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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: S4O-05211

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 December 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to ensure resilience in the control system for police calls.

There are robust contingency measures in place to ensure the resilience of the control rooms system. The strength of these was clear in December 2015 when technical issues arose at Bilston Glen and Dundee, and Police Scotland were able to maintain effective handling of emergency calls.

I commissioned a review of call handling by HMICS which reported in early December 2015 and which made 30 recommendations. I have been assured by the Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland that these will be implemented in full.

In September 2015 I announced £1.4 million of new money would immediately be made available to Police Scotland in order to provide additional resilience to control room operations.

Question reference: S4F-03135

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 December 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 December 2015

To ask the First Minister whether it remains the Scottish Government's position that the NHS24 ICT future programme is an exemplar of good practice.

Question reference: S4W-28702

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 9 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will ensure that all student (a) nurses, (b) midwives and (c) allied health professionals who are undertaking clinical placements are offered the influenza vaccination.

Student nurses, midwives and allied health professionals who may be exposed to the flu during placements within NHS boards should receive the flu vaccination in line with all other NHS healthcare workers.

A joint letter is issued each year from the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Nursing Officer to the NHS setting out the arrangements for flu season. This highlights the importance of the flu vaccination being offered by employers for staff or other individuals who may be at risk of occupational exposure.

Question reference: S4W-28368

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 26 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many antisocial behaviour orders issued in each of the last five years have included an exclusion order from (a) on- and (b) off-sales premises.

An antisocial behaviour order (ASBO) cannot result in an exclusion order. Exclusion orders are provided for by Section 94 of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005, which applies where a person is convicted of a violent offence committed on, or in the immediate vicinity of, any licensed premises. The exclusion order will then prohibit the person from entering the premises on which the offence was committed, or such other licensed premises (if any) as specified by the court in the order.

ASBOs are preventative orders, provided for by the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004, which are intended to protect people in the community affected by antisocial behaviour from further acts or conduct that would cause them alarm or distress. An ASBO is a court order which prohibits, either indefinitely or for a specified period, a person from doing anything described in the order.

However, conditions set by an ASBO may include a ban from licensed premises, or the immediate vicinity of such premises, if the sheriff making the ASBO deems such a measure to be necessary. Information in relation to the use of ASBOs for this purpose is not held centrally by the Scottish Government, however my officials have written to all Scottish local authorities to obtain this information and they will co-ordinate a response and place it in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre once this information has been received (Bib. number 57458).

Question reference: S4W-28042

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 25 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what representations it has made to the UK Government seeking an increase in attendance allowance to meet the £7.20 per hour national minimum wage requirement from April 2016.

The Scottish Government is currently in active negotiation with the UK Government about the level of funding that will be transferred to the Scottish Parliament as a result of the Scotland Bill 2015. Attendance allowance is one of the benefits that will be devolved.

Free personal care is available for everyone aged 65 and over in Scotland who have been assessed by the local authority as needing it. This policy currently benefits over 78,000 people, many of whom will also receive attendance allowance.

Question reference: S4W-28374

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 24 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) community and (b) primary care advanced nurse practitioners there are, broken down by NHS board.

Advanced nurse practitioners (ANPs) work in a variety of nursing roles and across a number of delivery settings such as community and primary care. Whilst published data on ANPs is not available, we expect NHS board workforce planners to know how many ANPs they have, how many they require, and how to take full account of ANPs in preparing workforce plans, as they are statutorily required to do.

Information Services Division Scotland, with guidance from the Scottish Government, plans to work with NHS boards to further develop the recording of ANPs.

The Scottish Government is working through its transforming nursing roles initiative to provide strategic oversight, direction and governance to the development and transformation of nursing roles so that they meet the current and future needs of Scotland’s health and care system. This aims to ensure developments in nursing roles arising from either policy or service imperatives are nationally sustainable and consistent, and have clear career pathways.

Question reference: S4W-28376

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 23 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to convene a national meeting of managers of GP practices that are run by NHS boards (2C practices) to discuss sharing best practice.

In the majority of instances a 2C practice is run by the NHS board, as opposed to being run by GPs and/or other partners, as is the case for practices with 17C or 17J contract types.

Health boards are responsible for the provision of primary medical services for their areas and we expect Boards to share best practice. For this purpose the National Primary Care Leads Group, chaired by the Scottish Government, was established in 2004 as a forum with clinical and operational management representation from territorial health boards, the Scottish Government and key partner agencies such as Practitioner Services Division.

Question reference: S4W-28378

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish details of the (a) application process and (b) selection criteria for the pilot GP clusters that it recently announced.

Question reference: S4W-28377

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what targets it has set to increase the number of (a) district nurses, (b) general practice (i) nurses, (ii) healthcare assistants and (iii) support staff, (c) physician assistants and (d) advanced community nurse practitioners.

High quality, safe and sustainable patient care remains our absolute priority and NHS boards use a variety of resources to determine what number and blend of staff each specialty and location requires to ensure this.

NHS boards collect and use intelligence around demand, capacity trends, patient acuity and other factors. We expect NHS boards to include this intelligence to help them project their needs forward, inform and develop their local delivery plans and workforce plans, and combine it as appropriate with the nursing and midwifery workload and workforce planning tools we have mandated them to use.

Question reference: S4W-28379

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether the pilot GP clusters that it recently announced include practices that are the subject to locally-negotiated agreements (17C practices).