Parliamentary questions
Dr Richard Simpson
2,702 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
5 Aug 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive (a) how many incidents of data loss have occurred from the NHS in each NHS board area in the last two 12-month periods; (b) in how many instances were the data unencrypted, and (c) whether all of these incidents were reported to the Scottish Information Commissioner.
31 Jul 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many beds are available for female patients requiring medium secure unit facilities in each unit in Scotland and the planned unit at Murray Royal Hospital.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The number of women requiring medium secure facilities is much smaller than that for men. Accordingly, the national plan for medium secure services for women is to have twelve places available in Scotland.</p> <p >Current provision includes six dedicated pla…
29 Jul 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-16605 by Stewart Maxwell on 9 October 2008, what the reasons were for placing a 12-week limit on home reports and what objections were raised to this limit during consultation or during the parliamentary committee investigations.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: To prevent the repeated use of an out of date Home Report, regulations made in terms of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 specify that the documents in a Home Report must relate to a date no more than 12 weeks before the date on which the property is marketed.…
29 Jul 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to make use of the EU School Fruit Scheme allocation for 2009-10.
Answer · Adam Ingram: Following consultation with local authorities, the majority of whom did not want to participate without further detail, we plan to delay the uptake of the EU school fruit scheme allocation until 2010-11.</b></p> <p >We are actively engaging with the EU to ob…
29 Jul 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is confident that it will meet the SNP manifesto pledge to ensure that all primary school children receive free fruit and to provide free fruit for pregnant women and pre-school children using the model of market-led pregnancy cards from the major supermarkets.
Answer · Adam Ingram: We have every reason to be confident of meeting this pledge as the majority of local authorities have extended their free school fruit scheme beyond P1 and P2 pupils already, and we are currently exploring the possibility of securing funding for 10/11 from th…
29 Jul 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made to meet the SNP manifesto pledge to ensure that all primary school children receive free fruit and to provide free fruit for pregnant women and pre-school children using the model of market-led pregnancy cards from the major supermarkets.
Answer · Adam Ingram: The majority of local authorities have already extended their free school fruit scheme beyond P1 and P2 pupils and we are currently exploring the possibility of securing funding for 2010-11 from the EU under the EU school fruit scheme to extend provision of f…
29 Jul 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of primary school children receive free fruit, broken down by local authority and school year.
Answer · Keith Brown: The <i >Survey of School Meals 2009</i> was published on 23 June 2009 and table 20 shows the number and percentage of schools in each local authority who have extended their free fruit scheme beyond P1-P2 pupils. We do not hold information on the number, or y…
28 Jul 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many new or substantially refurbished hospitals have been approved since May 2007 and how many of these will be funded by (a) PPP, (b) the Scottish Futures Trust or (c) another non-directly publicly funded mechanism.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The answer is shown in the following table:</p> <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 > <thead> <tr > <td width=159 valign=top > <p align=center >NHS Board</p> </td> <td width=189 valign=top > <p align=center >Hospitals and Substa…
28 Jul 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many new or substantially refurbished hospitals have been (a) planned and (b) constructed since 2007, listed by date of approval and completion.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The answer is shown in the following tables:</p> <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 > <thead> <tr > <td width=138 valign=top > <p align=center >NHS Board</p> </td> <td width=158 valign=top > <p align=center >Planned New/Substan…
28 Jul 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many new or substantially refurbished hospitals were (a) approved and (b) constructed between 1997 and 2007.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answers to questions S3W-17703 and S3W 17705 on 17 November 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at:</p> <p ><a href="http://www…
28 Jul 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) doctors, (b) GPs, (c) hospital consultants, (d) junior doctors, (e) nurses, (f) allied health professionals and (g) hospital pharmacists there are expected to be in 2011.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: It is the responsibility of NHS boards to determine their future workforce needs to meet service delivery and the health care needs of their population. Future modelling is based upon demand provided by NHS board projections. The most recent data from NHS boa…
28 Jul 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) doctors, (b) GPs, (c) hospital consultants, (d) junior doctors, (e) nurses, (f) allied health professionals, (g) hospital pharmacists and (h) managers there were in (i) 1997 and (ii) 2007.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The following table details the information as requested. However, it should be noted that the way in which workforce information is now published has recently changed due to the assimilation of the majority of Scotland''s healthcare workforce onto Agenda for…
28 Jul 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the NHS estate is expected to pre-date 1948 in 2011.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-26165 on 20 August 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at:</p> <p ><a href="http://www.scottish.parliam…
28 Jul 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many buildings in the NHS estate were dated from pre-1948 in (a) 1997 and (b) 2007, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: This information is not currently held centrally. Following the publication of the Audit Scotland Report <i >Asset Management in the NHS in Scotland</i> published on 29 January 2009, a new computer system designed to contain a common data set on estate perfo…
16 Jul 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether a reduction in pregnancies in under 16s from 8.5 per 1,000 in 1995 to 6.8 in 2010 remains its target.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Yes, a reduction in pregnancies in under 16s from 8.5 per 1,000 in 1995 to 6.8 in 2010 remains the Scottish Government''s target for teenage pregnancy. </p> <p >A number of NHS boards are on track to meet this target. In addition, the Scottish Government is …
15 Jul 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether people with Addison’s disease and people who have had polio will be added to the at-risk group for routine winter influenza vaccination.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the independent expert advisory group that provides advice to ministers on issues relating to vaccination and immunisation, has recently agreed that conditions such as Addison''s Disease should be co…
15 Jul 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether membership of the at-risk groups for influenza vaccine will be amended for pandemic influenza A (H1N1) vaccine.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The current seasonal flu vaccine clinical at-risk groups will be vaccinated as a priority group against influenza A (H1N1).</p> <p >As announced on 13 August 2009, the following priority groups have been prioritised to receive the influenza A (H1N1) vaccine:…
15 Jul 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the emerging epidemiology of influenza A (H1N1) and the fact that 100% population vaccination is unlikely until late in 2010, whether it has reached a conclusion as to the priority system that will be used to vaccinate individuals from mid-August 2009.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: As announced on 13 August 2009, the following priority groups have been prioritised to receive the influenza A (H1N1) vaccine:</p> <p >People aged over six months and up to 65 years in the current seasonal flu vaccine clinical at-risk groups;</p> <p >All …
15 Jul 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it is assessing the uptake of MMR vaccination following its decision not to follow England’s example of a specific catch-up programme.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: MMR vaccine uptake continues to be carefully monitored through robust routine surveillance. Latest figures from Information Services Division of NHS Scotland, relating to evaluation period 1 January to 31 March 2009, indicate that 92.9% of children reaching a…
15 Jul 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what level of MMR2 vaccination it regards as providing sufficient herd immunity to prevent an outbreak of measles as has happened in Wales and in how many of the last 10 years this level was exceeded.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: It is generally considered that at least 90% of children need to be immune to stop measles spreading. Currently 8% of the population aged 5-16 years in Scotland are estimated to be susceptible to measles. By individual year cohort, the proportion of the popul…
15 Jul 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the influenza A (H1N1) pandemic, whether the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) or Health Protection Scotland and Scottish Executive representatives on the JCVI have given consideration to a catch-up vaccination programme against pneumococcal pneumonia for…
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The latest figures from NHS Information Services Division, relating to the period 1 January to 31 March 2009, indicate that uptake of the pneumococcal vaccination in Scotland remains very high. Uptake of two doses of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV), …
15 Jul 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to introduce vaccination with the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine for health workers and additional individuals aged 15 to 65 who are not in the current clinical risk groups.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: There are no current plans to introduce vaccination with the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine for health workers and additional individuals aged 15 to 65 who are not in the current clinical risk groups.</p>
15 Jul 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will introduce vaccination with the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine for patients (a) who have received bone marrow transplants, (b) with HIV infection and (c) with chronic renal disease and whether a targeted campaign will be run soon to protect these groups from pneumococcal pneum…
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the independent expert advisory body which provides advice to ministers on matters in relation to vaccination and immunisation, has recently recommended that the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine should…
15 Jul 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the influenza A (H1N1) pandemic, whether its representatives on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation have had discussions on possible recommendations to fast-track approval of the higher valency pneumococcal conjugate vaccines that are expected to be licensed l…
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has not considered any such proposal. Issues concerning the licensing of vaccines are for the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to consider.</p>
15 Jul 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many lives on average it expects would be saved annually by switching from seven-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) to either 10 or 13-valent PCV.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the independent expert advisory body which provides advice to ministers on issues in relation to vaccination and immunisation, has considered the effectiveness of higher valent pneumococcal vaccines,…
25 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many accidents involving children in nursery schools were recorded in (a) 2005, (b) 2006, (c) 2007 and (d) 2008.
Answer · Keith Brown: The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. We have confirmed that HMIE and the Care Commission check accident logs and the procedures for dealing with them during their inspections. </p>
25 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the number of childminders per 1,000 children aged 0-14 in each local authority area reflects levels of unemployment or deprivation.
Answer · Adam Ingram: It is for local authorities and local private and voluntary sector providers to design and deliver childcare services based on local need and priorities. There are no national criteria which require local providers to link service provision to levels of unemp…
25 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive for what reasons Community Food and Health (Scotland) has a policy of not accepting applications for funding by email or fax.
Answer · Shona Robison: Community Food and Health (Scotland) (CFHS) received over 200 applications to its small grant scheme this year, many from small community groups. Only one of these came by email and none by fax.</p> <p >CFHS do not accept faxed applications as large parts ar…
25 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what measure it has planned in the event of requiring to undertake an influenza A (H1N1) virus vaccination programme from September 2009.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Along with the other UK countries the Scottish Government has made a commitment to purchase enough Influenza A (H1N1) vaccine to protect 100% of the population. In common with the introduction of other new vaccine programmes a governance structure has been es…
25 Jun 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to contact girls born after 1 September 1990 who had commenced a course of the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination but failed to complete the course.
Answer · Shona Robison: NHS boards are responsible for delivery of the HPV vaccination programme locally. It is a matter for boards to ensure all girls who are eligible for the vaccine are made aware of the vaccination and are given the opportunity to receive all three doses.</p> <…