Questions and answers

Chamber and committees

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 ��˿�� 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-27604

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 10 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-21999 by John Swinney on 19 March 2019, whether it will provide the same information for 2018-19.

Average per-pupil spending on additional support for learning in Scotland was £3,286 in 2018-19.

Data detailing spending on additional support for learning is collected from local authorities via the Local Financial Returns (LFR). This per-pupil spend figure shows gross revenue expenditure on additional support for learning in primary, secondary and special education from the local financial returns (£653,080), divided by the number of pupils identified as having additional support needs recorded in the 2018 Pupil Census.

Local authorities are asked to provide this LFR data in line with relevant guidance to ensure returns are completed on a consistent basis to allow for a reasonable degree of comparability. However, these figures may be affected by variations in local accounting practices and Education strategies. It is important to consider these factors when making comparisons between local authorities and years.

This data also cannot capture the full detail of the support provided to pupils, as a result of provision made for the whole pupil population, from which children and young people with additional support needs also benefit.

LFR data for 2017-18 (revised) showed that local authorities spent £633 million on additional support for learning (on pre-primary, primary, secondary and special education). Compared with £661 million in 2018-19, this represents a 2.2% increase in real terms (4.3% in cash terms).

Sources:

1. Local Financial Returns – Education (LFR 01) statistical return provided by local authorities to the Scottish Government (2017-18 and 2018-19).

2. Pupil Census – published annually - for further details go to: .

Question reference: S5T-02062

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 March 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the concerns raised by the former chair of NHS Lothian regarding the new Royal Hospital for Children and Young People.

Question reference: S5W-27376

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 9 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-27060 by Jeane Freeman on 5 February 2020, what the findings have been from the stress audits carried out by NHS boards.

Findings from stress audits are not collated by the Scottish Government .

Stress audits are part of the monitoring and evaluation process on the effectiveness of NHS Boards` stress at work policies and support services. They include consideration of staff experience reports, sickness absence rates and staff turnover rates.

Boards` policies should equip staff and managers with tools to identify the risk of stress, intervene appropriately and encourage staff to get help at an early stage.

We expect NHS Boards to assess and mitigate the risks of stress whilst supporting staff to manage stress in the workplace. This includes where it has been added to, or caused by stress in their personal lives.

Question reference: S5W-27706

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 March 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 9 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment has been made of the number of unfilled consultant dermatologists posts in each NHS board.

Question reference: S5W-27661

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 9 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been removed from waiting lists after informing the NHS that they are undergoing treatment in the independent private sector in each year since 1999.

This information is not held centrally by either the Scottish Government or Information Services Division (ISD). In these circumstances the member may wish to contact NHS Boards to obtain this information.

Removals from the waiting list are published for both Outpatients and Inpatients/Day Cases at the following links. These figures are broken down by the category of removal into the following categories:

- Attended

- Referred Back to GP

- Transferred

- Treatment no longer required

- Other Reasons.

ISD do not hold information to further break down the Other Reason category to determine if this included undergoing treatment in the independent private sector

Figures for removals from the waiting list for Outpatients, by specialty, for NHS Scotland and NHS Boards are available in Table 1.4 at

Figures for removals from the waiting list for Inpatients and Day Cases, by specialty, for NHS Scotland and NHS Boards are available in Table 2.4 at

Question reference: S5W-27662

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 9 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many dermatologists each NHS board has employed in each year since 2007.

The number of whole time equivalent consultant dermatologists (excluding directors) employed by NHS Boards in each year since 2007 is set out as follows:

	Sep-07	Sep-08	Sep-09	Sep-10	Sep-11	Sep-12	Sep-13	Sep-14	Sep-15	Sep-16	Sep-17	Sep-18	Sep-19
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	3.4	4.4	5.0	2.4	3.3	5.3	5.4	4.5	4.5	4.6	3.6	4.4	4.3
NHS Borders	-	-	-	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	2.0	2.0	2.5	2.1	1.0
NHS D&G	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6	1.0	1.0	1.0	2.0	2.0
NHS Fife	2.5	2.8	3.6	3.9	3.9	3.9	4.6	4.9	5.8	5.8	6.0	5.8	5.2
NHS Forth Valley	1.0	1.0	1.0	2.0	2.0	2.5	2.5	2.5	2.8	2.8	3.6	3.7	3.8
NHS Grampian	3.3	3.9	4.5	4.1	4.1	4.5	4.5	6.1	5.1	5.1	3.6	3.9	5.8
NHS GGC	16.5	16.3	14.7	18.6	17.5	19.3	20.1	20.3	20.2	19.4	18.6	20.8	19.8
NHS Highland	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.5	2.5	2.5	2.3	2.2	2.2
NHS Lanarkshire	4.8	5.0	5.0	6.0	6.0	6.0	6.0	5.4	4.0	4.3	1.3	2.3	1.3
NHS Lothian	9.5	10.3	9.6	8.6	10.5	10.2	9.2	10.3	8.8	9.5	8.4	7.7	11.3
NHS Orkney	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
NHS Shetland	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
NHS Tayside	7.3	8.9	8.3	9.4	10.5	9.9	9.1	10.1	10.1	10.9	10.2	9.2	9.2
NHS Western Isles	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Source: Scottish Workforce Information Standard System (SWISS)

Question reference: S5W-27666

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 9 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what plans is has to develop a national NHS staff bank similar to that run by NHS Lothian.

All acute NHS Boards have access to an NHS Staff Bank, with the majority of temporary cover coming from this. We have over 35,000 nurses and over 2,900 doctors registered on the NHS Staff Bank, which operate on a local and regional basis to provide high quality temporary cover.

Evidence shows that the majority of staff prefer to work locally, taking up extra shifts in their own or neighbouring Boards, so the case for a National Staff Bank is limited. Where however there is evidence of benefit, we have taken action such as establishing the Scottish Clinical Collaborative which allows retired Surgeons from all over Scotland and the UK, the opportunity to work in our remote and rural hospitals.

Question reference: S5W-27564

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 6 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to (a) expand stoma services and (b) increase the number of specialist stoma nurses in (i) NHS Lothian and (ii) Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-27400

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 4 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what evaluation it has carried out of its guidance, Caring for people in the last days and hours of life, and what changes it has made to this since publication in 2013.

The National Statement on Caring for People in the Last Days and Hours of Life, was published in 2013.

The purpose of this National Statement was to communicate the key principles underpinning high quality palliative and end of life care. This was to support NHS Boards in developing relevant identification, assessment and care planning materials, policies and guidance for the provision of high quality palliative and end of life care following the phasing out of the Liverpool Care Pathway in 2014. As such, no evaluation has been made of this National Statement.

Question reference: S5W-27399

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 2 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether and when it consulted patients and chronic pain groups on decisions not to prioritise chronic pain issues in NHS specialist pain clinics on a waiting times project under the Scottish Access Collaborative, in light of reports that staffing shortages have led to delays in patient treatment.

The Scottish Access Collaborative was created in October 2017 to sustainably improve waiting times for patients waiting for non-emergency procedures. It is working alongside NHS boards in Scotland to reduce waiting times, improve patient experience and develop responses to some of the main challenges facing the NHS. Chronic Pain is one of twelve specialties included in the Scottish Access Collaborative.

Three design workshops were held during 2018-19 aiming to understand the current Chronic Pain pathways, improve patient experience and suggest improvements for the services provided in the future. Patients and third sector groups participated in the workshops and contributed to the report, along with clinicians from the community, primary and secondary care. A report was published in summer 2019 and highlighted seven areas most likely to make a difference for people experiencing Chronic Pain, including ‘develop strong links between primary and secondary care in order to create a clear model of care’ and ‘allocate available resource to educate, train, supply and retain healthcare professionals with the right skills sets in the right places’.

Although there was multi-disciplinary representation from statutory and third sector services and patients at the Design workshops, only a fraction of the chronic pain community was able to participate at the time. Engagement with stakeholders, including third sector service providers and those with lived experience of chronic pain across Scotland, is underway to validate the report findings and identify the priorities to be taken forward; this is being led by the Modernising Patient Pathways Programme with the intention of achieving sustainable and effective service change. The Modernising Patient Pathways Programme has appointed a Clinical Lead with extensive experience of working in Specialist Pain clinics in secondary care services in Scotland and a GP Advisor to support this work.