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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-18307

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 11 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how much was spent in GP prescribing on homeopathy in each of the last five years, also broken down by NHS board.

Figures in the requested format are not held centrally.

NHS Information Services Division publishes monthly figures on dispensed prescription items in their community open data files. These files show number of paid items, paid quantity and gross ingredient cost (GIC) broken down to GP practice level for all prescription items. The open data files are available from November 2015 and are available at the following link - https://www.opendata.nhs.scot/dataset/prescriptions-in-the-community

In addition to the published monthly figures, there is a Dispenser Payments and Prescription Cost Analysis report, published annually, which details the total number of dispensed items and GIC costs for Scotland, with a breakdown of the figures by health board. British National Formulary (BNF) subsection 190203 includes prescribable homeopathic preparations, however, it should be noted that this does not capture bespoke prescribed items prepared for individual patients based on their clinical needs. The most recent annual report is available at - http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Prescribing-and-Medicines/Community-Dispensing/Dispenser-Remuneration

Question reference: S5W-18310

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 11 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on NHS boards using homeopathic treatments.

The Scottish Government position remains unchanged. We recognise that some Complementary and Alternative Medicines (CAM), including homeopathy, may offer relief to some people suffering from a wide variety of conditions. It is for individual NHS Boards to decide which medicines and treatments they make available based on national and local priorities and the needs of their resident populations, in line with national guidance: http://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/dl/DL(2016)06.pdf

The prescribing of any medicines/treatments, including homeopathy, is a clinical decision taken in consultation with patients based on clinicians’ competencies and awareness of the medicines/treatments concerned. This includes evidence based advice and guidance. The Scottish Government expects any treatment to be appropriate, person-centred, safe and effective and that clinical and care professionals review the effectiveness of any treatment with their patients.

Question reference: S5W-18303

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 5 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how much each NHS board spent on homeopathy and alternative medicine in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S5W-18247

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 5 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what work is being done by Historic Environment Scotland to reduce the risk of fires in Holyrood Park.

The Historic Environment Scotland Act 2014 created a new public body, Historic Environment Scotland (HES) to carry out the regulatory and other functions which were formerly delivered by or on behalf of Scottish Ministers.

HES acts as the lead public body on matters relating to Scotland’s historic environment and as guardian of Scotland’s historic environment, including responsibility for delivering Scottish Ministers’ functions relating to the properties in their care, of which Holyrood Park is one.

Since your query relates to an operational issue, this is a matter for HES, the answer to which is not held centrally. I have therefore referred your question to the HES Chief Executive who will reply to you directly.

Question reference: S5W-18308

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 4 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether there are any NHS training posts that include placements in homeopathy.

None of the GMC approved medical training programmes require placements in homeopathy, and there are currently no training rotations in any medical placements which include homeopathy attachments.

There are no homeopathy nurses or allied health professions (AHP’s). Homeopathy is an entirely different training and not directly related to any AHP or Nursing; it is not a skill which would be registered or annotated on the Health and Care Professions Council/Nursing and Midwifery Council (HCPC/ NWC) register.

Question reference: S5T-01185

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 September 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the integration of British Transport Police and Police Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-18229

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will commit to spending the Barnett consequential of £11.6 million that arose from the UK Government’s announcement of £100 million to support computer science education development, which is assigned to Industry Strategy Skills in the Autumn Budget, specifically on computer science education.

Question reference: S5W-18228

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of how it will spend the Barnett consequential of £11.6 million that arose from the UK Government’s announcement of £100 million to support computer science education development, which is assigned to Industry Strategy Skills in the Autumn Budget.

The UK Government Block Grant Transparency Document confirms that the Scottish Government received Barnett consequentials of £4.3 million this financial year and £7.3 million in 2019-20 as a result of Autumn Budget announcements made by the UK Government for expenditure on a ‘National Retraining Scheme initial investment and investment in computing science teachers and maths’. The relevant HM Treasury documents may be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/block-grant-transparency-december-2017-publication .

Given the broad nature of this funding allocation, it is not possible to relate these allocated Barnett consequentials specifically to computing science teachers. Such consequentials are not automatically received by the corresponding Scottish Government portfolio but form part of the wider Scottish Government budget for the financial year concerned.

As part of the Government’s STEM Education and Training Strategy, we are continuing to develop and invest in teacher professional development in computing science, for both the primary and secondary sectors. This includes the Barefoot Computing programme which provides teaching resources for the primary sector, an online learning course to develop teachers’ knowledge and skills for delivery of National 5 Computing Science, and the Digital Schools Award for Scotland which helps schools embed digital technology within their learning and teaching.

Education Scotland is also establishing a Computing Science Lead Teacher network that will offer national level training that can be cascaded to local practitioners. This network builds on the support arrangements provided by Computing at School Scotland (CASS) and the ‘PLAN C’ project, and will link to the STEM Hub network being developed through the college network as part of our STEM Strategy.

Question reference: S5W-18018

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 24 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-17535 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 12 July 2018, when it will complete its consideration of the recent UK Supreme Court judgement.

Question reference: S5W-17620

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 July 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 23 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many emergency calls were made and responded to by the Scottish Ambulance Service within (a) 10 mins, (b) 30 mins, (c) 1 hour and (d) 2 hours, in each of the last five years.

Please find the requested information set out in the following table:

Minutes	2013 - 2014	2014 - 2015	2015 - 2016	2016 - 2017	2017 - 2018
Under 10	326865	311421	281426	257652	206745
10-30	141875	167555	185601	202110	229813
30-60	8998	13615	20440	30485	53187
60-120	2361	3267	4603	6639	17263
120 plus	644	845	1239	1560	4798

The new clinical response model, being trialled by the Ambulance Service since November 2016, maintains the focus on responding to the most serious, life threatening calls as quickly as possible. Ambulance call handlers are, when appropriate, spending more time on less urgent calls to better understand the patients’ needs and ensure that the correct, and not the nearest, resource is sent first time, improving patient outcomes. This is the main reason behind the reduction in calls responded to in under 10 minutes, outlined in the table.