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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.

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Question reference: S5W-10076

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 28 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what it considers a suitable time for a patient to wait for an appointment with their GP.

The Scottish Government knows how important it is that patients have prompt access to services when needed and has put in place a national standard of 48 hour access, or advance booking, to an appropriate member of the GP practice team during core hours. That access can be either a face-to-face, or telephone consultation with a GP or nurse in the practice team.

Whilst Scottish Ministers set the strategic policy for the NHS in Scotland, responsibility for service delivery rests locally with Health Boards and GP practices. Practices are contracted to provide general medical services by their local health board and not the Scottish Government. As such, Scottish Ministers are unable to intervene in the appointment arrangements of individual practices but they do except satisfactory systems to be in place for the benefit of all patients.

Practice partners are responsible for designing their own patient appointment and consultation arrangements to meet their service obligations. They are also responsible for ensuring that practice reception staff are appropriately trained in prioritising appointment requests and in handling these in accordance with practice procedures.

Question reference: S5W-10078

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 28 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the use of technology to make an appointment with a GP; how it promotes this; what guidance it provides on its use, and how much it has spent on providing this since 2007.

The eHealth Strategy 2014-2017 published by the Scottish Government in March 2014 commits to encouraging all GP practices in Scotland to offer repeat prescribing and appointment booking as online services, with a view to at least 90% of practices offering this service by the end of 2017.

To help GP practices achieve this goal and activate on line repeat prescriptions and appointment booking, the Scottish Government in 2016-17 and 2017-18 distributed £800,000 and £200,000 respectively from the Primary Care Digital Services Development Fund.

Promotion of the availability and use of online services to their patients is a matter for GP practices, with support provided by Health Board IT functions.

Question reference: S5W-10075

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what the average waiting time is for patients to secure an appointment with a GP in Scotland, also broken down by NHS board area.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information for independently contracted practices. It does expect patients to be offered an appointment with a member of GP practice staff within two days; the latest figures (Health & Care Experience Survey 2015-16) show that 91.8% of people were able to get a consultation within that time.

The figures on the percentage of patients in 2015-16 able to arrange an appointment with a member of GP practice staff within two days by Board are given in the following table:

Health Board	Percentage of patients able to access healthcare professional within 2 working days
NHS AYRSHIRE AND ARRAN	90.7
NHS BORDERS	92.9
NHS DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY	95.8
NHS FIFE	90.7
NHS FORTH VALLEY	91.4
NHS GRAMPIAN	90.7
NHS GREATER GLASGOW AND CLYDE	92.3
NHS HIGHLAND	94.4
NHS LANARKSHIRE	89.0
NHS LOTHIAN	91.5
NHS ORKNEY	97.8
NHS SHETLAND	95.2
NHS TAYSIDE	94.3
NHS WESTERN ISLES	95.2
NHSSCOTLAND	91.8

Figures broken down by GP practice are held at the following website: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Health/GPPatientExperienceSurvey/HACE2015-16/LDP-GP

Question reference: S5W-10077

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it can take to ensure that patients can secure an appointment with their GP within a suitable time.

The Scottish Government are committed to investing an extra £250 million to support general practice per year by 2021, as part of a pledge to increase overall annual funding for primary care by £500 million by 2021.

To help the pressures that are placed upon GPs Shona Robison, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport announced additional investment of £71.6 million in general practice in March 2017, to help transform the way services are delivered in the community. The funds will support general practice in 2017-18, by improving recruitment and retention, reducing workload, developing new ways of delivering services and covering pay and expenses.

The Scottish Government are committed to delivering a model of sustainable general practice that is right both for the profession and for the health of the people of Scotland. We are working with GPs, through negotiations with the British Medical Association’s Scottish General Practice Committee, to reshape primary care and to ensure there is more multi-disciplinary working in surgeries, allowing GPs to focus where they are most needed.

Question reference: S5W-09865

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 7 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-09545 by Derek Mackay on 13 June 2017, for what reason this information is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government holds partial information on IT spend. Procurement information on total IT spend and spend with suppliers which have a Scottish post code is shown in the following table.

Financial Year	Total IT Spend	Total IT Spend (Companies with a Post Code in Scotland Only)
2007-2008	£37.7m	£10.4m
2008-2009	£53.5m	£7.76m
2009-2010	£66.6m	£6.19m
2010-2011	£47.4m	£13.4m
2011-2012	£36.1m	£5.5m
2012-2013	£40.4m	£9.5m
2013-2014	£43.6m	£19.6m
2014-2015	£82.5m	£13.3m
2015-2016	£81.6m	£15.0m

To provide the full extent of the information sought in S5W-09545 a trawl would be required across the whole Scottish Government (including its Agencies). This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Notes:

Spend is taken from the Scottish Procurement Information Hub at 4 July 2017.
The figures in the table reflect spend classified as ICT which reflects the supplier’s business activities rather than the products or services which have been bought.
Spend is with Core-Trade suppliers (those with whom over £1,000 has been spent in a 12 month period and who have also been classed as a trading organisation or as a non-trade social care provider)
The spend in Scotland is provided only where the supplier’s postcode is known.

Question reference: S5W-09717

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills on 15 June 2017 (Official Report, c. 46), who will appoint the members of regional collaboratives; how much the members will be paid, and from what areas of expertise they will be appointed.

As set out in the June 2017 Scottish Government publication Education Governance: Next Steps, the Scottish Government will work with partners to ensure that new Regional Improvement Collaboratives are appropriate for local circumstances. This will include working with Education Scotland, Local Authorities and other partners, to draw in staff and put in place the arrangements needed to facilitate collaborative working and provide consistent, high-quality educational improvement support to schools and practitioners across the region. The detailed staffing profile and appointment arrangements for the Regional Improvement Collaboratives will be subject to those discussions.

Question reference: S5W-09655

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 28 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government who has responsibility for ensuring that NHS boards that are subject to Health Improvement Scotland reviews implement the recommendations; how it measures the effectiveness of the implementation, and what action it can take if a board does not comply.

NHS Boards have a duty to ensure they deliver high quality safe, effective and person centred care and therefore it is their responsibility to act on and implement the recommendations and requirements from a Healthcare Improvement Scotland inspection or review. All Boards are required to have a committee to oversee governance of quality, observe and check on activities being delivered and assure the Board that effective support arrangements are in place and that action is being taken to address any areas of concern.

Follow up activity varies depending on the nature of the review. Healthcare Improvement Scotland are resourced to routinely follow up inspection activity to ensure that requirements and recommendations have been acted upon.

NHS Boards are accountable to Ministers and the Scottish Parliament. If necessary, the Scottish Government can put in place, through existing escalation arrangements, a range of measures and interventions to support improvements in the quality of healthcare.

From 1 April 2018, a Statutory Organisational Duty of Candour will be implemented in Scotland. From that date, it will be a legal requirement for all care providers, including NHS Boards, to review certain types of adverse events, meet personally with those affected and to publish an annual report to support openness and learning.

Question reference: S5O-01169

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to help promote women to more senior positions in the public and private sector.

Question reference: S5W-09718

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5O-01149

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that the highest quality food is served in hospitals.