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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-03074

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 27 October 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether equipment levels in the NHS are commensurate with the needs of the service and whether NHS staff can access appropriate equipment when they require it.

It is for individual NHS boardsto determine annually the level of funding required for new and replacementmedical equipment taking into account other local priorities. NHS boards canuse both capital and revenue resources to meet equipment costs.

In addition, the Executivehas centrally funded programmes in excess of £40 million since 2000 forinvestment in medical equipment. Other initiativessuch as the Capital Modernisation Fund have provided resources for investmentin medical equipment - particularly linear accelerators.

Question reference: S2W-03073

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 27 October 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has conducted research into the re-use of single-use equipment in the NHS.

There has been no researchconducted by the Scottish Executive into the re-use of single-use equipment in the NHS. The guidance from the Medicines & HealthcareProducts Regulatory Agency (MHRA, previously the Medical Devices Agency, MDA)in their Device Bulletin DB(2000)04, Single-use medical devices:implications and consequences of re-use, is clear that devices designatedby the manufacturer as single use must not be re-used. Subsequent Scottish Executive guidance, issued to the servicein February 2001, states that a senior manager within each NHS trust should bedesignated as having overall responsibility for ensuring that the MHRA guidance is followed.

Question reference: S2W-03076

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 October 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 27 October 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether training in the use of equipment is adequate in the NHS.

The Health and Safety atWork Act 1974 requires that employees must be properly trained in the use ofany equipment they are required to use.

Audit Scotlandpublished a report, Equipped to Care in March 2001. This provided NHS boardswith recommendations covering the strategic management, funding and acquisitionand maintenance of medical equipment. A specific recommendation was maderegarding the introduction of formal training policies on the use of medicalequipment where these were not already in place. The Executive surveyedindividual NHS acute trusts and island health boards in 2002. The survey foundthat acute trusts and island health boards had either implemented or wereworking towards implementing the Audit Scotland recommendation. Audit Scotlandare currently undertaking a follow-up audit which is due to report towards theend of 2003. The Executive will consider the findings and recommendations indue course.

Question reference: S2O-00507

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 September 2003
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 25 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether current public sector wage levels are adequate.

Question reference: S2O-00425

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 September 2003
Current Status: Answered by Euan Robson on 18 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what efforts it has made to assist with the resolution of the nursery nurses' industrial action.

The Scottish Executive will continue to encourage the local authorities and unions to keeptalking, in order to reach a settlement that is fair for the nursery nurses andfinancially sustainable for the local authorities.

Pay and conditions are amatter for employers and this dispute must be resolved between the localauthorities and the trade unions. I am pleased to note that some localdiscussions are taking place and that, in at least one area, a settlement hasalready been agreed.

Question reference: S2W-02120

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 16 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-1447 by Euan Robson on 6 August 2003, whether any of the increased funding for local authorities to meet the costs of educating children with additional support needs in mainstream schools has been diverted from other special needs education budgets and, if so, how much has been diverted, and what the total special needs education budgets have been in each year since 1998-99, broken down by local authority.

The Executive’s increasedfunding to support the costs of children with additional support needs inmainstream schools is new money. I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-2364 today, for information on local authority netexpenditure on special educational needs since 1998-99. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the searchfacility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

Question reference: S2W-02113

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 10 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-1453 by Cathy Jamieson on 18 August 2003, whether it will direct that information on how many people with an autistic spectrum disorder are held in prison or secure accommodation is collected, collated and published.

The Scottish Executive’s annual statistical collection on children in secure establishments is reviewed regularly. I have asked my officials to consider including informationon the nature of the learning disability, as part of the next review of thesestatistics. Should this be feasible, such figures could be published, subjectto restrictions to preserve confidentiality if the numbers were found to bevery small.

The Scottish Prison Serviceplans to introduce a new G-Pass computerised medical record system by 2005following the upgrade of its prison record system in 2004. This will enable thecollation of statistics on a wider range of health related matters currentlyheld on individual confidential health care records.

Question reference: S2W-01530

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 July 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide support and confidential access to contraception, including the morning-after pill, to schoolchildren.

Young people, where consideredcompetent to give consent to medical treatment, can already have confidential accessto contraceptive advice and supply from a number of sources, including general practitionersand sexual health clinics. The provision of sexual health services more generally,including for young people, will be a matter to be addressed in the proposed nationalsexual health strategy, which is currently being taken forward by an expertgroup, and which will be the subject of public consultation in the autumn.

Question reference: S2W-01781

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 July 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 27 August 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many, and what percentage of, births in 2002 were planned home births, broken down by NHS board area.

Question reference: S2W-01782

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 July 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 27 August 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many women who planned home births were delivered in hospital in 2002 and, of these, how many women disagreed with the decision to give birth in hospital, broken down by NHS board area.