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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: S5W-24340

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 6 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Planning (Scotland) Bill legislating to merge Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) into the National Planning Framework 4, when the next SPP review will commence, and what the timescale will be for consultation, consideration and implementation.

Question reference: S5W-24093

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 5 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-23649 by Jeane Freeman on 19 June 2019, how many NHS staff have been employed on (a) full- and (b) part-time contracts in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S5W-24565

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 August 2019
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many temporary ward closures there have been due to staff shortages in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S5W-24561

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 August 2019
Current Status: Answer expected on 29 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to encourage natural prescribing.

Question reference: S5W-24198

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 31 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had regarding the addition of fluoride to the public water supply.

Question reference: S5W-24095

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 30 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many meetings ministers have had with private healthcare providers in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S5W-24092

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 30 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review the support provided to parents of babies and children with heart conditions and the provision of cardiac liaison nurses.

In 2014 the Heart Disease Improvement Plan was published, the purpose of which was to ensure that priorities remain current and that in Scotland we continue to strive towards improved prevention, treatment and care of heart disease. At its meeting on 28 April the National Advisory Committee for Heart Disease (NACHD) it was recognised that as it was five years since the Heart Disease Improvement Plan's publication, it was timely to discuss the potential for its next steps. Officials will consider if a review is required, and NACHD will discuss this at its next meeting in the autumn.

There are a number of specialist cardiac services and provisions for children with heart conditions in Scotland. These include:

a paediatric cardiology centre, which includes a nationally commissioned neonatal and Paediatric Cardiac Service, at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow
a paediatric cardiology centre at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh.

There are also paediatricians with an interest or expertise in cardiology at the Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital, Ninewells Hospital, and in most district general hospitals that are not in remote or rural areas. Outreach is also provided by cardiologists from Glasgow and Edinburgh to other NHS Boards.

Scottish Specialist Transport and Retrieval (SCOTSTAR) support transfer of sick neonates or children to Glasgow. Other paediatricians and neonatologists are able to perform ultrasound scans of children's hearts and send/discuss these with a cardiologist in Glasgow or Edinburgh, which is especially useful for emergency presentations.

Paediatric cardiac services are arranged as a national service so that skills and expertise can be concentrated to maximise outcomes for the smaller patient numbers. This is in line with the Scottish Government's National Clinical Strategy that some services be planned on a population basis to ensure the greatest clinical expertise and the best outcomes. Services are regularly reviewed.

Standards for both adult and paediatric specialist congenital cardiac services were issued in 2018.

Clinical nurse specialist roles provide support to people living with a range of conditions across the life spectrum and operate across hospital and community settings. The First Minister announced on 7 January 2015 that up to an additional £2.5 million recurring funding would be made available across Scotland to enhance clinical nurse specialist provision and care, with £700,000 allocated to enable the number of specialist motor neurone disease nurses to be doubled, and funded from public funds.

NHS Boards across Scotland have benefited from the additional investment. The Scottish Government's Report on the Specialist Nursing and Care Fund, published in September 2017, shows how this investment has been used by NHS Boards to increase the number of clinical nurse specialists by 31.35 whole time equivalents. Some NHS Boards have used a proportion of this funding to invest in training.

Question reference: S5W-24194

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 30 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many GP practices were closed to new patient registrations in each NHS board area in each year since 2007.

Management information shows the following number of practices were closed to new patient registrations in each NHS board:

Board/Year	Borders, Fife, Forth Valley, Highland, Lothian, Shetland, and Western Isles	Greater Glasgow and Clyde	Lanarkshire	Orkney	Tayside	Grampian	Dumfries and Galloway	Ayrshire and Arran
2007	0	6	0	0	0	0	Not available	0
2008	0	5	0	0	0	0	“	0
2009	0	5	0	0	0	0	“	0
2010	0	3	0	0	0	0	“	0
2011	0	1	0	1	0	0	“	0
2012	0	1	1	1	0	0	“	0
2013	0	3	1	0	0	0	“	0
2014	0	3	1	0	0	0	“	0
2015	0	2	3	0	4	0	“	0
2016	0	8	5	0	10	0	2	0
2017	0	3	6	0	8	0	2	1
2018	0	5	6	0	14	2	4	1
2019	0	2	5	0	7	0	2	0

Circumstances will arise where a practice experiences capacity issues and is unable to routinely accept new patients onto its list. We expect Health Boards to work with practices as constructively and as flexibly as is appropriate to help manage the situation and ensure that all patients have access to GP services.

Question reference: S5W-24183

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 30 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients have attended minor ailment services in each year since 2007.

Figures for the number of attendances at Minor Ailments Services (MAS) are not held centrally.

Information Services Division (ISD) publishes figures for the number of registrations for MAS across Scotland and data relating to the number of items dispensed only.

The Minor Ailment Service, for the treatment of self-limiting common conditions, allows eligible patients and members of the public to register with their local community pharmacy and receive advice on the self-management of their condition, referral to another healthcare professional or the pharmacist will dispense an appropriate treatment for the condition. Data is not recorded on the number of patients or members of the public to receive advice or referral to another healthcare professional. Those registered can visit the pharmacy a number of times within the 12 month registration period.

The following table sets out the number of current registrations for MAS across the community pharmacy network of around 1,256 pharmacies. Figures are currently available from July 2007 up to 31 March 2017* (*latest published data).

Date	No. registrations
March 2017	884,120
March 2016	946,804
March 2015	913,483
March 2014	887,704
March 2013	893,396
March 2012	843,690
March 2011	790,509
March 2010	722,209
March 2009	657,418
March 2008	586,336
July 2007	556,840

Question reference: S5W-24174

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 30 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been awarded to the third sector to provide drug and alcohol services in each year since 2007.

This information is not held centrally. Responsibility for sectoral distribution rests with Integration Authorities and Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs). Before integration went live in 2016 this responsibility rested with NHS Boards and ADPs.

In addition to the investment delivered to the third sector through Integration Authorities and ADPs, third sector organisations also have opportunities to bid for funding through the National Development Project Fund, and the Challenge Fund administered by the Corra Foundation. Details of the successful projects and funding levels are available on our webpage here: https://www.gov.scot/policies/alcohol-and-drugs/