Parliamentary questions

Miles Briggs

4,209 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

15 Oct 2018 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government how the extra funding that it announced in July 2018 to support breastfeeding services has been distributed.

15 Oct 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on what the average waiting times have been for wheelchair repairs for people (a) under and (b) over 18 in each year since 2007, also broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Information broken down by patient age group is not available. The most recent figures for both routine and urgent wheelchair repairs, broken down by service area for the 12 months up to September 2018, are available at http://www.retis.scot.nhs.uk/wheelcha…

10 Oct 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the timescale is for the implementation of each action point in the Oral Health Improvement Plan.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Oral Health Improvement Plan (OHIP) is a major piece of public health reform and when it is fully implemented it will provide the framework for improved oral care for the Scottish population. The nature and size of the improvement plan means that it is es…

10 Oct 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of the consultation that it carried out with stakeholders and experts regarding the proposed changes to the Statement of Dental Remuneration.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Prior to the publication of the Oral Health Improvement Plan (OHIP) we consulted widely with both patients and dental professionals. This included an online consultation exercise, a series of roadshow events for dental professionals around Scotland, and a num…

9 Oct 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the findings of the recent workforce survey regarding chronic pain among health workers, which was carried out by the National Advisory Committee on Chronic Pain.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: On behalf of the National Advisory Committee for Chronic Pain (NACCP), the Deputy Chief Medical Officer commissioned Scottish NHS Boards to provide information about the quantity of different healthcare professionals working within specialist pain services ac…

9 Oct 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out of how each NHS board is spending its share of the additional support that has been allocated since 2017 to improve waiting times; what methodology the boards use to inform ministers of how the funding is being used, and what assessment it has made of the…

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The additional funding provided to Boards since 2017 was allocated on a criteria based assessment process, that ensured that funding was directed to initiatives that specifically addressed patients waiting the longest in specialties with the longest waits. Bo…

9 Oct 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in the Lothian region in each year since 2007 have been (a) prosecuted for and (b) convicted of child abuse arising from Munchausen by proxy syndrome, or fabricating or inducing illness, and what information it has regarding how many children in each local authority area …

Answer · Maree Todd: Scottish Government data is not available for individual local authorities or regions with reference to Munchausen by proxy syndrome or fabricated or induced illness (FII). The offence of child abuse arising from FII is a criminal offence under Section 12 (s…

8 Oct 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-13509 by Aileen Campbell on 11 January 2018, what funding it provided toward the research project in (a) 2017-18 and (b) 2018-19; how many researchers are participating, and what progress has been made.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: Further to the answer to question S5W-13509, in 2018-19 a final payment of £87,500 has been made in support of this work. The answer to S5W-14264 on 23 February 2018, clarified that due to data protection laws and the very small number of research posts invo…

8 Oct 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the uptake rate has been for the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine by people over 65 in each year since it was offered.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: Health Protection Scotland can only provide validated data for 2017-18. In 2017-18 the uptake rate of PPV among over 65s was 67.9% As set out in response to S5W-17762 on 16 August 2018, prior to 2017-18 uptake rates of the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccin…

5 Oct 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to concerns regarding the impact on patients of a lack of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) clinical nurse specialists, and whether it will provide an update on plans to recruit more.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care policy in Scotland. However, the statutory responsibility for delivering or commissioning services at a local level lies with local authorities, NHS Boards and integrated health and…

5 Oct 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to concerns that translabial ultrasounds are not available within the NHS in Scotland and whether it has any plans to introduce such services.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Translabial scanning is not offered routinely by the NHS, either in Scotland or in England. This is because clinicians in both jurisdictions advise that there is no clinical evidence to support routine use. This position is supported by draft NICE guidance e…

5 Oct 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-11652 by Shona Robison on 2 November 2017, whether it will provide an update on the number of new GPs recruited through the GP Recruitment and Retention Fund, also broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Through the previous £5 million recruitment and retention fund 39 new GPs were recruited. We’ve increased the GP recruitment and retention fund in 2018-19 to £7.5 million to fund a range of initiatives to encourage GPs to remain in or to return to the profess…

5 Oct 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the impact would be on the NHS if the reported issues regarding the ability of Healthcare Environment Services (HES) Ltd to dispose of human waste from hospitals continues and the contracts that HES has with the NHS boards were subsequently breached.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Clinical waste collection and disposal continues as normal for NHS Scotland and we are not aware of any issues. In the event of disruption to clinical waste management services at NHS sites across Scotland, all NHS Boards have contingency plans ready to put i…

5 Oct 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it was first advised of the reported issues regarding the ability of Healthcare Environment Services Ltd to dispose of human waste from hospitals; what action it has taken, and what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding this.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Authorities in England alerted Scottish Government to issues regarding the company’s management of clinical waste at its sites in England on 9 August. Since then Scottish Government have been working with Scottish Environment Protection Agency(SEPA) and NHS …

4 Oct 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that the University of Strathclyde will not be offering its educational psychology course in 2019, and what impact it considers this will have on recruitment challenges within educational psychology.

Answer · John Swinney: We understand that the University of Strathclyde has taken the decision not to invite applications for a 2019 intake to the MSc in Educational Psychology programme. While this is unfortunate, universities are autonomous institutions with responsibility for ma…

3 Oct 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding how many patients have had feeding tubes fitted in each year since 2007, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government does not hold any data on how many patients have had feeding tubes fitted. Data from the Scottish Intensive Care Society Audit group's report "Audit of Critical Care in Scotland 2018 Reporting on 2017" showed that in 2017, the provisi…

2 Oct 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release of 29 July 2018, £2 million more for breastfeeding support, how much each NHS board will receive, broken down by timescale.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-19158 on 6 November 2018. 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…

27 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-17241 by Joe FitzPatrick on 10 July 2018, whether the expert advice from Health Protection Scotland has been received and, if so, when it will (a) issue a response to that advice and (b) make an announcement regarding whether it will introduce a str…

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: The Scottish Government has committed to eliminating hepatitis C as a public health concern in Scotland, and will publish a strategy to achieve this in due course. Health Protection Scotland has provided draft advice to Scottish Government officials and this …

25 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-18853 by John Swinney on 25 September 2018, how many places were offered to the applicants each year.

Answer · John Swinney: The information requested is not held centrally. The number of places offered will be held by the University of Strathclyde and the University of Dundee who had intakes in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

25 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government by what date the reported issues regarding the 2018 police pay award will be resolved.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: On 26 September 2018 the Police Negotiating Board (PNB) agreed a pay award for Scottish Police Officers that will be implemented from 1 September 2018 and will cover 31 months. Officers up to and including the rank of Chief Superintendent will receive an imme…

24 Sep 2018 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that pupils in Lothian have access to as broad a range of exam level subjects as possible.

21 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when ministers first received notice of the communication sent by Dr Munwar Hussain to the NHS Tayside board around 27 June 2018 outlining whistleblowing concerns, and what action was taken as a result.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: On 3 September 2018 I received an email from Munwar Hussain in which he wrote that, on 27 June 2018, he received an email from a former junior doctor about bullying allegations. He stated that he then informed NHS Tayside’s Chair. NHS Tayside confirmed that t…