Seòmar agus comataidhean

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

Criathragan Hide all filters

Displaying 560 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S5W-18510

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 31 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 13 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it will put in place to ensure equitable access to thrombectomy procedures for patients across all NHS board areas.

A Directors of Planning Thrombectomy Advisory Group is developing a national planning framework for the provision of thrombectomy for Scotland. The development of the framework will consider all the elements required to deliver the service including for example: referral criteria and pathways for patients, workforce, facilities, training and education. It is anticpated the framework will be completed by spring 2019.

Question reference: S5W-18526

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 13 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what provision for children and young people with type 1 diabetes will be offered by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde after the Royal Hospital for Sick Children at Yorkhill fully closes, and whether it will provide an update on the board's proposed integrated type 1 service for 0 to 25-year-olds.

Planning is in progress for the relocation of services from the Royal Hospital for Sick Children at Yorkhill once it fully closes. Moving the service onto the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital campus is one of the options being considered. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde are fully committed to engaging with patients and families during this planning process.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde have made a number of incremental steps towards the '0 to 25 years old' service. For example, diabetes paediatric services extended from an age threshold of 13 to 18 years, and the service is supported by joint working between paediatricians and adult diabetes consultants. The Board has also created a "Transition" specialist role aimed at developing the transition pathway for young adults.

Question reference: S5O-02380

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 September 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to ensure that the Scottish Ambulance Service has sufficient resources.

Question reference: S5W-17685

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 July 2018
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 15 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether there is any funding scheme in Scotland for the securing of places of worship similar to the scheme recently announced by the UK Government.

We are clear that any form of hate crime or prejudice is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated. We are taking a range of steps to tackle hate crime as set out in our ambitious Tackling Prejudice and Building Connected Communities Action Plan, and have established a multi-agency Action Group to drive this work forward.

While there is no specific security funding scheme for places of worship, we are fully committed to working with Police Scotland and others to safeguard all communities and potentially vulnerable people and sites, and would encourage organisations with concerns about their security or the safety of their members to contact Police Scotland.

We are working to build inclusive, resilient and safe communities in Scotland where everyone feels connected, has a sense of belonging and feels valued.

Question reference: S5W-17066

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 July 2018
Current Status: Answered by James Wolffe QC on 2 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the average time taken was in the last five years for a death certificate to be produced where a death was (a) reported to a procurator fiscal and (b) referred to a pathologist.

This information is not held by Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS).

Where the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) is being completed by the reporting doctor the MCCD should be issued without unnecessary delay and ,where applicable, within the timescale specified in section 24 of the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Scotland) Act 1965. Where COPFS instruct a pathologist the MCCD will be issued by the pathologist upon completion of the post mortem examination.

Question reference: S5W-17069

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 July 2018
Current Status: Answered by James Wolffe QC on 2 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that there is appropriate availability of equipment and staff to roll out a scanning facility for post mortems in each health centre.

No forensic pathologists in Scotland utilise solely MRI or CT scanning for the purpose of carrying out post mortem examinations on behalf of the procurator fiscal. A research project is ongoing in Lothian, funded by Lothian Health Board for radiology research purposes, in which scanning is undertaken as an adjunct to full post mortem examination. There are no facilities elsewhere in Scotland which make provision for MRI or CT scanning in the context of post mortem examination. MRI and CT scanners are located within NHS facilities. They are operated by radiographers and the scans are interpreted by radiologists who are NHS staff, and not by pathologists. It is understood that these scanners are operating to capacity in examinations on living patients. Were it to be considered appropriate to use scanning for the purpose of post mortem examinations in death investigations in Scotland, this would require the provision of additional resources by way of equipment and staff.

I am advised that the efficacy of scanning as a means of undertaking post mortem examination is a matter of debate amongst professional pathologists in Scotland, and that many pathologists take the view that scanning would only be a suitable means of establishing the cause of death in cases where pathologists currently undertake non-invasive view and grant examinations.

A view and grant examination is a non-invasive process, consisting of a careful and detailed examination of the body and consideration of the medical records. The procurator fiscal will always consider whether a view and grant examination would be sufficient. However, it is a matter for the pathologist, who has a professional responsibility to certify the cause of the death, and to do so in a manner which can, if necessary, be professionally justified, whether a view and grant examination will suffice.

Question reference: S5W-17064

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 July 2018
Current Status: Answered by James Wolffe QC on 2 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what percentage of deaths recorded in each of the last five years that were referred by a procurator fiscal to a pathologist (i) involved an examination performed as a view and grant and (ii) were carried out using non-invasive scanning, also broken down by each health centre that recorded the death.

The following table shows the number of deaths reported to the Procurator Fiscal in the financial years 2013 to 2018, the number and percentage of post mortem examinations carried out along with the number and percentage of view and grant examinations as a subset of the total number of post mortem examinations.

No examinations were carried out utilising solely non-invasive scanning equipment.

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) does not hold information about the health centre areas however the table shows a breakdown of the figures for each of the SFIU area teams.

(1) Subset of total PM examinations
			Post Mortem Examinations
Financial Year	SFIU Area	Death Reports Received	Total PM examinations	as a % of total death reports received	View and grant examinations (1)	as a % of total PM examinations
2013-14	EAST	3,334	1,797	54%	230	13%
	NORTH	2,082	1,367	66%	319	23%
	WEST	4,133	2,765	67%	319	12%
	Total	9,549	5,929	62%	868	15%
2014-15	EAST	3,301	1,959	59%	257	13%
	NORTH	1,724	1,387	80%	309	22%
	WEST	4,148	2,992	72%	410	14%
	Total	9,173	6,338	69%	976	15%
2015-16	EAST	3,298	2,120	64%	321	15%
	NORTH	1,944	1,426	73%	312	22%
	WEST	4,337	3,073	71%	455	15%
	Total	9,579	6,619	69%	1,088	16%
2016-17	EAST	3,168	1,693	53%	153	9%
	NORTH	2,825	1,190	42%	186	16%
	WEST	4,938	2,889	59%	337	12%
	Total	10,931	5,772	53%	676	12%
2017-18	EAST	3,124	1,730	55%	104	6%
	NORTH	2,460	1,243	51%	171	14%
	WEST	5,272	2,862	54%	237	8%
	Total	10,856	5,835	54%	512	9%

Question reference: S5W-17063

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 July 2018
Current Status: Answered by James Wolffe QC on 2 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what percentage of deaths that were reported to a procurator fiscal were then referred to a pathologist in each of the last five years, broken down by health centre.

The following table shows the number of deaths reported to the Procurator Fiscal in the financial years 2013 to 2018 along with the number and percentage of post mortem examinations carried out as a subset of that total.

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) does not hold information about the health centre areas however the table shows a breakdown of the figures for each of the SFIU area teams.

			Post Mortem Examinations
Financial Year	SFIU Area	Death Reports Received	Total PM examinations	as a % of total death reports received
2013-14	EAST	3,334	1,797	54%
	NORTH	2,082	1,367	66%
	WEST	4,133	2,765	67%
	Total	9,549	5,929	62%
2014-15	EAST	3,301	1,959	59%
	NORTH	1,724	1,387	80%
	WEST	4,148	2,992	72%
	Total	9,173	6,338	69%
2015-16	EAST	3,298	2,120	64%
	NORTH	1,944	1,426	73%
	WEST	4,337	3,073	71%
	Total	9,579	6,619	69%
2016-17	EAST	3,168	1,693	53%
	NORTH	2,825	1,190	42%
	WEST	4,938	2,889	59%
	Total	10,931	5,772	53%
2017-18	EAST	3,124	1,730	55%
	NORTH	2,460	1,243	51%
	WEST	5,272	2,862	54%
	Total	10,856	5,835	54%

Question reference: S5W-17684

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 July 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 31 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made on a no-fault compensation scheme for clinical injury since the publication of its response to the consultation on this issue in April 2014.

We consulted on draft outline proposals for a no-blame redress scheme between March and August 2016.

Since then, we have established an Openness and Learning Unit in the Scottish Government's Quality & Improvement Directorate. The Unit is working with health and care professionals to create a health and social care environment that uses knowledge from adverse events to inform continuous improvement to health and care services in a culture that embraces openness and learning without fear when things go wrong.

When harm occurs the focus must be on personal contact with those affected; support and a process of review and action that is meaningful and informed by the principles of learning and continuous improvement. The Duty of Candour Procedure (Scotland) Regulations place, which we introduced on 1 April, place this on a legal footing.

I am considering the responses to the redress consultation and how a scheme would contribute to openness, learning and continuous improvement, a key element of any redress arrangements. The Scottish Government’s response to the consultation will be published in the autumn.

Question reference: S5W-17061

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 July 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 31 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many deaths were recorded by each health centre in each of the last five years.