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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: S2W-13825

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 9 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that pharmacies, drug misuse and harm-reduction services are not punitive in their outlook when working with those involved in drug misuse.

Staff attitudes are central to effective engagement with drug users and it is recognised that punitive and/or judgemental attitudes are counterproductive. The Scottish Executive has published research which describes good practice in prescribing, and clearly explains the risk to public health of re-using and sharing injecting equipment. A range of training programmes delivered by Scottish Training on Drugs and Alcohol addresses attitudes towards drug use and drug users.

The Right Medicine - A Strategy for Pharmaceutical Care in Scotland acknowledges the contribution that pharmacists can play in delivering services to drug misusers in Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-13823

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider increasing substitution treatment as an alternative to needle exchange in respect of tackling hepatitis C in prisons.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

The Scottish Prison Service is steadily increasing its commitment to substitution treatment. While such treatment reduces the demand for injecting drugs, it does not remove the risk of spread of blood borne infection from sharing needles. International experience is that operating needle exchange schemes can be an effective additional measure to protect the population, rather than as a replacement for substitution. The Scottish Prison Service is currently considering its approach to measures such as making needle exchanges available to prisoners. It has not reached a decision.

Question reference: S2W-13831

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 9 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimates it has made in respect of the numbers of sterile injecting equipment required for each episode of illicit drug injecting in each of the last five years.

The Scottish Executive has published research which estimates that the numbers of injecting drug users in Scotland in 2000 and 2003 were 22,805 and 18,737 respectively. The frequency of injecting by any drug user will vary considerably. However, by assuming that the number of injecting episodes varies between one and three per day, the estimated numbers of sterile injecting equipment required per year were 8 to 25 million in 2000 and 7 to 20.5 million in 2003.

The reports of the National Prevalence Studies in 2000 and 2003 can be viewed at:

http://www.drugmisuse.isdscotland.org/publications/abstracts/prevalence.htm

http://www.drugmisuse.isdscotland.org/publications/abstracts/prevalence3.htm.

Question reference: S2W-13833

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 9 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what level of paraphernalia has been distributed in needle and syringe exchanges following amendments to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and whether any financial restrictions have had an impact on the amount of additional paraphernalia that needle exchange programmes can distribute as a preventative measure against blood-borne viruses.

This information is not currently available. The Executive is currently in the process of commissioning research, jointly with the National Treatment Agency in England, to undertake a national survey of needle exchange services in Scotland and England. The findings will give a clear indication of the extent and nature of paraphernalia distribution by needle exchanges, including pharmacy schemes.

In addition to specific allocations for Blood Borne Viruses and drug treatment, health boards are given a unified budget to meet the health care needs of their resident population. It is for boards to decide how best to utilise this funding to meet local and national priorities.

Question reference: S2W-13829

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 7 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether its hepatitis C action plan will have (a) a public and (b) a medical professional component.

Question reference: S2W-13840

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 7 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the impact of the reported shortfall of almost £5 million will have on frontline police services and manpower throughout the Lothian and Borders police force area.

The amount of Grant Aided Expenditure allocated to Lothian and Borders Police for 2005-06 is £179 million, an increase of £10 million on 2004-05. Lothian and Borders Joint Police Board has set the budget for Lothian and Borders Police for 2005-06 equal to this amount.

The number of police officers in Lothian and Borders Police at December 2004 was 2,785 (whole-time equivalents), up from 2,717 a year previously.

Question reference: S2W-13828

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 7 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide an outline of its hepatitis C action plan.

The hepatitis C action plan will serve as a broad framework for further implementation of the SNAP recommendations and the key messages in the Consensus Statement which emerged from the Conference in the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in April 2004. It will also draw upon the evidence from the research studies published by the Effective Interventions Unit. The plan is currently being developed in consultation with stakeholders, for issue in spring 2005. It will set out the action in train and proposed to tackle hepatitis C.

The main objectives of the plan are to set out the actions that will reduce the transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and manage the burden of disease among those individuals who know they are infected and those who do not. Key areas of the plan will cover prevention, early detection and testing, treatment and care, and monitoring and surveillance. A key element of the plan will also be to raise awareness at all levels including professional and targeted groups of the general public.

The financial implications of the action plan will be addressed as its various components are developed. However, the Executive already gives over £8 millioneach year to NHS boards in earmarked resources for work to prevent bloodborne viruses, including hepatitis C. In addition to this specific allocation, NHS boards are given a unified budget to meet the health care needs of their resident population. It is for NHS boards to decide how best to utilise this funding to meet local and national priorities, including the treatment and prevention of hepatitis C.

The Scottish Executive has commissioned Health Protection Scotland to estimate the current and future burden of HCV-related disease in Scotland over the next two decades. Further work is also being commissioned to identify how much it will cost NHSScotland to care for individuals infected with hepatitis C and how cost-effective different approaches to hepatitis C case finding and treatment would be.

Question reference: S2W-13820

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 7 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are sufficient resources available to ensure that people with hepatitis C are treated and counselled (a) inside and (b) outside hospital.

Question reference: S2W-13819

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 7 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to address any shortage of skilled nurses to manage the caseloads of patients with hepatitis C.

The Scottish Executive is committed to building nursing capacity within NHSScotland and is on track to achieve the Partnership Agreement target of attracting 12,000 nurses and midwives to NHS Scotland by 2007.

In addition, the Facing the Future initiative for recruitment and retention of nurses is supporting and promoting a range of measures to boost the number of qualified nurses in NHSScotland, which is now at an all time high of 39,000 whole-time equivalents (WTE).

Information on clinical nurse specialists employed in NHSScotland was collected for the first time at 30 September 2003. Across Scotland nurse specialists who treat and care for patients with hepatitis C can beidentified under the following titles: gastro-intestinal specialist nurses, hepatology specialist nurses and substance misuse specialist nurses. Information on staff in post by NHS board and clinical area of work is published in the report Clinical Nurse Specialists – Results from the Pilot Data Collection. This report is published on the Scottish Health Statistics website under Workforce Statistics, at www.isdscotland.org/workforce.

Information on Clinical Nurse Specialists is now collected annually at 30 September each year and compliments other intelligence and data for workforce planning purposes.

Question reference: S2W-13841

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 7 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the impact will be for residents in the Scottish Borders and East Lothian of the reported £5 million shortfall within Lothian and Borders Police.