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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: S3W-33584

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 May 2010
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 24 May 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that referrals made to the NHS’s secondary or tertiary services consider ethnicity from the outset, with patient consent, instead of seeking the information retrospectively.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-33583 on 20 May 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Ethnicity data is now collected for new patient registrations in primary care by around half of GP practices across Scotland, i.e. those who opted to take up the Directed Enhanced Services (DES) for recording ethnic group and interpreting needs of all their local populations.

Question reference: S3W-33583

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 May 2010
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 20 May 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the response rate is to the letters being sent out to referred hospital patients enquiring about their ethnicity, also broken down by NHS board.

This information is not held centrally. However, NHS NSS Information Services Division''s (ISD) Equality and Diversity Information Programme (EDIP) monitors the level of ethnicity reporting from secondary care. The EDIP produces quarterly reports setting out figures for ethnic groups by NHS board (SMR00 for outpatients and SMR01 for inpatients and day cases). The reports are available at http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/5826.html.

Question reference: S3O-10600

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 May 2010
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 20 May 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made any recent changes to its procedures for supporting future cultural events.

Question reference: S3W-33393

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 April 2010
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 11 May 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive on what dates it has spoken with (a) retailers and (b) COSLA regarding the (i) proposed powers to enable local licensing boards to raise the minimum age limit for off-trade sales to 21 and (ii) possibility of introducing community alcohol partnership schemes similar to that trialled at St Neots in Cambridgeshire and what these discussions included.

Scottish Government ministers and officials have had a number of meetings with individual retailers and representative bodies on all aspects of the Alcohol Framework both during the consultation phase and since the Alcohol Bill has been published. In particular, the Scottish Government has held quarterly meetings with the Scottish Government Alcohol Industry Partnership (SGAIP) of which the Scottish Retail Consortium and the Scottish Grocers Federation are members.

These meetings have provided an opportunity to discuss the Alcohol Framework and Bill, including the proposal to require licensing boards to consider raising the age of off-sales purchases to 21. In relation to community based projects, the SGAIP is a partner in the Fife Alcohol Pilot Partnership (FAPP) which is piloting a multi-component approach to community interventions and progress reports on FAPP are a standing item on the SGAIP agenda. As part of the scoping phase of the FAPP, SGAIP Members, including the Scottish Retail Consortium, visited the pilot project in St Neots on 20 November 2008 and reported back to the SGAIP on their findings on 28 November 2008.

Scottish Government ministers and officials have also had a number of meetings with COSLA representatives during the development of the Alcohol Framework and Bill, including the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Minister for Public Health attending the COSLA leaders and chief executives meeting on 30 January 2009. COSLA have welcomed the flexibility which the provisions on raising the age of off-sales purchases to 21, contained in the bill, provide to local licensing boards.

Question reference: S3W-33392

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 April 2010
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 5 May 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive on what dates since 26 April 2009 it has met retailers to discuss the proposed social responsibility levy on alcohol.

The Scottish Government has met a wide group of stakeholders covering both the on and off-trade sectors, including retailers, on 1 May 2009, 8 June 2009 and 11 August 2009 to specifically discuss the proposed social responsibility levy.

In addition, meetings with retailers and/or their trade associations in respect of the Alcohol etc (Scotland) Bill, including the social responsibility levy, have taken place on 18 June 2009, 20 July 2009, 18 August 2009, 26 August 2009, 14 September 2009, 25 September 2009, 21 October 2009, 22 October 2009, 28 October 2009, 26 November 2009, 14 December 2009, 15 December 2009, 19 January 2010, 22 January 2010, 24 February 2010, 26 February 2010, 9 March 2010 (twice), 25 March 2010 and 21 April 2010.

Question reference: S3W-33214

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 April 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 28 April 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to UK ministers regarding the possible reduction in the alcohol limit for drink-driving offences.

The Scottish Government strongly believes that a reduction in the drink drive limit from 80mg per 100ml of blood to 50mg would save lives and prevent many serious injuries on our roads.

The government announced its full support for a reduction in the drink driving limit on 12 March 2008 and wrote then to the Department for Transport, calling upon to UK Government to prioritise a reduction in the limit.

The Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change and I have written on a number of subsequent occasions, requesting that the UK Government make progress on a reduction in the limit.

Subsequent to the Scottish Parliament debate on 19 December 2008, which called on the UK Government to reduce the limit to 50mg per 100ml of blood, I wrote again asking that priority be given to a reduction in the limit across the UK and, failing that, that the powers to set the limit be devolved to the Scottish Parliament.

In June 2009, the Calman Commission recommended that the powers to set the limit be devolved to the Scottish Parliament. Both the First Minister and I made representations to the UK Government pressing for this to be undertaken as soon as possible.

Most recently, in February 2010, the Scottish Government submitted a response to the North Review on Drink and Drug Driving, which was commissioned by the Department for Transport.

Question reference: S3W-33216

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 April 2010
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 28 April 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the effects on the health of children of passive smoking in cars.

There is an increasing body of evidence emerging regarding the levels of second hand-smoke present in cars and of the health hazard this represents for both adults and children. The smoke-free legislation has increased awareness of the risks associated with exposing children and others to second-hand smoke. We will continue to examine this emerging evidence and we will do what we can to ensure awareness is raised about the dangers of second-hand smoke in cars.

Question reference: S3W-33213

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 April 2010
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 28 April 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether prescribing by pharmacists in the management of long-term conditions will be electronic only or a mixture of paper-based and electronic prescribing.

Question reference: S3W-33208

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 April 2010
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 28 April 2010

Question reference: S3W-33212

Asked by: Dr Richard Simpson, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 April 2010
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 28 April 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff are likely to be made redundant in the (a) prescription pricing and (b) NHS fraud division as a result of (i) the ending of prescription charges and (ii) changing to electronic prescriptions.

National Services Scotland: Practitioner Services Division (PSD) administers the processing of all prescription forms in Scotland. At the abolition of prescription charges, this process will continue. Due to careful forward planning, no redundancies will be made as a result of either the planned abolition of prescription charges or the electronic transfer of prescriptions (ETP) as affected staff will be redeployed into vacancies elsewhere across the organisation. All changes in work patterns have been fully discussed in partnership with the unions.

Similarly, any effect on staff numbers at NHS Scotland Counter Fraud Services is likely to be minimal due to their involvement in other workstreams.