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-14317

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 8 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that the NHS gets best value for new medicines.

Question reference: S5W-13334

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 22 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many asylum seekers accessed antenatal classes in each of the last three years.

This information is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government have worked with NHS Boards to improve early access to antenatal services and have created a Local Delivery Plan Standard to help drive improvement. The standard states that at least 80% of pregnant women in each deprivation area will have booked for antenatal care by the 12^th week of pregnancy.

Information Services Division (ISD), part of NHS National Services Scotland, published The Births in Scottish Hospitals report on 28 November. This report showed that the Antenatal Access standard had been met at a Scottish level across all deprivation categories.

Scotland’s approach to integration aims to provide a positive experience for refugees and asylum seekers and enable them to rebuild their lives here, through access to the support and services they need, including health care services.

Question reference: S5W-12954

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what the average cost per day is of keeping a person in hospital who has been medically cleared for discharge.

Information on the cost of delayed discharge is published in the annual delayed discharge publication. The most recent published figures are for 2013-14 (£214) and are available from last year’s annual publication: https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Health-and-Social-Community-Care/Publications/2016-06-28/2016-06-28-DelayedDischarges-Report.pdf.

The latest figures (2014-15 and 2015-16) are due to be released in the forthcoming annual publication, due for publication on Tuesday 5 December 2017.

Question reference: S5O-01492

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 23 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making on NHS recruitment.

Under this government, NHS staff numbers have risen to historically high levels, with more clinical staff now delivering excellent care for the people of Scotland. Our record investment of over £13 billion has supported a significant increase in staffing levels, up nearly 12,000 in the last decade.

NHSScotland Boards are required to have the correct staff in place to meet the needs of the service and ensure high quality patient care. The Scottish Government works closely with Boards to support their efforts. Our National Health and Social Care Workforce Plan sets out the action we will take, working with partners, to meet service demands and deliver sustainable staffing levels.

Question reference: S5O-01463

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 November 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much the integration of British Transport Police in Scotland into Police Scotland will cost.

Question reference: S5W-11731

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 02 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 26 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the additional £150 million investment in mental health services, which was announced in the Mental Health Strategy 2017-2027, will be allocated to specialist services for asylum seekers and refugees.

£4.6 million for Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) to work with Boards.

£10 million supporting new ways of improving mental health in primary care.

£15 million supporting better access to CAMHS and innovation.

£1 million supporting people become more active.

£4.2 million to support people in distress who turn to frontline services.

We would expect these improvements in access and support to apply across the population, so that people only have to ask once to get help fast. That particularly applies to groups that are more likely than others in our society to experience mental ill-health and poorer mental wellbeing, such as asylum seekers and refugees.

Question reference: S5W-11730

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 02 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 26 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that all asylum seekers and refugees can access specialist mental health support services in each NHS area.

Our 10-year Mental Health Strategy was published on 30 March, and sets out our vision of a Scotland where people can get the right help at the right time, expect recovery, and fully enjoy their rights, free from discrimination and stigma.

The Scottish Government has directed NHS Scotland to provide services to all refugees and asylum seekers, including people whose claims for asylum have been refused. Access to good quality health care is important to people who may arrive in Scotland with physical or mental health problems associated with the reasons why they were forced to travel to the UK and claim asylum. A range of specialist health care services have developed in Glasgow to meet the needs of refugees and asylum seekers, including their mental health needs. In 2016, the Scottish Government provided £78,152 to support the Musawa refugee rights and participation mental health project, run by the Mental Health Foundation and Freedom from Torture.

Question reference: S5W-11732

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 02 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 25 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that all primary care staff are aware of the rights and entitlements of asylum seekers and refugees.

The Scottish Government believe everyone should have equal access to health care and treatment, regardless of race, gender, social class, age, religion, sexual orientation, appearance, disability or medical condition, and that staff should be provided with the support they need to carry out their duties. Under the legal framework for service provision, NHS Boards are responsible for ensuring the provision of primary medical services for their areas. In discharging these statutory obligations Health Boards are required to ensure that care provided to asylum seekers and refugees is consistent with their contractual requirements and the GMC’s Good Medical Practice.

To help NHS healthcare providers, including GP Practices, take decisions where an application for patient registration is received from a patient coming from abroad, we have provided comprehensive guidance through CEL 9 (2010). Under Section 3 of this guidance there is specific reference to Asylum Seekers and Refugees.

Furthermore Health Boards such as NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde have embedded asylum seeker and refugee services into core functions as part of
mainstreaming equality actions and outcomes for 2016-20. For further information please refer to http://www.nhsggc.org.uk/your-health/health-services/compass/working-with-asylum-seekers-refugees/.

Question reference: S5O-01311

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making with the GP contract.

Question reference: S5W-10388

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 24 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what programme is in place for training neuroradiologists to carry out mechanical thrombectomy treatment; how many are being trained, broken down by when this training will be completed, and what impact this will have on the number of acute ischaemic stroke patients who will receive treatment in each of the next five years.

For training to provide Thrombectomy for Stroke (TfS) the established pathway is for a trainee to move from general radiology to sub-speciality neuroradiology training, to sub-speciality training in diagnostics and finally to interventional neuroradiology procedures. The Royal College of Radiologists is developing pathways to train individuals with experience in other endovascular work to perform TfS.

Following an initial meeting in June 2017 a Directors of Planning expert group will lead on progressing plans for the development of a TfS service for Scotland. We would expect the group to take relevant issues, including workforce capacity and training requirements, into consideration as part of this work.