Parliamentary questions
Jackson Carlaw
1,088 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
10 Sep 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S3W-33910 by John Swinney on 11 June 2010, what quangos have been wound up since June 2010; what the net savings have been; what plans there are to reduce expenditure further on quangos, and what relevant savings are projected.
Answer · John Swinney: The number of National Devolved Public Bodies has reduced from 162 in June 2010 to 113. Details of these changes and net savings can be found in Table 1. The SG remains committed to protecting and improving public services through improving performance, effic…
10 Sep 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the estimated cost has been of abolishing prescription charges since 1 April 2011.
Answer · Alex Neil: The introduction of free prescriptions for all in Scotland has been fully funded by the Scottish Government, and has been achieved at no cost to the NHS. £57 million was added to the baseline budgets of territorial NHS boards in 2011-12 to meet the costs of …
10 Sep 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many cars it has provided for ministerial and associated travel from (a) its car pool and (b) private car hire firms in each of the last three years and at what cost.
Answer · John Swinney: The government car service does not hold a breakdown of the number of journeys completed by its car pool and private hire. The following table details the combined total number of journeys completed by both the government car service car pool and private hir…
10 Sep 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much it spent on (a) government procurement cards and (b) travel and subsistence charge cards in (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12 and (iii) 2012-13.
Answer · John Swinney: Total expenditure on government procurement cards and travel and subsistence charge cards for the financial years 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13 is published on the Scottish Government web site: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/Information/expenditure/GPC.
10 Sep 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many nurses the NHS employed and at what cost in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13.
Answer · Alex Neil: Information on how many NHSScotland staff are employed in nursing and midwifery positions, and at what cost, in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13 is shown in the following table. Financial Year Average WTE for Financial Year 1 Gross Charge (£ mill…
10 Sep 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what newspapers and magazines it buys for the specific use of its special advisers and at what cost.
Answer · John Swinney: The Special Advisers Office subscribes to a range of newspapers and specialist periodicals for communication and research purposes. The office shares newspapers across private offices whenever possible to ensure value for money. The Scottish Government opera…
10 Sep 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much it spent on newspapers in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13.
Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government operates a central contract for the purchase of newspapers and weekly magazines. The annual spending under this contract for the periods specified was as follows: Year Total spend 2010-11 £185,458.67 2011-12 £158,982.38 2012-13 …
10 Sep 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much it spent on press cutting services in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Government figures are set out in the following table Year Expenditure 2010-11 £70,496 2011-12 £55,849 2012-13 £58,243 The 2011-12 costs are slightly lower than usual because the volume of press cuttings reduced during the pre-election…
10 Sep 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the hospitality bill was for events held in (a) Bute House and (b) Edinburgh Castle in (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12 and (iii) 2012-13.
Answer · John Swinney: The costs for Scottish Government hosted events at: a) Bute House; and b) Edinburgh Castle for: i) 2010-11; ii) 2011-12; and iii) 2012-13 are detailed in the following tables. Bute House Financial Year Total Cost 2010-11 £28,581.82 2011-12 £23,322.50 …
10 Sep 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the running costs for each of its directorates were in (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13 and have been since April 2013.
Answer · John Swinney: The running costs by Director General charged to the Scottish Government’s Administration Budget for the financial years 2011-12 (April 2011 to March 2012) and 2012-13 (April 2012 to March 2013), and from April 2013 to July 2013 are set out in the following t…
24 Jul 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government on what date each NHS board will hold its 2013 annual review and whether these will be open to the public with provision for open question and answer sessions.
Answer · Michael Matheson: The following health boards are still to confirm their dates for annual reviews: NHS Shetland, NHS 24 and Education for Scotland. The dates of the annual reviews for the remaining health boards are copied in the following table. All reviews have a public sess…
11 Jul 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of the NHS drugs budget was spent on obesity-related conditions in each of the last five years.
Answer · Michael Matheson: The question relating to the spend on drugs used in the treatment of obesity-related conditions cannot be answered from data held centrally. The current edition of the British National Formulary states that ‘obesity is associated with many health problems in…
11 Jun 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities last visited each of Scotland’s cities; whom she met, and what was discussed.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: All ministerial engagements are proactively published on the Scottish Government Website.
11 Jun 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many deaths there have been in each of the last five years in which obesity was mentioned on the death certificate, broken down by gender.
Answer · Shona Robison: The information requested is given in the following table. These are the numbers of deaths, registered in Scotland in the latest five years for which final figures are currently available, for which the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and…
11 Jun 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) under five-year-olds, (b) five to 17-year-olds and (c) adults have been classified as (i) overweight and (ii) obese in each of the last five years, broken down by gender.
Answer · Shona Robison: This information is not available in the format requested. Estimates for age groups (a) 2-4 year olds, (b) 5-15 year olds and (c) adults aged 16+ are provided in the following tables from the Scottish Health Survey. Prevalence of overweight and obesity amon…
10 Apr 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the effect on the Scottish oil industry of the renewable targets in the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.
Answer · Aileen Campbell: There are no renewable targets in the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.
22 Feb 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to promote choice for patients booking hospital outpatient appointments.
Answer · Alex Neil: Effective Patient Booking for NHS Scotland was issued by the Scottish Government in August 2012. This guidance promotes and identifies how NHS Boards should apply the principles of effective patient focussed booking practice consistently to offer appointment …
22 Feb 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether foreign language interpreters are paid when a patient requiring the service does not attend.
Answer · Alex Neil: Under local arrangements for interpreting services NHS boards will agree a minimum fee to be paid to the interpreter in the event that the patient does not attend.
22 Feb 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on (a) hospital and (b) GP appointments being overbooked.
Answer · Alex Neil: Organising appointments and scheduling admissions to hospital is an operational matter for NHS boards. It has always been common practice to slightly overbook outpatient clinics to take account of the small number of patients who may not turn up on the day. T…
5 Feb 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether there are measures in place to ensure that an older average age of patients is not a negatively discriminating factor in the valuation of treatments and their outcomes by the Scottish Medicines Consortium.
Answer · Alex Neil: In the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) assessment process, the benefits of treatment (measured in Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) will have been estimated from all patients in the clinical trial(s). These patients often cover a wide age range. When th…
5 Feb 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that patients can access orphan medicines.
Answer · Alex Neil: Access to orphan medicines has been a key focus of the Health and Sport Committee and the New Medicines Review. The Scottish Government will carefully consider any recommendations for improvement to the existing arrangements from the New Medicines Review and …
5 Feb 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve early diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
Answer · Michael Matheson: Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis is a rare lung condition the cause of which is of unknown. It can be difficult to diagnose as the main symptoms are similar to other lung conditions. Diagnosis will usually be made by a respiratory specialist and may involve a nu…
5 Feb 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much has been invested to ensure high-frequency bus transportation as part of the Southern General Hospital’s proposed green travel plan.
Answer · Alex Neil: As part of the green travel plan for the new South Glasgow Hospitals, £40 million has been invested in the Fastlink bus service.
5 Feb 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what stage of implementation the Southern General Hospital’s proposed green travel plan has reached.
Answer · Alex Neil: The travel plan for the new South Glasgow Hospitals will be implemented when the hospitals are operational in 2015. In the meantime, extensive travel planning for the hospitals is on-going including construction of on-site transport infrastructure, for examp…
5 Feb 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been (a) charged and (b) convicted for a criminal offence committed in an accident and emergency department in the last five years, broken down by crime.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Information on the location of offences is not held in The Scottish Government court proceedings database, however, I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-11677 on 10 January 2013 which includes data on section 5(1) of the Emergency Workers (Scotlan…
31 Jan 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason there is a variation in price across NHS boards for GPs to sign a power of attorney form.
Answer · Alex Neil: The vast majority of GP practices operate as independent contractors within the NHS. Practices are contracted by health boards to provide NHS services to registered patients under the terms and conditions of a nationally negotiated General Medical Services co…
29 Jan 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether there have been benefits from funding the eCare programme.
Answer · Alex Neil: Funding local data sharing partnerships contributed towards the improvement of local information sharing protocols, procedures and guidance originally provided by the eCare programme. Adapting local IT systems, improved communications and increased willingnes…
29 Jan 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what lessons it has learned from the eCare programme.
Answer · Alex Neil: The lessons learned from the eCare programme span the programme’s policy and strategy focus, the way it was organised and governed and the technical approach to delivering an information sharing service and integrating it with local ways of working. A detaile…
29 Jan 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government (a) when and (b) for what reason the information on its website regarding the eCare programme was removed.
Answer · Alex Neil: The information regarding the eCare programme was removed from the website on 22 January 2013. The information about eCare was out of date and with the decision to change the course of IT development in support of the Health and Social Care integration, the i…
29 Jan 2013 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the cost has been of the eCare programme.
Answer · Alex Neil: The cost of the eCare Programme has been £50,300,000 from its inception in 2001 until the end of March 2013.