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-14100

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients��with terminal conditions have not had a��Patient Care Plan in each year for which information is available, broken down by NHS board, and what advice it provides to GPs regarding these plans.

This information is not centrally held.

Our Strategic Framework for Action on Palliative and End of Life Care, which was published in December 2015, emphasised the importance of people having care plans in place to enable those who would benefit from palliative and end of life care to get access to it.

The Scottish Government wrote to all GP services in September 2017 to note the importance and value of fully completing Key Information Summaries to support person centred anticipatory care planning.

Question reference: S5W-14027

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 2 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the comment by the First Minister in its news release of 17 January 2018, Ambition on Human Rights,��that�� "it is vital we are not complacent and continue��to push ourselves to do more to ensure human rights are embedded in everything we do",��whether it considers��that its mental health legislation takes full account of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and, if not, what action it is taking to amend this.

Scottish mental health and incapacity legislation is based on rights and principles. Our mental health legislation promotes patients’ rights and provides safeguards which include that any function should be carried out for the maximum benefit of the patient, with the minimum necessary restriction on the freedom of the patient and having regard to the views of the patient.

Our legislation is compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) and has never been found, in part or in whole, by the European Court of Human Rights to be incompatible with the Convention. In addition, the Human Rights Act 1998 ensures that every public authority in Scotland is obliged to act compatibly with the Convention and enables human rights cases to be taken in domestic courts.

We have recently implemented the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 2015 and are undertaking a range of work through the Mental Health Strategy to move forward Scottish mental health and incapacity legislation.

During the passage of the 2015 Act, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was influential. For example, measures were taken to strengthen the provisions in the existing 2003 Act. These promote supported decision making so that users are able to exercise their capacity. This includes:

• more autonomy for patients in the right to have a named person (often a relative or friend);

• promoting the right to make an advance statement setting out what treatments they would or would not like to be given; and

• promoting the right to support from an independent advocate.

The Scottish Government is working with partners including the Mental Welfare Commission, the Office of the Public Guardian and professional and human rights bodies to develop changes to the Adults with Incapacity Act (2000) in relation to deprivation of liberty, and to assess compliance with UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. A full public consultation on reform of the Adults with Incapacity legislation has just been launched.

We have also commenced the review to consider how the provisions of the 2003 Act fulfil the needs of people with learning disability and autism.

Question reference: S5W-13669

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 2 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how much the Baby Box scheme will cost in 2018-19, in light of FOI response FOI/17/02557, which states it will cost £8.8 million, and its��Draft Budget, which states the budget��is £8 million.

Question reference: S5W-13668

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 2 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the Baby Box scheme is mentioned in the Education and Skills section of its Draft Budget while the £8 million budget is shown in Level 4 of the Health and Sport budget.

Question reference: S5W-14086

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many hospitals in each NHS board��have been in crisis bed-management mode in each month since April��2007.

Crisis bed-management mode is not a term that the Scottish Government recognises. Each hospital site have a management system in place for capacity and would relate this to escalation procedures as required. We have issued guidance on improving management of whole system capacity through improved communication in morning safety flow huddles.

Weekly official statistics are published on emergency department activity and performance in Scotland, which is a good whole system marker. These reports are available on the Information Services Division (ISD) website:

In partnership with Health Boards and the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, the Scottish Government produced emergency department capacity management guidance through the 6 Essential Actions programme which offers a framework of escalation to proactively manage and prevent crowding in Emergency Departments and/or assessment areas.

Question reference: S5W-14092

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 2 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how��many social care employees��from the EU are employed by each local authority, also broken down by what percentage of staff this represents.��

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Question reference: S5W-14058

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-13734 by Shona Robison on��18 January 2018, in light of reports that NHS Lothian estimates that it requires��£26 million to improve facilities, whether it will provide a breakdown of how��the cabinet secretary calculated it as being £15 million.

As previously stated, the Scottish Government is planning on allocating additional funds to support these plans and the current estimate is that NHS Lothian will require an additional £15 million to deliver this project. This estimate is based on advice received direct from NHS Lothian, following an extensive process to prioritise service requirements against available capital funding. The Scottish Government will continue to engage direct with NHS Lothian and additional funding assumptions will be updated as their plans develop.

Question reference: S5W-13969

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 2 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what lessons it learned following the insolvency of the Dunne Group in 2016 regarding contractors that are involved in delivering public sector contracts going out of business before contracts are completed; what changes it made in systems and procurement policies in light of any lessons learned, and how any such changes will assist in mitigating the impact of Carillion's insolvency and any similar insolvencies in the future.

The insolvency of the Dunne Group reinforced the importance of professional contract and supplier management during the delivery of key contracts and, as part of that, the need to monitor for any changes in the financial health of suppliers. It was this approach that helped identify Carillion as a risk at the first profit warning in July 2017. As a result of that warning, and contract management discussions with Carillion, the Scottish Government worked with a number of public bodies who may have been potentially impacted, to offer assistance and discuss contingencies during the late summer and autumn of 2017. These same procedures will help to secure and protect public services if another key supplier becomes insolvent. In addition, The Scottish Government works with colleagues across the rest of the UK to monitor the financial health of key suppliers.

Question reference: S5W-13720

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-13253 by Shona Robison on 8 January 2017, whether the cabinet secretary approved the issue of the news release of 17 November 2017, Waiting Times at NHS Lothian.

Question reference: S5W-13550

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason ISD Scotland statistics published on��19 December 2017��suggest��that there has been��decline in A&E waiting time��performance (a) in NHS Lothian and (b) at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, and what action it is taking to ensure that the waiting time target is met.

In the week ending 10 December 2017 NHS Lothian experienced a range of challenges that impacted on A&E performance across the Board, including the Royal Infirmary Edinburgh. For instance the level of attendances increased across the Board, in fact during the week ending 10 December the level of attendances were amongst the highest seen since weekly reporting began almost three years ago. In the week ending 17 December the board saw its highest level in any one week.

The Scottish Government is working closely with the local teams across NHS Lothian, including partnerships, to support improvements in relation to A&E waiting time performance and the reduction of delayed discharges. We are working with the hospital to enhance existing processes at the front door to support the timely flow of patients through the A&E department and additional capacity has been opened in community hospitals to support discharges. We will continue to work with the Board to support the required improvements.