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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: S6W-23232

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 3 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to encourage high-value medicines manufacturing in Scotland.

Last year, Scottish Enterprise (SE), working with Innovate UK, invested £15m to establish the state-of-the-art Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre. The facility works with a range of partners in the pharmaceutical industry to conduct research and development, creating leading edge solutions for the manufacture of medicines.

In addition, just a few weeks ago, SE committed around £10m to support the creation of a new oligonucleotides manufacturing innovation centre, that will help pharmaceutical companies to undertake critical phase I and phase II trials to manufacture these highly effective new medicines.

In combination, these centres establish Scotland as a key player in the rapidly growing advanced manufacturing sector and we expect that they will act as a powerful magnet for inward investment and the creation of highly skilled jobs. This is already producing results e.g. Valneva will manufacture its world-first vaccine for the mosquito-bourne Chickungunya virus, in its new manufacturing facility in Livingston.

Question reference: S6W-23984

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 21 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many rapid response fisheries compliance vessels are available at any one time to attend to issues in the Clyde marine region.

The Marine Directorate is responsible for the operation of the Scottish Government's Marine Protection Vessels. It operates 3 larger vessels and 2 inshore fast patrol vessels. No marine assets are dedicated to a particular area, instead, tasking is determined using a risk based procedure which, considers intelligence, likelihood, and impact of an activity on the marine environment and fishery resources.

Question reference: S6W-23983

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 21 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many warranted fishery officers are based in the (a) Oban, (b) Campbeltown and (c) Ayr fishery office, and how many additional warranted fishery officers were seconded to the Clyde marine region in each year from 2013-14 to 2023-24 inclusive.

Question reference: S6W-23893

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 December 2023
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Shona Robison on 14 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on negotiations with COSLA to agree a new Fiscal Framework with local government.

The Scottish Government and COSLA have today published a progress report on the development of a Fiscal Framework between the Scottish Government and Local Government. The document can be accessed on the Scottish Government website at the following link : https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781835217856

The report shows that while negotiations continue, we have jointly made good progress on a number of aspects of the framework and have already put these into practice, including improved pre-budget engagement and meaningful discussion about new fiscal levers.

Question reference: S6W-23564

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 14 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many people (a) had to be hospitalised and (b) died as a result of paracetamol overdose in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

In response to (a):

Table 1 shows the number of people admitted to hospital as an inpatient or day case as a result of paracetamol poisoning, which includes overdose. Note that these figures include overdoses that were coded as accidental, intentional and of undetermined intent.

Table 1: Number of people admitted to hospital for paracetamol poisoning

Financial year	Number of admissions
2018-19	5,905
2019-20	6,307
2020-21	5,996
2021-22	6,060
2022-23	5,189

Source: Public Health Scotland

In response to (b):

National Records of Scotland publish an annual National Statistics report on Drug-related Deaths in Scotland, which was released on 22 August 2023. The publication can be found at: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/vital-events/deaths/drug-related-deaths-in-scotland/2022/additional-data

Within Table SUB2 of the additional tables published alongside the main report, there is a breakdown of drug poisoning deaths by year and substance, including specifically those drugs which were implicated in or potentially contributed to the cause of death. Table 2 provides an extract from this table, showing the number of drug poisoning deaths where paracetamol was reported to have been implicated in or potentially contributed to the cause of death for the most recent five years of published data.

Table 2. The number of drug poisoning deaths where paracetamol was reported to have been implicated in or potentially contributed to the cause of death

Year	Drug-poisoning deaths registered (paracetamol)
2018	49
2019	40
2020	28
2021	41
2022	47

Please note that more than one drug may be listed on the death certificate as being implicated in or potentially contributing to the cause of death so the figures above will include those where paracetamol was listed either as the sole substance or alongside other substances on the death certificate. Where paracetamol is listed alongside other substances implicated in the cause of death, it is not possible to determine whether paracetamol was the main substance resulting in the death. For the purpose of these statistics, drug poisoning deaths include all those where the underlying cause was listed as ‘Mental and behavioural disorders due to psychoactive substance use’ or ‘Poisoning by drugs, whether accidental, intentional, of unknown intent or as a result of assault’.

Question reference: S6W-23233

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 12 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether the location of manufacturing of advanced medicines or medicinal products is taken into account in the NHS Scotland procurement process.

Question reference: S6W-23234

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 11 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what factors and processes aim to ensure that NHS patients have equal access to innovative medicines, including one-off gene-edited treatments for debilitating inherited conditions.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) provides advice to NHS Scotland on a ‘once for Scotland’ basis about the value for patients of newly licensed medicines, including innovative cell and gene therapies such as one-off gene-edited treatments for debilitating inherited conditions.

For example, in 2021, the SMC was the first health technology appraisal body in the UK to accept a gene therapy for spinal muscular atrophy. This ensures that NHS patients have equal access to innovative medicines that are clinically and cost-effective. The SMC has a transparent and robust process that is fully described on its website.

Question reference: S6W-23235

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 11 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the Scottish Medicines Consortium methodologies remain fit for purpose in the assessment of gene-edited precision medicines where a single treatment may have lifelong benefit.

In Scotland, the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) appraises the clinical and cost-effectiveness of newly licensed medicines. The SMC has a transparent and robust process that is fully described on its website. It is worth noting that any SMC appraisal is undertaken independently of Scottish Ministers and is based on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of a medicine at a population level.

The SMC’s process allows companies to present a cost-effectiveness case which sets out the predicted health benefits of their treatment (including one-off treatments) over a person’s lifetime, and the SMC’s assessments follow standard methodology for such calculations. In addition, in the assessment of innovative medicines for rare conditions (including gene-edited precision medicines where a single treatment may have lifelong benefit), the SMC process involves additional flexibilities as outlined on its website. By way of an example, in 2021, the SMC was the first health technology appraisal body in the UK to accept a one-off gene therapy for spinal muscular atrophy.

Question reference: S6W-23174

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB) on 5 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what advice was provided to MSPs and staff regarding the existence of a quarantine box for incoming emails, in addition to their inbox and junk mail.

The Quarantine mailbox provides a holding area for email messages that are automatically identified as potentially harmful (e.g., potential phishing and malware messages).

The IT Helpdesk initially sent out emails to all users to raise awareness of the Junk and Quarantine storage areas when it was introduced and most recently in 2020. Since then, the screens at the BIT Engagement desk at Holyrood have been used to remind Members about the existence of the Quarantine area, and staff have been available to offer advice and assistance on accessing the folder.

Staff in the BIT Office are currently investigating a means of more actively alerting Members and other users of the email system to any quarantined email messages. The alerts will take the form of a weekly roundup email reminding users to release or delete items as appropriate.

Once testing has been completed further communications will be issued by the IT Helpdesk.

Question reference: S6O-02840

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is regarding the maximum time that a family should be expected to wait for a post-mortem report following the death of a loved one.