Parliamentary questions
Kenneth Gibson
2,008 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
27 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to ensure the co-ordination of the Best Value external scrutiny process.
Answer · Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive has established a Joint Scrutiny Forum (JSF) to consider the organisation and implementation of the scrutiny of Best Value in Scottish local authorities.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The JSF aims to support inspection systems (where relevant) and …
27 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to ensure the common application of Best Value across the public sector.
Answer · Angus MacKay: The Executive has committed itself to extending the principles which already underpin Best Value in local government to the wider public sector in Scotland. To that end the then Minister for Finance, Jack McConnell, announced on 20 September our intentio…
27 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will provide a definition of Best Value to be used in forthcoming legislation.
Answer · Peter Peacock: The Executive's consultation paper, <I>Best Value in Local Government: Next Steps</I>, published in June 2000, invited views on the development of a long-term legislative framework for Best Value in Local Government. This includes the development of a legisla…
27 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether Best Value reviews in local government are introduced as a means to deliver financial savings or as a means to consider the needs of local communities and their expressed views about services.
Answer · Peter Peacock: Best Value is central to the Executive's drive to modernise local government. Best Value is about ways of working which improve local authority service delivery. These include linking budgets and other resources to key service priorities, ensuring that decisi…
26 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will tackle the low level of public awareness of the health risks of passive smoking found by the ASH Scotland/Health Education Board for Scotland survey on smoking in public places by undertaking a national public information campaign on passive smoking.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The Scottish Executive will examine the findings of the recent survey, commissioned by HEBS and ASH (Scotland) on public perceptions of passive smoking, when they become available.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The Executive recognises the importance for public awareness…
26 Oct 2000 · SPCB Written Question
To ask the Presiding Officer whether the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body supports the introduction of a tobacco policy in the new parliament complex at Holyrood which will ensure that the parliament is a "smoke free" public building.
Answer · David Steel: Under the current SPCB policy on Smoking in the Workplace, smoking is not permitted at any time in any of the buildings in the parliamentary complex except in a designated smoking area. At the moment, the central courtyard behind PHQ is the only designated sm…
26 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive Scottish Executive whether the Voluntary Charter on Smoking in Public Places has been disseminated and what systems of monitoring and evaluation have been put in place to measure the effectiveness of the charter in Scotland.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The <I>Scottish Voluntary Charter on Smoking in Public Places</I> is in the process of being extensively disseminated to the membership of the Charter signatories: the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, the Scottish Tourism Forum, the British Hospitality As…
26 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to increase the proportion of generic rather than branded medicines which are prescribed and dispensed.
Answer · Susan Deacon: GPs have for some time been encouraged to prescribe generically, unless there are good clinical reasons for proprietary products to be prescribed. Increasing use of local formularies and GP computing systems; the development of practice-based prescribing prot…
26 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to ensure that generic medicines are dispensed when off-patent branded prescriptions are made out.
Answer · Susan Deacon: None. Automatic generic substitution would not always be clinically appropriate.
26 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-10242 by Susan Deacon on 18 October 2000, what steps it is taking to collate data on the number of branded prescriptions dispensed where a generic equivalent exists.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Data is regularly made available to health boards and Primary Care Trusts to identify recurring potential savings which might be achieved by further generic prescribing by practitioners in their area.
26 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure better sharing and co-ordination of information to local authorities, health boards and other agencies in relation to the commissioning of community care services for older people.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: At a national level, the Scottish Executive is supporting the work of the Social Work Information Review Group which is committed to ensuring that information requirements and data standards set for social care are coherent with those set for health care. The…
26 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what co-ordination there is, on a Scotland-wide basis, of services relating to the treatment of survivors of childhood sexual abuse.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse require considered and sensitive long-term care responses. These care responses must be directly related to individual assessed needs, both physical and psychological. Health boards and NHS Trusts are expected t…
26 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what training social work staff receive in identifying and treating survivors of childhood sexual abuse.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: All student social workers, on Diploma in Social Work courses, receive training on the range and impact of physical, social, sexual and emotional neglect and abuse. This should enable qualified social workers to identify sexual abuse in adult survivors. The t…
26 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what training medical students, doctors and other health care professionals receive in identifying and treating survivors of childhood sexual abuse.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The content of university medical courses is not a matter for the Scottish Executive to determine. The General Medical Council has a UK wide responsibility for determining the extent of the knowledge and skill required for the granting of primary medical qual…
4 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much the recently established NHSiS fraud investigation unit is expected to save the NHSiS in its first year.
Answer · Susan Deacon: It is too early to quantify what savings may be attributable to the work of the Common Services Agency's fraud investigation unit, which has been in operation since July, but this is a matter which will be examined further in the light of experience. The unit…
4 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of NHSiS staff are registered disabled.
Answer · Susan Deacon: This information is not held centrally. NHS in Scotland employers are required to be working towards attaining the "Positive about Disability Two Ticks Symbol"<I> </I>and ensuring the health service is working towards the guidelines in the Employment Service …
4 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps the Information and Statistics Division of the NHSiS is taking to improve data collection on individuals suffering from mental health problems based in the community.
Answer · Iain Gray: Work on developing integrated mental health information has begun within the Information and Statistics Division (ISD Scotland) of the Common Services Agency of the NHS in Scotland.
4 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that trusts and health boards work together to secure the best possible contract price for the bulk buying of medicines, diagnostic equipment and disposables across the NHSiS.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Scottish Healthcare Supplies (SHS), a Division of the Common Services Agency with responsibility for arranging central contracts for the NHS in Scotland, is committed to ensuring that any goods, equipment or services placed on contract are safe, of optimal qu…
4 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that the generic drug shortages of 1999-2000 do not recur.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Although there were shortages of generic drugs during 1999-2000, contingency arrangements already in place ensured both that patients continued to receive their medicines and that community pharmacists were appropriately reimbursed. Scottish Executive Health …
4 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost, in real terms, was to the NHSiS of prescription medicines in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The information is set out in the table below. The figures reflect the total gross ingredient cost in real terms of all prescription items dispensed in the community in Scotland.<P>Gross Ingredient Cost of Prescriptions Dispensed in Scotland 1995-96 to 1999-2…
4 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average cost, in real terms, of (a) generic and (b) branded prescriptions were to the NHSiS in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The information is set out in the table below.<SUP>1</SUP> The general index of retail prices has been used to deflate the average gross ingredient cost into real terms, using 1995-96 as a baseline.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Average Gross Ingredient Cost of General a…
4 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many prescriptions were dispensed in each of the last five years for which figures are available and what percentage of prescriptions in each year were (a) generic, (b) branded and still on patent and (c) branded when a generic equivalent was available.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The table below gives the total number of prescription items dispensed, and the percentages of proprietary and generic products.<SUP>1</SUP><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Information on dispensing details for branded products still on patent, and branded products for whi…
4 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether doctors will be able to use patient community health index numbers to make claims for items of service.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Currently, the Community Health Index (CHI) number cannot be used as the sole identifier when GPs are making claims for item of service payments. Whilst GPs do currently use the CHI numbers to make claims for items of service, another form of identification i…
4 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients are currently receiving Beta Interferon on the NHSiS.
Answer · Susan Deacon: There are 254 patients currently receiving treatment with Beta Interferon on the NHS in Scotland.
4 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to extend the age range of patients screened routinely for cancer.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The Scottish Executive is committed to extending the upper age range of routine invitation for breast screening to include those aged (64-70).<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">I have commissioned a task group to prepare an implementation plan for this extension of the scree…
4 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made in improving meningitis serogroup breakdowns into identifiable strains.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Establishing a serogroup for a case of meningococcal disease is straightforward if the organism itself has been isolated from the patient. However, it is good clinical practice for suspected cases to be given antibiotics as soon as possible, even before trans…
4 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made towards the development of a meningitis B vaccine.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Research is under way to find an effective vaccine against meningitis Group B. Candidate vaccines have been developed and the Department of Health has funded phase 2 trials of these vaccines via the Centre for Applied Microbiological Research. The d…
4 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the morbidity and mortality rates in respect of (a) meningitis A, (b) meningitis B, (c) meningitis C and (d) unidentified meningitis strains were in each of the last three years for which figures are available.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Meningitis A is very rare in the UK and there have been no cases for at least five years and no significant outbreaks since the early 1970s.<P>The Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health (SCIEH) has confirmed the cases of meningitis B and C and…
4 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the findings are of the meningococcal carriage research study.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The project entitled "Carriage on hypervirulent meningococci before and after introduction of serogroup C conjugate polysaccharide vaccine in the UK" is due to submit a progress report in November 2000 with the possibility of the study being extende…
4 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the benefits will be of full implementation of the Scottish Care Information Programme for (a) the NHSiS and (b) patients.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The Scottish Care Information (SCI) Programme will produce computer software products which NHS Trusts can use in conjunction with their own or commercial software to support priority activities, to enable information about a patient to be shared by clinical …