Chamber and committees

There was a delay to the supply of a proportion of the children’s flu vaccine (Fluenz Tetra) which led to some school vaccination programmes having to be rescheduled. This delay affected the whole of the UK and was due to issues with routine quality assurance testing of the vaccine by the manufacturer, Astrazeneca.

The full allocation of vaccine arrived in Scotland in early December and NHS Boards have been working with partners to ensure all eligible children get their flu vaccine as soon as possible.

Vaccination is the best protection against flu and we would encourage everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated.

I met with Breast Cancer Now in December to discuss their survey, and agreed several areas of work for collaboration over the coming months. We are taking forward a range of actions that align with the recommendations from the survey report by Breast Cancer Now including: gathering existing datasets on secondary breast cancer; raising public and professional awareness of symptoms; and supporting clinical trials through investment in the NHS Research Scotland infrastructure.

The information requested is presented in the following tables.

The proportion of people that have used e-cigarettes in each of the last five years broken down by age group is published in Chapter 4 of the Scottish Health Survey 2018 main report .

The proportion of people that have used e-cigarettes in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 broken down by SIMD quintile is published within the Scottish Health Survey supplementary tables for the relevant years, available on the Scottish Health Survey website .

The proportion of people that have used e-cigarettes in 2018 broken down by SIMD quintile will be published as part of the Scottish Health Survey 2018 supplementary tables on 21 January 2020.

Whole time equivalent (WTE) numbers of consultants with a specialty of Radiology working in NHS Scotland have increased by 48.7%, from 223.5 WTE as at Sept 2006 to 332.4 WTE as at Sept 2019.

WTE numbers of Consultant Radiologist vacancies by NHS Board and length of time of the vacancy are set out as follows:

We know that breast screening save lives and we want our programme to be as effective as possible. That is why we are committed to further increasing our work and focus on the importance of breast screening. It is welcome that recent figures from the Scottish Breast Screening Programme show over half a million women across Scotland participated in breast screening, and uptake rates continue to exceed the Healthcare Improvement Scotland standard for uptake of 70%. We will however continue to look at what more can be done to ensure women appreciate the importance and value of taking up the offer of breast screening.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with the NHS and third sector groups like Cancer Research UK and Breast Cancer Now to look at ways to increase uptake further.

I refer the Member to the answer to question S5W-26681 on
‎ 8 January 2020. 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

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the UK wide authority has the primary function to regulate what products are safe and what products are a risk for public use. This includes matters relating to the appearance of tablets such as shape, size and colour.

Packaging regulations require that each medicine is accompanied by a Patient Information Leaflet containing important information for the safe and effective use of the medicine.

The City of Edinburgh Council, as planning authority, is responsible for development planning and management decisions in South Queensferry. Planning legislation requires that planning applications are determined in accordance with the development plan, unless material considerations indicate otherwise. In reaching a decision on a planning application, the planning authority is expected to have regard to all material factors, traffic issues, relevant legislation and any representations submitted.

As the site is subject to live planning applications, it would not be appropriate for Ministers to comment on the specifics of the application in case this is seen as pre-judging or pre-empting any future decision that may come before them.

Fire safety certificates have been introduced by industry in response to the implementation by mortgage lenders of a requirement for additional information in respect of high-rise domestic buildings. Responsibility for mortgage lending is a matter reserved to the UK Government, although the policy decisions taken by lenders are those of independent bodies.

While this is a reserved matter, I have written to the UK Secretary of State three times and also to UK Finance. In addition, Scottish Government officials have held discussions with the UK Government, UK Finance and also with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

On 16 December the RICS, UK Finance and Building Societies Association announced the introduction of a process to help people buy and sell homes and re-mortgage in buildings with a floor above 18 metres.

The Scottish Government will continue to monitor and engage with those industry bodies, and others, to ensure that the matter is fully resolved for all those affected.