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-03981

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 10 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the tweet by Mark McDonald on 15 October 2016 regarding the support that had been received for motion S5M-01537, whether this indicates that ministers have agreed to take the action referred to in the motion regarding allowing men who have sex with men to donate blood.

Men who have sex with men (MSM) can currently donate blood under certain circumstances. Men who last had oral or anal sex with another man more than 12 months ago are able to give blood if they meet the other blood donor selection criteria.

The UK Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SaBTO) advises Scottish Ministers and the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) on the most appropriate ways to ensure the safety of blood for transfusion. SaBTO is currently undertaking a review of the latest scientific evidence related to donor selection criteria, including deferral criteria for MSM. It is expected to report next year. We will await SaBTO’s report and take account of any recommendations it makes before considering any changes to current donor deferral criteria.

Question reference: S5T-00176

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 07 November 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what impact “justifiable assault” has on children.

Question reference: S5W-03530

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 3 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what role falls assessments will play in tailoring care for older patients.

Question reference: S5W-03509

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much the (a) New Medicines Fund and (b) Rare Conditions Medicines Fund has spent in each year since 2012-13, also broken down by expenditure on medicines (i) not yet assessed, (ii) approved, (iii) not approved but requested and (iv) approved by the Scottish Government but not approved by the Scottish Medicines Consortium.

Question reference: S5W-03506

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding the future of the pharmaceutical price regulation scheme.

Question reference: S5W-03507

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has allocated to the (a) New Medicines Fund and (b) Rare Conditions Medicines Fund in each year since 2012-13.

Question reference: S5W-03510

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has received from the pharmaceutical price regulation scheme rebate each year since 2013-14, and how much it expects to receive in each of the remaining years of the scheme.

Question reference: S5W-03508

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been supported by the (a) New Medicines Fund and (b) Rare Conditions Medicines Fund in each year since 2012-13, also broken down by the (i) average and (ii) largest contribution toward the cost of treatment.

The New Medicines Fund provides financial support to NHS boards for End of Life, Orphan and Ultra Orphan medicines which can be accessed by patients in a number of ways such as by Individual Patient Treatment Requests, Peer Approved Clinical System or appropriate medicines accepted by Scottish Medicines Consortium. The Scottish Government does not hold all of this information centrally in the format requested. However, the treatment of more than 1,000 patients has been supported through the Rare Conditions Medicines Fund and its replacement, The New Medicines Fund.

Question reference: S5W-03532

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 1 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance there is regarding the number of safety mats required in residential care accommodation.

Question reference: S5W-03528

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 1 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how the average level of Independent Living Fund Scotland (ILFS) support for people in supported accommodation compares with ILFS support for people living at home, and what action it is taking to close any difference.

This information is not held centrally.

In general, Independent Living Fund (ILF) Scotland does not support people in supported accommodation as it is tasked with supporting disabled people in an independent living setting. There are some limited exceptions to this, where an ILF assessor judges that someone lives sufficiently independently in a shared care environment; however the ILF Scotland management information system does not provide sufficient level of detail to allow separate data on support to these individuals to be extracted.