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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-27246

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 11 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the plans for Dr Veronikis to visit Scotland to conduct mesh removal surgery and train other surgeons in this technique.

Question reference: S5W-27247

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 11 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what care and treatment pathways there are for people experiencing complications arising from hernia mesh implants.

Any patient who suspects they are experiencing complications from hernia mesh surgery should discuss their concerns with their GP or other clinicians involved in their case. Any subsequent care may be surgical or non-surgical depending on the individual circumstances of the case. The Chief Medical Officer has previously written to all Health Boards to emphasise that any patient who reports complications or side-effects following mesh surgery must be carefully listened to. Their concerns should, at all times, be taken seriously and acted on appropriately.

More generally, in response to emerging concerns about hernia mesh, the Scottish Government commissioned the Scottish Health Technologies Group to undertake an evidence review into its use in men. The final report can be viewed here . The Scottish Government will also approach Healthcare Improvement Scotland to ask that it considers whether a guideline on clinical care, including using recently published international studies, would be helpful for NHS Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-27124

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 4 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how much was spent on the upkeep of the Forth Road Bridge in the financial year (a) 2017-18 and (b) 2018-19.

Question reference: S5W-27128

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 4 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how fees for birth and death certificates are regulated and monitored.

The setting of fees for registration matters, including charges for extracts from the Birth and Death Registers (birth certificates and death certificates), is the responsibility of the Registrar General for Scotland, subject to the approval of Scottish Ministers. Fees are monitored by an advisory working group within National Records of Scotland which includes members from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the Association of Registrars of Scotland. Where the Registrar General recommends to Ministers a change to the established fees, and this is approved, revised fees are then brought into force by way of a Scottish Statutory Instrument.

Question reference: S5T-01996

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 03 February 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has for the leadership of NHS Lothian, in light of the recent resignation of its Chairman and forthcoming retirement of its Chief Executive.

Question reference: S5O-04060

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 29 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to protect standards in publicly-owned care homes.

Our national Health and Care Standards set out what everyone should rightly expect when using health and social care services in Scotland. The Care Inspectorate carries out a rigorous programme of inspections to ensure registered services are meeting these standards and take action where necessary. Through these inspections, we know that the vast majority of our care services, including publicly-owned care homes, are providing high quality care and support.

Question reference: S5W-26987

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 23 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of what action it is taking to address the "distinct recruitment issues across health and social care in remote, rural and Island areas", which were referred to in the paper, An Integrated Health and Social Care Workforce Plan for Scotland.

We are supporting remote, rural and island general practice with a comprehensive package of measures:

We have significantly enhanced recruitment incentives in the 2019/20 GP contract, investing £400,000 in recruitment incentives for rural GP posts across Scotland, and £200,000 for relocation costs for GPs moving to rural posts. This includes £10,000 payments to GPs taking up posts in rural practices for the first time and support with relocation costs.

We have increased GP relocation packages from £2,000 to £5,000 and widened eligibility to all remote and rural practices.

Since 2016 we have supported the Scottish Rural Medical Collaborative to develop recruitment and sustainability measures. In 2019.20 this included £69,450 to NHS Shetland to support the Rediscover the Joy in General Practice Project. The project has so far seen 33 doctors recruited from other areas to work up to 18 weeks a year in practices that previously found it difficult to attract a GP.

Scotland’s first Graduate Entry Medicine programme (ScotGEM) has a focus on careers in general practice and remote and rural working.

We are providing £500,000 for a new pilot shortened midwifery course at the University of Highlands and Islands. 19 registered adult nurses started the programme in January 2019 to become fully qualified midwives in just 20 months, and then work in the region. Funding has already been made available for 300 pre-registration nursing places through the University of the Highlands and Islands.

The Shaping the Future Together Report from the Remote and Rural General Practice Working Group describes the Group's first year of work. It sets out recommendations designed to support the ongoing process of implementing the contract as well as support future developments in rural General Practice and Primary Care.

Question reference: S5W-26988

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 23 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the project that is referred to in the paper, An Integrated Health and Social Care Workforce Plan for Scotland, which is testing whether having medical consultant roles that enable overseas work alongside delivering services in rural general hospitals can attract and retain staff.

The NHS Scotland Global Citizenship Programme was launched in June 2018. The aims of the Programme are to: (a) reflect and support our existing international development commitments to our partner countries, and to support capacity strengthening in the area of health; and (b) make it easier for all NHS Scotland staff to participate in global citizenship both here in Scotland and globally by ensuring better guidance, co-ordination and support. The synergy between remote and rural work in NHS Scotland and global health volunteering has been recognised and we are working to maximize opportunities that will benefit NHS Scotland by attracting staff to take up permanent posts in Scotland’s more remote areas, where recruitment, despite innovative approaches has been challenging.

As part of this, NHS Highland and NHS Western Isles, in partnership with the University of Edinburgh’s Global Health Academy, have developed a Test of Change which aims to recruit up to 6 permanent consultants and/ or generalist clinicians. For a fixed term of 3 years, these posts offer the opportunity to participate in a global health project (either partnership or research work) in one of the Scottish Government’s International Development partner countries. This work is evolving and NHS Highland have successfully recruited a junior doctor global citizen fellow who will be working with the global health academy from April. Further recruitment for these posts is ongoing.

Question reference: S5W-26835

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 23 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of all unintentional and intentional homeless households being entitled to temporary accommodation or settled accommodation, how many households (a) were and (b) were not provided such accommodation in (i) 2017, (ii) 2018 and (iii) 2019, and for what reason households were not provided accommodation.

The following tables gives information about the use of temporary accommodation for all homeless applications that closed in the financial years
‎ 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 that were assessed as unintentionally or intentionally homeless or threatened with homelessness.

Cases where a household is assessed as homeless but did not require temporary accommodation might include cases where the household was able to organise their own accommodation, or where they were moved directly to settled accommodation.

2016-2017:

	Not provided - Not required	Not provided - Required	Provided - Not taken up	Provided - Taken up	All
Unintentionally homeless or threatened with homelessness	10,160	177	549	15,842	26,728
Intentionally homeless or threatened with homelessness	494	17	46	926	1,483
All	10,654	194	595	16,768	28,211

2017-2018:

	Not provided - Not required	Not provided - Required	Provided - Not taken up	Provided - Taken up	All
Unintentionally homeless or threatened with homelessness	9,447	202	747	16,709	27,105
Intentionally homeless or threatened with homelessness	491	9	60	894	1,454
All	9,938	211	807	17,603	28,559

2018-2019:

	Not provided - Not required	Not provided - Required	Provided - Not taken up	Provided - Taken up	All
Unintentionally homeless or threatened with homelessness	9,503	210	976	17,940	28,629
Intentionally homeless or threatened with homelessness	464	7	69	972	1,512
All	9,967	217	1,045	18,912	30,141

The following tables give information about whether the final outcome for these households was settled accommodation. Settled accommodation here is a local authority tenancy, a tenancy with a registered social landlord or a tenancy in the private rented sector.

2016-2017:

	Non-settled	Settled	All
Unintentionally homeless or threatened with homelessness	8,471	18,257	26,728
Intentionally homeless or threatened with homelessness	1,071	412	1,483
All	9,542	18,669	28,211

2017-2018:

	Non-settled	Settled	All
Unintentionally homeless or threatened with homelessness	8,194	18,911	27,105
Intentionally homeless or threatened with homelessness	1,075	379	1,454
All	9,269	19,290	28,559

2018-2019:

	Non-settled	Settled	All
Unintentionally homeless or threatened with homelessness	8,404	20,225	28,629
Intentionally homeless or threatened with homelessness	1,127	385	1,512
All	9,531	20,610	30,141

The Scottish Government does not collect data on the reason why households are not offered temporary or settled accommodation.

Source: HL1 dataset as at 07-06-2019

Question reference: S5W-26852

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 06 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 23 January 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that, since 2009, the number of GP practices in NHS Lothian has fallen from 126 to 119, while the average practice list size has increased.

The reason for the reduction in GP practice numbers since 2009 is mainly due to a number of smaller single handed practice closures and the patient list being absorbed into larger neighbouring practices.

This is in line with a national trend as we see a reduction in smaller single handed practices in favour of larger practices that offer wider variety of services to patients to make sure they see the right person at the right time in like with the new GP contract.

The Scottish Government expects health boards to engage and support patients where there are changes in circumstances to the services they receive at their practice.