Parliamentary questions

David Stewart

1,651 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

22 Nov 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5T-01888 by Jeane Freeman on 19 November 2019 (Official Report, c. 7), what proportion of the £33 million allocated for radiotherapy will be received by each NHS board.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Radiotherapy is delivered through Scotland’s five specialist cancer centres in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Inverness and Aberdeen. As a direct result of the Cancer Strategy funding to each of these centres, they have all been able to procure the most up-to-da…

20 Nov 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve the administration of medicines in NHS boards.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: I refer the member to the answer to the question S5W-26479 on 3 December 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusi…

20 Nov 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to reduce the number of medication errors that result in serious harm to patients.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government is committed to reducing the number of medication errors and resulting serious harm to patients. There is a specific Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP) Medicines work stream which includes promoting safer prescribing across all c…

20 Nov 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much medication errors have cost the NHS in each of the last five years.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government, and should be requested from NHS Boards.

20 Nov 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what further announcements it plans to make regarding the roll-out of electronic prescribing and medicines administration (ePMA) systems.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: HEPMA has already been successfully implemented in four Health boards across Scotland and all remaining Health Boards are on track to roll it out within the next three to five years. Scottish Government has invested over £10m in 2019-20 to support the implem…

19 Nov 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it encourages the voluntary and community sector in supporting primary care practitioners with patients who present due to poverty-related causes, including with facilitating a preventative approach to help avoid the need for secondary care.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government is committed to increasing the number of Community Links Workers (CLW) by 250 by the end of this parliament. The CLW is a generalist practitioner based in or aligned to a GP practice or cluster, who offers non-clinical support to patie…

15 Nov 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to concerns that BS 8414 fire tests can be amended and repeated unlimited times, with no requirement to publish records of test failures.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: BS 8414 is a large scale fire test method. The pass / fail performance criteria is contained in the publication ‘Fire performance of external thermal insulation for walls of multi-storey buildings (BR 135)’. BS 8414 should therefore be read in conjunction wit…

15 Nov 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment has been made of the independence and transparency of BS 8414 fire tests.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: All British Standard and European harmonised fire tests cited in building regulations (including BS 8414) are carried out by United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) accredited fire test houses. UKAS is independent of Government, but is appointed as the na…

15 Nov 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to ban combustible materials on the outside of high-rise or high-risk buildings.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: From 1 May 2005, Scottish building regulations have required cladding on domestic buildings with any storey over 18 metres to be non-combustible or to pass a large scale fire test (BS 8414 and BR 135). The Scottish Government have just completed a review of …

15 Nov 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the BS 8414 fire test in terms of its accuracy in reflecting real fire conditions.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: All fire tests cited in building regulations are scenario tests used to assess materials, products, systems or components under laboratory conditions. Real fires are highly variable which cannot be replicated. The purpose of a fire test is therefore to determ…

13 Nov 2019 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to reports that around 58,000 children will not be eligible for the Scottish Child Payment benefit when they turn six.

7 Nov 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that there is sufficient support provided to NHS boards to meet any rise in demand for eye care services due to the ageing population.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: I published a Waiting Times Improvement Plan on 23 October 2018 which directs more than £850 million of investment to substantially and sustainably improve waiting times in the face of rising demand for services. This investment will see phased and sustained …

7 Nov 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action NHS Highland is taking to reduce (a) variations in access to safe and efficient eye care treatment in remote and rural areas and (b) waiting times for cataract surgery.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: NHS Highland is committed to reducing waiting times for patients across NHS Highland. Transformational work is taking place to establish and develop local clinics to reduce travel time for patients where possible and where the pathway supports this to ensure …

6 Nov 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the findings by the National Advisory Committee for Chronic Pain working group have been announced and, if not, when these will be.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: The findings of a survey to collate information about the workforce at specialist pain clinics in Scotland has been published by the National Advisory Committee for Chronic Pain (as an annex to meeting minutes) and can be found on the Scottish Government webp…

6 Nov 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the Waiting Times Improvement Plan money for 2019-20 has been awarded to each NHS board.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: During 2019-20 we have provided an additional £119,597,022 across all territorial Health Boards and the Golden Jubilee National Hospital through the Waiting Times Improvement Plan. This funding will support Health Boards to improve waiting times across a rang…

6 Nov 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £850 million from the Waiting Times Improvement Plan announced in October 2018 has been allocated in each year since then, and how much is due to be allocated in 2020-21.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: We have allocated £146,295,385 in 2018-19 and 2019-20 to territorial Health Boards and the Golden Jubilee National Hospital – from the £850 million Waiting Times Improvement Plan. The following table shows the breakdown by year: Financial Year Total availab…

6 Nov 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the average waiting time for chronic pain treatment has been in each NHS board area in each year from 2017-18 to date.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Information regarding average waiting time for chronic pain treatment in each NHS board is not held centrally by ISD. ISD publishes quarterly median wait times (weeks) for the total number of patients seen at a pain clinic-service, and a pain psychology clini…

5 Nov 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what investment will be required to grow the district nursing workforce in line with its commitment to deliver more healthcare in the community.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government is presently giving serious consideration of what investment is required to reflect the District Nursing Short Life Nursing Group recommended growth for the service based on the current service skills mix. In addition the Government ha…

5 Nov 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many more district nurses will be required to meet its commitment to deliver more healthcare in the community.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: As indicated in the National Health and Social Care Workforce Plan Part 3 the Government commissioned a District Nursing Short Life Working Group to advise on developing and sustaining the District Nursing Service. The Government is now considering a number S…

5 Nov 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government by what date it plans to publish its integrated health and social care workforce plan.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: We’ve already published workforce plans covering the NHS, Primary Care and Social Care. Our integrated national health and social care workforce plan will be the first of its kind in the UK when it is published later this year.

5 Nov 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government about the replacement of European Structural Funds support after Brexit.

30 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the additional public costs will be of the three-month extension that it has made to the existing contract with Serco NorthLink Ferries Ltd for Northern Isles Ferry Services.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: The estimated cost for operation of the Northern Isles Ferry Service by NorthLink Ferries over the three month period from 1 November 2019 to 31 January 2020 is £14.6 million. Had the contract started, funding for the same period would have been made availabl…

30 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the tender process for the next contract for Northern Isles Ferry Services has been concluded, and what plans it has to update the Parliament on this issue.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: Serco Ltd were announced as the preferred bidder for the Northern Isles Ferry Services contract on 21 September 2019. The tender process will end when the contract is formally awarded and signed by the preferred bidder. The current contract for the Northern …

30 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the estimated public cost is to date of Pentland Ferries Ltd’s complaints to the European Commission regarding the provision of state subsidy for Northern Isles Ferry Services.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: Transport Scotland provides policy advice and support to Ministers on all aspects of the provision and funding of lifeline ferry services. The cost of specific aspects of the advice and support provided by Transport Scotland, such as the administration of Pen…

23 Oct 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what changes it will make to disability assistance and carer's allowance to help reduce loneliness and social isolation.