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-07875

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many cancer specialists have been employed by each NHS board in each year since 2007.

It is not possible to accurately identify all staff defined as ‘cancer specialists’ – either wholly or as part of their role – from centrally held data due to the multi-disciplinary roles involved in the delivery of cancer services. NHSScotland Boards are expected to ensure that patients with specialist conditions have appropriate access to a range of professionals to enable optimum management of their condition.

Last year we published our five-year £100 million Cancer Strategy which sets out how we will improve patients’ access to cancer diagnosis and treatment. We have also committed to invest an extra £2.5 million of recurring funding in specialist nursing and care from 2015-16 onwards.

Further information on the NHSScotland workforce, including those staff involved in the delivery of cancer services, is published by ISD Scotland and is available at the following link:- http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/data-tables2017.asp?id=1870#1870

Question reference: S5W-07885

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 17 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many new-build properties there have been in each local authority area since 1999, broken down by council tax band.

The Scottish Government publishes quarterly statistics on new build housing completions in each local authority area as part of the Housing Statistics for Scotland publications and web tables available at http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/HSfS. The statistics are based on information collected from local authorities and the Scottish Government Affordable Housing Supply Programme database and do not contain detail on the council tax bands of new build properties.

Information on the total number of all-sector new build housing completions in each local authority area from 1999 Q1 to 2016 Q3, based on the latest data published on 14 March 2017, is provided in the following table.

Scotland	361,122
Aberdeen City	11,163
Aberdeenshire	24,553
Angus	6,122
Argyll & Bute	4,607
Clackmannanshire	3,696
Dumfries & Galloway	8,055
Dundee City	8,003
East Ayrshire	7,856
East Dunbartonshire	4,527
East Lothian	7,543
East Renfrewshire	4,021
Edinburgh, City of	30,450
Falkirk	11,232
Fife	24,008
Glasgow City	43,768
Highland	20,560
Inverclyde	5,175
Midlothian	6,908
Moray	7,318
Na h-Eileanan Siar	2,345
North Ayrshire	7,176
North Lanarkshire	21,131
Orkney	2,211
Perth & Kinross	11,687
Renfrewshire	10,258
Scottish Borders, The	8,986
Shetland	1,964
South Ayrshire	5,392
South Lanarkshire	23,774
Stirling	6,155
West Dunbartonshire	5,106
West Lothian	15,372

Source: Scottish Government Housing Statistics for Scotland, tables on new house building

Question reference: S5W-08191

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5W-07683

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-06956 by Shona Robison on 2 March 2017, what its response is to the suggestion that it would be useful if information was held at NHS board level to allow for comparisons.

I refer to my answer S5W-07684 on 15 March 2017 which highlights the data available from NHS National Services Scotland. Additional data was collected locally for improvement and learning purposes as part of the VTE collaborative. The Scottish Government will remind NHS Boards of the availability of data from NHS National Services Scotland.

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

Question reference: S5W-07684

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-06957 by Shona Robison on 2 March 2017, whether it will increase the amount of information held centrally in order to determine whether the SIGN guidance has led to a change in the incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE).

Question reference: S5W-07878

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 15 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address so-called holiday-hunger among pupils who receive free school meals.

The Scottish Government is aware that several local authorities in Scotland offer holiday lunch club provision and welcomes any activity that may contribute to the health and wellbeing, as well as the attainment, of the most vulnerable in our society. Local authorities have flexibility to provide meals to children outwith term time and some choose to use this flexibility during school holidays to provide school holiday lunch clubs. The Scottish Government continues to encourage local authorities to allocate their total financial resources on the basis of local needs, priorities and circumstances.

Question reference: S5W-07159

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 13 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many referrals from schools to mental health links workers there have been in each year since this system was introduced.

Question reference: S5W-07585

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 13 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding the prevalence of head injuries in prisons.

Question reference: S5W-07157

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when it last made an assessment of the mortuary estate.

In October 2016, the Minister for Public Health and Sport wrote to NHS Board Chief Executives to provide details as to what mortuary facilities they are responsible for and whether their facilities comply with the current guidance on mortuary provision. Furthermore, the letter noted that many small hospitals have no mortuary facility but may have a body storage area. In these instances the Minister asked for reassurance that appropriate measures are in place to ensure suitable access and viewing arrangements are made with another facility (NHS, Local Authority or a local undertaker).

Twelve of the 14 territorial Health Boards generally reported no issues regarding their mortuary provision and they provided assurance of adequate body storage facilities and either on-site viewing facilities or arrangements with local funeral directors or other hospitals/facilities for viewings. The two remaining Boards (NHS Highland and NHS Tayside) highlighted some issues that they were managing, but they provided plans as to how they would address these issues.

Question reference: S5W-07165

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 8 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on (a) car, (b) rail, (c) flight and (d) other tavel by (i) the First Minister and (ii) ministers in each year since 1999.

(a) The following table details the complete yearly costs held by the Scottish Government.

Year	Total cost
2007-08	£962,142
2008-09	£980,985
2009-10	£995,658
2010-11	£974,678
2011-12	£1,074,714
2012-13	£1,204,864
2013-14	£1,156,208
2014-15	£1,184,851
2015-16	£1,145,521

Total costs include staff salaries, employer's contributions, fuel, vehicle maintenance, private hire and travel and subsistence.

(b) & (c) All domestic rail and flight costs are routinely published on the Scottish Government website. Please note these publications are only available online from 2007 onwards:

Costs from 2007 - May 2016 can be found at:

http://www.gov.scot/About/People/14944/travel

Costs from May 2016 onwards can be found at:

https://beta.gov.scot/publications/?term=Ministerial&publicationTypes=transparency_data

(d) Other travel costs:

A breakdown of Overseas visits from 1999 – 2014 can be found at:

http://www.gov.scot/About/People/14944/travel/visitsoverseas

Overseas travel costs from 2015 – 2016 can be found at:

http://www.gov.scot/About/People/14944/travel/visitsoverseas/visitsoverseas

Overseas travel costs from May 2016 onwards can be found at:

https://beta.gov.scot/publications/?term=Ministerial&publicationTypes=transparency_data

Other travel costs also include ferry travel and taxi travel. Please note these publications are only available from 2009 onwards.