Dr Richard Simpson

31 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what compensation is available to residents along the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine railway line whose homes have been devalued as a result of noise and vibration disturbance caused by overnight freight trains.

Answer · Keith Brown: Residents who consider the value of their property has been devalued as a result of the Stirling Alloa Kincardine Railway works may be eligible for compensation. Compensation may be payable under Part 1 of the Land Compensation (Scotland) Act 1973, provided q…

31 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what measures have been carried out to notify the public of the impact on health of noise and vibration caused by freight trains.

Answer · Keith Brown: There have been no measures carried out to notify the public of the impact on health of noise and vibration caused by freight trains specific to the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine railway line. The latest UK research on noise and health effects is included within …

31 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to carry out environmental impact studies of overnight services on the the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine railway line and between Hunterston and Kincardine.

Answer · Keith Brown: There no plans to carry out environmental impact studies of overnight services on the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine railway line and between Hunterston and Kincardine.

31 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to carry out health impact studies to assess the impact of overnight freight services on households on the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine railway line and between Hunterston and Kincardine.

Answer · Keith Brown: There are no plans to carry out health impact studies to assess the impact of overnight freight services on the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine railway line and between Hunterston and Kincardine.

31 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to restrict overnight freight services on the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine railway line to reduce noise and vibration disturbance for residents.

Answer · Keith Brown: The Scottish Government has no powers to restrict overnight freight services on the Stirling Alloa Kincardine Railway.

31 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action has been taken to mitigate overnight noise for residents on the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine railway line and what the reasons are for (a) undertaking and (b) not undertaking mitigation measures.

Answer · Keith Brown: When night time freight operations commenced in December 2008, the Stirling Alloa Kincardine project adopted the noise principles set by other projects approved by Parliament and set a night time noise mitigation criteria at 82dB, twice per hour. The applicat…

31 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to provide mitigation for properties on the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine railway line affected by overnight noise above the World Health Organization limit known to cause sleep disturbance.

Answer · Keith Brown: The World Health Organisation Guidelines on Community Noise advised noise levels which exceeded recommended thresholds should not occur more than 10-15 times per night. To avoid the situation where all 10-15 occurrences happen within the same hour, it was adv…

30 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information has been provided to medical school students regarding the planned reductions in training posts at FY01, FY02 and ST grades.

Answer · Alex Neil: There is no planned reduction in NHS FY01 or FY02 posts. However, a fundamental part of the Reshaping the Medical Workforce Project, is consideration of the number of specialty trainee posts available each year. This consideration has, over the last four year…

30 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the planned reduction in NHS FYO1 posts, what reductions there will be in the intake of (a) students from Scotland, (b) non fee-paying students, (c) fee-paying students from the rest of the UK and (d) students from outwith the EU in each of the next three years.

Answer · Alex Neil: There is no planned reduction in NHS FY01 posts.

30 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many posts were lost following the closure of the (a) Glasgow Caledonian, (b) Dundee and (c) Stirling midwifery schools.

Answer · Alex Neil: Glasgow Caledonian, Dundee and Stirling Universities have advised that there have been no posts lost as a result of them no longer accepting students onto their pre-registration midwifery programmes.

30 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the change in funding for each university nursing department (a) is in 2012-13 and (b) will be in 2013-14 as a result of the reduction in the student nursing intake in 2010-11 and 2011-12 and how many redundancies each institution expects.

Answer · Alex Neil: The funding for each nursing school for 2011-12 and 2012-13 is detailed below for comparison. As the intakes for 2013-14 have yet to be decided there are no figures for that academic year. Year Institution Total funding 2011-12 Dundee 7,526,720 Edinb…

25 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will amend the Dog Fouling (Scotland) Act 2003 to give local authorities powers to order a ban on the walking of dogs on school and other playing fields, where dog faeces, even if collected, could transmit infection to children.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The Scottish Government has no current plans to amend the Dog Fouling (Scotland) Act 2003.

25 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it invested in nanotechnology in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12 and is investing in (i) 2012-13 and (ii) 2013-14.

Answer · John Swinney: This information is not held centrally.

25 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S4W-09412 by Michael Matheson on 19 September 2012 and S4W-05475 by Michael Matheson on 22 February 2012, what activities the study group has undertaken to raise awareness of foetal alcohol harm and enhance the ability of clinicians to recognise and d…

Answer · Michael Matheson: The Foetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) Surveillance Study Group has undertaken various activities to raise awareness of FAS within the health profession and it has enhanced the ability of clinicians to recognise and diagnose the condition more effectively by; Vis…

25 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-09129 by Michael Matheson on 10 September 2012, what review it is carrying out of the epidemiology of the misuse of Gabapentin and what discussions it has had with the Scottish Advisory Committee on Drug Misuse on the matter.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The Scottish Advisory Committee on Drug Misuse (SACDM) met for the last time in May 2008 when it signed off Scotland’s drug strategy The Road to Recovery. In May 2009, the Scottish Government established the Drugs Strategy Delivery Commission (DSDC) to indepe…

25 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-09036 by Roseanna Cunningham on 5 September 2012, what consideration it has given to requiring the collection and collation of data related to this form of prescribing in light of the fines handed down in the United States for the promotion of medic…

25 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-09036 by Roseanna Cunningham on 5 September 2012, whether it plans to require primary care providers in the 400 practices receiving payments for providing drug treatment services, to submit SMR25 forms electronically.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: At present there are no plans to require primary care providers to submit SMR25 forms electronically in order to receive a fee. Any fees associated with providing drug and alcohol treatment services are managed locally by NHS boards. The Information Services…

25 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-09036 by Roseanna Cunningham on 5 September 2012, for what reason no more than 94 out of 400 general practices that receive payments for drug services submitted SMR25a paper forms to NHS Information Services Division in 2010-11.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: I have asked Information Services Division (ISD) Scotland of NHS National Services Scotland to provide an update on SMR25a submissions by GPs and they have reported the following: Since September 2011, all SMR25a submissions from statutory and voluntary drug…

24 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what company has been given the contract to merge the HR systems of police forces and what the cost is of the (a) initial and (b) annual contract.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: No company has been retained or contracted to merge the HR systems of the current police forces or agencies.

24 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much further and higher education institutions received from students from England in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12 and will receive in 2012-13.

Answer · Michael Russell: This information is not held centrally.

24 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether an independent Scotland would continue to be connected to the UK Janet network, which connects education institutions.

Answer · Michael Russell: The core Janet network across the UK, including Scotland, is currently being upgraded. Scottish schools connect via local authority networks to the internet using the Education Scotland Interconnect 2.0 network that currently provides access to the internet v…

24 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it was required to contribute for the recent £30 million upgrade to the UK Janet network, which connects education institutions.

Answer · Michael Russell: Of the £25.8 million UK capital budget for JANET6, the Scottish Government, through the Scottish Funding Council is contributing £1.9 million.

24 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many GP practices have a patient participation group.

Answer · Alex Neil: NHS boards must involve the communities they serve in planning and developing the health and care services they provide and are supported in that role by the Scottish Health Council. Although, contractual arrangements mean that different approaches to patient…

24 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether every parent receives a report on their child's physical literacy at least once during primary school.

Answer · Alasdair Allan: Physical education is part of the health and wellbeing (HWB) curricular area within Curriculum for Excellence. Schools report on children and young people’s progress and achievement within HWB each school year as part of their annual reporting procedures to p…

24 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps Education Scotland has taken to engage experts in sport and physical activity in its schools inspection teams.

Answer · Alasdair Allan: In a sample number of inspections Health and Nutrition Inspectors (HNIs) are part of the inspection team and have a focus on all aspects of Health and Wellbeing, including physical activity. Where they are not part of the team, this responsibility is undertak…

24 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the emergency summary medical record has the scope to register persons other than an adult patient where (a) the patient wishes to designate such a person or persons and (b) a person has a welfare power of attorney under the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000.

Answer · Alex Neil: As part of the Key Information Summary (KIS) project, the scope of the Emergency Care Summary (ECS) record is being changed to enable optional further detail to be recorded. The patients for whom a KIS will be most appropriate are those with complex care need…

24 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to improve communication between NHS 24 and patients who wish to communicate through another designated person or where there is a welfare power of attorney under the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000.

Answer · Alex Neil: NHS 24 frequently support patients where a third party calls on their behalf, for example from callers who are parents, carers, family members, neighbours or friends. There will be a variety of reasons for this, generally because the patient is unable to spea…

24 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what IT systems the NHS has procured since 2006 that (a) have and (b) have not met the recommendations on procurement of information technology in Review of Public Procurement in Scotland: Report & Recommendations.

Answer · Alex Neil: IT systems procured on behalf of NHS Scotland since 2006 meet the recommendations on procurement of information technology contained in the review of Public Procurement in Scotland. These include the Patient Management System, Picture Archiving & Communicati…

24 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the General Medical Council on the curriculum and assessment changes that might result from the introduction of the Royal College of General Practitioners' programme for extending and enhancing GP training.

Answer · Alex Neil: Officials of the Scottish Government and the General Medical Council have participated in a number of meetings on developments impacting on medical education and training across the UK, which have included discussion on the curriculum and assessment changes t…

24 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the position of NHS Education for Scotland is on the Royal College of General Practitioners' educational case for extending and enhancing GP training.

Answer · Alex Neil: The Scottish Medical Training Board (SMTB), which is chaired by the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland, provides strategic leadership to the management and development of postgraduate medical education and training in Scotland, and reports to the Cabinet Secr…