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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: S4W-17460

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 3 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how much it would cost to reinstate the road equivalent tariff scheme for all vehicles using Western Isles services.

Question reference: S4O-02455

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 September 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that all schools have adequate internet connections.

Question reference: S4W-16859

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 19 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether legislation that contains a requirement to meet the public interest specifies the matters to be considered in order to do so.

In relation to most exemptions used under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and all exceptions under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004, information can only be withheld if, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in disclosing the information is not outweighed by that in maintaining the exemption or exception.

This legislation does not specify the matters to be considered in carrying out the public interest test as the public interest arguments in favour of and against release of information will vary significantly depending on the specific information requested. If an applicant does not agree with the way in which the public interest test has been applied by a public authority they have a right to seek an internal review and then, if they are still not happy, to appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner.

Question reference: S4W-16860

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 19 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that it complies with a requirement to meet the public interest when the matters to be considered in doing so are not laid out in the relevant legislation.

The Scottish Government provides guidance for its staff on applying the public interest test in relation to the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004. This is available on pages 44 and 45 at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/0042/00427777.pdf. Staff are also directed to the Scottish Information Commissioner's guidance for public authorities on how to apply the public interest test in relation to different exemptions and exceptions which is available at:

http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/Law/FOISA-EIRsGuidance/Briefings.aspx.

Question reference: S4W-16992

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 18 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) diagnoses of and (b) deaths from cervical cancer there have been in each of the last five years, also broken down by NHS board.

Cervical cancer incidence and mortality data is published by ISD Scotland at:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Cancer/Cancer-Statistics/Female-Genital-Organ

The number of a) new diagnoses (incidence) of and b) deaths from cervical cancer for 2007 to 2011 by NHS board are shown in Tables 1 and 2;

Table 1: The number of new diagnoses (incidence) of cervical cancer from 2007 to 2011 by NHS Board.

NHS Board	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Ayrshire and Arran	23	24	27	26	21
Borders	4	8	2	7	7
Dumfries and Galloway	7	10	8	4	10
Fife	20	18	20	19	23
Forth Valley	10	20	18	15	13
Grampian	27	21	26	32	32
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	76	77	75	90	62
Highland	19	26	14	19	22
Lanarkshire	34	30	56	46	32
Lothian	51	48	53	39	59
Orkney	0	1	1	2	3
Shetland	0	2	1	2	0
Tayside	21	29	27	30	29
Western Isles	1	0	0	1	0
Scotland	293	314	328	332	313

Table 2: The number of deaths from cervical cancer from 2007 to 2011 by NHS Board.

NHS Board	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Ayrshire and Arran	11	8	7	8	13
Borders	1	4	3	8	1
Dumfries and Galloway	3	3	6	5	3
Fife	10	8	11	9	5
Forth Valley	5	3	2	2	8
Grampian	11	3	9	5	5
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	19	27	26	20	22
Highland	9	8	7	4	13
Lanarkshire	20	9	9	18	14
Lothian	9	18	19	13	15
Orkney	0	0	1	0	0
Shetland	0	0	1	0	0
Tayside	7	11	6	7	9
Western Isles	0	0	0	0	0
Scotland	105	102	107	99	108

Cervical cancer (cancer of the cervix uteri) is defined as C53 in the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Edition.

Deaths data are provided by year of death registration.

Deaths data are provided by the National Records for Scotland (NRS).

Source: ISD Scotland

Question reference: S4W-16862

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 18 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what ongoing research programmes have received funding of more than £500,000 from the Chief Scientist Office since 2009.

Research programmes are usually defined as a series of research projects linked through a single offer of grant funding. The following ongoing research programmes have received funding since 1 January 2009:-

Applied Research Programme Grant – “Living well with multiple morbidity: the development and evaluation of a primary care-based complex intervention to support patients with multiple morbidities.” Value of grant £828,153.

Applied Research Programme Grant – “Data-driven improvement in primary care: integrating better quality measures and better information technology with aligned incentives and support for change.” Value of grant £974,645.

Applied Research Programme Grant – “Telemetric supported self-monitoring of long-term conditions.” Value of grant £986,816.

Applied Research Programme Grant - “Pharmacovigilance for children: Signal generation from linked NHS administrative data.” Value of grant £987,540.

Question reference: S4W-16861

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 17 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of research findings from the USA and Australia that vaccinating children with 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) reduced hospital admission rates, what research it is undertaking on the impact of introducing a pneumococcal vaccination programme.

The pneumococcal vaccine PCV7 was introduced into the Scottish routine immunisation schedule in 2006. In 2010 the vaccine was replaced by PCV13, which contains the seven serotypes included in the PCV7 vaccine, as well as six additional serotypes which broadens the protection against pneumococcal disease.

Health Protection Scotland (HPS) has been working to evaluate the impact of the pneumococcal vaccination programme in Scotland since its introduction in 2006. This has been in collaboration with laboratory, academic and clinical partners. HPS has also contributed to wider UK evaluation, reporting to the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). Enhanced surveillance studies have also been undertaken with ISD colleagues to examine the impact on related hospitalisations, as well as additional surveillance work with European and US counterparts.

Question reference: S4W-16994

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 12 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of eligible women has been screened for cervical cancer in each of the last 10 years, also broken down by (a) NHS board and (b) age group.

Eligible women are invited to attend cervical screening once every three years and by convention uptake rates are reported on the previous 3.5 years. The latest figures on the percentage of eligible women who have been screened for cervical cancer in each of the last 10 years broken down by (a) NHS board and (b) age group are available on ISD’s Cervical Screening Annual Uptake Data webpage at:

https://isdscotland.scot.nhs.uk/Health-Topics/Cancer/Publications/2013-08-27/Annual_uptake_data.xls

Question reference: S4O-02388

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 September 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish its response to The Review of NHS Pharmaceutical Care of Patients in the Community in Scotland.

Question reference: S4O-02341

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to the owners of the former Kishorn oil yard in Wester Ross to regenerate the facility.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and Kishorn Port Ltd signed a memorandum of understanding in January 2013. HIE has agreed to contribute up to £106,500 towards the cost of Kishorn Port's masterplanning process. Kishorn Port is seeking permission from Highland Council to develop the site as a fabrication and assembly hub for the offshore energy sector.

This is in addition to the previous work HIE has undertaken, which includes a socio economic review and financial assistance towards an assessment of engineering feasibility. HIE has also recently commissioned a shipping and logistics study and a market assessment into the potential of the dry dock.