Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-21217

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Fife Council regarding the need to ensure that land is available to create an effective transport hub with bus/train interchange and active travel provision in respect of the Levenmouth Rail Link.

The evidence from a completed and robust transport appraisal in line with Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance is needed before consideration could be given to the development of any emerging project. Transport Scotland is leading the transport appraisal work for the Levenmouth Sustainable Transport Study, in close collaboration with Fife Council. The findings from the transport appraisal work will identify if there is a rationale for progressing the Levenmouth rail link, which is one of the options being considered.

Question reference: S5O-02868

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 6 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action is being taken to help pupils affected by the closure of the New School in Butterstone.

The Board’s decision to close the school is an extremely sad event and I am aware of the impact this has had on the whole community, and especially the young people who attended the school.

Since the Board made its decision to close, all seven local authorities have been working closely with families to identify the appropriate care and support for the young people who attended the school.

Every family has been offered support and education by the local authority, and it is our understanding that for 17 of the 24 enrolled at the school, alternative education arrangements have now been made, including post 16. Some of these are interim arrangements whilst long term solutions are identified.

A further 4 service users have other support, including adult support services, in place.

I continue to receive regular updates on the progress being made and will continue to work to ensure positive outcomes are achieved.

Question reference: S5O-02828

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 30 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a summary of information that was received by the Cabinet Secretary for Government Business and Constitutional Relations during his recent ministerial visit to Belgium.

On 21 January the Cabinet Secretary visited the Port of Zeebrugge and met with its Managing Director Mr Joachim Coens. This was an opportunity for the Cabinet Secretary to see first-hand the infrastructure and technology that the port applies for roll-on roll-off cargo, container traffic, bulk goods, conventional cargo and more specialist goods such as fish and liquefied natural gas. It was also an opportunity to discuss the arrangements that the Port Authority is putting in place to mitigate against a variety of different Brexit scenarios.

The Cabinet Secretary also met with MEP Danuta Huebner, Chair of the European Parliament’s Constitutional Affairs Committee, to discuss the progress in Brexit negotiations and the challenges ahead. The Cabinet Secretary was keen to better understand the EU position given recent developments in the United Kingdom, and to share his thoughts on the work and difficulties that the Scottish Government and Scotland more generally are facing in the face of these next few weeks.

Question reference: S5W-21056

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 29 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its reaction is to reports that NHS Forth Valley is planning to remove the Pulmonary Rehabilitation Unit at the Royal Hospital in Larbert and that this could subsequently lead to the closure of the tele-health rehabilitation service offered at Clackmannanshire Community Health Centre and in Callander.

NHS Forth Valley has confirmed that they a trialling a reconfiguration of local pulmonary rehabilitation services to effectively shift the balance of care from the acute site to more accessible local venues at the Peak in Stirling and Grangemouth Sports Centre. Classes at both venues will be fully staffed by respiratory nurses and physiotherapists whilst the move will open up space at the Royal Hospital for more acute care.

NHS Forth Valley has asked that any patients who have issues accessing the classes in Stirling and Grangemouth contact them to consider whether transport assistance can be provided. The Health Board has confirmed these arrangements are being trialled for six months after which patient feedback will be evaluated to inform the future shape of these services. As such, I would encourage local patients and their representatives to play a full part in this.

Question reference: S5O-02782

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 January 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to NHS Forth Valley being escalated to Stage 3 on the NHS Board Performance Escalation Framework.

Question reference: S5W-20485

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 7 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the call by Pancreatic Cancer UK for people with the condition to begin treatment within 20 days of diagnosis.

The Scottish Government has no immediate plans to introduce a differential target for pancreatic cancers. In Scotland there are 2 cancer waiting times standards these are:

a 31-day target from decision to treat until first treatment for all new cancers
a 62-day target from urgent referral with suspicion of cancer, including referrals from national cancer screening programmes, and direct to A&E until first treatment.

Cancer waiting times performance statistics are published quarterly by ISD. There is a 5% tolerance on each of the standards.

Pancreatic cancer waiting times are not individually collected. Data on their parent group (Upper Gastrointestinal cancers) published for July - Sept 2018 indicates that:

97.7% of patients received treatment within 62 days of urgent referral with a median wait of 30 days.
99.3% of patients received treatment (regardless of route of referral) within 31 days of decision to treat with a median wait of 1 day.

A Clinical Review of Cancer Waiting Times was completed in May this year, with recommendations to improve waiting times for the diagnosis and treatment of those people with cancer in Scotland. These recommendations will be taken forward with advice from an Implementation Group.

Question reference: S5W-20491

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 7 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the average waiting has been for people with pancreatic cancer to begin treatment in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on average waiting times for Pancreatic Cancer.

Tables 1 and 2 present information on the median wait in days for NHSScotland eligible referrals with a newly diagnosed primary Upper Gastrointestinal Hepatopancreatobiliary cancer for both the 62 and 31 day standard.

Table 1. Median wait (days) from Date of Receipt of Referral to Date of First Treatment for 62 Day Standard, for Upper GI - Hepatopancreatobiliary cancer 1 , by Board of Receipt of Referral and calendar year.

	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
NHS Scotland	18	18	18	20	21
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	19	13	15	15	21
NHS Borders	12.5	19.5	17	30	22
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	23.5	18	15	27	22
NHS Fife	18	14	16.5	20	22
NHS Forth Valley	15	16.5	16	13.5	13
NHS Grampian	17	16	19	17.5	14
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde	20.5	24.5	24.5	20.5	23
NHS Highland	13	18.5	14	18.5	22
NHS Lanarkshire	15	16.5	14.5	-	12
NHS Lothian	21	23.5	22	32	34.5
NHS Orkney	-	-	-	-	29
NHS Shetland	13	-	21	34	-
NHS Tayside	42	-	-	-	-
NHS Western Isles	15	28	21	28	14
- denotes where median was not calculated as number of eligible referrals was less than 3 .

Table 2. Median wait (days) 2 from Date of Decision to Treat to Date of First Treatment for 31 Day Standard, for Upper GI - Hepatopancreatobiliary cancer 1 , by Board of First Treatment and calendar year.

	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
NHS Scotland	0	0	0	0	0
Golden Jubilee National Hospital	-	-	-	-	-
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	0	0	0	0	0
NHS Borders	1	0	0	0	0
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	0	0	0	0	0
NHS Fife	1	0	0	0	0
NHS Forth Valley	0	0	0	0	0
NHS Grampian	0	1	0.5	1	0.5
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde	0	2	1	0	0
NHS Highland	1	0	0	0	0
NHS Lanarkshire	0	0	0	0	0
NHS Lothian	2	3	5.5	6	4
NHS Orkney	-	-	-	-	0
NHS Shetland	0	-	-	0	-
NHS Tayside	7	-	-	-	-
NHS Western Isles	12	0	0	0	0
- denotes where median was not calculated as number of eligible referrals was less than 3.

1. Upper GI Hepatopancreatobiliary cancer (ICD-10 C22-C25). The Cancer Waiting Times database does not hold individual ICD-10 codes, only cancer type. Therefore, this information cannot be broken down any further. Cancer of the Pancreas is identified by ICD-10 C25

2. For eligible referrals for the 31 day standard a large proportion had either type of first treatment of Supportive Care or Watchful wait/active surveillance (37% of eligible referrals in 2013, 36% in 2014, 38% in 2015, 40% in 2016 and 47% in 2017). These types of first treatments generally begin immediately after the decision to treat has been made, therefore the date of decision to treat and date of first treatment can be the same day.

Source: ISD Scotland
‎Ref: IR2018-01968

Question reference: S5W-20582

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 20 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that some adults in Fife are waiting up to 11 months to be seen by a mental health specialist, and what plan it has to conduct a review of NHS Fife’s adult mental health support.

Recent data show that the average wait for treatment for psychological therapies in NHS Fife was 10 weeks (Jul-Sept 2018). However, some people are still waiting far too long – 7.4% waited over a year to be seen. We are deeply disappointed that despite mental health being a key priority for this Government a number of NHS Boards, including NHS Fife, are still not meeting the 18 week waiting times standard for access to psychological therapies.

We remain determined to drive improvements in access to mental health services. This is why we continue to invest in services, including £54 million over four years to help boards improve access and build capacity. We also set out plans in the Programme for Government to utilise technology to extend access for adults to a range of support services. Between 2016-17 and 2019-20, NHS Fife will receive a total of £2,390,323 for capacity building and workforce development to improve access to CAMHS and psychological therapies. Under Action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy, which sets out our commitment to funding 800 additional mental health workers in key settings, NHS Fife will also receive a total of £5,716,858 between 2018-19 to 2021-22. This funding aims to ensure that local provision and support is at the heart of our plans.

We have no plans to conduct a review of NHS Fife’s adult mental health support.

Question reference: S5O-02729

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the single-person discount for Council Tax.

Question reference: S5W-20419

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 18 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S5O-02462 by Jeanne Freeman on 24 October 2018 (Official Report, c. 5) and S5W-20199 by Joe FitzPatrick on 5 December 2018, whether it will confirm what progress has been made in its discussions with Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland, and by what date it will announce its decision regarding whether it will invest in a universal and equal right to pulmonary rehabilitation for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

In line with the Charter of Patient Rights and Responsibilities, which sets out that everyone has the right to have their needs taken into account when receiving NHS services in Scotland, there is already a lot of work underway to help people with long term respiratory conditions to live well.

Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland are fully involved in the discussions that will inform the development of the Respiratory Care Action Plan for Scotland, which we aim to publish in 2019. The Plan will raise awareness and drive improvement in outcomes for people with all long-term respiratory conditions. Improving access to pulmonary rehabilitation for everyone who may benefit from it will form an important part of this Plan.

We have funded the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland to deliver A Local Information System for Scotland (ALISS). This is a web-based resource co-produced with a range of people that connects people living with long term conditions including COPD, with sources of help and support within their communities. ALISS currently has 5,186 services on its system. These range from local to wider national services. It can be accessed by individuals or care professionals.

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