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-11655

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many requests for meetings there have been each year with (a) the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport, (b) Health Improvement Scotland and (c) the Care Inspectorate by whistleblowers or suspended NHS staff members who are considered "prescribed persons" under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, and how many have been (i) approved and (ii) rejected.

The information requested is not held centrally.

I receive requests from NHSScotland staff on a regular basis to discuss a wide range of matters. All meeting requests are considered on a case by case basis but are not recorded by the employment or whistleblowing status of the individual requesting the meeting.

The recording of requests from NHSScotland staff to meet Healthcare Improvement Scotland and the Care Inspectorate are matters for these bodies to determine.

Under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, prescribed bodies or persons are independent bodies or individuals who whistleblowers can approach to make a ‘protected disclosure’ rather than their employer. Depending on the nature of the concern, these are usually scrutiny or legislative bodies and include Healthcare Improvement Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-11660

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much is owed to each NHS board for providing treatment to international patients in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S5W-11664

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many people from Scotland have been treated by the NHS in the rest of the UK in each year since 1999, also broken down by the amount paid by each NHS board.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of people from Scotland treated by the NHS in the rest of the UK, or on the number of people from the rest of the UK treated by the NHS in Scotland.

Reciprocal arrangements between NHS bodies in Scotland and the UK are managed by individual health boards. The information requested would require to be obtained from individual health boards.

Question reference: S5W-11665

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many people from the rest of the UK have been treated in Scotland in each year since 1999, and how much each NHS board received.

Question reference: S5W-12190

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 1 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to increase the number of training places for social care and, if so, by how many each year.

Question reference: S5W-12049

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 31 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that (a) it, (b) its officials, (c) Healthcare Improvement Scotland, (d) the Healthcare Environment Inspectorate and (e) the rest of the NHS implements its responsibilities under the (i) Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, (ii) Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and (iii) Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations with regard to (A) ensuring patient safety and (B) tackling healthcare associated infections, and what analysis it has carried out of the standards of compliance.

Health and Safety is a reserved matter under the terms of the Scotland Act (1998). The duty holders in NHSScotland under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HSWA) and relevant regulations, are NHS Boards, as they are separate legal entities to the Scottish Government. Individual NHS Boards are responsible for Health and Safety within their own areas.

Through Healthcare Improvement Scotland and NHS Boards the Scottish Government and its officials ensure that the HSAW act is adhered to. In addition, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) can and does enforce health and safety legislation within NHS Boards in accordance with its policy on patient safety.

HSE’s role in patient health and safety is explained in the Letter of Understanding between Health and Safety Executive and Healthcare Improvement Scotland and is available at

Reducing Healthcare Associated Infections (HCAI) is a key priority for the Scottish Government. Health Protection Scotland provide the Scottish Government with quarterly and annual reports, which are used to measure the progress in tackling HCAI across NHSScotland. The information also highlights areas of good practice, which is shared across all Health Boards to ensure they continue to drive forward improvements in this area.

Question reference: S5W-11674

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 30 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many managed-access schemes for drugs there have been in each year since 1999.

Information on the number of Managed Access Schemes for drugs in each year since 1999 is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

A recommendation contained within Dr Montgomery’s Review of Access to New Medicines was to explore Managed Access Schemes. We are working with stakeholders to take this work forward, in consideration of the interdependencies with implementation of a conditional acceptance provision.

Question reference: S5W-11917

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 27 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many community maternity hubs are planned, and where they will be located; how much they will cost to develop; how they will be staffed; how the risk profile of the mothers due to give birth will be assessed, and what action it will take to ensure that the hubs (a) offer consistent high-quality care and (b) maintain safe staffing rotas.

The Best Start recommends that "NHSBoards should redesign maternity services with a focus on local care, built around the concept of multidisciplinary community hubs, with the majority of women being offered routine care and services through these hubs." This is in line with the national strategic direction to deliver multidisciplinary patient centred care as outlined in the National Clinical Strategy and Realistic Medicine. Scottish Government will work with NHS Boards locally to implement the recommendation from the Best Start however it is for NHS Boards to determine where the hubs are located, what services are provided within these hubs and how these are managed to ensure that they offer safe, high quality services to all pregnant women. We expect boards to involve staff and patients in these discussions.

Question reference: S5W-11700

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 26 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the possibility that administering medication covertly to an individual might be incompatible with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which relates to an individual's right to respect for private life.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-11345 on
27 September 2017. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at

Scottish mental health and incapacity legislation is based on rights and principles. We believe that the 2003 Act is fully compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The 2003 Act has never been found, in part or in whole, by the European Court of Human Rights to be not compliant with ECHR

The most recent reform of mental health legislation was through the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 2015, which was passed by the Scottish Parliament last year. The 2015 Act strengthened measures in the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 that promotes support for decision making, including those for independent advocacy, advance statements and named persons.

Question reference: S5W-11701

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 26 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the possibility that administering medication covertly to an individual might be incompatible with Article 17 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which states that "Every person with disabilities has a right to respect for his or her physical integrity on an equal basis with others".