Parliamentary questions
Mary Scanlon
4,514 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
4 Nov 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much money it has awarded to the World Pipe Band Championships in each year since 2008.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Government funds the World Pipe Band Championships through a number of public bodies. Scottish Enterprise contributed £150,000 to the World Pipe Band Championships in 2010-11. VisitScotland has provided a total of £437,000 over the last seven y…
4 Nov 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much money it has awarded for fringe events at the Royal National Mod in each year since 2008.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Government funds the arts through Creative Scotland. Creative Scotland has not made any direct awards to fringe events at the mod but has awarded funding to artists to support their attendance.
3 Nov 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much money it has provided to help fund the Royal National Mod in each of the last seven years.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Since 2008, the Scottish Government has provided a total of £202,000 in direct funding towards the mod. The figures for each year are in the following table: 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 £1,000 £36,000 £31,000 £1,000 £71…
3 Nov 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has a ringfenced traditional arts budget to fund Scottish music and song.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Government supports arts and culture primarily through Creative Scotland, and does not have its own ringfenced traditional arts budget. Creative Scotland and its predecessor body the Scottish Arts Council had a number of ringfenced funds for the …
3 Nov 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much money it has provided to the Traditional Music and Song Association of Scotland in each of the last seven years.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Government supports the traditional music sector through Creative Scotland, which disburses nearly two million pounds each year to organisations directly forming part of the traditional music sector. Creative Scotland awards have been for £50,00…
2 Nov 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason 768 Scottish Fire and Rescue Service jobs were lost between 2010 and 2014 and what risk assessment was done to underpin this loss.
Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: Staffing levels and resource allocation within the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service are operational matters for the Board of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS). Prior to April 2013, it was the responsibility of the eight legacy fire and rescue servic…
28 Oct 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position on introducing speed awareness courses; whether it would consider using these as an alternative to prosecuting drivers for low-end speeding offences, and, if so, how it would encourage the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service to use it as a means of case disposal.
Answer · Derek Mackay: The Scottish Government supports the general principle of driver education as an alternative to prosecution, where appropriate. At present, prosecutors may offer diversion from prosecution courses in relation to careless driving, but there is no equivalent …
18 Oct 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it is measuring the impact of the voluntary approach to supporting healthy choices in food and drink consumption, and what alternative approaches it has considered should it conclude that this has been unsuccessful.
Answer · Maureen Watt: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-28079 on 4 November 2015. 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/parliamentary…
18 Oct 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it is measuring the impact of the Supporting Healthy Choices framework on encouraging (a) a rebalancing of promotional activities toward healthier choices, (b) the responsible marketing of food and drink and (c) the reformulation of products to limit levels of (i) salt, (ii) fats and…
Answer · Maureen Watt: Food Standards Scotland (FSS) monitors the overall impact of the Supporting Healthy Choices voluntary framework at a population level. FSS undertakes a rolling programme of research and surveillance to monitor progress towards the Scottish Dietary Goals. This…
18 Oct 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it is monitoring the impact of its £10 million programme in 2012-16 on projects that are aimed at encouraging healthy eating.
Answer · Maureen Watt: The Scottish Government uses independent evaluations alongside project specific monitoring arrangements to assess the impact of funded programmes of work. Food Standards Scotland (FSS) monitors overall impact on dietary intakes at a population level. Around …
18 Oct 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken since 2007 to encourage a reduction in the levels of sugar in soft drinks and chocolate.
Answer · Maureen Watt: Since 2007, the Scottish Government has taken a range of actions to encourage the reformulation of food and drink products and support consumers to reduce their sugar intake. Most recently, the Supporting Healthy Choices voluntary framework, published in Jun…
13 Oct 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to increase the availability of flu vaccines at local pharmacies.
Answer · Shona Robison: The extent to which vaccinations, including flu vaccines, can be administered on behalf of the NHS in community pharmacies is determined by existing primary legislation, the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978. This requires that arrangements for vacc…
9 Oct 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the IT spend has been for the Registers of Scotland in each of the last 12 months, broken down by (a) temporary staff costs, (b) external fees, (c) equipment costs, (d) maintenance costs and (e) technical services costs.
Answer · John Swinney: The amounts spent in the period October 2014 to September 2015 in the various areas requested are shown in the following table. Although not specifically referred to in this question, the costs of IT staff and capital expenditure on IT assets have also been …
7 Oct 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many retained firefighters there have been in each year since 2010.
Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: The number of retained fire fighters in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service from 2010 to 2014 can be found in the Scottish Government statistical report: http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0047/00471950.pdf which was published on 24 February 2015. The Scottish F…
7 Oct 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many frontline firefighter jobs have been lost in each year since 2010.
Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: The number of fire fighters in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service from 2010 to 2014 can be found in the Scottish Government statistical report: http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0047/00471950.pdf which was published on 24 February 2015.
29 Sep 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what is being done to provide mental health services and support that focus on the mother-infant relationship.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-26482 on 28 July 2015. 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?MAQASearc…
29 Sep 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether all women with post-natal depression are offered the option of being admitted to hospital and bringing their babies, where this would be appropriate.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: We expect all women with postnatal depression to be offered care, services and support that responds appropriately to individually assessed needs and to be offered the option of being admitted to hospital with their child in line with the provisions of the Me…
29 Sep 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what additional resources are being allocated to ensure support for women with post-natal depression.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The Scottish Government sets national direction of policy on mental health and provides funding to agencies, including NHS boards and local authorities, to support implementation of policy. The management of local actions in implementing national policy, and…
29 Sep 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to increase the provision of social prescribing for all types of depression, including post-natal depression.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Through the advisory group set up to support commitment 15 of the Mental Health Strategy 2012-2015, NHS Health Scotland is working to increase local knowledge of social prescribing opportunities. NHS Health Scotland has developed a paper offering advice to lo…
29 Sep 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many schools-based mental health counsellors are employed by each local authority.
Answer · Alasdair Allan: This information is not held centrally. The Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) Act (Scotland) 2007 places a number of duties on local education authorities including ensuring that schools are health promoting. This includes promoting physical, social, …
29 Sep 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what is being done to identify and support people with mental health issues in the workplace.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: See Me is Scotland’s national campaign to end mental health stigma and discrimination. Scottish Government provides £1 million per year in addition to £0.5 million from Comic Relief to support the See Me programme. See Me Workplace is part of the See Me anti …
29 Sep 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what is being done to identify and support mental health issues during pregnancy.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: High quality, relationship based antenatal care with a strong focus on prevention, promotion of health, early intervention and support as early as possible in pregnancy is vitally important. In this respect, GPs, midwives, health visitors and obstetricians ar…
24 Sep 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the finding in the Mental Health Commission for Scotland report, Mental Health Act Monitoring 2014/15, that, over the last year, the number of new episodes of compulsory treatment orders for people aged 65 and over increased by 21%.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-27708 on 8 October 2015. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness…
24 Sep 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the finding in the Mental Health Commission for Scotland report, Mental Health Act Monitoring 2014/15, that, over the last year, the overall number of new episodes of compulsory treatment orders increased by 7.1%.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-27708 on 8 October 2015. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness…
24 Sep 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people subject to an emergency detention order in 2014-15 did not have the consent of a mental health officer.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Information on the number of people subject to an emergency detention certificate in 2014-15 which did not have the consent of a mental health officer is contained in Table 2 of the Appendix MHA Monitoring Report 2014-15. This is available on the Mental Welfa…
24 Sep 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the finding in the Mental Health Commission for Scotland report, Mental Health Act Monitoring 2014/15, that, over the last three years, the use of emergency detention for mental health patients has increased by 12%.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-27708 on 8 October 2015. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness…
24 Sep 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take in light of the finding in the Mental Health Commission for Scotland report, Mental Health Act Monitoring 2014/15, that the number of new episodes of mental health compulsory treatment has increased to its highest-ever recorded level.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Use of emergency detention is appropriate where it is necessary as a matter of urgency to detain the patient in hospital in order to determine what medical treatment should be provided to the patient for the suspected mental disorder, there would be a signifi…
24 Sep 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the finding in the Mental Commission for Scotland report, Young Person Monitoring 2014/15, that the number of young people admitted to adult psychiatric wards increased from 149 in 2008-09 to 207 in 2014-15.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Children and young people referred to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) will generally be treated in the community. There may be times when it is necessary to admit them to hospital for specialist treatment. Should this be the case they woul…
24 Sep 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many children (a) requiring access to forensic mental health services, (b) with challenging behaviour and (c) with learning disorders have been sent to the rest of the UK for treatment in each of the last seven years.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: NHS National Services Scotland (National Services Division) funds placements of children and young people with mental health problems who require secure inpatient care, and have collected data since 2011-12. Due to the small numbers concerned and to protect …
24 Sep 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to provide secure accommodation for children with mental health issues.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: We are working with NHS directors of planning to determine the most appropriate and clinically effective and safe model of secure Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services inpatient care in Scotland.