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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S3F-01879

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Salmond on 17 September 2009

To ask the First Minister what consideration the Scottish Government has made of the call by Lord Sutherland for the reintroduction of university tuition fees.

Question reference: S3O-07832

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 17 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to proposals to give parents control over their children’s individual personal education budgets from local education authorities.

Question reference: S3W-26938

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 14 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether guidance exists as to how far people diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and other chronic conditions that cause fatigue should have to travel to access specialist services.

There is no specific guidance as to how far people with multiple sclerosis (MS) or other long-term conditions that cause fatigue should have to travel to gain access to specialist services.

The Scottish Government is however committed to providing services for long-term conditions such as MS which are fully responsive to the totality of people''s needs and are delivered as locally and as speedily as possible, but with ready access to specialist services when needed. We made clear in Better Health, Better Care our support for a Managed Clinical Network (MCN) approach to these conditions, since MCNs balance the need for specialisation with local delivery of services wherever possible.

This approach is echoed in the development of the obligate networks concept in the 2007 report Delivering for Remote and Rural Healthcare. These networks are intended to link Rural General Hospitals with larger centres to support local delivery of care by reducing to a minimum onward referral and travel for patients in remote and rural areas. This work is being taken forward by the Remote and Rural Implementation Group of the North of Scotland Planning Group.

We expect this overall approach to be encouraged through implementation of the clinical standards for MS which NHS Quality Improvement Scotland expects to publish in final form next month. Regional neurology centres are expected to develop contacts with Community Health Partnerships to facilitate the management of people with MS in the community.

Question reference: S3W-26939

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 14 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it can provide figures on the amount spent on research into multiple sclerosis in each year since 1999 and how this compares with other OECD countries.

The Chief Scientist Office (CSO), within the Scottish Government Health Directorates, has responsibility for encouraging and supporting research into health and health care needs in Scotland. CSO primarily responds to requests for funding research proposals initiated by the research community in Scotland and this role is well known throughout the healthcare and academic community. CSO would be pleased to consider further research proposals for innovative multiple sclerosis studies of a sufficiently high standard.

Direct Expenditure on Multiple Sclerosis Research since 1999 is as follows (£ Millions):

	CSO	Department of Health	Medical Research Council
1999-2000	0	0.5	not available
2000-01	0	0.5	1.5
2001-02	0	0.6	2.1
2002-03	0	0.1	1.8
2003-04	0	0.1	1.1
2004-05	0	0.1	1.4
2005-06	0	0.8	1.9
2006-07	0	0.01	3.1
2007-08	0.1	0.8	3.6

In addition to direct expenditure, CSO and DH also meet the additional indirect costs to the NHS of hosting research funded by bodies such as the MRC and research charities. Such indirect expenditure on multiple sclerosis is not held centrally.

Information regarding spend on multiple sclerosis research in other OECD countries is not available.

Question reference: S3W-26933

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 14 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people with multiple sclerosis there have been in each (a) NHS board area, (b) local authority area, (c) Scottish parliamentary region and (d) Scottish parliamentary constituency in each year since 1999.

The detailed information requested is not held centrally.

Research studies suggest there are around 10,000 people in Scotland with multiple sclerosis (MS). The national MS register which the Information Services Division (ISD) of NHS National Services Scotland has been developing with the MS Society Scotland, with some government funding, will in time provide more accurate data on the incidence and prevalence of the condition.

Question reference: S3W-26935

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 14 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many equivalent facilities there are in the NHS to the Physical Disability Rehabilitation Unit at the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow; what the capacity is of each such facility, and where it is located.

Question reference: S3W-26934

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 14 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what the capacity is at the Physical Disability Rehabilitation Unit at the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow.

The Physical Disability Rehabilitation Unit at the Southern General is a 30 bed specialist Rehabilitation Unit. A further eight beds are provided at the Larkfield Unit, Inverclyde Royal Hospital. While it is not possible to make direct comparisons there are a further seven specialist units across Scotland. The location and capacity of these units is set out in the following table.

NHS Board	Location	Bed Numbers
Lothian	Astley Ainslie Hospital, Edinburgh	28
	Liberton Hospital, Edinburgh	26
	Royal Edinburgh Hospital	19
Orkney	Balfour Hospital, Kirkwall	20
Ayrshire and Arran	Central Hospital, Irvine	19
Grampian	Woodend Hospital	16
Forth Valley	Ward 11 Falkirk District Royal	8

In areas where there are no specialist units NHS boards provide rehabilitation services in a range of hospital and community settings to meet local needs.

Question reference: S3W-26932

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 10 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive which registered social landlords have (a) used and (b) not used the Public Contracts Scotland website.

The following housing associations are currently, as of 3 August, registered and using the Public Contracts Scotland portal to advertise their contracting activity.

Aberdeenshire Housing Partnership

Almond Housing Association

Castlehill Housing Association

Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership Ltd.

Eildon Housing Association

Fife Housing Association

Garrion Peoples Housing Co-Operative

Glasgow Housing Association

Kingdom Housing Association Limited

Kingdom Initiatives Housing Association

Queens Cross Housing Association Ltd

River Clyde Homes

Viewpoint Housing Association

Waverley Housing

Whiteinch and Scotstoun Housing

Association Limited.

This information is freely available to anyone who wishes to keep up to date with the progress in their specific area of interest.

Instructions to obtain future reports:

If you go to the portal website; www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk.

On the left hand side you will see a menu bar, select info centre and then publications. Scroll the screen down to Selection number 5 which is headed Scottish Contracting Authorities, if you select this heading by clicking it the system will take you to a page where it asks for you email address. Enter your email address and click send and the most recent list of all organisations currently using the portal will be emailed to you directly.

Question reference: S3W-26937

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 10 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many multiple sclerosis specialist staff are employed at each hospital in each NHS board area.

Question reference: S3W-26936

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 10 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many multiple sclerosis specialist staff are employed in each NHS board area.

The information requested is not centrally available. A wide range of health professionals, which includes medical staff, clinical nurse specialists and allied health professionals, are needed to care for those patients with specific conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis. National Services Scotland, Information Services Division (ISD) Scotland publish NHS Workforce data which is available from the website link http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/796.html.