Parliamentary questions
Miles Briggs
4,209 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
5 Dec 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been convicted of (a) dangerous and (b) careless driving in each year since 1999, broken down by area.
Answer · Michael Matheson: Tables ‘People convicted in Scottish Courts for dangerous driving, by Local Authority Area, 1999-2000 to 2014-15’ and ‘People convicted in Scottish Courts for careless driving, by Local Authority Area, 1999-2000 to 2014-15’ are available from the Scottish Par…
5 Dec 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-04885 by Aileen Campbell on 1 December 2016, when it will publish the remit and membership of the new National Advisory Committee for Chronic Pain; how it will report to the Parliament, and whether the length of waiting times at NHS chronic pain cli…
Answer · Aileen Campbell: The membership and remit of the planned National Advisory Committee for Chronic Pain are not yet finalised. The Ministerial Steering Group on Chronic Pain continues to monitor chronic pain waiting times data published quarterly by NHS National Services Scotl…
30 Nov 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking and plans to take to (a) increase capacity and (b) reduce congestion on the Edinburgh City bypass.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: Transport Scotland is continuing with work to identify how best to mitigate congestion on the A720, and how a potential increase in capacity would contribute. As the work is currently underway it would not be appropriate to prejudge the outcome. I refer the …
30 Nov 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the research by Inrix Roadway Analytics that suggests that four of the UK's worst traffic bottlenecks are on the Edinburgh city bypass.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government recognises the important role that Edinburgh and its region plays in the national economy and that the A720 plays in the strategic transport network. Transport Scotland is continuing to invest in work to identify how best to mitigate c…
30 Nov 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many vehicles it expects to use the Edinburgh City bypass over each of the next five years, broken down by vehicle type, and what long-term projection it has made for the next 25 years.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: Transport Scotland maintain a range of traffic forecasts on all trunk roads in Scotland using the national transport model, the Transport Model for Scotland. It has a base year of 2014 and produces forecasts for a number of future years through to 2037. Futur…
29 Nov 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that insulin pumps are available for people in all age groups with Type 1 diabetes.
Answer · Shona Robison: In February 2012, the Chief Executive Letter (CEL 04 (2012)) required Health boards to increase insulin pump therapy in line with national clinical guidance. The commitment to provide insulin pump therapy to 25% of under 18s and for people of all ages with …
29 Nov 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much each NHS board has spent on insulin pumps in each year since 2007, also broken down by the age groups of the recipients.
Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-05158 on 14 December 2016. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for wh…
28 Nov 2016 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the timetable is for improvements at the Sheriffhall Roundabout.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-03083 on 6 October 2016. The options under consideration were presented at two public exhibitions on 6 and 7 December.
25 Nov 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the average age of mental health nurses is in Scotland, and what assessment it has been made of the option for mental health nurses to retire at 55.
Answer · Maureen Watt: The average age of Mental Health Nurses working in NHSScotland as at 30 September 2016 is 45. Mental Health Officer (MHO) status, which allows members of the NHS Pension Scheme to retire with an unreduced pension from age 55 onwards (where the member has th…
25 Nov 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been supported by the alcohol and drug partnerships in each year since 1999.
Answer · Aileen Campbell: The requested information can only be provided for 2011-2015 as data captured prior to this is not comparable. As such I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-02037 on 13 September 2016. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available o…
25 Nov 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the average waiting time has been for oral cancer screenings in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Shona Robison: There is no national oral cancer screening programme in NHS Scotland or centrally held data on average waits for oral cancer screening. However, validated data for Cancer Waiting Times Standards are published by NHS ISD quarterly. Data for median waits from …
25 Nov 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the number of people requiring personal care.
Answer · Shona Robison: Local authorities have a duty under the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 to assess a person’s community care needs and decide whether to arrange any required services. Approximately 77,000 people in Scotland benefit from Free Personal Care, with more than 30…
25 Nov 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many young people have been refused treatment from child and adolescent mental health services in each year since 1999.
Answer · Maureen Watt: Data on how many young people have been refused treatment from child and adolescent mental health services is not held centrally. Data on the number of referrals received and number of referrals rejected is collected and published on the ISD website (http://…
25 Nov 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many oral cancer screenings have taken place in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Shona Robison: There is no national screening programme for oral cancer and no centrally held data on how many oral cancer screenings that have taken place in NHS Scotland. In January 2016, the UK National Screening Committee, which advises Ministers and the NHS about all …
25 Nov 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been refused treatment from mental health services due to also having an alcohol or drug dependency issue in each year since 1999.
Answer · Maureen Watt: Data on how many people have been refused treatment from mental health services due to also having an alcohol or drug dependency issue is not held centrally.
25 Nov 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many referrals for child and adolescent mental health services have been made by (a) GPs, (b) schools or school nurses and (c) named persons in each year since 1999.
Answer · Maureen Watt: Data on the number of referrals made by GP’s, schools or school nurses and named persons to child and adolescent mental health service is not held centrally ISD receives aggregated referral data from NHS Boards. It is not possible to identify the source of th…
25 Nov 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-00934 by Shona Robison on 1 July 2016, how much each local authority received from the £6 million, and how many people this has helped in each local authority.
Answer · Shona Robison: As part of the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2016-17, £250m was provided from the Health budget to integration authorities for social care, of which £125m was provided to support additional spend on expanding social care, including through making pr…
25 Nov 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the NHS computer systems, and which operating system does the NHS currently use.
Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government in partnership with boards is constantly evaluating current national and local systems to ensure they are still fit for purpose and resilient. For example in 2016 there has been a board level gap analysis of the critical controls neede…
25 Nov 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people have paid for their community alarm in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority.
Answer · Shona Robison: This information is not currently collected by the Scottish Government. The total number of people, broken down by age and by local authority, in receipt of telecare has been collected since 2011. See http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Health/Data/H…
25 Nov 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much has been collected in care charges for people under 65 in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority.
Answer · Shona Robison: The Local Government Financial Return (LFR3) collects information on income from client contributions for adults under 65 receiving Social Care services. This information is published in tables 4A and 4B of spreadsheet for the “Expenditure on Adult Social Car…
25 Nov 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many outcomes of surgery are only benchmarked against other outcomes within the NHS in Scotland, broken down by type of surgery.
Answer · Shona Robison: We take a broad approach to measuring the quality of care within our health service. Individual surgical units conduct morbidity and mortality meetings regularly, NSS Discovery allows appropriate benchmarking within and across Boards. Our surgeons participa…
25 Nov 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to support prisoners to access housing, employment and benefits ahead of being released.
Answer · Michael Matheson: SPS has a long standing relationship with the DWP who have placed JCP staff in all prisons either on a full time or part time basis. Partnership working is ongoing to ensure that access to employment support and benefit advice is continually improving. SPS c…
25 Nov 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what advice it has provided to integration joint boards regarding charging for community alarms.
Answer · Shona Robison: Charging guidelines for integration joint boards remain those issued by COSLA, as per S5W-04980 answered on 8 December 2016. These guidelines cover charging for non-residential social care services, which includes community alarms as a chargeable service. Al…
24 Nov 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much was spent on child and adolescent mental health in 2015-16, also broken down by NHS board, and what percentage of (a) the overall (i) NHS and (ii) mental health budget and (b) each NHS board's budget this represents.
Answer · Maureen Watt: Scottish Health Service Costs is published annually by ISD Scotland with the support of the Scottish Government. Published costs information for NHSScotland, including for child and adolescent mental health expenditure (Report R04LSX and SFR 8.3); mental heal…
23 Nov 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether the updated perinatal mental health curricular framework will make reference to improved psychological input for parents.
Answer · Maureen Watt: The revised perinatal mental health curricular framework, to be published by NHS Education For Scotland, will focus on the educational needs of practitioners who support families in the perinatal period - defined as pregnancy and the twelve months following t…
23 Nov 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many perinatal clinical psychologists have been employed by each NHS board in each of the last three years.
Answer · Maureen Watt: This information is not held centrally. We expect that mental health care and treatment will be delivered by all NHS Boards in a person-centred manner to meet each individual’s needs. That includes the appropriate provision of clinical psychologists to meet l…
23 Nov 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when the perinatal mental health curricular framework will be updated.
Answer · Maureen Watt: NHS Education For Scotland aim to publish the revised framework in April 2017.
23 Nov 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has undertaken a review into the appropriateness of perinatal mental health services and, if so, what the outcome was.
Answer · Maureen Watt: The Scottish Government has not undertaken a review into the appropriateness of perinatal mental health services. However, we have taken note of recent reports by the NSPCC (“Getting It Right”, published in April 2015) and the Mental Welfare Commission (“Peri…
23 Nov 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many children have been looked after by neonatal units in each NHS board in each of the last three years.
Answer · Shona Robison: The number of babies that required specialist neonatal care by NHS Board of residence in each of the last three years is presented in the following table. The data includes live singleton and multiple births; stillbirths are excluded. Babies in Intensive Care…
23 Nov 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether psychological services should be a part of perinatal mental health provision.
Answer · Maureen Watt: The Scottish Government expects psychological therapies to be provided across the whole breadth of mental health services whenever appropriate, including perinatal mental health services.