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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: S5W-07298

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 8 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses in Lothian will see their non-domestic rates rise, broken down by the (a) type of business and (b) percentage increase.

Question reference: S5W-07640

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 8 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government which NHS buildings have been identified as being at risk of structural defects similar to those identified in the report on Edinburgh school buildings by John Cole, broken down by level of risk, and what action it will take to ensure that all affected NHS buildings are made safe.

Health Boards in Scotland are in the process of planning and conducting inspections of Healthcare Facilities in response to the guidance produced by the Scottish Futures Trust in response to the issue at the Edinburgh schools. At this point, there is no report of any NHS building being 'at risk'. Should any deficiency be identified from the planned surveys, Health Boards will take remedial action in an appropriate manner and timescale. It should be noted that inspections are precautionary in nature and the health facilities being inspected are all operational and timely survey work must be balanced against any disruption to essential service provision. This is particularly challenging for health facilities as intrusive surveys would often require a ward or facility to be closed.

Question reference: S5W-06787

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 8 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the guidance regarding health checks for children.

The 2005 universal core programme for child health screening and surveillance, Health for all Children 4, was supplemented with A New Look at Hall 4: the Early Years in 2011 and with Guidance on the 27-30 month child health review in 2012.

Guidance on health reviews and visits in the early years was refreshed in the Universal Health Visiting Pathway in Scotland: Pre-Birth to Pre-School, published in October 2015. The programme consists of 11 home visits to all families - 8 within the first year of life and 3 Child Health Reviews between 13 months, 27-30 months and 4-5 years.

In the light of this work and ongoing implementation, there are no current plans for review.

Question reference: S5W-07588

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 8 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) male and (b) female prisoners have a head injury that was a contributory factor in their offending behaviour.

Question reference: S5W-07589

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 8 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) male and (b) female prisoners require rehabilitation that is specifically related to a head injury.

Question reference: S5W-07587

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 8 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that the screening tools in prisons for head injuries need to be improved and, if so, how it is supporting this.

Question reference: S5W-07165

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 8 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on (a) car, (b) rail, (c) flight and (d) other tavel by (i) the First Minister and (ii) ministers in each year since 1999.

(a) The following table details the complete yearly costs held by the Scottish Government.

Year	Total cost
2007-08	£962,142
2008-09	£980,985
2009-10	£995,658
2010-11	£974,678
2011-12	£1,074,714
2012-13	£1,204,864
2013-14	£1,156,208
2014-15	£1,184,851
2015-16	£1,145,521

Total costs include staff salaries, employer's contributions, fuel, vehicle maintenance, private hire and travel and subsistence.

(b) & (c) All domestic rail and flight costs are routinely published on the Scottish Government website. Please note these publications are only available online from 2007 onwards:

Costs from 2007 - May 2016 can be found at:

http://www.gov.scot/About/People/14944/travel

Costs from May 2016 onwards can be found at:

https://beta.gov.scot/publications/?term=Ministerial&publicationTypes=transparency_data

(d) Other travel costs:

A breakdown of Overseas visits from 1999 – 2014 can be found at:

http://www.gov.scot/About/People/14944/travel/visitsoverseas

Overseas travel costs from 2015 – 2016 can be found at:

http://www.gov.scot/About/People/14944/travel/visitsoverseas/visitsoverseas

Overseas travel costs from May 2016 onwards can be found at:

https://beta.gov.scot/publications/?term=Ministerial&publicationTypes=transparency_data

Other travel costs also include ferry travel and taxi travel. Please note these publications are only available from 2009 onwards.

Costs from 2009 – May 2016 can be found at:

http://www.gov.scot/About/People/14944/travel

Costs from May 2016 onwards can be found at:

https://beta.gov.scot/publications/?term=Ministerial&publicationTypes=transparency_data

Question reference: S5W-07295

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 7 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported concerns of Lothian-based businesses regarding rises in their non-domestic rates bills; what discussions it has had with the area's business organisations and representatives regarding the issue, and how many representations it has received from individual businesses.

The Scottish Government regularly engages with businesses across Scotland, including from the Lothians.

Businesses in Lothian will benefit from a range of Scottish Government rate policies, including the decision to match the English poundage rate and cut the current rate by 3.7%; increasing the threshold at which the large business supplement becomes payable; expanding the small business bonus scheme threshold for 100% relief from £10,000 to £15,000 and capping the bill rises for hotels, restaurants, pubs and cafes at 12.5% this year.

Where businesses disagree with the independent Assessors determination of the rateable value of their premises an independent appeal system exists for them to challenge this.

Question reference: S5W-06995

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported concerns regarding (a) district nurse vacancies and (b) an ageing district nurse workforce.

Question reference: S5W-06782

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what the average waiting time has been for (a) children and (b) adults to see an Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) specialist in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

The information requested is provided in the following tables. It should be noted that data prior to the introduction of New Ways of Defining and Measuring Waiting Times in 2008 is from Scottish Morbidity Records (SMR00) and are not directly comparable.

MEDIAN WAITS (DAYS) FOR A FIRST OUTPATIENT CONSULTATION IN ENT FOR PATIENTS UNDER 16 YEARS BY NHS BOARD FOR THE YEARS 1999 TO 2007

Board

Median Waits (Days) : Patients Age Under 16 Years

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Ayrshire and Arran	30	25	45	43	46	49	70	76	47
Borders	85	107	121	59	45	84	90	84	92
Dumfries and Galloway	39	44	65	70	44	33	21	41	44
Fife	84	61	64	79	82	90	70	70	46
Forth Valley	57	49	58	70	75	63	77	82	45
Grampian	70	71	76	73	82	59	65	93	48
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	69	61	70	68	111	40	52	86	53
Highland	46	46	58	57	55	47	59	85	100
Lanarkshire	73	72	93	104	117	75	67	92	95
Lothian	16	18	18	30	40	54	50	28	87
Orkney	24	31	33	49	42	53	50	69	76
Shetland	36	41	41	58	71	62	47	68	63
Tayside	49	54	66	55	50	52	43	44	43
Western Isles	78	45	49	52	72	121	124	105	95
NHSScotland	53	52	63	63	68	50	56	68	58

Source : ISD SMR00

MEDIAN WAITS (DAYS) FOR A FIRST OUTPATIENT CONSULTATION IN ENT FOR PATIENTS 16 YEARS AND OVER BY NHS BOARD FOR THE YEARS 1999 TO 2007

Board

Median Waits (Days): Patients Age 16 Years and Over

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Ayrshire and Arran	49	49	73	50	56	107	85	70	40
Borders	67	72	53	35	35	48	46	49	76
Dumfries and Galloway	41	42	66	66	45	36	19	39	35
Fife	80	45	53	76	79	83	64	52	41
Forth Valley	54	49	54	62	63	68	73	62	42
Grampian	84	92	99	121	111	106	119	105	106
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	48	54	60	58	63	49	52	44	41
Highland	44	46	54	48	41	41	50	60	69
Lanarkshire	70	69	86	94	104	109	105	78	70
Lothian	69	63	61	65	55	57	63	66	84
Orkney	24	38	35	40	47	58	63	65	70
Shetland	40	40	42	47	52	62	36	46	60
Tayside	53	74	76	83	53	59	56	46	56
Western Isles	62	41	45	43	69	85	93	99	77
NHSScotland	56	56	63	66	64	61	62	56	53

Source : ISD SMR00

MEDIAN WAITS (DAYS) FOR A FIRST OUTPATIENT CONSULTATION IN ENT FOR PATIENTS UNDER 16 YEARS BY NHS BOARD FOR THE YEARS 2008 TO 2016

Board

Median Waits (Days) : Patients Aged Under 16 Years

	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Ayrshire and Arran	57	54	54	44	62	74	82	110	131
Borders	66	50	50	63	73	76	84	73	88
Dumfries and Galloway	38	42	44	21	38	44	40	40	43
Fife	42	40	44	36	37	42	41	42	47
Forth Valley	52	49	36	58	68	99	45	63	78
Grampian	66	55	72	81	74	63	60	108	133
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	45	48	53	40	42	50	55	60	69
Highland	81	61	52	56	62	80	87	118	88
Lanarkshire	48	24	44	76	80	77	75	70	81
Lothian	76	69	64	42	67	75	83	126	96
Orkney	59	57	44	41	30	54	57	67	51
Shetland	81	50	68	58	62	58	75	72	120
Tayside	36	37	52	49	46	50	56	60	68
Western Isles	77	45	57	59	49	85	66	39	63
NHSScotland	51	49	55	44	52	58	61	66	71

Source: ISD Waiting Times Warehouse

MEDIAN WAITS (DAYS) FOR A FIRST OUTPATIENT CONSULTATION IN ENT FOR PATIENTS 16 YEARS AND OVER BY NHS BOARD FOR THE YEARS 2008 TO 2016

Board

Median Waits (Days) : Patients Aged 16 years And Over

	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Ayrshire and Arran	53	47	56	65	78	73	82	78	57
Borders	53	38	36	43	55	61	74	62	46
Dumfries and Galloway	32	34	35	14	29	24	28	38	41
Fife	34	34	33	28	27	28	26	26	30
Forth Valley	51	42	31	44	58	83	40	55	66
Grampian	79	68	40	27	31	38	35	39	55
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	35	36	37	40	43	48	55	59	55
Highland	46	34	31	35	41	50	59	78	76
Lanarkshire	45	40	47	49	58	73	75	70	59
Lothian	48	45	54	35	51	70	49	52	42
Orkney	57	45	41	32	32	51	63	69	50
Shetland	71	44	60	54	58	45	74	62	84
Tayside	25	38	43	43	42	48	44	45	36
Western Isles	56	35	51	56	46	62	47	32	48
NHSScotland	43	41	41	37	43	49	49	51	49

Source: ISD Waiting Times Warehouse