Parliamentary questions

Mary Scanlon

4,514 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

14 Mar 2016 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it complies with its social justice policy objectives for self-funding older people in residential care to pay more than local authorities for the same care.

7 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what work it is carrying out to develop the evidence base around psychological antenatal interventions for vulnerable expectant mothers, and to incorporate the learning from this into practice.

Answer · Maureen Watt: There is a strong existing evidence base around psychological antenatal interventions for vulnerable expectant mothers. Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network 127 guidelines cover the management of perinatal mood disorders: http://www.sign.ac.uk/pdf/sig…

7 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made in evaluating the effectiveness of antenatal education in (a) improving the delivery of such education to vulnerable parents, (b) effectively promoting infant mental health to expectant parents and (c) the delivery of measures to enhance attachment, as recommend…

Answer · Maureen Watt: The Scottish Government provided funding to NHS Health Scotland, NHS Education for Scotland and Healthcare Improvement Scotland to jointly develop the Scottish Antenatal Parent Education Pack (SAPEP), launched in 2011. The pack is for professionals in Scotlan…

7 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what training and support in attachment is available to everyone caring for very young looked-after children, including foster and kinship carers, adoptive parents and residential and early years staff.

Answer · Aileen Campbell: As part of our programme of work to improve permanence for looked after children the Scottish Government commissioned the Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children in Scotland (CELCIS) and Scottish Attachment in Action, to map attachment training and at…

7 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to introduce a target for upskilling social workers through advanced clinical postgraduate training in attachment.

Answer · Aileen Campbell: Social work qualifying courses have been specifically identified as having a systemic focus on attachment in a mapping study commissioned by the Scottish Government that reported in December 2012. https://www.celcis.org/files/4814/3817/9734/Attachment-Matt…

7 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what research is being conducted in Scotland to improve practice in relation to infant mental health and how learning from this work will be disseminated.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: We recognise the important role research has to play in improving services and approaches to care. The Scottish Government encourages high quality research in mental health through bodies such as the Scottish Mental Health Research Network where a number of r…

7 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it is providing to develop and implement effective interventions in infant mental health across Scotland.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Through NHS Education for Scotland, the Scottish Government has contributed towards funding the Psychology of Parenting Project (PoPP) with £774k awarded in 2016. PoPP is aimed at improving the availability of high-quality evidence-based parenting programmes …

7 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made in developing and funding training for tier 1 and 2 staff in the use of structured tools for identification and evaluation of the parent-child relationship as outlined in Infant Mental Health: A Guide for Practitioners: A Report of the Expert Working Group on In…

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The Scottish Government expects NHS boards to take due cognisance of the content of all such reports. NHS boards are responsible for working with their partners to plan and provide safe, person centred and effective mental health services which meet the asses…

7 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to audit progress on establishing infant mental health as a core topic in the (a) curriculum and (b) post-qualification training of all people who work in children’s services.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: NHS Education Scotland are leading on the development of an infant mental health learning resource, aimed predominantly at midwives, neonatal nurses, paediatric nurses, health visitors and the wider children's workforce which will have a positive effect.

7 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what work has been undertaken centrally in relation to the administrative and support duties of health visitors to enable them to spend a greater proportion of their time with families, in line with recommendations in Reducing Antenatal Health Inequalities: Outcome Focused Evidence into …

Answer · Maureen Watt: In conjunction with the development of the health visiting pathway a caseload weighting tool has been developed. The aim of the tool is to enable health visiting practice to be targeted towards areas of greatest deprivation and families who are most in need o…

7 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what national framework is in place to facilitate regular clinical supervision for health visitors working with high risk families and what infrastructure is in place in each NHS board to ensure application locally.

Answer · Maureen Watt: Clinical supervision is a formal process of professional support and learning which provides a safe and confidential environment for staff to reflect on and discuss their work and their personal and professional responses to their work. The focus is on suppor…

7 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how the new health visitor pathway will equip health visitors with an understanding of attachment and interventions to promote it.

Answer · Maureen Watt: Health visitors are equipped with the knowledge and skills to recognise, assess, intervene and promote attachment by their learning and practice experience. Health visitors undertake the specialist community public health nursing course which includes the the…

2 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it is protecting children from meningitis B.

Answer · Maureen Watt: The Scottish Government is committed to protecting children against meningitis B (men B) which is why Scotland is one of the first countries in the world to have introduced a national men B vaccination programme to tackle the effects of this disease. Since 1…

2 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what is being done to increase the availability and awareness of the meningitis B vaccine.

Answer · Maureen Watt: The Scottish Government is guided on vaccination policy by the independent expert body, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). Following the JCVI's advice, the Scottish Government added the meningitis B (men B) vaccine, on 1 September 201…

1 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many under-16-year-olds have attended further education colleges in each of the last five years, also broken down by the number taking (a) academic and (b) training courses.

Answer · Angela Constance: Full-time equivalent (FTE) is the most consistent and reliable measure of learning activity. The number of under-16 year olds attending college over the last five years is as follows: Under-16 FTEs delivered at Scotland's colleges 2010-11 to 2014-15 Total…

1 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in light of the figures from the Scottish Funding Council stating that there has been an increase in college pension deficits from £82.3 million in 2012-13 to £143.8 million in 2013-14.

Answer · Angela Constance: Audit Scotland's Scotland’s Colleges 2015 report states that a net pension deficit is sustainable in the short term because the liabilities will become payable over a long period. Nonetheless, the Scottish Funding Council monitors closely the financial impact…

1 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will take action to reverse the (a) 150,000 reduction in the number of part-time students, (b) 74,000 reduction in the number of students aged over 25 in further education colleges between 2008-09 and 2013-14 and (c) 20,000 reduction in the number of places for under 16s in fu…

Answer · Angela Constance: This government’s focus is on a reformed college sector that delivers learning and training that lead to jobs. In meeting our commitment to maintain 116,000 full-time equivalent student places, that form of provision is improving the life chances of young peo…

1 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how the Scottish Funding Council reallocated its £166 million reduction between 2011-12 and 2013-14 to further education college funding.

Answer · Angela Constance: Matters relating to the deployment of Scottish Funding Council (SFC) grant are for the SFC itself. I have therefore asked the Chief Executive of the SFC to reply to the member's question directly.

1 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many NHS staff have been suspended in each year since 2007, broken down by reason; what support it gives to suspended staff; whether it carries out an annual audit of the suspensions, and what its position is on inviting an independent person or body to review the approach to the sus…

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government does not hold official statistics on the number of, or reason for, NHSScotland staff suspensions. Specific local information will be available from individual NHSScotland health boards, including details of local governance arrangement…

1 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government which ICT public sector projects have gone over budget in each year since 2007, also broken down by the amount by which the initial estimate has been exceeded.

Answer · John Swinney: Any information available on initial estimates and final spend on specific ICT projects, which have gone over budget in each year since 2007, will be held by the individual public sector accountable organisation and it would be a matter for that body to provi…

1 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to increase the size of the child and adolescent mental health services' workforce to meet demand.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Mental health services are a priority for this government, this priority has been further demonstrated through the additional £150 million funding which has been allocated to improve mental health services over the next five years. The investment in NHS board…

1 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the percentage of NHS expenditure on child and adolescent mental health services in Scotland is reportedly lower than that in England and Wales.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The health budget in Scotland is at record levels and NHS boards continue to be responsible with their partners for local actions in implementing national policy, and decisions on local spending priorities including provision of safe, person-centred and effec…

1 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that mental health is given the same priority as physical health.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 states that Scottish Ministers have a duty to secure improvements in the physical and mental health of the people of Scotland. The NHS has a duty to promote the improvement of health – a duty that extends equall…

1 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the reason was for the fall in the number of full-time students in further and higher education from 49,116 in 2010-11 to 47,181 in 2014-15 that was recorded by Audit Scotland in its report, Scotland's colleges 2015.

Answer · Angela Constance: The figures cited relate to enrolments in further education (FE) and are taken from the Scottish Funding Council’s (SFC) Baseline Report for Academic Year 2014-15. In that period, more learners enrolled in full-time higher education (HE) courses – rising from…