Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-16127

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 4 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) plans to adopt the latest National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines regarding Lyme disease and, if so, by what date.

Where there is no SIGN guideline on a particular topic, SIGN would expect healthcare professionals in Scotland to look for another high quality, evidence based guideline, such as the recently published NICE guideline on Lyme disease. This latest NICE guideline is a valuable publication, it is high quality and evidence based. Healthcare professionals in Scotland will be able to use this guideline to inform their current practice in the management of this condition.

Question reference: S5O-02071

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 May 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that all NHS boards provide out-of-hours dental care.

Question reference: S5O-02042

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 2 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what measures are in place to support young people with autism and Asperger's who are in mainstream education or who are seeking apprenticeships or other work placements.

There are a range of mechanisms in place to support young people with Autism and Asperger's Syndrome in schools, who are seeking apprenticeships or other work placements.

These include:

additional support for learning in schools;
support for apprenticeships from Skills Development Scotland delivered via Career, Information and Guidance services, and funding and promotion of apprenticeship programmes.
support for work placements is encouraged through the Developing the Young Workforce programme.

This work is delivered in the context of the Autism Strategy Outcomes and Priorities which seeks to improve outcomes on, health, choice and control, independence and active citizenship

Question reference: S5W-16176

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 1 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it supports local authorities in helping young people with chronic conditions access education when they are physically or mentally unable to attend mainstream school.

The Standards in Scotland’s Schools etc. Act 2000 places duties on education authorities to make special arrangements for children or young people who are unable to attend school due to ill health to receive education elsewhere than at an educational establishment. This applies to all children who are unable to attend school due to ill health

In June 2015, the Scottish Government published revised guidance to education authorities to support them in implementation of their duties under this legislation. This guidance is available on the Scottish Government’s website through the following link: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2015/06/6846/0 .

In addition, the Scottish Government has recently published guidance on Supporting children and young people with healthcare needs in schools . The guidance supports education authorities, health boards and schools in delivering their responsibilities to support pupils’ healthcare needs. This guidance is available from http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2017/12/3694 .

Question reference: S5W-16058

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on developing an equivalent body to the NHS Digital service that is in place in England.

The Scottish Government, in partnership with COSLA, has now published Scotland’s Digital Health and Care Strategy which sets out a clear national direction for digital health and care delivery. We will now be working across the Scottish Government, NHS Scotland and Local Government to ensure that the capability required to successfully delivery on the strategy is in place, and will consider any requirement for organisational change as part of that process.

Question reference: S5W-16082

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on developing a (a) platform that showcases the digital health options that are available to people and (b) formal approval system of health apps.

As set out in my answer to S5W-14011 on 1 February 2018, the Scottish Government is undertaking a Proof of Concept with the West of Scotland NHS Boards to examine how a Health and Social Care Services Portal may be developed to help citizens in the management of their health and wellbeing. Scotland's Digital Health and Care Strategy published on 25 April 2018 further confirms that to support excellent care at point of contact we will deliver the digital capability for citizens to access and update information about their health and wellbeing, including their records and from personal monitoring, and to interact with services. This will build on Proof of Concept work and through developments such as NHS Inform.

A multi-disciplinary working group convened by Scottish Government is currently testing a Quality Assurance Framework for Mobile Health apps for Health and Care Professionals in Scotland. The intention of the Framework is to provide quality and risk assessment for apps in relation to technology, information governance, use of high quality up to date evidence, sustainability and impact evaluation.

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 .

Question reference: S5W-16126

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 1 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to publish leaflets and information for (a) medical practitioners and (b) the public in all NHS board areas regarding Lyme disease.

Question reference: S5W-15984

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what plans NHS Education for Scotland (NES) has to provide training for staff who deal with adults with ME.

I have asked Caroline Lamb, Chief Executive Officer of NHS Education for Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) has a key role in co-ordinating recruitment to and overseeing the quality of postgraduate Medical training for both GPs and hospital specialists. The training curricula are written by Medical Royal Colleges and approved by the General Medical Council – who will consider advice from a wide range of stakeholders – including NES. These curricula are subject to regular review and updating, and the training is delivered by territorial NHS Boards in clinical placement settings, also approved by the GMC.

Beyond that quality management role, NES is involved in delivering and commissioning on-going continuous professional development in training and education in a number of areas for a range of staff groups.All qualified healthcare practitioners have a professional obligation to undertake continuous professional development to meet identified learning and professional development needs, and the Medical Royal Colleges and NHS Education for Scotland provide a selection of courses and learning resources to support their further development.

ME/CFS is one of many health conditions that involves both physical and psychological aspects. There is good evidence that using a ‘bio psychosocial’ model to both understand and treat all health conditions, irrespective of cause, is highly beneficial in both improving psychological and physical health outcomes and enabling health professionals to deliver holistic care without perpetuating a mind/body dualism. To that end, NES has been involved with stakeholders to develop a range of interventions for staff working with children and adults with a range of health conditions including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis and ME/CFS.

Question reference: S5W-15729

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what qualifications firearms licensing officers require, and whether people applying for these posts must undergo basic firearms training as part of the application process.

Question reference: S5W-15653

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 26 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5O-01905 by Aileen Campbell on 14 March 2018, how it plans to encourage young people to take up golf, in light of (a) a reported shortfall in funding from sportscotland to Scottish Golf and (b) it no longer providing funding to ClubGolf beyond 2018, which is understood to be a concern for community-based clubs that wish to attract young golfers.

The Scottish Government is committed to working with sport scotland and Scottish Golf to widen participation and to promote golf to young people across Scotland. That is why we are supporting major events such as the Solheim Cup in 2019 which will provide opportunities for a new generation of young people and, in particular, girls to take up golf and get involved in sport more generally.

sport scotland’s continued investment of Scottish Golf supports a wide range of activity that encourages and supports young people to participate in golf, including both club and coach development. Investment also includes specific conditions to expand reach to the inactive and underrepresented in golf, including women and girls, as well as to tackle inequality and discrimination.

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