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: S6W-02918

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 27 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how the NHS Recovery Plan will improve services and outcomes for people with osteoporosis.

Question reference: S6W-02921

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 27 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of people with osteoporosis remain on anti-osteoporosis medication after one year, and what steps it has taken to improve adherence rates.

Diagnostic information on osteoporosis, or on medical adherence, is not centrally held by Public Health Scotland. Patients are not routinely tracked year on year and so this analysis is not available. In addition, medicines that are commonly prescribed for osteoporosis may also be prescribed for other conditions.

The number of prescriptions for drugs commonly used for osteoporosis in 2020-21 was 495,340, received by 76,898 individuals. These data relates to community dispensing only. In addition, calcium and vitamin D supplements are also widely used as part of prevention and treatment for osteoporosis.

Scottish Government recommends that patients regularly review their medication with their physician to ensure that their medication plan continues to be appropriate for their conditions and needs. A GP or pharmacist should be consulted if a patient is considering stopping a course of prescribed medication.

Question reference: S6W-02916

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 22 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-19003 by Jeane Freeman on 11 October 2018, by what date it will publish the national falls and fracture prevention strategy.

The consultation on the draft National Falls and Fractures Strategy closed on 30 September 2019. Analysis of the responses highlighted a disparate range of views, expectations and desired outcomes from a strategy including feedback that a separate strategy may not be the best mechanism to achieve improvement in this area.

The review of the strategy was subsequently delayed due to the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic. Taking into account the changed landscape, officials are currently considering the comments received, including how and where they align with the shared ambitions for our new health and social care strategy for older people.

Question reference: S6W-02920

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 22 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve fracture liaison services.

Scotland is the second country in the world, after New Zealand, with 100 per cent Fracture Liaison Service provision across all 14 Health Boards.

Our NHS Recovery Plan, published on 25 August, outlines that the Centre for Sustainable Delivery will work collaboratively with Health Boards, health and social care partners, third sector, academia and industry to identify and implement improvements to care pathways across Scotland. This will include extending new approaches to delivering care that minimise the requirement for patients to travel, and provide services more efficiently – for example virtual appointments and virtual fracture clinics.

Question reference: S6W-02917

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 22 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason regular cervical screening tests have been changed from every three to every five years.

Question reference: S6O-00195

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-02196

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 14 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that some people who have received their second COVID-19 vaccination on or after 22 July 2021 have experienced delays in their online vaccination status certificate being updated.

There are no specific delays recorded affecting the updating of online vaccination status on or after 22 July 2021.

Currently there is an interim solution to provide access to vaccination status for those who need it for international travel. It is only designed to be in place for a short period of time and we are focussing all our efforts on developing a digital Covid Status Certificates App ready for the end of September this year. This long-term solution will have accessible options for those who need them.

We have made vaccination records available to Scottish citizens who have been vaccinated in Scotland should they be required for entry into another country. It is possible for an individual vaccinated in England and Scotland to obtain a letter from each.

We currently advise people to check the requirements of entry into another country, which can be found on the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) website: Foreign travel advice - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) . If individuals are in any doubt as to what will be accepted, we recommend checking with the country they are travelling to.

For further details, anyone can call the National Helpline on 0800 030 8013.

Question reference: S6W-01682

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 13 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider reviewing self-isolation guidelines for staff working in social care in order to ensure that an adequate level of care can be maintained with minimal disruption (a) for vulnerable young people and (b) in all social care settings.

The Scotland Government no longer require social care staff (in line with the general population) to self-isolate if they are double vaccinated, symptom free and return a negative PCR test. As an additional protection social care staff are also asked to undertake daily LFD testing for ten days following covid exposure.

More information can be found at the following link:

Coronavirus (COVID-19) – exemption of fully vaccinated social care staff from isolation: information for providers - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Question reference: S6W-02154

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 27 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when it will launch its public consultation on restricting the advertising and promotion of electronic cigarettes, and what the anticipated timetable is for introducing any such measures.

Question reference: S6W-02089

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 August 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) bursary and (b) financial support is available to medical students to assist with their studies, including to support those having to study at home.

Medical students who are studying medicine full-time as a first degree are entitled to the standard undergraduate student support package for their full period of study. This means their tuition fees are paid by the Scottish Government through Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) – plus they can apply to SAAS for loans and bursaries to help with living costs dependent on their individual circumstances.

The only bursary specifically for Medical Students is a £4,000 per annum optional ‘return of service’ bursary offered to those who secure a place on ScotGEM – which is a graduate-entry undergraduate medical programme. If the bursary is accepted in all 4 years of study, amounting to £16,000 overall, the student would be expected to remain and work within NHS Scotland for 4 years following graduation.