Parliamentary questions

Alex Cole-Hamilton

2,700 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

23 Jan 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what consultation it is having with stakeholders to inform its assessment of ways to maximise opportunities for access to repurposed off-patent medicines.

Answer · Shona Robison: A Short Life Working Group was established in 2017 to look at off label cancer medicines. The work of this group supports one of the key ambitions of our national cancer strategy, that is, to maximise the opportunities of increasing access to off patent drugs…

22 Jan 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve air quality, in light of research by Friends of the Earth Scotland regarding some of the country's most polluted streets, including Queensferry Road and St John's Road in Edinburgh.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The Cleaner Air for Scotland strategy sets out a series of actions for the Scottish Government, Transport Scotland, local authorities and others to further improve air quality across Scotland. Amongst these actions is a commitment to introduce Scotland's firs…

12 Jan 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making regarding introducing legislation to ban parking on pavements.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: We launched a consultation in 2017 entitled “Improving Parking in Scotland” which sought views on how parking is currently managed and enforced across the country. The responses are currently being analysed to inform our policy on how best to manage and enfor…

12 Jan 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information NHS boards (a) must and (b) are expected to provide to (i) constituency and regional MSPs and (ii) councillors in advance of proposed service redesign in the areas that they represent.

Answer · Shona Robison: The NHS Reform (Scotland) Act 2004 places a statutory duty on NHS Boards to involve people to whom healthcare services are being, or may be, provided in the planning and development of those services, and in decisions significantly affecting their operation. …

10 Jan 2018 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on gender-neutral school uniforms.

9 Jan 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to work with the English and Welsh governments to advise and advocate on the extension of the clinically safe, home use of abortion medication in their jurisdictions.

Answer · Shona Robison: It is for the UK Government and Welsh Government to make decisions about the delivery of abortion services in England and Wales. The Scottish Government will continue to share information when appropriate about the Scottish approach to permitting misoprostol…

9 Jan 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to reduce the number of women who had to travel to England to obtain terminations of pregnancy, given that 180 women reportedly did so in 2016.

Answer · Aileen Campbell: The Scottish Government is working with NHS Boards to explore the potential for reducing the number of women who have to travel to England for these services.

9 Jan 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what gestational time limits are in place in each NHS board for the in-area provision of terminations of pregnancy under different grounds in the Abortion Act 1967, and whether it will publish this information to provide women with accurate information regarding their local healthcare pr…

Answer · Aileen Campbell: This information is available on the Sexual Health Scotland website at http://www.sexualhealthscotland.co.uk/pregnancy/abortion via a link under the section entitled 'Where can abortions take place?'. All NHS Boards will ensure that women are referred to an…

9 Jan 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether its plans to provide free abortion services to women travelling from Northern Ireland will include (a) the ability for women to book services remotely and (b) providing funding, where necessary, for (i) travel and (ii) accommodation for (A) the patient and (B) an accompanying per…

Answer · Shona Robison: All mainland NHS Boards are able to provide advice by phone to women living in Northern Ireland who are considering travelling to Scotland to access abortion services . Contact information can be accessed at; http://www.sexualhealthscotland.co.uk/pregnancy/ab…

8 Jan 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people are on the waiting list for sacral nerve stimulation procedures, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Shona Robison: 6 February 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/28877.aspx.

8 Jan 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what work is being done to ensure that dog boarding establishment licenses are only given to premises suitable for these animals.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Local authorities are responsible, under The Animal Boarding Establishment Act 1963, for the granting of licences permitting the carrying out of the business of running an animal boarding establishment; and have powers to inspect premises that they have licen…

8 Jan 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is considering updating legalisation, in light of the Animal Boarding Establishments Act 1963 and Civic Government Scotland Act 1982 not including explicit consideration of the suitability of properties for animal boarding.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The Programme for Government 2017-18 commits the Scottish Government to preparing legislation on a modern system of registration and licensing of animal sanctuaries and rehoming activities. The principles of that modern system will, in due course, be applied …

3 Jan 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment in its strategy, Beating Cancer: Ambition and Action, what steps have been taken to assess what can be done to optimise opportunities for access to off-patent drugs.

3 Jan 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made with its review of pathology and laboratory medicine services, and when it expects the review will be completed.

Answer · Shona Robison: The review of pathology and laboratory medicine services forms a strand of the NHS National Services Scotland Shared Service programme of work. A strategy paper outlining the future direction of laboratories in Scotland was presented to the NHS Chief Executiv…

22 Dec 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of a reported higher prevalence of urinary incontinence, for what reason patients are less likely to be referred for sacral nerve stimulation with urinary incontinence than faecal incontinence.

Answer · Aileen Campbell: There is no direct correlation between referrals of Sacral Nerve Stimulation (SNS) treatments for faecal incontinence and urinary incontinence. SNS for urinary dysfunction is one of a number of treatment option available to improve the quality of life of pat…

22 Dec 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the current waiting times are from referral to testing for the sacral nerve stimulation procedures service, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Shona Robison: The information requested is not held centrally.

22 Dec 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the policy for sacral nerve stimulation procedures for treatment of urinary incontinence is based on funding for a fixed number of procedures per year for all Scotland.

Answer · Aileen Campbell: When the service was designated in 2010, literature at the time suggested a 1 in 3 conversion rate of testing to permanent implant, which was approximately 15 permanent implants per year. The funding for the service was based around this information at the ti…

22 Dec 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients are waiting to have a sacral nerve stimulation for urinary incontinence (UI) carried out in the current National Services Division service for UI in Scotland, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Aileen Campbell: The Scottish Sacral Nerve Stimulation Service for Urinary Dysfunction is provided by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (GG&C) Board for all of NHS Scotland as a national specialist service commissioned by National Services Division (NSD). There are less than 5 p…

15 Dec 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made on the commitment in its published strategy, Beating Cancer: Ambition and Action, to increase NHS scope capacity by 2,000 scopes per annum on a sustainable basis.

Answer · Shona Robison: Beating Cancer: Ambition and Action commits to provision of an additional 2,000 scope capacity per annum. Funding has been released directly to NHS boards in 2016-17 and 2017-18 to fund these additional scopes and ensure that this commitment is delivered supp…

12 Dec 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on non-UK EU nationals continuing to have the right to vote in (a) local authority and (b) Scottish parliamentary elections post-Brexit.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: The Scottish Government has full responsibility for the franchise for both local government elections and also elections to the Scottish Parliament. In both elections, the franchise includes people resident in Scotland who are: - British Citizens; or - Qua…

8 Dec 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the (a) location of each permanent and (b) area covered by each mobile speed camera in the City of Edinburgh local authority area.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The location of all safety cameras in Scotland, including those in the City of Edinburgh local authority area, is available on the Safety Cameras Scotland website at: http://www.safetycameras.gov.scot/cameras/safety-camera-locations/east/edinburgh-city/

5 Dec 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of recently-published ISD Scotland statistics, for what reason there has been a 9.5% fall in the number of dentists over the last year.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government is proud of its record on dental services. The number of high street dentists providing NHS dental services continues to increase year-on-year and there are now 3,004 high street dentists in Scotland, compared to 2,261 in 2007. That is…

30 Nov 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S5W-00357 and S5W-12640 by Maureen Watt on 1 June 2016 and 27 November 2017 respectively, in light of the information for Dudhope House being provided in the initial response, for what reason the minister advised in the latter that the information req…

Answer · Maureen Watt: The answer to PQ. S5W-00357 contained specific information about Dudhope House that was available to the Government at the time due to dialogue with NHS Tayside on a separate issue. ISD do not hold this information and did not contribute to the answer to this…

29 Nov 2017 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the Scottish Older People's Assembly has reportedly had its budget reduced.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Our commitment to work on older people’s issues is underpinned by £490,000 of funding in the current financial year. This broadly maintains levels of total annual funding of around half a million pounds for work in this field over the last three years for sev…

23 Nov 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether its social isolation strategy will include a focus on loneliness.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Yes. Our national strategy to tackle social isolation and loneliness will recognise the links between loneliness and social isolation, and the importance of tackling both.

23 Nov 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the development and expected publication date of its social isolation strategy.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: We are continuing to take forward work on our social isolation and loneliness strategy both across government and in collaboration with stakeholders and expect to publish for consultation in early 2018.

23 Nov 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it supports people with the muscle condition, dystonia.

Answer · Aileen Campbell: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-07440 on 7 March 2017. 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/2…

22 Nov 2017 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support and provide resources for organisations that promote healthy lifestyles.

14 Nov 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to provide secure inpatient psychiatric care for (a) children and (b) children with autism.

Answer · Maureen Watt: On point (a) - Plans are underway to build a secure adolescent inpatient unit in Scotland. This will benefit the small number of young people who require this specialist level of care and who cannot be treated in the community. We recognise that there are …

14 Nov 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making with developing a specialist facility for children with learning difficulties and autism, and by what date this will be opened.

Answer · Maureen Watt: On 10 November, we were pleased to publish a comprehensive Inpatient Needs Assessment Report which sets out the need for a specialist inpatient service for those with learning disability and/or autism and mental health conditions: http://www.gov.scot/Public…