Mark McDonald

26 Jan 2021 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made in involving individuals with experience of Disability Living Allowance in the design and delivery plans for the Child Disability Payment.

21 Jan 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many teachers have become qualified teachers of students with visual impairments. in each year since 2011, and what the year-on-year percentage change has been.

Answer · John Swinney: The information requested is not held centrally.  

21 Jan 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to increase the number of qualified teachers of students with visual impairments.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government is committed to increasing the capacity and expertise of school staff to support pupils with visual impairments. We fund the Scottish Sensory Centre to provide specialist training to school staff to support pupils with a sensory impair…

21 Jan 2021 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many qualified teachers of students with visual impairments have been employed in each local authority area in each year since 2011, and what the year-on-year percentage change has been.

Answer · John Swinney: The information requested is not held centrally.  

10 Aug 2020 · Topical Question

To ask the Scottish Government what conditions it expects to be met to enable the easing of local restrictions in Aberdeen.

11 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of students enrolled in Medicine courses at universities dropped out in each of the last five years, also broken down by the year of study they dropped out.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: Information on the total number of students withdrawing from medicine is not held centrally. However, the following tables show the percentage of full-time and dormant first degree pre-clinical and clinical medical students who are recorded by HESA as withdr…

11 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many Gateway to Medicine (G2M) places have been awarded in universities in each of the last five years, and how many places will be awarded in the next academic year.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Gateway to Medicine (G2M) programme is a pre-medical entry programme at Aberdeen University. There is also a pre-medical programme at Glasgow University (the Glasgow Access Programme). In 2017-18 and 2018-19 – 40 places were awarded with 20 places going …

11 Feb 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of students enrolled in Medicine courses at universities were required to repeat their first year of study in each of the last five years.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: The following table shows the percentage of students who were on full-time first degree pre-clinical medicine courses at Scottish Universities and reported as being in the first year of programme of study* and the second year of study* in the HESA statistics.…

5 Dec 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when the Scottish Research Forum for Palliative and End of Life Care (a) last met and (b) will next meet.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: The Forum last met in its entirety in May 2018 to recognise the work of the outgoing Chair. Following the appointment of a new Chair, a meeting of the full Forum was initially scheduled for Autumn 2019, however this has been postponed until early 2020 to allo…

27 Nov 2019 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve access to NHS gender identity services.

20 Nov 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many additional support needs tribunals have been held in each local authority area under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 in each of the last five years, broken down by what percentage of appeals were upheld.

Answer · John Swinney: The Health and Education Chamber, the first-tier Tribunal for Scotland is an independent judicial body, consequently, the Scottish Government does not hold the information requested. Annex D of the Annual Report of Scottish Tribunals sets out the information…

7 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when the £50 million for improving access to mental health services for expectant and new mothers, announced by the First Minister in March 2019, will be allocated to NHS boards.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government has committed £50 million of investment to perinatal and infant mental health services over the next 4 years. The Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Programme Board was established in March 2019 to provide strategic leadership and wil…

24 Sep 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many health and social care professionals have completed training on the diagnosis and management of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder since the first session was delivered in 2013, broken down by NHS board, and whether any further training sessions are planned.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: Scottish Government does not hold a formal record of health and social care professionals who have completed training on the diagnosis and management of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. This information may be held by individual Health Boards. Two additional…

24 Sep 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether funding will be allocated by local authorities to deliver commitment 18 of the Alcohol Framework 2018.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: Local authority funding is a matter for local authorities. We would expect Children’s Services Strategic Partnerships, which are charged with improving outcomes for children, to consider need at a local level.

24 Sep 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when electronic prescribing will be rolled out nationally in hospitals.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The implementation of HEPMA ( Hospital Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration ) has been successfully rolled out in 4 NHS Boards. HEPMA supports the complex change to clinical practice in electronic prescribing and the current plan is for all NHS…

24 Sep 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on introducing a nationwide model for anti-microbial teams, with a dedicated funding pathway and minimum standards for staffing.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Each NHSScotland Board has an Antimicrobial Management Team (AMT). The AMT’s role is to develop and implement local antimicrobial policies, monitor antimicrobial use and compliance with local and national policy, ensure clinical staff are appropriately traine…

25 Jul 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether there are any plans to improve the sharing of relevant patient information between primary and secondary care, beyond that which is covered by the Key Information Summary (KIS).

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Digital Health and Care strategy sets out the vision for a national digital platform through which relevant real-time data and information from health and care records, and the tools and services they use, is available to those who need it, when they need…

13 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that integration joint boards engage adequately with third sector partners at the earliest stages of service commissioning in order to ensure that their views are considered as part of the commissioning process.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: On 4 February 2019 the Ministerial Strategic Group for Health and Community Care, Review of Progress with Integration of Health and Social Care - Final Report was published, which is available via the Scottish Government website https://www.gov.scot . It se…

13 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on all medical practitioners being required to have an understanding of palliative care, and how it is ensuring that undergraduate medical students receive appropriate education on this issue.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The General Medical Council (GMC) plays the key role in setting and confirming that medical practitioners have an understanding of palliative care. For undergraduates the GMC does not specify the curriculum, but it has set out new, high-level, ‘Outcomes for …

13 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to increase research into palliative and end of life care, and what funding it has allocated to this in each of the last three years.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government was a funding partner in the Palliative and End of Life Care Priority Setting Partnership (PeolcPSP), facilitated by the James Lind Alliance (JLA). The purpose of this partnership was to identify and publish the top 10 research questio…

13 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when the Scottish Research Forum for Palliative and End of Life Care last met, and when it will next meet.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Forum last met in its entirety in May 2018, to recognise the work of the retiring Chair and to discuss the next steps for the Forum. A new Chair has now been appointed and the Forum plans to next meet in Autumn this year.  

26 Apr 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many children remain unvaccinated against (a) MMR, (b) diphtheria, (c) polio, (d) tetanus, (e) whooping cough, (f) rotavirus, (g) haemophilus influenza type B and (h) meningococcal types A, B, C, W and Y, also broken down by NHS board area.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: The vaccination status of children in Scotland is monitored routinely at defined ages to reflect the different immunisation requirements at different ages. This information is available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 60685)

26 Apr 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the percentage uptake of childhood vaccination for (a) MMR, (b) diphtheria, (c) polio, (d) tetanus, (e) whooping cough, (f) rotavirus, (g) haemophilus influenza type B, (h) meningococcal types A, B, C, W and Y has been in each of the last five years, also broken down by NHS board ar…

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: Information services division (ISD) produce an annual report which sets out the uptake rate across Scotland of each of the childhood vaccinations. Please see the following link: https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Child-Health/Publications/2019-03-26/20…

23 Apr 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government by what date it expects to appoint a permanent chief dental officer.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: We are giving this matter consideration and will make an announcement in due course. The post of Chief Dental Officer is currently being filled on an interim basis by the Deputy Chief Dental Officer. He has considerable experience of working with the profess…

4 Apr 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme for boys will include a catch-up programme for all secondary school boys to ensure that they are protected.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: The girls’ HPV vaccination programme has proved highly successful, with coverage exceeding 90% in the routine cohort. Achieving such a high uptake helps to stop the spread of HPV to boys due to herd immunity helping to protect vulnerable members of the commun…

4 Apr 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to roll out vaccinations against human papillomavirus (HPV) for adolescent boys.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: New findings have shown the levels of cancer-causing HPV in Scotland have dropped by 90% in young women, demonstrating the significant and continued benefits of our vaccination programme. Building on this success we plan to extend the HPV vaccine programme t…

19 Mar 2019 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that children with complex needs and medical conditions are appropriately supported in their education.

14 Mar 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to provide funding support to Direction Bodies in order to offset the costs of increased employer contributions as a result of the National Health Service Superannuation and Pension Schemes (Scotland) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2019.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-22171 on 26 March 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/parliamentarybusiness/…

14 Mar 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has received any notification of Barnett consequentials as a result of the Treasury decision to provide funding to Direction Bodies in order to offset the increased employer contributions that will arise from the National Health Service Superannuation and Pension Schemes (Scot…

Answer · Jeane Freeman: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-22171 on 26 March 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/parliamentarybusiness/…

14 Mar 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the impact of the employer contribution uplift in the National Health Service Superannuation and Pension Schemes (Scotland) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2019 from 14.9% to 20.9% will be for Direction Bodies.    

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The UK Government had committed to provide funding to fully cover the increased pension costs for NHS employers, but current indications are that the Health consequentials that Scotland will receive will not meet 100% of the costs that we will face. The Scot…