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-05133

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in light of recent Information Services Division (ISD) figures, which show that nurse and midwife vacancies have risen by 200% across Tayside and Fife.

While the Scottish Government works in close partnership with all NHS boards to provide the policies, frameworks and resources for high quality healthcare in Scotland, it is the responsibility of each board to plan their workforce to deliver high quality, safe and sustainable services to meet the needs of its population.

In NHS Tayside, Nursing and Midwifery vacancies have increased from 1.4% in September 2007 to 5.0% in September 2016. However, the Nursing and Midwifery Establishment increased by 8.5% during the same period, to 5,499.7 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE).

In NHS Fife, Nursing and Midwifery vacancies have decreased from 4.2% in September 2007 to 2.2% in September 2016. The overall Nursing and Midwifery Establishment increased by 2.7% during the same period, to 3,603.1 WTE.

Fluctuations in Nursing and Midwifery vacancies reflect the creation of new posts in NHS boards, mainly as a result of information from our innovative workload and workforce planning tools which help boards plan for the number of staff they require.

In order to reduce the reliance on agency staff, the Scottish Government and NHS National Services Scotland have launched a nationally coordinated programme for the effective management of all temporary staffing. The team are working with NHS Tayside to establish Regional and National Staff Banks to allow boards access to a high quality, flexible, workforce of appropriately qualified, experienced and competent staff when required, who work on NHS contracts and provide better value for money than alternative methods of filling the gaps.

Question reference: S5W-04917

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether ocular melanoma patients can be offered MRI scans with contrast to detect metastasis and, if so, who is responsible for deciding whether to offer this.

Question reference: S5W-04919

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 30 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in light of the reports that cities in Scotland have the highest rates of nuisance calls in the UK.

Following Which? research from November 2015 that showed people in Scotland receive more nuisance calls than the rest of the UK, the Scottish Government held a successful Nuisance Calls Summit on 29 June 2016 with regulators, industry and consumer groups. Three key themes were identified that will be explored in more detail at a short life Nuisance Calls Commission which first met on 30 November 2016. It aims to find practical solutions to the problem of unwanted calls which make long term differences and reduce their impact on people’s lives.

Question reference: S5W-04645

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on Police Scotland plans to offer speed awareness courses to people caught driving just above the speed limit, instead of imposing fines or penalty points.

The Scottish Government supports the general principle of driver education as an alternative to prosecution, where this is appropriate and is committed through Scotland’s Road Safety Framework to 2020 to consider if a Speed Awareness Course would make an effective contribution to road safety measures in Scotland.

Police Scotland are currently working with key road safety partners to develop potential options for the introduction of these courses. Partners include the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service as the approval of the Lord Advocate would be required before a speed awareness course could be introduced in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-04714

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 24 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in light of the recent reports that young people referred to child and adolescent mental health services in NHS Forth Valley are waiting longer than anywhere else to start treatment.

We have announced a £54.1 million package of support over 5 years to improve access to mental health services. This includes £24.7 million to improve capacity to see more people more quickly, £24.6 million to improve workforce supply and train existing staff and £4.8 million through Healthcare Improvement Scotland for a Mental Health Access Improvement Support Team who will provide a comprehensive package of support to work in partnership with Boards to improve access to mental health services.

Through our investment programme, the mental health access improvement support team is working with Boards that are facing particular pressures to deliver sustained improvements, and ensure services are designed and delivered in the most efficient way. NHS Forth Valley are one of the first Boards to be working with the improvement team.

The £54 million comprehensive package of support to improve access to mental health services also provides funding for additional staff, for workforce development and for in-depth improvement support to local services. This strand of work is being undertaken by NHS Education for Scotland who have met and discussed need within each Board in Scotland before offering a tailored package of support.

For NHS Forth Valley this offer includes CAMHS staff with three full time MSc PTPC Graduates, early psychological intervention practice support for Children’s Services as well as Clinical Psychology Posts in Older People’s Services, in response to demand in this area.

Question reference: S5F-00513

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 November 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 November 2016

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking in light of recent reports that Scotland’s children are some of the least active in the world.

Question reference: S5O-00368

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 November 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it has introduced to assist the college sector in responding to the needs of employers.

Question reference: S5O-00333

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 November 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will consider installing additional boiling water dispensers in the building, in light of health and safety concerns.

Question reference: S5W-03537

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 3 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle the reported high prevalence of addiction to (a) anti-depressants and (b) other prescription drugs in the NHS Forth Valley area.

It is generally agreed that antidepressants are not classed as addictive medicines. They can, however, cause a discontinuation syndrome in someone taking them for a prolonged period of time if stopped abruptly. Prescribed medicines known to be addictive include benzodiazepines and some pain relieving medicines.

All NHS Boards monitor a range of prescribing indicators and against each they agree an appropriate action with practitioners. Drugs with the potential for addiction, such as benzodiazepines, are very commonly included in that process.

Decisions on the type of treatment to prescribe are for clinicians to make in discussion with their patients and to agree upon within the context of the patient’s long-term recovery.

All prescribing decisions should be in line with good clinical and prescribing practice, and clinicians are encouraged to review a patient’s medications regularly to ensure their continued clinical appropriateness, and to achieve the best possible health outcomes from the medicines they are prescribed.

In keeping with good clinical practice, clinicians should be providing on-going support and advice to patients who are prescribed medicines that are known to be addictive or with other long term effects. Where patients are concerned about the effects their medicines are having on their general wellbeing they should contact their GP as soon as possible and discuss alternative treatments that may be available.

Question reference: S5W-03534

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 3 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many agency nursing staff are employed by NHS (a) Fife, (b) Tayside and (c) Forth Valley, and how much this costs, broken down by each NHS board.

Information on agency nursing staff usage and costs is routinely published at

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2016-06-07/Bank_and_Agency_comp_M2016.xls

The latest published related to this question is reproduced in Table 1.

Table 1. Number (average whole time equivalent) and cost (£) of agency nursing and midwifery staff for financial period 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016.

	Average WTE	Costs (£)
NHS Fife	14.7	1,155,144
NHS Tayside	52.4	5,062,099
NHS Forth Valley	6.6	560,916

Sources: ISD Scotland (ISD(M)18)

In 2015-16 agency nursing represented just 0.4% of the total nursing and midwifery staffing in the NHS in Scotland (276.7 WTE out of total capacity of 66,143.9 WTE).

The Scottish Government and NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) have launched a nationally coordinated programme for the effective management of all temporary staffing (Managed Staffing Network Project). The aim establish Integrated Regional and National Staff Banks which allow NHS Boards to access a shared pool of NHS staff who are flexible, appropriately qualified and experienced and provide better value for money than alternative methods of filling the gaps.

Notes:

Agency nursing and midwifery staff are employed by private organisations which respond to requests by NHSScotland.
To calculate the average WTE, 1 WTE is taken as a contribution of 37.5 hours per week x 52 = 1950 hours per year.