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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-12258

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 13 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government in light of the findings in the Bliss Scotland Baby Report 2017 that six-out-of-eight neonatal units did not have enough nurses in post, two-thirds did not have enough medical staff and 10-out-of 11 found it "challenging" to ensure that their nurses received sufficient training, what action it has taken and progress has been made with the (a) staffing and (b) resourcing of the units.

The Scottish Government welcomed the publication of the report by Bliss Scotland in January this year. Bliss played a vital part in our national maternity and neonatal review and are represented on the ‘Best Start’ Implementation Programme Board.

The Programme Board will be examining neonatal workforce and education as part of their programme of work to take forward the package of recommendations. This modelling work will align with a national and regional workforce planning system across the NHS in Scotland which we have committed to introducing.

Health Boards must, of course, ensure that their neonatal units are appropriately and safely staffed. We have committed to enshrine safe staffing in law, placing the existing nursing and midwifery workload and workforce planning tools on a statutory footing.

Question reference: S5O-01453

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 November 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what value cycle tourism has to the economy.

Question reference: S5W-11823

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 26 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-03761 by Humza Yousaf on 10 November 2016, regarding the 50mph speed limit between Bogend Toll and the Dutch House Roundabout on the A77, what stage the Ministerial review of objections has reached, and when a final decision regarding the revocation of the 50mph speed limit is expected.

In accordance with the Secretary of State’s Traffic Orders (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 1987 it is now for Ministers to undertake a review of the objections received in respect of this draft Order. This review of objections is underway and further information has been commissioned to assist in this process. Once this is received and reviewed Ministers will make their recommendation.

This review will take time so that all views can be properly considered. In the meantime the 50 mph speed limit will remain in place and we will continue to monitor safety on the A77.

Question reference: S5W-11818

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 26 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to support Action for ME's work in developing treatment pathways across the country, and what its response is to reports that funding for this work is to end.

Question reference: S5W-11817

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 26 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that people with ME have access to adequate services, treatment and advice.

Question reference: S5W-11826

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 25 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that brain tumours are diagnosed early.

To support GPs to refer and diagnose suspected cancers earlier, we published updated Scottish Cancer Referral in 2014. The aim of these updated guidelines is to facilitate appropriate referral between primary and secondary care for patients whom a GP suspects may have cancer. The updated guidelines should help GPs, the wider primary care team, clinicians and carers to identify those patients who are most likely to have cancer and who therefore require urgent assessment by a specialist.

Question reference: S5W-11827

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 25 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that patients with less survivable cancers are able to access clinical trials.

The Scottish Government invests around £40 million annually in the NHS through NHS Research Scotland to meet the additional costs of hosting research, including clinical trials. Of this around £10 million per annum supports the cost of cancer research (including research into rare tumours) carried out in the NHS. This figure is not routinely broken down into tumour type.

This infrastructure investment includes the NRS Cancer Research Network. The role of the network is to support the recruitment of patients into clinical research across all cancer types, including less survivable cancers.

The Scottish Government is a funding partner, along with the other devolved nations and Cancer Research UK, in the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre Network (ECMC). The ECMC Network comprises 18 centres across the UK (including in Edinburgh and Glasgow), both adult and paediatric, that support pioneering early stage clinical trials and translation of scientific discoveries into new treatments for patients, including those with less survivable cancers.

As part of the Precision Medicine Ecosystem investment announced by the First Minister in February 2016, funding of £700,000 has been committed to “Precision Panc”, a research project that uses state of the art techniques to better characterise Pancreatic Cancer, allowing patients to be recruited to clinical trials efficiently and quickly. In March 2017 Cancer Research UK announced an investment of £10 million to support Precision Panc. This investment will allow the molecular profiling of patients’ tumours (to be carried out at the University of Glasgow). The researchers will use the molecular profile of each individual cancer to offer patients and their doctor a menu of trials that might benefit them. Three clinical trials planned as part of this initiative will recruit a total of 658 patients in 20 UK centres – with the scope to add more trials in the future.

Question reference: S5W-11869

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 24 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of investment funding for the HALO project in Kilmarnock from the UK and Scottish governments.

The Scottish Government announced on 30 August 2017 that we will invest up to £5.3m in the HALO regeneration project in Kilmarnock.

The Scottish Government will provide up to £3.5 million to support the first phase of the project, subject to completion of due diligence, with further investment of
£1.8 million being provided from the Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme (LCITP).

The UK Government announced on 8 August 2017 that they will provide £3.5m, although it is understood that this is subject to their own due diligence processes.

Question reference: S5T-00706

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 October 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the health secretary's comment in June that the country's "stillbirth rates and neonatal death rates continue to decline", what its response is to the recent report by the National Records of Scotland, which suggests an increase in the rate in 2016.

Question reference: S5W-11075

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 20 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what investment it plans as part of the wider Ayrshire Growth Deal.

As I have consistently stated and made clear to the three Ayrshire Council leaders when I have met them in recent months, I am fully committed to finding ways to support regional economies to thrive in Scotland. Together with Scottish Futures Trust and my officials, the Ayrshires are continuing to refine and prioritise their proposals for an Ayrshire Growth Deal. We will continue to explore their proposals in detail in the coming months and build on the work and strong partnership the Ayrshires have already established. I and the 3 Ayrshire Councils, have also made it clear that we would also welcome a commitment from the United Kingdom Government to support the Ayrshires Growth Deal aspirations.