situation over the next few weeks and once they have certainty, will release a new opening date.

Question reference: S5W-10736

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support more people who identify as being disabled to work in the health service, and what guidance it provides to NHS boards on employing more disabled people.

Question reference: S5W-10735

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to research by the group, Equality Here, Now, which suggests that 0.85% of the NHS workforce identifies as being disabled.

Question reference: S5W-10636

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 31 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many attacks on NHS staff have been reported to the police in each year since 1999.

The information requested is not held centrally, as police crime statistics do not in general refer to the complainer’s employer.

Depending on the nature of any attack, Police Scotland will record the appropriate crime or offence. For NHS staff this could include common assault of an emergency worker, however this measure will also include assaults against those working in Police and Fire services.

The 2015 NHS Scotland staff survey found a reduction in the number of staff who had experienced a physical attack since 2008. However any violence or aggression against NHSScotland staff is unacceptable and we have policies in place to provide and continuously improve a safe working environment. Details can be found at the following link:- http://www.staffgovernance.scot.nhs.uk/media/1399/gender-based-violence-employee-pin-policy.pdf

Question reference: S5O-01217

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 August 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to expand GP services in Lothian.

Question reference: S5W-10639

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 24 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how it will take forward its consideration of the guidance on the use of emergency salbutamol inhalers in light of the responses to the consultation on the draft guidance on supporting children and young people with healthcare needs.

Question reference: S5W-10644

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 24 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many foreign language assistants there have been in the Lothian parliamentary region in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority.

The Scottish Government supports the work of the British Council in Scotland and values the contribution Modern Language Assistants, as native speakers, make to the language learning experience of our pupils.

The figures available, and supplied by British Council Scotland, include independent schools and cover the period 2002-2017. Those prior to 2002 are not available. Numbers for the 2017-18 school year are not yet available.

Authority

Year

	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-6	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10

East Lothian	3	5	5	7	6	7	3	1
Edinburgh	17	41	44	41	41	41	41	39
Midlothian	5	8	8	5	5	3	3	0
West Lothian	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	25	54	57	53	52	51	47	40

Authority

Year

	2010-2011	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18

East Lothian	0	0	1	0	1	9	3	TBC
Edinburgh	27	26	28	32	28	24	24	TBC
Midlothian	0	0	0	0	1	6	5	TBC
West Lothian	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	TBC
TOTAL	27	26	29	32	30	39	32	TBC