Parliamentary questions

Helen Eadie

919 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

3 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which NHS boards provide nursery or crèche facilities for its employees wishing to return to work following maternity leave.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: This information is not held centrally. Commi

3 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has requested each community health partnership to prepare a report of capital expenditure required in its area and rank the priorities.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The capital expenditure of community health partnerships is a matter for their parent NHS health boards.

3 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which NHS boards have reported on the cost implications of buildings containing asbestos.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-39353 on 14 February 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Busine…

3 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS buildings have been reported to it as containing asbestos.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: This information is not held centrally. The day-to-day management of NHSScotland assets is a matter devolved to NHS boards. The Scottish Government Health Directorates Policy for Property and Asset Management in NHSScotland requires all NHSScotla…

3 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to promote good bone health.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Government is committed to promoting good bone health and a range of actions are being taken forward. As part of our anticipatory care approach to long term conditions management, we recognise the benefits of taking steps to ensure strong…

3 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the calls from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), the UK Faculty of Public Health and the Royal Society for Public Health for a ban on industrial trans fats, whether it will review its position on this matter.

Answer · Shona Robison: The current position is to support industry to take voluntary measures which has seen average consumption of trans fats drop to below 1% and to only support placing a limit on trans fats if the evidence supports that there would be a significant health benefi…

3 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many hospital admissions were attributed to adverse weather conditions in December 2010.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Information on the number of acute care hospital admissions is published quarterly by ISD on the Acute Hospital Care section of the ISD website at: http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/4150.html. The next publication is scheduled for 29 March 2011…

3 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been detained under the Mental Health Act (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 since April 2010.

Answer · Shona Robison: This information is not held centrally. The Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland is notified of detentions under the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 and may be able to provide further information.

3 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to expedite the discharge of older patients with complex needs from acute hospitals.

Answer · Shona Robison: This administration has worked closely with local NHS and local authority partnerships to tackle delayed discharges over the last four years, greatly reducing the number of patients delayed over the six week discharge planning period, and achieving a zero lev…

3 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether information on the capital budget requirements for each community health partnership is held centrally.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Capital requirements for community health partnerships form part of the overall capital planning arrangements for NHS boards. This information is only held centrally where it makes up part of the NHS board''s local delivery plan submission.

3 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many hospital admissions have been attributed to weather-related falls since 1 December 2010.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The routine collection of data on hospital admissions for falls is collected by ISD through the Standard Morbidity Record (SMR01) and complete data for December 2010 should be available in June 2011 and data for January and February 2011 should be available J…

3 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what additional measures were put in place to minimise the impact of the recent severe weather on ambulance crews’ response times.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) operations were, inevitably, severely impacted by the prolonged adverse weather. Ambulance crews across the country worked tirelessly to respond to incidents. Crews were supported by partners including the Army, Coastguard and…

2 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason it transferred the budget line for cervical cancer screening to miscellaneous other services.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The budget was not considered large enough to warrant a separate line in the level 3 budget analysis (see table 8.03, page 118 in the 2011-12 Draft Budget).

2 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has assessed the impact of the proposed reduction in the health screening budget for 2011-12 by almost £6 million to £8.4 million in real terms compared with 2010-11.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The 2011-12 Draft Budget states that the proposed budget in 2011-12 for health screening is £8 million which compares to the prior year figure of £8.5 million (which is unchanged from the 2010-11 Draft Budget figure). This budget reflects the pro…

2 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the eHealth strategy commitments that it plans to defer under its draft budget for 2011-12.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: There are no plans to defer strategic commitments, these improvements will continue to be taken forward in partnership with NHS Scotland.

2 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in the draft budget for 2011-12 for health and sport, the workforce budget line has decreased by 17.2% and the nursing budget line by 7% compared with the draft budget for 2010-11.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Figures in the 2010-11 Draft Budget and the 2011-12 Draft Budget are not directly comparable. The 2010-11 position has been restated to reflect transfers in respect of the removal of the cost of capital (following revised HM Treasury guidance), …

2 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether, when comparing the education and training spending plans across the workforce and nursing lines in the draft budget for 2011-12 and 2010-11 for health and sport, the nursing line will see the larger decrease in cash terms.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Figures in the 2010-11 Draft Budget and the 2011-12 Draft Budget are not directly comparable. The 2010-11 position has been restated to reflect transfers in respect of the removal of the cost of capital (following revised HM Treasury guidance), t…

2 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will confirm that, when comparing the draft budgets for 2011-12 and 2010-11 for health and sport, spending plans for education and training are reduced at a proportionally higher rate under the workforce line than the nursing line.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Figures in the 2010-11 Draft Budget and the 2011-12 Draft Budget are not directly comparable. The 2010-11 position has been restated to reflect transfers in respect of the removal of the cost of capital (following revised HM Treasury guidance), t…

2 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will confirm that the capital investment in the draft budget for 2011-12 shows a cash-terms decrease of £105 million and a real-terms decrease of £113.5 million compared with the draft budget for 2010-11 and that this will covered by means of the accumulated underspend.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government''s draft budget for 2011-12 discloses a capital budget of £2,606.6 million. When compared to the 2010-11 capital budget of £3,292.9 million this represents a cash decrease of £686.3 million or £736 million in real terms. The 2011-12 ca…

2 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the capital expenditure line in the draft budget for 2011-12 takes account of the repayment of the £50 million in capital expenditure brought forward to 2010-11.

Answer · John Swinney: The draft budget for the 2011-12 financial year reflects the first year of a new spending review period and, as such, the level of capital available is primarily dictated by the allocations made to the Scottish Government. For 2011-12 the capital budget of £2…

2 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will confirm that, in comparing the draft budget for 2011-12 with that for 2010-11, £95 million less is budgeted for the NHS boards and Special Health Boards.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Within the 2011-12 draft budget document, the revenue budget for NHS boards and Special Health Boards will increase by £223.5 million compared to 2010-11. The 2010-11 position has been restated to reflect transfers in respect of the removal of the cost of cap…

2 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will confirm that in its draft budget for 2011-12 the spending on health will be £190 million less than planned in the budget for 2010-11.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The budget for Health will increase by £190.5 million compared to 2010-11. The 2010-11 position has been restated to reflect transfers in respect of the removal of the cost of capital (following revised HM Treasury guidance), transfer of funding in respect of…

2 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason there are targets to measure performance against budget for only three of its key spending priorities for health and sport outlined in the draft budget for 2011-12.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Draft Budget 2011-12, sets out the health priorities for 2011-12. The Local Delivery Plan Guidance 2011-12 sets out the HEAT targets and standards for NHSScotland at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/NHS-Scotland/17273/LDPGuidancePDF20111…

2 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason it has decided to create HEAT standards to replace HEAT targets.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: HEAT targets are agreed with a wide range of stakeholders, and set out the areas where accelerated improvement is required. NHS Boards aim to deliver the HEAT targets through sustainable improvement. Following delivery of HEAT targets, the expectatio…

2 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason there is no accident and emergency waiting time target in the draft budget for 2011-12.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The target for 98% of patients to wait less than four hours from arrival to admission, discharge or transfer for accident and emergency treatment was effectively delivered in December 2007. The proportion of patients dealt with within four hours increasing fr…

2 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason there is no emergency ambulance response rate target in the draft budget for 2011-12.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Ambulance Service achieved the 75% category A response time target in March 2009 at which time the target became a standard. Since then we have seen year on year improvement to the full-year performance returned by the Service. The Loca…

2 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason there is no target to tackle NHS staff sickness absence in the draft budget for 2011-12.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The draft budget includes a priority to support NHSScotland to achieve productivity and efficiency gains without compromising quality through the implementation of the new efficiency and productivity plan. The Local Delivery Plan Guidance 2011-12 set…

2 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason only four HEAT targets in the 2011-12 draft budget correlate with the Scottish Government’s performance indicators.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Local Delivery Plan Guidance 2011-12 sets out the HEAT targets (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/NHS-Scotland/17273/LDPGuidancePDF201112). HEAT targets are designed to support delivery of the National Performance Framework. The followin…

2 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason the national indicator connected with reducing coronary heart disease in under-75s in deprived areas contained in the HEAT targets for 2008-09 is absent from the current list.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: In 2008, the Scottish Government introduced the National Performance Framework. This new context paved the way for the review of HEAT targets, and allowed HEAT targets and local delivery plans to be better positioned to support the achievement of the Governme…

2 Feb 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason it has reduced, in the draft budget for 2011-12, the increase planned for eHealth for 2010-11.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The 2010-11 budget includes one-off planned expenditure which reflected a phased profile of expenditure over the three year period covered by the 2007 Spending Review. In the 2011-12 Draft Budget the one-off planned expenditure has been removed from the resta…