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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: S6O-03880

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government by what date it expects all farmers to receive payment through the Basic Payment Scheme.

Question reference: S6W-30658

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 October 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it has given to NHS boards on the implementation of the National Headache Pathway.

The National Headache Pathway sets out key principles of best practice headache management. NHS boards have flexibility to implement this in a way that is appropriate to their local circumstances. Representatives from all boards were consulted throughout the pathway’s development.

A pathway measurement framework is being used by the NHS Scotland Centre for Sustainable Delivery Neurology Speciality Delivery Group, and boards are asked to update quarterly on the implementation of published pathways and provide data, where available, against a number of agreed metrics.

NHS Education for Scotland Pharmacy also hosted a webinar in September 2024 to provide guidance to pharmacy staff on the assessment, support and management of people living with migraine in line with the Scottish National Headache Pathway.

Question reference: S6W-30660

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 October 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 29 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that public data availability in relation to primary care services is limited because these services are mostly delivered by sub-contractors, what steps it would consider taking to facilitate greater data (a) collection and (b) publication in relation to primary care service (i) delivery and (ii) outcomes, in order to enable improved accountability and identification of any potential issues.

Question reference: S6W-30661

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 October 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 29 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that Public Health Scotland collects A&E data by more detailed categories than are published, such as by patient triage category, whether it will consider asking Public Health Scotland to expand the details in its regular A&E publications.

There are no immediate plans to ask Public Health Scotland (PHS) to expand the content within their Accident and Emergency publications.

Due to data quality and completeness issues, PHS do not publish information on the full list of data items in the A&E dataset, including patient triage category as it would not provide an accurate national picture or meaningful comparisons between NHS Boards.

We continue to work with PHS to ensure that A&E reporting guidance can be applied as consistently as possible across NHS Scotland and publication of data is subject to the necessary data quality and completeness standards being met.

Question reference: S6W-30391

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether minimum unit pricing has reduced the consumption of alcohol among hazardous and harmful drinkers.

Public Health Scotland's (PHS) independent evaluation of Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) of alcohol estimated that our world-leading policy reduced wholly alcohol-attributable deaths by 13.4% and was likely to have reduced hospital admissions wholly attributable to alcohol by 4.1%.

There was strong and consistent evidence of a reduction in alcohol consumption following MUP implementation, and that the reduction in consumption was driven by the heaviest purchasing households, leading to the conclusion that MUP was well targeted. As MUP was estimated to have resulted in a decrease in alcohol-attributable deaths and hospital admissions related to chronic conditions, the evaluation took this as further evidence to suggest that MUP has reduced consumption in those that drink at hazardous and harmful levels.

Overall, the evidence supports that MUP has had a positive impact on health outcomes, including alcohol-related health inequalities.

Question reference: S6W-30392

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 28 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, when it was initially conceived, whether a stated aim of minimum unit pricing was to reduce the consumption of alcohol among hazardous and harmful drinkers, and, if so, whether this aim has changed, and for what reason.

The aim of Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) of alcohol is to reduce health harms caused by alcohol consumption by setting a floor price below which alcohol cannot be sold. In particular, it targets a reduction in consumption of alcohol that is considered cheap, relative to its strength. It aims to reduce both the consumption of alcohol at population level and, in particular, those who drink at hazardous and harmful levels. In doing so, it aims to reduce alcohol related health harms among hazardous and harmful drinkers, and contribute to reducing harm at a whole population level.

The aim of MUP remains the same as stated at the Bill's introduction in 2011.

Question reference: S6W-30370

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 22 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Coroner's Regulation 28 report, Susan Pollitt: Prevention of Future Deaths Report, dated 31 July 2024, what consideration it has given to the Coroner's "Matters of Concern" in relation to the role and increased use of Physician Associates and Anaesthesia Associates in NHS Scotland's workforce.

The Scottish Government is aware of the concerns raised by the Coroner in respect of this unfortunate case. We will await the responses of the recipients named in the report to help inform any future actions that may be applicable to Scotland, and will continue to work with stakeholders across the UK on matters of national scale.

The Anaesthesia Associates and Physician Associates Order 2024 was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 31 January 2024. It will bring the roles into statutory regulation for the first time when it comes into force on 13 December of this year, addressing one of the key concerns of the Coroner.

In the meantime, extant Scottish Government guidance to NHS Scotland Boards makes clear that all Physician Associates must be registered on the appropriate managed voluntary register. That guidance also recognises the importance of ensuring that patients are properly advised that they are being treated by a Physician Associate and not a doctor.

Building on the above, the Scottish Government will continue to work with partners through its Medical Associate Professionals (MAPs) Programme Board to consider appropriate utilisation of the role within NHS Scotland, taking into account developments over the coming months.

Question reference: S6W-30223

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 September 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 15 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to NHS Lothian’s account of the reasons that the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh had a hospital standardised mortality ratio (HSMR) more than two standard deviations above the Scotland-wide average, in light of NHS Lothian not attributing excess mortality to any deficiencies in care provision and reports that multiple randomly selected mortality cases for the review had experienced problems in the provision of their care, which, if fixed, could have resulted in a different outcome.

The latest release by Public Health Scotland (PHS), providing information on Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratios (HSMRs), for the period April 2019 to March 2024 is available via the PHS website. (Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratios - April 2023 to March 2024 - Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratios - Publications - Public Health Scotland).

These statistics are updated on a quarterly basis and reflect the HSMR for the latest 12-month reporting period, whilst crude mortality data is presented by quarter and month to show trends. For the period April 2023 to March 2024, the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE) is within two standard deviations of the Scotland-wide average for their HSMR, and no hospital in Scotland had a significantly higher standardised mortality ratio than the national average.

NHS Lothian’s January 2024 HSMR report explored the reasons behind the higher ratio of the standardised mortality measure at RIE and specifically to understand if there is any evidence of avoidable mortality.

The report identified 4 cases where a different plan and/or delivery of care may have resulted in a different outcome for patients, but the use of ‘may’ identifies this classification as hypothetical in nature, it is impossible to know if a different care plan would have resulted in a different outcome. Furthermore, the report specifically advised the Healthcare Governance Committee that there is no clear current evidence of avoidable mortality in any of the cases considered.

Question reference: S6W-30245

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 September 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 8 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what effect limiting the purchase of alcohol at off-licence premises to between 10.00 am and 10.00 pm has had on alcohol-related illnesses and deaths.

Every life lost to alcohol is a tragedy and the recent alcohol specific deaths statistics published by the National Records of Scotland is a stark reminder of the challenge we continue to face in tackling alcohol harm across Scotland. There is currently no specific information available on the effect of licensed hours for the off-sale of alcohol being 10:00 to 22:00 on alcohol deaths and alcohol-related illness in Scotland though a number of studies have concluded that reducing the times of availability of alcohol are effective at reducing alcohol harms.

The Scottish Government takes a whole population approach to tackling alcohol-related harms, in line with the World Health Organization’s focus on affordability, availability and attractiveness of alcohol. Reducing availability of alcohol through limiting hours of sale continues to be recommended by the World Health Organization as one of the ‘best buys’ for reducing alcohol related harm.

Question reference: S6W-30213

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 September 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 8 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the results of its practice-level dental workforce census will be published.