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-03471

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 2 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether the national social isolation strategy, committed to in its Programme for Government, will have increased funding beyond that provided to the current Social Isolation and Loneliness Fund.

Question reference: S5W-03502

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to produce guidance on specific cancers as part of its cancer strategy and, if so, which types of cancer will be covered.

Question reference: S5O-00280

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 2 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support veterans.

The Scottish Government places great importance on veterans and their families. We established a state-of-the-art National Prosthetics Service, committed over £5 million from 2015 for world-class specialist mental health services and provided almost £4 million for veterans housing. We have appointed a Scottish Veterans Commissioner – the first such position in the UK.

I have published a fresh strategy, “Renewing Our Commitments” setting out priorities on healthcare, housing and jobs. Earlier this month I announced a partnership with Standard Life, bringing our Scottish Veterans Fund to total £600,000 over three years. We also want the private sector to treat veterans as an asset to bridge skills gaps; that is why I was delighted to launch the Supporting Veterans into Employment initiative with HRH The Duke of Rothesay at Dumfries House on 24 October 2016.

Question reference: S5W-03408

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 1 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses participate in the Healthy Working Lives Award Programme, broken down by bronze, silver and gold awards.

Question reference: S5W-03410

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 1 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses participating in the Healthy Working Lives Award Programme have more than ten employees.

Question reference: S5W-03409

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 1 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many calls were made to the Healthy Working Lives Adviceline in the last three years, and how many of these calls were regarding mental health advice.

The following table shows the number of enquiries to the Healthy Working Lives Adviceline including calls and emails.

Date	Total enquiries	Calls	Mental Health Calls	E-mails	Mental Health e-mails
01-4-2013 – 31-03-2014	2284	1712	91	572	14
01-04-2014 – 31-03-2015	3672	2466	119	1206	18
01-04-2015 – 31-03-2016	3812	2696	167	1116	17
01-04-2016 – 30-09-2016	2170	1571	82	599	12

Mental Health calls are recorded under a variety of sub-categories as follows - Mental Health & Wellbeing-Anxiety-Depression-Distress-Stress.

Question reference: S5W-03357

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government many Scotland-domiciled students there have been at each university medical school in each year since 1999.

The number of First-degree, Scottish-domiciled students studying pre-clinical or clinical medicine at a Scottish Higher Education Institution is included in the following table.

First Degree Students, domiciled in Scotland, studying pre-clinical or clinical medicine, by Scottish Higher Education Institution, 1999-00 to 2014-15

	1999-00	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
The University of Aberdeen	525	545	535	540	515	525	535	575
The University of Dundee	385	395	400	445	505	555	540	570
The University of Edinburgh	550	480	350	410	440	435	500	540
The University of Glasgow	820	825	850	765	780	820	780	745
The University of St Andrews	145	170	175	160	155	165	180	195
All	2,430	2,410	2,310	2,320	2,390	2,500	2,535	2,630

	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
The University of Aberdeen	560	540	545	590	575	550	565	570
The University of Dundee	580	585	565	540	565	560	530	505
The University of Edinburgh	570	585	600	605	645	620	590	545
The University of Glasgow	750	735	715	690	675	700	730	735
The University of St Andrews	195	205	210	210	220	195	180	175
All	2,655	2,650	2,640	2,640	2,680	2,630	2,595	2,535

Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA)

Figures in this table have been rounded to the nearest 5.

Question reference: S5W-03356

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 28 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients have been taken off methadone treatment in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S5W-03359

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 28 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government which local authorities charge for providing a personal medical alarm service for older people, broken down by the amount charged.

Question reference: S5W-03413

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 28 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to increase mental health officer support in light of the finding from the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland that nearly 44% of emergency detentions initiated by a doctor did not have the support and expertise of a mental health officer at the point that the decision was made.

Mental Health Officers (MHO) are employed by local authorities and ultimately, it is the responsibility of local authorities to plan their MHO workforce, ensuring they have the appropriate levels of staff in place to provide services for their residents.

The recent report by Scottish Social Services Council http://data.sssc.uk.com/data-publications/23-mental-health-officers-reports/127-mental-health-officers-scotland-report-2015states that the number of practicing MHOs has increased since last year. It is also encouraging that there are the highest number of MHOs in training at any time since 2008, and a reduction in the number leaving the workforce.

Emergency detention under the Mental Health (Care and Treatment)(Scotland) Act 2003 is only permissible where it is necessary as a matter of urgency because of a significant risk to the health, safety or welfare of the patient or the safety of others. Medical practitioners are required to seek agreement from a MHO officer unless it is impractical for them to do so, for example where there is immediate, serious or life-threatening danger to the patient and/or others around the patient. Consent by MHOs is an important safeguard and it is essential that Local Authorities ensure they have the appropriate levels of staff in place to meet statutory duties.

Following last year’s report, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport asked the Mental Welfare Commission (MWC) to investigate the undertake an analysis of the reasons for low level MHO consent for Emergency Detention Certificates. The MWC produced a report in June 2016,http://www.mwcscot.org.uk/media/321062/edc_report_2016.pdf finding no single reason for lack of consent in any of the health boards and most had the same pattern of reasons for lack of consent. The MWC made a total of eight recommendations. Two were specifically for the Scottish Government which we have accepted and are taking forward.