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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: S5O-03766

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 November 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the delivery of mental health services delivered by third sector organisations.

Question reference: S5O-03714

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address issues regarding pollution management at the Tarbolton landfill site.

Question reference: S5F-03668

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 October 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 October 2019

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to encourage the uptake of school meals, especially among children eligible for free school meals.

Question reference: S5F-03631

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 October 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 October 2019

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to address the reported staffing shortfalls in psychiatric services, particularly those for children.

Question reference: S5F-03610

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 September 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 October 2019

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to tackle inequality between men and women in the diagnosis and treatment of heart attacks.

Question reference: S5F-03558

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 September 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 September 2019

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to tackle stigma surrounding HIV.

Question reference: S5O-03536

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 September 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that schools and teachers understand and accommodate the needs of young carers.

Question reference: S5O-03492

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to include third sector organisations in its plans to tackle the rise in drug and alcohol related deaths.

Question reference: S5W-24413

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-23920 by Jeane Freeman on 9 July 2019, what its response is to the findings of the recent study, Early Cancer detection Test – Lung cancer Scotland, regarding screening for high-risk individuals.

Scottish Government officials met recently with the lead investigator of this study who presented some early findings in confidence. However, the results of the study have yet to be published in the peer-reviewed scientific literature. Once the full results have been published, it is expected that the UK National Screening Committee will consider the data as a matter of course.

The Scottish Government has a clear commitment to increase early detection rates of lung cancer and a number of pieces of work are underway to ensure Scotland contributes to the emerging evidence base. While there are some potentially exciting developments for lung cancer in the pipeline, it’s imperative that the time is taken now to carefully explore the best option(s) that match our unique circumstances in Scotland, to avoid creating further health disparities.

Question reference: S5W-24062

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 8 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-23652 by Joe Fitzpatrick on 14 June 2019, in light of there being no available national database that can be used to support quality improvement in Fracture Liaison Services, whether it supports the development of one as a priority.

The Fracture Liaison Service Database (FLS-DB) is a clinically led web based national audit of secondary prevention in England and Wales and forms part of their wider work programme - the Falls and Fragility Fracture Audit Programme (FFFAP). As this has been developed as part of this work stream it is not clear what the benefits for Scotland would be.

All health boards in Scotland have protocols and pathways in place for patients over 50 years who sustain a fracture to be referred for the appropriate diagnostic tests and treatment.

In Scotland we have a well-established process via the Clinical Outcomes and Measures for Quality Improvement Committee (COMQI) to assess the benefits of clinical audits and reviews, including databases. COMQI was established in 2014 and ensures a clear focus on the collection and use of clinical data to continue to drive quality improvement across NHSScotland whilst ensuring that appropriate governance and assurance processes are in place.

The Scottish Clinical Audit Programme (CAP) has been established as a sub group of COMQI to provide consistent, transparent and strategic oversight to the Scottish clinical audit process, including the participation in new audits.

CAP reviews proposals of participation in new clinical audits against a set of standard agreed criteria to ensure that the proposals align with Government and clinical priorities and demonstrate clear improvement benefits and value for money. To date there have been no approaches from the clinical community to these groups to support the FLS-DB.

The Scottish Government recognises that, with an ageing population, harm caused by falls continues to be a serious and growing concern for the people of Scotland and for our healthcare, social care and housing providers; that is why we are working with colleagues across a range of sectors to make the most of a broad range of opportunities to reduce harm from falls

We have a Programme for Government commitment to develop a National Falls and Fracture Prevention Strategy. In doing so, we look to create a culture of partnership in which we take collective action, maximising and respecting the contribution of all partners. Development of the Strategy provides an opportunity to present an achievable vision of a joined up, whole system approach to falls and fracture prevention and management which will help to deliver on strategic objectives to support people to age well. Consultation on the Strategy opened on 8 July.