Parliamentary questions

Shona Robison

1,014 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

5 Dec 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will establish the scheme to compensate people who contracted hepatitis C through contaminated blood products

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Executive hopes to be ina position to make a further announcement on the establishment of the schemesoon.

5 Dec 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the legislative differences between Scotland and England would have to be borne in mind if adoption of the guidelines referred to in support paper 5b to its sexual health strategy were to be considered.

3 Dec 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of funds allocated to promote sexual health was specifically targeted at (a) females and (b) males in each year since 1999.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Precise figures are notavailable. In practice, many initiatives at both national and local levels willbe of relevance to both males and females.

26 Nov 2003 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what assistance can be provided to Dundee Football Club to help minimise job losses during the period of administration and restructuring.

Answer · Frank McAveety: Any joblosses are regrettable but Dundee Football Club is now in administration anddecisions on the future of the Club are a matter for the administrators. the Executive has no direct locus and Dundee Football Club have not soughtExecutive assistance.S…

24 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average reporting time in days has been for laboratories to process breast screening results in each of the last four years, broken down by NHS board area.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Information about thereporting times for breast screening results is not collected centrally. Thisis a matter for the six breast screening centres. Contact details for the breastscreening centres can be obtained from the National Services Division, CommonServ…

24 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is considering introducing a nutritional signposting scheme similar to that proposed by the Department of Health.

Answer · Tom McCabe: There are currently no plansto introduce a nutritional signposting scheme in Scotland.

21 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many publications have been issued by the Information and Statistics Division (ISD) regarding the NHS in each year since 1999, and, of these, how many indicated that the information within them was not fully comparable with previous years.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Information and Statistics Divisionissues over 30 quarterly or annual national statistics releases and a largenumber of other publications containing health statistics each year, providinginformation on a wide range of topics about the NHS and the health of p…

21 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many statistical bulletins it has published in each year since 1999 and, of these, how many indicated that the information within them was not fully comparable with previous years, broken down by subject.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The information presented givesthe number of statistical publications released by the Scottish Executivestatistical group via its website. <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> Year </td> <td> Num…

20 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-3034 by Malcolm Chisholm on 14 November 2003, whether it will list the political activities over the last five years of each member of each NHS board as supplied in accordance with the Commissioner for Public Appointments' Code of Practice.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The composition of NHS boardsby gender, profession and declared political activity is published in the Scottish Executive publication Annual Report on Appointments to Public Bodies in Scotland andcan be found on the Executive’s website at:<ahref="http:…

19 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when the next planned wave of modernisation and enhancement of radiotherapy equipment is due for completion so that 24 linear accelerators will be provided.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: It is estimated that the expansionto 24 fully commissioned and operational linear accelerators will be completeby 2005-06.

19 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it has publicised the NHS Scotland waiting times website; what NHS Scotland documents publicise the website, and what other websites have links to the NHS Scotland waiting times website.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: It is very important thatpeople in Scotland know about the national waiting times database so that theyand their GPs can use the information it contains to guide decisions aboutreferrals to out-patient clinics. That is why our publicity material such asposter…

19 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many clinics on the NHS Scotland waiting times website are for urgent referrals only and, of these, how many clinics have waiting times of less than four weeks for nine out of 10 patients, broken down by speciality and NHS board area.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Out-patient clinics whichdeal solely with urgent referrals, such as fracture clinics, are not included inthe national waiting times database because patients who access such clinicsgenerally do so for emergency assessment and treatment and not through referra…

19 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many GPs (a) ceased to practice as principals and (b) took up posts as principals in each of the last three years, broken down by NHS board area.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The information for the mostrecent years available is as follows:<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3 width=551> <thead> <tr> <td rowspan="2"> Health Board </td> <td colspan="2"> 1 Oct…

17 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether its policy is that all NHS boards must make available to patients all medicines that have been, or will be, approved by the Scottish Medicines Consortium and, if so, whether there will be any exceptions to this policy and how the policy will be implemented.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: NHS boards are required to takeaccount of advice and evidence from the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) andensure that recommended medicines are made available to meet <ahref="http://www.scottishmedicines.org.uk/glossary.asp?letter=C">clinical need</a>.</p…

5 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the expert groups it has set up are still due to report to it and when it expects to receive their reports.

Answer · Andy Kerr: I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-3881. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility forwhich can be found at: <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa">htt…

5 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many reports from expert groups have been published since May 1999.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The information requested isnot held centrally. However, many key reports from such groups are published onthe Scottish Executive website at: <ahref="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/topics/?pageid=1">http://www.scotland.gov.uk/topics/?pageid=1</a>.

5 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many expert groups set up by it have reported to it since May 1999.

5 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many expert groups it has set up since May 1999.

Answer · Andy Kerr: As I indicated in myresponses to parliamentary questions S2W-00942 and S2W-1554, the information requestedis not held centrally. All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can befound…

5 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many linear accelerators there are per million of the population.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-3876. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility forwhich can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa" targ…

5 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many radiotherapists are required to ensure that the linear accelerators are used to their full capacity.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: To provide safe andeffective radiotherapy the operation of linear accelerators requires a multidisciplinaryteam including clinical oncologists, therapy radiographers and physicists. Suchteams are in place in all five cancer centres in Scotland.

5 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many full-time equivalent radiotherapists there are in each NHS board.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Radiotherapists are alsoknown as Clinical Oncologists, which is the term used by ISD when collectingdata centrally.The following table providesthe number of radiotherapists by NHS board, at 30 September 2002.Clinical Oncologists by NHS Board…

5 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive on how many days linear accelerators were not in use due to (a) maintenance, (b) breakdown and (c) lack of staff to operate them in each of the last five years, in each NHS board area.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The information requested isnot held centrally.

5 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many linear accelerators are (a) needed to meet patient demands and (b) currently in operation, (i) in total and (ii) in each NHS board area.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: (a) The Royal College ofRadiologists (RCR) recommends that there should be five linear accelerators permillion population. Scotland’s current total is equivalent to 3.9 permillion population. (b) Radiotherapy is ahighly specialised form of canc…

23 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what (a) whole-time equivalent and (b) headcount reduction it estimates there will be in (i) senior management and (ii) administrative and clerical staff within the NHS following the abolition of NHS trusts, broken down by grade and trust area.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Information about estimatedfinancial savings from dissolution of NHS trusts is not collected centrally,since the achievement of financial savings is not an objective of the policy.Nevertheless savings are already being realised in NHS board areas where single…

23 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-34480 by Malcolm Chisholm on 13 March 2003, how abolition of NHS trusts will result in the reduction of unnecessary bureaucracy with minimal structural changes and disruption.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Unnecessary bureaucracy willbe reduced through having fewer separate finance, human resources and supportservices functions in each NHS board area, and by winding up separate Trustseach with a chair and a board and each required to produce separate auditedacc…

23 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-34480 by Malcolm Chisholm on 13 March 2003, whether it will outline criteria used to determine that the abolition of NHS trusts will reduce unnecessary bureaucracy within the NHS, given that no direct cost implications have been identified.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-3617. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility forwhich can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa">http…

23 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how often each electricity back-up generator is tested in each NHS hospital, grouped by NHS board area.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Information on the frequencyof tests of emergency electricity back-up generators in NHS hospitals is notheld centrally.

9 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many school-age children have been registered as having autism, either as their main or as a subsidiary difficulty in learning and what the total school-age population has been in each local authority area has been each year since December 2000.

Answer · Peter Peacock: There is no formal registerof school-age children with autism. The annual school census does, however,collect data on the main difficulty in learning, including autism, though notwhere it is a subsidiary difficulty. The following tables provide data from thes…

17 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the Electoral Commission regarding organ donor forms being sent out with electoral registration forms.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I refer the member to the answergiven to question S2W-2720 on 3 October 2003. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility forwhich can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webap…

17 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the Scottish Assessors Association regarding organ donation forms being sent out with electoral registration forms.