Parliamentary questions
Rhoda Grant
2,396 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
19 Mar 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-24780 by Shona Robison on 19 March 2015, what the (a) highest and (b) lowest number of bed occupancies was at Ospadal Uibhist agus Bharraigh [Uist and Barra Hospital] in Benbecula in each week in 2014.
Answer · Shona Robison: Information on weekly occupied beds and occupancy rates is not held centrally. Monthly information is available and the following table shows average number of occupied beds for Uist and Barra Hospital, NHS Highland between January and September 2014. Occupi…
18 Mar 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what interim measures it will take to ensure that women in Argyll and Bute can access NHS ante-natal screening locally, rather than having to travel to Glasgow or Paisley.
Answer · Maureen Watt: I refer the member to the answer to parliamentary question S4O-04076 to Jamie McGrigor on 4 March 2015. The answer to the oral parliamentary question is available on the Parliaments website, the official report can be viewed at: http://www.scottish.parliament…
18 Mar 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that there is sufficient capacity in hospitals and communities to provide women with ante-natal scanning services close to home.
Answer · Maureen Watt: Last month the Scottish Government announced a review of maternity and neonatal services, to ensure every mother and baby continues to get the best possible care from Scotland’s health service. Scanning services will be part of this review.
17 Mar 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when the Voluntary Action Fund made its recommendations to ministers regarding applications to the (a) Equality, (b) Violence Against Women and Girls, (c) Children's Services and (d) Rape Crisis Specific Fund.
Answer · Alex Neil: The Voluntary Action Fund does not have a role in making recommendations to, or advising Scottish Ministers.
17 Mar 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government on what date it will announce how it will allocate funding from the (a) Equality, (b) Violence Against Women and Girls, (c) Children's Services and (d) Rape Crisis Specific Fund.
Answer · Alex Neil: All applicants to the (a) Equality, (b) Violence Against Women and Girls, (c) Children’s Services and (d) Rape Crisis Specific Fund were informed of the outcome of their applications on the 18 and 19 March 2015. A full breakdown of all of the funded projects…
13 Mar 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what developments there have been regarding the strategy, Equally Safe: Scotland's Strategy for Preventing and Eradicating Violence against Women and Girls, since its publication.
Answer · Alex Neil: Since Equally Safe was published on 25 June 2014 positive progress has been made in a number of key areas. Building on the strategy, the Scottish Government committed in the Programme for Government to consult in 2015 on the potential to introduce a specific …
13 Mar 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when each of the violence against women strategy working groups (a) has met, (b) will report on progress and (c) will report its recommendations to the joint strategic board.
Answer · Alex Neil: As stated in the answer to S4W-24905 on 25 March 2015, positive progress is being made in a number of key areas and to take forward the early commitments made in Equally Safe. Unfortunately it has not been possible to move forward as quickly as originally env…
13 Mar 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the membership is of the (a) Violence Against Women Joint Strategic Board and (b) violence against women strategy working groups.
Answer · Alex Neil: The Violence Against Women Joint Strategic Board will be co-chaired by the Scottish Government and COSLA with membership drawn from key statutory and third sector partners. We will make the membership of the new board and four expert working groups available …
9 Mar 2015 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to encourage teenage girls to become and remain more active.
6 Mar 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) highest and (b) lowest bed occupancy was at Ospadal Uibhist agus Bharraigh [Uist and Barra Hospital] in Benbecula each week in 2014.
Answer · Shona Robison: The following table shows average monthly occupancy rate (%) for Uist and Barra Hospital, NHS Highland between January and September 2014. Occupancy rate (%) for Uist and Barra Hospital, by month. Jan 2014 Feb 2014 Mar 2014 Apr 2014 May 2014 Jun 2014…
26 Feb 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to NHS Western Isles to allow elective surgery to be carried out at the Ospadal Uibhist agus Bharraigh (Uist and Barra Hospital), Benbecula.
Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government provides policies, frameworks and resources to all NHS boards, including NHS Western Isles, in order that they can plan and deliver the services that meet the needs of their local population. In terms of NHS Western Isles budget, from …
26 Feb 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what public consultation must be carried out by NHS boards before decisions are reached regarding reducing the number of hospital beds.
Answer · Shona Robison: NHS boards are required to involve people in designing, developing and delivering the health care services they provide for them whether those services are delivered in hospital, in the community or at home. The Scottish Government has introduced guidance – ‘…
26 Feb 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to support (a) patients and (b) the families of patients if they are referred to mainland hospitals due to delayed discharges at Western Isles Hospital, Stornoway.
Answer · Shona Robison: We are working closely with NHS Western Isles and the Comhairle nan Eileen Siar to ensure a reduction in the level of delayed discharges. However, to date NHS Western Isles have not been required to transfer any patients to the mainland due to delayed dischar…
26 Feb 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on making available the capital grant of approximately £450,000 that has been estimated to be required to furnish the Bethesda Care Home and Hospice to a standard that would help reduce the level of delayed discharges at Western Isles Hospital, Stornoway.
Answer · Shona Robison: We are currently in discussion with NHS Western Isles and the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar regarding the future of the Bethesda Care Home.
26 Feb 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce the level of delayed discharges at Western Isles Hospital, Stornoway.
Answer · Shona Robison: We are working closely with NHS Western Isles and the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar to ensure a reduction in the number of delayed discharges. To assist, we are investing £100 million over the next three years. Western Isles will receive £640,000 of this funding,…
25 Feb 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many NHS beds were planned to be opened each week in winter 2014-15, broken down by (a) NHS board and (b) hospital, and how this compares with the number that were opened.
Answer · Shona Robison: This information is not held centrally. The Scottish Government issued ‘Preparing for Winter Guidance’ to NHS boards on 23 September 2014, which advised boards to undertake detailed analysis and planning to effectively schedule elective activity based on fore…
23 Feb 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the waiting time targets are for out-of-hours NHS services and whether these are being met, broken down by NHS board,
Answer · Shona Robison: NHS 24 acts as the first point of contact for patients during the out-of-hours period; its role is to help people access the services that best meet their needs. As part of the Local Delivery Plan process, in 2013-14 NHS 24 was required to ensure 90% of GP p…
23 Feb 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what maximum distance people are expected to travel to access out-of-hours healthcare, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Shona Robison: NHS 24 acts as the first point of contact for patients during the out-of-hours period; its role is to help people access the services that best meet their needs. This is a national telephone service, integral to the NHS in Scotland, which provides patients wi…
19 Feb 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many children have been admitted to adult psychiatric wards in each year since 2003.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Accurate data for the years prior to 2008-09 is not available. Data taken from the Mental Welfare Commission shows the number of children and young people admitted to adult psychiatric wards since 2008: Year Number of children/young people admitted to adu…
19 Feb 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it expects Abellio to provide trains on the Far North Line and the West Highland Line with upgrades to enhance the tourist experience and, if so, what upgrades.
Answer · Derek Mackay: Abellio ScotRail will be introducing trains with upgrades to enhance the tourist experience on the Far North Line and the West Highland Line. Abellio ScotRail will be using Class 158 diesel multiple units on both routes and these will form part of the ‘Great…
19 Feb 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government (a) how and (b) by how much it expects Abellio to improve journey times on the (i) Highland Main Line and (ii) Far North Line.
Answer · Derek Mackay: We expect Abellio ScotRail to save around 10 to 12 minutes on the Highland Main Line by taking advantage of the government’s infrastructure investment on this route and introducing refurbished intercity high speed train rolling stock by 2019. We expect Abell…
19 Feb 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many new trains it expects Abellio to provide to service the (a) Highland Main Line, (b) Far North Line, (c) West Highland Line north and (d) West Highland Line south.
Answer · Derek Mackay: Abellio ScotRail will be introducing high speed train rolling stock units during their franchise for Highland Main Line services and Class 158 diesel multiple units for the West Highland Line. These are types of trains which are new to these routes. The Far N…
19 Feb 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Abellio in relation to the (a) Highland Main Line and (b) Far North Line.
Answer · Derek Mackay: Transport Scotland are meeting Abellio frequently to discuss a wide range of issues relevant to the delivery of the new ScotRail franchise, that will commence on 1 April 2015. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring a continuously improving service…
10 Feb 2015 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what impact the recent fall in oil prices has had on the economy of and employment in the Highlands and Islands.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The fall in oil prices will be beneficial in terms of reduced transport costs – helping individuals and businesses. We are aware that this has the potential to impact on levels of investment in the UK Continental Shelf and that is why we have repeatedly press…
5 Feb 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release of 2 January 2015 regarding 250 additional teacher training places for 2015-16, what further action it is taking to create more teacher training places at colleges in (a) the Highlands, (b) the Western Isles, (c) the Northern Isles and (d) Moray.
Answer · Angela Constance: The Scottish Government has recommended that initial teacher education (ITE) student intake targets for 2015-16 should be increased by 150 in the primary sector and by 100 in the secondary sector. The Scottish Government’s advice to the Scottish Funding Coun…
5 Feb 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many teacher vacancies there are in (a) Highland, (b) Moray, (c) Orkney Islands, (d) Shetland Islands, (e) Western Isles and (f) Argyll and Bute Council.
Answer · Angela Constance: This information is not held centrally. However, individual local authorities have an overview of school level vacancies. Local authorities are represented on the Teacher Workforce Planning Advisory Group and their evidence informs final guidance on intakes t…
4 Feb 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it protects land used for sport or recreation from development not related to sport or recreation.
Answer · Alex Neil: There are existing planning measures in place, both in terms of planning policy and through the notification direction, which help safeguard outdoor sports facilities from inappropriate development. Scottish Planning Policy (SPP), published in 2014, sets out…
4 Feb 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what contingency plans there are to accommodate court business if Inverness Sheriff Court is unavailable.
Answer · Michael Matheson: This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court Service (SCS) corporate body. This question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCS who will reply in writing within 20 days.
4 Feb 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has for the former Dingwall Sheriff and Justice of the Peace Court building.
Answer · Michael Matheson: This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court Service (SCS) corporate body. This question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCS who will reply in writing within 20 days.
27 Jan 2015 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to tackle poverty in the Highlands and Islands.