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-02031

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 9 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recent announcement by the UK Government, whether it plans to cap the salary of its special advisers.

Appointments of special advisers will continue to be made in line with the requirements of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 and the Scottish Government Ministerial Code. There are no plans to change these arrangements. This is consistent with practice in the UK Government.

A list of special advisers in post, their paybands and the total salary cost is published on an annual basis. I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-00837 on 20 June 2016. 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-01938

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 9 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a full breakdown of the cost to NHS Grampian of the suspensions of Professor Zygmunt Krukowski and Doctor Wendy Craig.

Question reference: S5O-00131

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve the quality of urban broadband.

Question reference: S5W-02017

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 7 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government by what date it will announce its decision regarding the future of the Edinburgh cleft lip and palate surgical service.

Question reference: S5W-01869

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 7 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many people were given electroconvulsive therapy against their will in the last year for which information is available.

Question reference: S5W-01856

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 7 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many people were detained on the basis of an emergency detention certificate issued by a GP in the last year for which information is available.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested however the Mental Welfare Commission is an independent organisation, which reports to Scottish Ministers and was set up to find out whether individual care and treatment is in line with the law and good practice. As part of this role they produce statistics and analysis on the use of mental health and incapacity legislation. They have a statutory responsibility to monitor the use of the Mental Health Act, and their website contains statistical reports its use in 2014-2015.You can access their site using the following link: http://www.mwcscot.org.uk/publications/

Question reference: S5W-02224

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 7 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-02020 by Humza Yousaf on 15 September 2016, how much it has provided to each local authority to retrofit their vehicles.

The funding provided is shown in the following table. Funding is provided at 30% of the total cost and is only available for retrofitting equipment that has been independently tested and conforms to specified air pollutant emissions standards. Although funding remains available for this purpose, local authorities have prioritised other actions for improving local air quality in recent years, thus there have been no recent requests for funding.

2009-10	£
Aberdeen	70,278
Aberdeenshire	35,139
Dumfries and Galloway	37,240
Dundee	44,024
Edinburgh	4,350
2010-11	£
Dundee	42,372
Edinburgh	177,198
Perth and Kinross	47,500

Question reference: S5W-01937

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 7 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to remove the barriers that prevent patients from Scotland being able to access addiction Tier 4 facilities in the (a) rest of the UK and (b) European Economic Area.

Question reference: S5W-01936

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 7 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it takes to ensure that there is suitable aftercare available for patients with alcoholic liver disease following acute hospital treatment, and what its response is to the reported concerns that this is not being made readily available.

It is the role of the Scottish Government to provide policies, frameworks and resources to NHS boards to support them in delivering services that meet the assessed needs of their resident populations. The provision of healthcare services is the responsibility of local NHS boards, taking into account national guidance, local service needs and priorities for investment. Within this context, Scottish Government expects all NHS boards to ensure there is suitable aftercare available for people with alcoholic liver disease following acute hospital treatment.

If appropriate services and/or standards of care is not being provided to patients, this should be raised with individual NHS boards in the first instance. Scottish Government expects boards to listen, and act on, feedback in relation to the provision of services and/or standards of care.

Question reference: S5W-02023

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 6 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been treated for self-harm in each year since 1999.

Individuals can be treated for self-harm in a number of different settings, including hospital inpatient care or A&E attendances. Self-harm may also be managed in primary care or community settings; however, we do not currently have data on these attendances. Since 2007, the national source of A&E information has been Information Services Division’s A&E DataMart. Within the A&E DataMart, the facility exists to record attendances at accident and emergency departments due to self-harm. However, the fields which can be used to identify self-harm are all optional for completion by NHS boards and the level of recording is not sufficient for accurate national reporting of attendances due to self-harm.