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-03472

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 2 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether the national social isolation strategy, committed to in its Programme for Government, will include measurable outcomes by which its success can be judged over a defined period of time.

Question reference: S5W-03469

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 2 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when it will develop the national social isolation strategy, committed to in its Programme for Government, and what consultation will take place in its development.

Following on from the Programme for Government, we committed in the Fairer Scotland Action Plan, to developing a new approach to social isolation over 2017. We intend that this will build on existing work, that it will draw on the findings of the previous Parliament’s Equal Opportunities Committee’s Inquiry into Social Isolation and Loneliness as well as the Befriending Networks Summit held in September 2016 and that it will be informed by the best available evidence and research. We will engage with partners and a wide range of interests in the development of our approach.

Question reference: S5W-03503

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many "never events" there have been in the NHS in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S5W-03504

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the use of the medicine, Sativex, in the NHS.

Sativex is currently licensed to treat patients with moderate to severe spasticity due to Multiple Sclerosis. In Scotland, the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) provides advice to NHS Scotland on the clinical and cost effectiveness of all new medicines. They do this following submissions made by the manufacturer. For Sativex, whilst the manufacturer does hold a product licence, they have not yet made a submission to the SMC to have Sativex considered for routine availability on the NHS in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-03500

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how the £5 million funding announced on 15 March 2016 to support cancer waiting times performance will be spent; when it will announce where the funding will be targeted, and how much of the funding will be used to deliver improvements to the time between a person being diagnosed and starting treatment.

The new Scottish Government cancer strategy Beating Cancer: Ambition and Action was published in March 2016 and is a blueprint for the future of cancer services in Scotland, improving the prevention, detection, diagnosis, treatment and aftercare of those affected by the disease.

£5 million investment has been allocated directly to NHS boards in 2016-17. This revenue is targeted to patient need, as determined at NHS board level, and is particularly focused on the breast, colorectal and urological cancer pathways. This will support immediate improvement in diagnostic, imaging and treatment capacity and ensure timely access that patients deserve.

Question reference: S5W-03502

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to produce guidance on specific cancers as part of its cancer strategy and, if so, which types of cancer will be covered.

Question reference: S5W-03409

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 1 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many calls were made to the Healthy Working Lives Adviceline in the last three years, and how many of these calls were regarding mental health advice.

The following table shows the number of enquiries to the Healthy Working Lives Adviceline including calls and emails.

Date	Total enquiries	Calls	Mental Health Calls	E-mails	Mental Health e-mails
01-4-2013 – 31-03-2014	2284	1712	91	572	14
01-04-2014 – 31-03-2015	3672	2466	119	1206	18
01-04-2015 – 31-03-2016	3812	2696	167	1116	17
01-04-2016 – 30-09-2016	2170	1571	82	599	12

Mental Health calls are recorded under a variety of sub-categories as follows - Mental Health & Wellbeing-Anxiety-Depression-Distress-Stress.

Question reference: S5W-03408

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 1 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses participate in the Healthy Working Lives Award Programme, broken down by bronze, silver and gold awards.

Question reference: S5W-03410

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 1 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses participating in the Healthy Working Lives Award Programme have more than ten employees.

Question reference: S5W-03357

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government many Scotland-domiciled students there have been at each university medical school in each year since 1999.

The number of First-degree, Scottish-domiciled students studying pre-clinical or clinical medicine at a Scottish Higher Education Institution is included in the following table.

First Degree Students, domiciled in Scotland, studying pre-clinical or clinical medicine, by Scottish Higher Education Institution, 1999-00 to 2014-15

��	1999-00	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
The University of Aberdeen	525	545	535	540	515	525	535	575
The University of Dundee	385	395	400	445	505	555	540	570
The University of Edinburgh	550	480	350	410	440	435	500	540
The University of Glasgow	820	825	850	765	780	820	780	745
The University of St Andrews	145	170	175	160	155	165	180	195
All	2,430	2,410	2,310	2,320	2,390	2,500	2,535	2,630
��	��	��	��	��	��	��	��	��
��	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
The University of Aberdeen	560	540	545	590	575	550	565	570
The University of Dundee	580	585	565	540	565	560	530	505
The University of Edinburgh	570	585	600	605	645	620	590	545
The University of Glasgow	750	735	715	690	675	700	730	735
The University of St Andrews	195	205	210	210	220	195	180	175
All	2,655	2,650	2,640	2,640	2,680	2,630	2,595	2,535

Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA)

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Figures in this table have been rounded to the nearest 5.

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