Parliamentary questions

Miles Briggs

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

5 Jul 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has made any assessment of the pipeline deal agreed between Vertex Pharmaceuticals and the Irish Government to ensure that people living with cystic fibrosis in Ireland have access to the best treatments for the next 10 years, and what the implications are for negotiations for…

Answer · Shona Robison: I wrote to Vertex Pharmaceuticals in March to encourage them to take forward discussions about the cost of Orkambi® with colleagues in National Health Services Scotland who are best placed to advise them on pricing approaches and a fair price that could suppo…

5 Jul 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-09726 by Aileen Campbell on 27 June 2017, what its response is to the suggestion that patients and the public should be able to access information on chronic pain waiting times in user-friendly summaries, rather than having to search through tables …

Answer · Aileen Campbell: The content of the chronic pain waiting times publications is determined by the Information Services Division (ISD) of NHS Scotland, who publish the information. ISD keeps the format of its publications under review and is currently considering different appr…

5 Jul 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-09726 by Aileen Campbell on 27 June 2017, what involvement ministers or its officials have had in recent decisions to change the content of publication summaries on chronic pain waiting times.

Answer · Aileen Campbell: The content of the chronic pain waiting times publication is determined by the Information Services Division (ISD) of NHS Scotland, who publish the information. ISD adheres to the Code of Practice for Official Statistics which is underpinned by the Statisti…

5 Jul 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-09726 by Aileen Campbell on 27 June 2017, whether it accepts that the excel tables referred to do not contain all the data shown previously in ISD chronic pain summaries, for example the number of patients treated each quarter in under 18 weeks from…

Answer · Aileen Campbell: The content of the Excel publication tables has not changed – all information previously available is still available within the Excel tables.

28 Jun 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to concerns that individuals with poor or no credit ratings, including unemployed people and students with debt, are unable to access funding to take forward their business ideas, including loan funding offered through the Scottish Microfinance Fund.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: The Scottish Microfinance Fund aim is to provide access to affordable business finance for those with viable business propositions but who are unable to obtain finance, either wholly or in part, from mainstream lenders. Responsible lending is at the core of t…

27 Jun 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5T-00624 by Shona Robison on 27 June 2017 (Official Report, c. 10), what its position is on whether the children's ward at St John's Hospital will not be closed to inpatients in future years.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government fully expects NHS Lothian to ensure services are staffed appropriately to meet their service provision responsibility and to deliver high quality and sustainable services to meet the needs of the local population, in this instance, Wes…

27 Jun 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5T-00624 by Shona Robison on 27 June 2017 (Official Report, c. 10), on what date the children's ward at St John's Hospital will reopen to inpatients.

Answer · Shona Robison: NHS Lothian has reiterated that the safety of children within its paediatric services is its highest priority and has confirmed its aim to return to a full service within the children's ward at St John’s Hospital as soon as possible after the summer.

27 Jun 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5T-00624 by Shona Robison on 27 June 2017 (Official Report, c. 10), what support it is providing to NHS Lothian to recruit additional (a) medical and (b) other staff for the children's ward at St John's Hospital.

Answer · Shona Robison: NHS Lothian’s resource budget allocation for 2017-18, is £1,342.0 million. The Board’s budget has increased in cash terms by £473.3 million (54.5%) from 2006-07 to 2017-18. Since September 2006, all staff (whole time equivalent) has increased within NHS Loth…

27 Jun 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5T-00624 by Shona Robison on 27 June 2017 (Official Report, c. 10), what its position is on whether the development of a national NHS workforce plan would have helped to prevent the closures in recent years of the children's ward at St John's Hospital …

Answer · Shona Robison: The National Health and Social care Workforce Plan will help to address workforce planning requirements for the NHSScotland workforce, ensuring the delivery of safe and sustainable local, regional and national clinical services. NHS Lothian continues to im…

27 Jun 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5T-00624 by Shona Robison on 27 June 2017 (Official Report, c. 10), what the impact has been on services at the Royal Sick Kids Hospital in Edinburgh of it treating additional patients as a result of the closure of the children's ward at St John's Hosp…

Answer · Shona Robison: In 2015, when the current temporary model was in operation for a 6 week period, an average of 1.7 patients per day presented at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children (RHSC). This did not have a detrimental effect upon the services on offer within the RHSC. NHS…

27 Jun 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5T-00624 by Shona Robison on 27 June 2017 (Official Report, c. 10), what support is available for parents and families from West Lothian to meet additional travel and other costs in order to travel to and from the Royal Hospital for Sick Kids in Edinbu…

Answer · Shona Robison: Families in receipt of social security benefits, who are on a low income, should be entitled to help with travel costs to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children Hospital (RHSC). In that instance, when families attend the RHSC, they should request a certificate …

21 Jun 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the students that it expects to undertake the new graduate-level medicine course will be Scottish-domiciled, and how it will encourage Scottish-domiciled students to apply.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government will set the overall intake number for the new graduate level medical course. The first intake is expected to be around 40 students. In line with academic freedom, the selection and recruitment of individual students admitted to the co…

20 Jun 2017 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that all diabetes patients who would benefit from continuous glucose monitoring are able to access this technology.

Answer · Aileen Campbell: There is now a well-established evidence base for the benefits of Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) as an aid to improve glycaemic control for a small number of people with Type 1 diabetes. We have worked with the Scottish Diabetes Group (SDG) to develop a…

16 Jun 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the most recent Information Service Division publication summary documents, Chronic Pain Waiting Times in NHSScotland Quarter ending 31 December 2016 and Chronic Pain Waiting Times in NHSScotland Quarter ending 31 March 2017, did not make public full data on chronic pain …

Answer · Aileen Campbell: The full data on chronic pain continued to be published by NHS ISD in excel tables on their website: http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Waiting-Times/Publications/index.asp The content of publication summaries can and does change between each release …

15 Jun 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to reports that NHS chronic pain clinics are facing a shortage of (a) staff and (b) resources.

Answer · Aileen Campbell: It is the role of the Scottish Government to provide policies, frameworks and resources to NHS boards. In this context, it is a matter for NHS Boards to plan, budget for, and deliver the services required to meet the assessed needs of their resident populatio…

15 Jun 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that some local authorities do not provide reminders to (a) permanently blind and (b) other disabled people when their concessionary travel passes are due to expire, and whether it provides or plans to provide guidance to councils to encourage them to issu…

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government is responsible for the management, operational delivery and policy issues relating to concessionary travel in Scotland which is delivered on the National Entitlement Card (NEC). Local authorities manage the NEC application and validati…

13 Jun 2017 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to work with NHS Lothian to expand car parking capacity at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.

Answer · Shona Robison: There are approximately 1,700 car parking spaces on the Royal Infirmary site. This will increase to 2,071 spaces when the new hospital for children and young people is opened in autumn 2018. There are currently 46 disabled parking spaces at the RIE, increasin…

13 Jun 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the outcomes were for cleft lip and palate surgery conducted in the (a) Edinburgh and (b) Glasgow hospital unit in 2016-17, and when the annual report of the unit will be published.

Answer · Shona Robison: Surgical outcomes for 2016-17 for speech, growth in both unilateral and bilateral cleft lip & palate, will be reported in the CleftCare Scotland Report for 2016-17 which aims to report in the summer of 2017. This outcome data will relate to children born in 2…

31 May 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the timetable is of its recently announced plans to update regulations for the licensing of dog, cat and rabbit breeding and dealing.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The Scottish Government will bring forward plans to update regulations for the licensing of dog, cat and rabbit breeding and dealing for appropriate public consultation in due course.

31 May 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government which organisations it has met to discuss extending free personal care to people under 65 with dementia or other similar conditions, and what action it has taken to encourage these organisations to participate in the feasibility study on this.

Answer · Shona Robison: Scottish Government officials met with representatives from the Scotland Against the Care Tax Campaign during April 2017. In addition they have also met with local authority representatives at the beginning of June and also plan to hold a round table event wi…