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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-09239

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport on 16 May 2017 (Official Report, c. 4), what instructions the cabinet secretary issued prior to the recent cyber-attacks to (a) civil servants and (b) organisations and agencies for which she has responsibility, to improve resilience against such incidents.

Question reference: S5F-01306

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 May 2017

To ask the First Minister, in light of her expressing the view that the NHS pay cap is "unsustainable", whether the Scottish Government will provide details of the submission it made to the pay review body.

Question reference: S5W-08625

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 11 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government further to the answer to question S5W-08238 by Aileen Campbell on 29 March 2017, whether it has undertaken any modelling to assess how many people will need to be treated for hepatitis C between 2020 and 2030.

The Scottish Government remains committed to the elimination of hepatitis C as a serious public health concern in Scotland. Whilst there has not been modelling undertaken to assess the number of people who will need to be held further between 2020-2030, Current work is focussed on delivering a 75% reduction in the annual number of people developing hepatitis C-related liver failure and/or liver cancer between by 2020, compared to 2015. This is supported by a target of initiating 1,800 people onto antiviral therapy in 2017-18.

Question reference: S5W-08842

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 11 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what the incidence of hepatitis C among people who inject drugs has been in each of the last eight years.

Question reference: S5O-00983

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government by what date the next phase of its benefit uptake campaign will begin; how long the phase will run, and who the target audience will be.

Question reference: S5W-08566

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 8 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on establishing a network of (a) specialists and (b) centres of excellence to deal with (i) fungal lung conditions and (ii) occupational lung diseases.

Our Health and Social Care Delivery Plan published in December 2016 sets out our aim for Scotland to provide high quality services with a focus on prevention, early intervention and supported self-management. The plan sits alongside our National Clinical Strategy, which evidenced the need to change the way services are delivered in order to continue meet the healthcare needs of our population, setting out the framework for developing health services in Scotland for the next 10-20 years, including people living with Chronic Respiratory Disease.

Respiratory Managed Clinical Networks exist in most NHS Boards, bringing together healthcare professionals from primary, secondary and tertiary care. They work with people affected by respiratory conditions including occupational lung disease to deliver high quality, person centred treatment and services, following national and local guidelines.

The Scottish Government is working closely with the Respiratory National Advisory Group on the development of a Respiratory Health: Quality Improvement Plan for Scotland. This plan will provide a framework to NHS Boards in the prevention, early detection and treatment of respiratory conditions, within Scotland, including the referral and diagnosis of Occupational Lung Disease.

Question reference: S5O-00969

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on what the top rate of income tax should be.

Question reference: S5W-08568

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 3 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to raise awareness of occupational respiratory disease among (a) employers, (b) employees and (c) clinicians in primary care.

Regulation of occupational health and safety is an issue reserved to the UK Government. The Health and Safety Executive provides an extensive range of advice to employers on the risks of respiratory and other occupational diseases.

The Scottish Government funds the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives to promote health, safety and wellbeing in the workplace. The Centre provides a wide range of advice and information on occupational health and safety as well as signposting to other resources such as the HSE's. This advice is accessible to employers, employees and healthcare professionals.

Question reference: S5W-08572

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 28 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how it protects (a) children and (b) adults from lung conditions related to (i) mould, (ii) damp and (iii) fungus.

NHS Health Protection advice is that vulnerable people, such as the very young and old and those with respiratory or immune conditions should stay away from mould and damp. If they feel they are unavoidably exposed to mould and damp and their symptoms persist, they should consult with medical professionals.

Under the statutory minimum tolerable standard for all housing, homes must be substantially free from rising damp or penetrating damp. Local authorities have a statutory duty to address any housing which falls below the tolerable standard.

People living in rented accommodation should in the first instance report issues with dampness to their landlords. Both social and private landlords have responsibility to ensure the homes their tenants live in are in a good state of repair. My answers to Parliamentary questions S5W-08573 and S5W-08576 on 18 April 2017 also refer.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Question reference: S5W-08569

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 26 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what support it can provide to encourage the use of the Oasys computer program to help measure work-related asthma, and whether the NHS offers guidance to ensure that robust systems are in place to protect employees from such conditions.

Occupational health and safety legislation is reserved to the UK Government and regulation is the responsibility of the Health and Safety Executive.

Employers have a statutory duty of care to their employees to carry out occupational risk assessments and put in place appropriate mitigation measures.

The Scottish Government funds the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives, part of NHS Health Scotland, to provide a wide range of advice for employers to promote health, safety and wellbeing in the workplace. This includes information on health and safety as well as managing a supporting sickness absence and return to work.

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