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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-26817

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle bogus callers who pretend to be meter readers in (a) the Mid Scotland and Fife region and (b) Scotland.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the work of its partners – including Police Scotland. Trading Standards, Neighbourhood Watch Scotland and Crimestoppers Scotland – to raise awareness of doorstep crime and provide practical advice in terms of prevention in all parts of Scotland including Mid Scotland and Fife.

The Scottish Government has also provided Neighbourhood Watch Scotland with £115,000 and Crimestoppers Scotland £92,000 funding in 2019-20 to assist with their work in addressing crime, community safety and empowering victims to speak up.

Initiatives such as the Nominated Neighbour Scheme help to build the resilience of our communities to doorstep crime and since 2017 the Scottish Government has also implemented a Nuisance Calls Action Plan to tackle the scourge of nuisance and scam telephone calls. This includes the funding of call blocking units for vulnerable consumers.

Question reference: S5W-26820

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 15 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what tools and methodologies it uses to understand best practice in stroke care; how this knowledge and best practice is embedded into the care that patients receive when recovering, and how stroke patients and their families are made aware of how this knowledge has informed the care that they receive.

Over the past 10 years, the number of people in Scotland dying from stroke has decreased by 42%. This is significant progress but we want to strive for even better outcomes. That is why the Programme for Government 2019-20 commits to developing a programme to improve stroke pathways and services, including prevention, treatment and care. In particular, we will review and improve the current stroke care bundle to improve outcomes for patients and will begin work to scope out and define what a progressive stroke unit looks like.

The Scottish Government funds the Scottish Stroke Care Audit (SSCA) to monitor the quality of care provided by the hospitals in all Health Boards by collating data collected by the stroke Managed Clinical Networks. This data is used by the Scottish Government to monitor progress against the Scottish Stroke Care Standards (2016) and the Scottish Stroke Improvement Plan (2014) and informs and drives improvements across stroke care.

Health Boards are expected to identify aspects of their stroke services which do not meet the Scottish Standards and to work with clinical networks to improve their standards of care locally.

Question reference: S5W-26821

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 15 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what long-term forecasts it uses for predicting the incidence of stroke, and what plans it has to manage stroke care services against these predictions.

In 2019 the National Planning Board, which provides oversight , governance and decision making in relation to national planning of NHSS services , carried out a joint “Horizon Scan” with the National Advisory Committee for Stroke and other stakeholders in relation to stroke care. Part of that horizon scan involved consideration of estimates of the likely changes in stroke incidence, prevalence and burden.

In addition, national population projections are used by the Scottish Government and Health Boards to inform future planning requirements, allowing for the impact on hospitals, Health & Social Care Partnerships and the third sector to be modelled and planned accordingly.

As set out in the Programme for Government 2019-20, in the coming year, we will develop a programme to improve stroke pathways and services, including prevention, treatment and care. In particular, we will review and improve the current stroke care bundle to improve outcomes for patients and will begin work to scope out and define what a progressive stroke unit looks like.

Question reference: S5O-03999

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how the development and delivery of planned and ongoing road infrastructure projects take environmental issues into account.

Question reference: S5W-26714

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 8 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the question being asked as part of the Scottish Health Survey 2018 but the findings not being made public, whether it will confirm how many people taking part in the survey said that they would like to give up smoking, broken down by (a) age group and (b) Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) quintile.

Question reference: S5F-03824

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 January 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 January 2020

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to reports that local authorities are having to spend millions of pounds from cash reserves in order to balance their budgets.

Question reference: S5W-26647

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 20 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to an audit report by Food Standards Scotland, which found that the Fife Council environmental health team is facing staff shortages that have led to it being unable to perform proactive visits, and instead it is focusing on responding to complaints or business queries only.

I am informed by Food Standards Scotland that it has carried out a number of Capacity and Capability Audits of Local Authorities over the past three years. Audits of Local Authorities’ food law enforcement services are part of Food Standards Scotland’s arrangements to improve consumer protection and confidence in relation to food. Food Standards Scotland was satisfied that there weren’t any imminent risks to public health.

Following each audit, the Local Authority should draft an action plan to address the recommendations made within the report. These actions should be time bound and designed to address any weaknesses identified, and support any necessary improvement.

Food Standards Scotland follows up all action plans resulting from these audits and works with the Local Authorities until they are satisfactorily implemented.

Fife Council has put an action plan in place to address the recommendations made in Food Standards Scotland’s audit report, and this has been followed up recently by Food Standards Scotland to check progress on implementation of the audit recommendations. To date 2 of 6 recommendations have been effectively implemented, and the others are progressing.

Question reference: S5O-03959

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has provided in loans through its Digital Growth Fund.

Question reference: S5W-26556

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 6 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how Scotland contributes to the European Stroke Organisation strategy 2018-2030, including the target to reduce incidence across Europe by 10%.

The European Stroke Action Plan 2018-2030 is a collaborative document resulting from efforts from the European Stroke Association, Stroke Alliance for Europe and many other stakeholders, including a number of stroke professionals based in Scotland. We work with international partners to share best practice.

We continue to implement our Stroke Improvement Plan which sets out the priorities and actions to deliver improved prevention, treatment and care for all people in Scotland affected by stroke. Figures from Information and Statistics Division (ISD) show that the number of people dying from stroke decreased by 42% over the last decade. Significant progress has been made towards improving stroke services in Scotland but we want to continue to improve on this figure. That is why the Programme for Government commits to ensuring that improvements are made to stroke pathways and services, including prevention, treatment and care.

Question reference: S5W-26555

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 6 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many strokes have been recorded in each of the last 10 years, broken down by NHS board, and what targets it has set to reduce incidence.

The information is already available in the public domain and can be found at https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Stroke/Topic-Areas/Incidence/ .

The Scottish Stroke Care Standards, in the Scottish Stroke Care Audit (SSCA) are used to assess the performance of stroke services.

Figures from Information and Statistics Division (ISD) show that the number of people dying from stroke decreased by 42% over the last decade. We are determined to further improve that figure and the Programme for Government commits to building on this to ensure stroke pathways – including prevention, treatment and care – continue to improve.