Parliamentary questions
Jim Hume
1,310 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
13 May 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people are enrolled in (a) applied psychology for children and young people and (b) child psychotherapy courses, broken down by educational provider, and how many clinical trainees for child and adolescent mental health services there are.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Training for applied psychology for children and young people, child psychotherapy, and clinical trainees for child and adolescent mental health services are provided through partnership arrangements between NHS Education for Scotland (NES), the NHS boards an…
13 May 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many nursing shifts have been unfilled in each month since May 2011, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Shona Robison: The information requested on how many nursing shifts have been unfilled since May 2011, broken down by NHS board, is not centrally held or published by National Services Scotland (Information Services Division). The Scottish Government expects all NHS boards…
12 May 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the follow-up report to National Mental Health Services Assessment, Towards implementation of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 Final Report (the Sandra Grant Report) and, in light of Commitment 1 in Mental Health Strategy for Scotland 2012-2…
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: We commissioned the Mental Health Foundation and Voices of Experience to undertake the 10 year follow up review of the state of mental health services in Scotland. The report is now expected to be published in summer 2015.
12 May 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when ministers last met the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland; who attended; what was discussed, and what future meetings are planned.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: I met with the Very Reverend Graham Forbes CBE, Chair; and Colin McKay, Chief Executive of the Mental Welfare Commission on 28 January 2015. I was supported at that meeting by Penny Curtis, Acting Head of Mental Health and Protection of Rights Division. Matte…
30 Apr 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action is being taken to reduce airborne infections arising from reduced humidity in hospitals.
Answer · Shona Robison: NHS boards, in general, do not provide humidification as there has been no identified clinical need. Therefore, there is no specific healthcare associated infection policy or guidance on this matter.
30 Apr 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what guidelines have been issued by Health Facilities Scotland regarding humidification levels in hospitals and what action each NHS board has taken to follow these.
Answer · Shona Robison: Health Facilities Scotland has issued Scottish Health Technical Memorandum (SHTM) 03-01: Ventilation for healthcare premises, which provides guidance on humidification. The Scottish Government does not hold information centrally on specific action taken by ea…
30 Apr 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when humidification levels in hospitals were last recorded and what the results were, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Shona Robison: Health boards, in general, do not provide humidification as there has been no identified clinical need and therefore they do not record any humidification data.
28 Apr 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many GP referrals to gynaecologists have been made in each year since 2007, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Shona Robison: The number of GP referrals to gynaecologist made in each year since 2007, by NHS board is provided in the following table. Referrals during Calendar Year Health Board of Treatment 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 20142 NHS Scotland 84,185 103…
28 Apr 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many gynaecologists have been employed in each year since 2007, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Shona Robison: The information requested on how many gynaecologists have been employed in each year since 2007, broken down by NHS board is provided in the following table. Table 1: Number (whole-time equivalent) of obstetrics and gynaecology hospital, community, and publ…
13 Apr 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to commission Tier 4 in-patient services.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Children and young people referred to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) will generally be treated in the community. Patients with more severe mental health problems can be assessed and referred to Tier 4 services for treatment which may resu…
13 Apr 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to assess Tier 4 child and adolescent mental health services.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: We have recently developed a data set with partners to track progress in developing intensive community treatment teams and other tier 4 child and adolescent mental health services activity, and how the adolescent inpatient units are working. NHS National Ser…
12 Mar 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4O-04069 by Maureen Watt on 4 March 2015 (Official Report, c.12), in light of the minister's comment that "there are no plans to close the CIC [Glasgow Centre for Integrative Care], which we see as having a role for patients across Scotland”, what its …
Answer · Maureen Watt: Health boards are required to involve local stakeholders in designing, developing and delivering the health care services they provide for them. This should be done in line with national guidance on informing, engaging and consulting people in developing heal…
10 Mar 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many applications were made to educational psychology courses in Scotland in each year between 2010 and 2014 and how many people took up the course, broken down by institution.
Answer · Alasdair Allan: The University of Dundee and the University of Strathclyde run, with an intake in alternate years, two year Master of Science (MSc) courses in educational psychology. The number of applications and number taking up a place is shown in the following table: In…
10 Mar 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) educational and (b) clinical psychologist posts there were in each year between 2010 and 2014.
Answer · Alasdair Allan: The numbers of educational psychologist posts are a matter for education authorities and numbers are not held centrally. The numbers of full-time equivalent (FTE) educational psychologists in post from 2010 to 2014 are shown in Table 1. The numbers of clinic…
9 Mar 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much it will allocate in the 2015-16 draft Budget to socially-rented housing, and what its position is on the evidence submitted to the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee by Shelter Scotland, which recommended that at least £200 million in addition to the already allocat…
Answer · Margaret Burgess: The Scottish Government does not have a separate budget for social rented housing. Funding for the provision of social rented housing is included within the budget for the Affordable Housing Supply Programme. It is up to each local authority to put forward t…
9 Mar 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many socially-rented homes it plans to build each year, and what its position is on the comment by Shelter Scotland that "at least 10,000 new homes for social rent need to be built each year to start meaningfully to tackle Scotland's housing crisis".
Answer · Margaret Burgess: The Scottish Government’s five year target is to deliver at least 30,000 additional affordable homes of which 20,000 are for social rent. We are working with councils and partners to deliver our target and they are doing this to excellent effect. Three quart…
9 Mar 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it took to increase the level of completions for (a) social housing, (b) housing association properties and (c) affordable housing in 2014, and for what reason the number of completions was smaller than in 2013.
Answer · Margaret Burgess: The Scottish Government has set a five year target to deliver 30,000 affordable homes, 20,000 of which are for social rent. In response to (a) and (b), in July 2013 the Scottish Government, in recognition of the financial pressures facing councils and housin…
5 Mar 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much it would cost to extend free personal care to people under 65 with Alzheimer’s or dementia.
Answer · Shona Robison: Data is not currently available to accurately estimate how much it would cost to extend free personal care to people who have Alzheimer’s disease or dementia and are aged under 65.
5 Mar 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on extending free personal care to people under 65 who have Alzheimer’s or dementia.
Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government and COSLA are working together to create a fairer system of charging for social care. It is important to consider charging as part of the wider social care system. We need to ensure that resources are in place so we have the quantity …
2 Mar 2015 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what rail investment plans it has for South Scotland.
23 Feb 2015 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to increase the training, recruitment and retention of mental health officers across child and adolescent mental health services.
9 Feb 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how often the Scottish Medicines Consortium has had to defer a review of a medicine in the last three years due to its workload and whether it has made an assessment of whether its current level of resourcing is sufficient.
Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) aims to provide advice on new medicines and new indications to health boards as soon as is practical after a new medicine becomes available for use. In the event of receipt of a high number of submissions in a particul…
9 Feb 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what criteria the Scottish Medicines Consortium uses to prioritise its review of medicines and whether it plans to publish the criteria and the weightings applied.
Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) aims to provide advice on new medicines and new indications to health boards as soon as is practical after a new medicine becomes available for use. In the event of receipt of a high number of submissions in a particul…
26 Jan 2015 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it will support and develop the third sector across the South Scotland region.
22 Jan 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the average (a) total spend per head and (b) spend per head on mental health has been in each NHS board in each of the last five years.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: A table answering this question has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib number: 56660).
22 Jan 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of spend on mental health conditions compared to spend on (a) obesity- and (b) smoking-related conditions.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Funds are allocated to each geographical NHS health board and it is the responsibility of each board to plan and provide services which meet the needs of their population, in line with Scottish Government policy. In 2010-11 NHS Scotland’s expenditure on ment…
22 Jan 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of health spend was on mental health in each of the last five years.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The proportion of NHS expenditure on mental health over the last five years is shown in the following table. In 2009-10 NHS Scotland’s expenditure on mental health was £890.5 million, and this rose by £6.1 million in 2013-14 to £896.7 million, an increase of…
19 Jan 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of NHS Fife’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS) Intensive Therapy Service, and what recent discussions it has had with the other NHS boards about this service.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Clinical activity and outcome data is collated on a four monthly basis as part of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS) South East Tier 4 Consortium. This information is collated in the context of the three regional intensive therapy services and inp…
19 Jan 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when ministers last met the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland; who attended, and what future meetings are planned.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The former Minister for Public Health met the Chair and Chief Executive of the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland on 10 September 2013. I am scheduled to meet the Chair and Chief Executive of the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland on 28 January 2015.
13 Jan 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it is working with NHS boards to improve stoma care services.
Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all people who live with long term conditions and disabilities are able to receive the best possible care and support wherever possible and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put…