Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-04536

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 07 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 15 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason its Audiology Services Advisory Group has not met since 2012 and when it will next meet.

The Audiology Services Advisory Group (ASAG) was established by the Scottish Government in 2003 to take forward the audiology modernisation programme. Following the successful completion of the work in December 2011, it was agreed that the Group’s functions would be best served operationally at NHS board level through the Heads of Audiology Services Group, which meets quarterly and is due to next meet in February 2017. The Scottish Government is currently considering the recommendation from Action on Hearing Loss Scotland’s report, 'Time to raise the standards', on reconvening ASAG - see the answer to question S5W-04433 on 9 November 2016.

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-04557

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 07 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 15 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the mental health requirements of the carers of people with terminal illnesses.

We expect that mental health care and treatment will be delivered in a person-centred manner to meet each individual’s needs. That includes cases where the individual is a carer for someone who has a terminal illness.

On 18 December 2015, the Scottish Government published our Strategic Framework for Action on Palliative and End of Life Care. One of the main aims in the Strategic Framework is to ensure that people with palliative and end of life care needs are supported by health professionals who are appropriately skilled to do so.

We are working with NHS Education for Scotland and the Scottish Social Services Council to develop a new palliative and end of life care Educational Framework. This Framework will address the needs of the health and social care workforce, and will be focused on fostering an integrated and collaborative approach to educational provision.

Question reference: S5W-04556

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 07 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 15 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the mental health requirements of people with terminal illnesses.

We expect that mental health care and treatment will be delivered in a person-centred manner to meet each individual’s needs. That includes cases where the individual has a terminal illness.

On 18 December 2015, the Scottish Government published our Strategic Framework for Action on Palliative and End of Life Care. One of the main aims in the Strategic Framework is to ensure that people with palliative and end of life care needs are supported by health professionals who are appropriately skilled to do so.

We are working with NHS Education for Scotland and the Scottish Social Services Council to develop a new palliative and end of life care Educational Framework. This Framework will address the needs of the health and social care workforce, and will be focused on fostering an integrated and collaborative approach to educational provision.

Question reference: S5W-04534

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 07 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 15 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to establish a lipreading working group.

Question reference: S5W-02033

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 11 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided to each alcohol and drug partnership in each year since 2011-12.

Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) are funded through contributions from NHS Boards and local partners. NHS Boards provide funding from their general resource allocation and the specific funding allocation for ADPs provided by the Scottish Government.

For each of the financial years from 2011-12 to 2015-16, approximately £69 million per annum was made directly available to NHS Boards to allocate to ADPs. The breakdown by NHS Board for this period is provided in Table 1.

Table 1


	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16
Ayrshire & Arran	4,401,643	4,401,652	4,450,017	4,495,964	4,527,872
Borders	1,342,783	1,342,790	1,348,645	1,354,207	1,352,190
Dumfries & Galloway	1,986,178	1,986,179	1,989,092	1,991,860	1,983,834
Fife	4,271,478	4,271,469	4,271,475	4,271,481	4,258,881
Forth Valley	3,336,088	3,336,087	3,347,556	3,358,451	3,389,704
Grampian	5,734,063	5,734,063	5,752,649	5,770,305	5,788,922
Greater Glasgow	19,546,267	19,546,267	19,546,267	18,692,642	18,629,576
Highland	3,650,515	3,650,516	3,653,000	3,655,361	3,655,485
Lanarkshire	5,862,810	5,862,805	5,935,993	6,859,148	6,937,386
Lothian	11,503,005	11,503,005	11,510,276	11,517,184	11,469,681
Orkney	567,720	567,720	567,720	567,720	558,443
Shetland	604,412	604,412	605,426	606,389	600,591
Tayside	5,346,534	5,346,534	5,356,012	5,365,016	5,363,523
Western Isles	703,343	703,343	703,343	703,343	692,982
Total Scotland	68,856,839	68,856,842	69,037,471	69,209,071	69,209,071

Policy responsibility for the drugs element of ADPs transferred from the Justice to Health portfolio on 1 April 2016 as part of the 2016/17 budget setting process in order to allow us to correctly address alcohol and drug misuse as a health issue.

The Cabinet Secretary for Health wrote to Chief Executives of Health Boards on
7 January 2016 clearly setting out our expectations for Boards to ensure that overall spending on supporting the treatment of alcohol and substance misuse is maintained.

Question reference: S5W-03733

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 11 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when it will provide a substantive answer to question S5W-02033, which received a holding response on 15 September 2016.

Question reference: S5W-03981

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 10 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the tweet by Mark McDonald on 15 October 2016 regarding the support that had been received for motion S5M-01537, whether this indicates that ministers have agreed to take the action referred to in the motion regarding allowing men who have sex with men to donate blood.

Men who have sex with men (MSM) can currently donate blood under certain circumstances. Men who last had oral or anal sex with another man more than 12 months ago are able to give blood if they meet the other blood donor selection criteria.

The UK Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SaBTO) advises Scottish Ministers and the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) on the most appropriate ways to ensure the safety of blood for transfusion. SaBTO is currently undertaking a review of the latest scientific evidence related to donor selection criteria, including deferral criteria for MSM. It is expected to report next year. We will await SaBTO’s report and take account of any recommendations it makes before considering any changes to current donor deferral criteria.

Question reference: S5T-00176

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 07 November 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what impact “justifiable assault” has on children.

Question reference: S5W-03530

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 3 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what role falls assessments will play in tailoring care for older patients.

Question reference: S5W-03507

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has allocated to the (a) New Medicines Fund and (b) Rare Conditions Medicines Fund in each year since 2012-13.

Tell us your views

Seòmar agus comataidhean