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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: S4W-19505

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what advice it has sought on whether standardised tobacco packaging could result in it paying compensation to manufacturers because of an impact on intellectual property rights.

The tobacco industry has a history of challenging public health measures as it did, unsuccessfully, with the tobacco display ban. The Scottish Government is committed to achieving our vision of a tobacco-free Scotland by 2034. Scottish Ministers are clear that standardised packaging has a role in achieving this and on 28 January 2014 the Scottish Parliament agreed a Legislative Consent Motion allowing the Scottish Government to work with the UK Government to legislate on tobacco packaging.

Question reference: S4W-19452

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 24 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government when the report of the independent review on how continuing healthcare is being applied will be published and when it will respond.

Question reference: S4W-19492

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-19228 by Michael Matheson on 29 January 2014, whether it plans to retrospectively reclaim payments for duplicate dental registrations from NHS general dentists who have retired since 2006 or are otherwise no longer in business and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Practitioner Services, which has the responsibility for making recoveries for duplicate registration payments, will not be seeking to make recoveries from retired and deceased dentists.

Practitioner Services have applied to Scottish Ministers to exempt retired and deceased dentists from the recovery process. This exemption has been granted. On the advice of Practitioner Services the cost and effort of recovering these overpayments, in comparison to other groupings of dentists, does not warrant the recovery of overpayments from retired and deceased dentists.

Question reference: S4W-19361

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 31 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what training the NHS provides on the diagnosis of the condition, progressive supranuclear palsy.

While policies, frameworks and resources are provided by the Scottish Government, individual NHS boards are responsible for planning and funding services in their area and for securing the staff to deliver them. It is for NHS boards to determine their workforce requirements, including training, based on the clinical needs and service developments in their area.

In determining workforce requirements, NHS boards must take into account their role in providing an appropriate training environment in which postgraduate medical trainees can gain the skills, knowledge and experience they require in order to fulfil the requirements of postgraduate training programmes. Such standards and requirements of such programmes are developed by relevant Medical Royal Colleges, and approved and monitored by the General Medical Council. This includes neurological conditions such as Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP).

Question reference: S4W-19228

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on Practitioner Services’ plans to retrospectively reclaim payments from NHS general dentists for duplicate dental registrations from 2010.

Practitioner Services have a legal duty to make the recovery of over-payments where that is appropriate.

The Scottish Government has accepted that a recovery process is required. However in order to mitigate the effect on practices the recovery of duplicate registrations is part of the funding package for 2013-14. This means that the money is recycled and not permanently lost to dental practices.

Question reference: S4W-19230

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether Practitioner Services made it clear when it introduced lifelong registration for dental patients in 2010 that it would retrospectively reclaim payments from NHS general dentists for duplicate dental registrations from 2010.

The commitment to introduce non time-limited registration was contained in the Action Plan for improving oral health and modernising NHS dental services in Scotland which was published in 2005. The Scottish Government met this commitment by introducing non time-limited registration in 2010. The basis for the policy change was to encourage the development of a longer term more stable relationship between a dentist and a patient that fits with the need to plan care on a long term basis and to monitor oral health over time.

In preparing for the introduction of non time-limited registration Practitioner Services were required to carry out appropriate system changes. As a consequence of this work a number of duplicate patient records were subsequently identified.

The presence of these duplicate registrations, and the requirement to make appropriate recoveries, were communicated in a letter of 21 July 2010 to the then Chair of the Scottish Dental Practice Committee of the British Dental Association Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-19229

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government when Practitioner Services plans to start collecting repayments from NHS general dentists for duplicate dental registrations from 2010.

Question reference: S4W-19231

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 29 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding the NHS has received arising from Barnett consequentials and what the increase in NHS spending over and above this has been, in each year since 2007.

Since 2011-12, the Scottish Government has passed on in full the Barnett consequentials to the Health Budget in Scotland which by 2015-16 will exceed £1.3 billion in total. These have arisen from the Department of Health’s funding settlement from both the 2010 UK Comprehensive Spending Review and the 2013 UK Spending Round and are detailed in the following table:

	Resource £billion
2011-12	0.280
2012-13	0.249
2013-14	0.293
2014-15	0.284
2015-16	0.202
Total	1.308

Prior to 2011-12, Barnett consequentials accrued to the Scottish block as a whole and therefore the benefit to the health budget cannot be individually identified. However the following table details health’s resource budget from 2007-08 and clearly demonstrates the significant additional investment which has been made since 2007-08:

	Resource Budget	Increase
	£b	£b
2007-08	9.716	-
2008-09	10.122	0.406
2009-10	10.442	0.320
2010-11	10.501	0.059
2011-12	10.781	0.280
2012-13	11.030	0.249
2013-14	11.322	0.292
2014-15	11.606	0.285
2015-16	11.808	0.202
Total		2.092

Note: care should be taken when making year-on-year comparisons as figures are subject to change through policy and accounting treatments adjustments e.g. in 2010-11 HM Treasury withdrew £125 million from the Scottish health budget (the associated expenditure was also removed to ensure a neutral effect) due to accounting treatment changes in relation to the cost of capital.

Question reference: S4O-02846

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects a decision by the European Commission on the provisions of the Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012, and what action it has taken in the interim to tackle alcohol abuse.

Question reference: S4W-19240

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what impact the outcomes of the Australian Government's post-implementation review of the Tobacco Plain Packaging Act 2011 will have on the Scottish Government's commitment to introduce standardised packaging for tobacco products.