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Every contribution to the Official Report — chamber and committee — searchable in one place. Pulled from data.parliament.scot, indexed for full-text search, linked through to every MSP.

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1999–2026
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Showing 60 of 2,354,908 contributions. Latest 30 days: 0. Coverage: 12 May 1999 — 25 Mar 2026.
Drew Smith Lab Committee
15 Jan 2013
Healthcare Improvement Scotland and Scottish Public Services Ombudsman
I want to understand the practicalities. Before inspecting a facility, ward or whatever, what information do your inspectors collate? I assume that for a follow-up report, they look at previous reports. Over time, there will be a bank of previous reports about an institution o...
Drew Smith Lab Committee
21 May 2013
New Medicines (Access)
I may not get an answer to my question and it may lead us into the next evidence session. It goes back to Jackie Baillie’s point about the questions that are answered by the two reviews and their reports. We are trying to focus not only on the wishes of the petitioners—which i...
Drew Smith (Glasgow) (Lab) Lab Chamber
06 Mar 2013
National Health Service Waiting Times
Two groups should be at the heart of this debate: the patients to whom waiting time promises are made and the front-line staff who are left to deliver on those promises made by ministers. Like others on this side of the chamber, I have questioned ministers on waiting times on ...
Drew Smith (Glasgow) (Lab) Lab Chamber
29 May 2013
Chronic Pain Services
This debate has taken us two hours or so this afternoon, but for the chronic pain sufferers in the public gallery and those in our constituencies and regions who are following our proceedings, the debate about the need for proper support for and treatment of chronic pain has t...
Drew Smith Lab Committee
29 Jun 2011
Section 23 Report
I am probably a little less underwhelmed by this than Willie Coffey is. I think that it is quite a damning report. As a new member, I find it difficult to think about the scale of your operations and how this report fits with other reports that you have done. How bad is the si...
Drew Smith (Glasgow) (Lab) Lab Committee
07 Sep 2011
Section 23 Reports
To what extent did the scoping report look at how to prevent unnecessary journeys, which was mentioned earlier? Will you elaborate on the extent to which you were able to look into that? Did you get a sense that it was a serious consideration, particularly on the health board ...
Drew Smith Lab Committee
07 Sep 2011
Section 23 Reports
It is interesting that you raised the issue of discussion with private contractors about bus routes, which takes us back to regional transport partnerships. My interpretation of the situation is slightly different from that of other members, particularly as regards what Barbar...
Drew Smith Lab Committee
14 Dec 2011
Section 22 Reports
The convener has powerfully highlighted the concerns that the committee would have about the management of some of these projects, particularly in relation to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. Part of the reason for the cancellation of that project was a reductio...
Drew Smith (Glasgow) (Lab) Lab Chamber
15 Dec 2011
First Minister’s Question Time · Secretary of State for Scotland (Meetings)
The First Minister will be aware of media reports of the suspension of the national convener of Children’s Hearings Scotland and the air of mystery surrounding the situation. Can he confirm to me and the 2,500 children’s panel volunteers, of which I used to be one, that the ti...
Drew Smith Lab Chamber
19 Jan 2012
Agenda for Cities
I entirely accept that point, but rolling the fund into the allocation meant that it was used to pursue the Scottish Government’s priorities, whereas its purpose had been to allow cities to pursue their own priorities.We welcome the cabinet secretary’s announcement of the £5 m...
Drew Smith (Glasgow) (Lab) Lab Committee
15 Jan 2013
Healthcare Improvement Scotland and Scottish Public Services Ombudsman
There has been quite a lot of discussion of this already, so I do not intend to dwell on it. When HIS was in Glasgow last year and examined Glasgow royal infirmary, its report said that there was a consistent failure to respect the dignity of older people. Two examples of that...
Drew Smith Lab Committee
15 Jan 2013
Healthcare Improvement Scotland and Scottish Public Services Ombudsman
When someone comes to my surgery and tells me about their own or a relative’s care in hospital, they tend to say two things: they explain to me what has happened, and they ask for my help to get an explanation of why it happened and, possibly, to ensure that there is an apolog...
Drew Smith Lab Committee
11 Dec 2012
Health and Safety Executive
The previous Scottish Executive at some point funded a Scottish health and safety action plan. I was slightly surprised by your point that there has not been direct engagement between the HSE and the Minister for Public Health, who I think is the health and safety lead in the ...
Drew Smith (Glasgow) (Lab) Lab Chamber
14 Mar 2013
Children and Young People
In opening the debate, the Minister for Children and Young People referred to the Scottish Government’s ambition that Scotland should become a great place to grow up for every child. Like members across the chamber, Labour members have made clear that we share the minister’s a...
Drew Smith Lab Committee
28 May 2013
National Health Service Waiting Lists
We are all supportive of the national confidential alert line, in which I have an interest, and we hope that it leads to some solutions to the issues. However, there were press reports at the weekend about the process that people enter when they call the alert line. Will you t...
Drew Smith (Glasgow) (Lab) Lab Chamber
20 Dec 2012
Waiting Times Audit Report
The cabinet secretary referred to two reports. I will quote briefly from the Glasgow report, which says:“often little or no detail is recorded in the waiting times system due to systems limitations in the character fields and there is therefore little or no evidence to support...
Drew Smith (Glasgow) (Lab) Lab Chamber
14 May 2013
Digital Exclusion
I am grateful to be called to speak in the debate, and I thank Christina McKelvie for enabling us to have it. I also thank Citizens Advice Scotland for the “Voices from the Frontline” reports that it has produced over the past year and a half or so. They have been extremely us...
Drew Smith Lab Chamber
16 May 2013
First Minister’s Question Time · Bullying (National Health Service)
The First Minister frequently praises and thanks hard-working staff for their dedication, and he is right to do so, but according to the Royal College of Nursing less than a third of nurses believe that, if they reported their concerns, they would be believed.Any suggestion of...
Drew Smith (Glasgow) (Lab) Lab Committee
02 Dec 2014
Smith Commission for Further Devolution of Powers to the Scottish Parliament
I have two questions, convener, but I will ask them together in the interest of saving time, if that is okay. Good morning, Lord Smith, and welcome to the committee. You mentioned some of the reports that we have seen in the media since the commission’s report was published. ...
Drew Smith (Glasgow) (Lab) Lab Chamber
19 Jun 2014
First Minister’s Question Time · Prime Minister (Meetings)
Glasgow stands ready to welcome the world in the coming weeks, so I think that we would all have been concerned to see the BBC reports yesterday about so-called phantom accommodation being advertised on online booking sites. What assurances can the First Minister offer that pu...
Drew Smith Lab Committee
14 Jan 2015
Section 22 Reports
I think that everyone recognises that it was always going to be a complicated business to bring together the eight forces and the SPSA. That was not a surprise, but it would also not be a surprise that somebody would need to be in charge of the finances and people would need t...
Drew Smith Lab Committee
14 Jan 2015
Section 22 Reports
In order to have confidence that the arrangements that now exist will be successful, is it necessary to understand where the responsibilities lay between the organisations? Would you put it squarely that the organisations had different views about how the arrangements should w...
Drew Smith (Glasgow) (Lab) Lab Committee
21 Jan 2015
Section 23 Report
Mary Scanlon referred to the report cards that we have had over time. The latest report card continues to show that we are not making the progress in community planning that we would like to be making. Can the panel give us some insight into the examples of that lack of progre...
Drew Smith (Glasgow) (Lab) Lab Committee
25 Feb 2015
Section 23 Reports
My question is similar to Mr Scott’s and is on the issue of the passenger projections being optimistic. Other information was available from Department for Transport projections. Surely if the Government is taking a risk to invest in something, it will use the worst-case scena...
Drew Smith Lab Committee
25 Feb 2015
Section 23 Reports
Capacity for growth is just another way of saying that there is unused capacity at the moment, and that could be taken as a risk. There may be capacity to grow. There may be a spaceport at some point and I might have the capacity to be an astronaut, but that does not mean that...
Drew Smith Lab Committee
25 Feb 2015
Section 23 Reports
I am sorry to interrupt, but what is the timescale involved in the 2014 business plan? How far ahead does it look?
Drew Smith Lab Committee
25 Feb 2015
Section 23 Reports
Okay. Paragraph 41 states: “The Scottish Government assessed the airport’s credit rating as ‘weak’”. I presume that, even though we are potentially doubling the loan, the Government would still consider the credit rating to be weak.
Drew Smith Lab Committee
25 Feb 2015
Section 23 Reports
The timescale for when we might expect to get some money repaid is 2021. What timescales are Ryanair operating on?
Drew Smith Lab Committee
25 Feb 2015
Section 23 Reports
So there is not a contract or something in place that says that it would take five years or 10 years. We do not know that.
Drew Smith Lab Committee
25 Feb 2015
Section 23 Reports
Okay.
Drew Smith Lab Committee
25 Feb 2015
Section 23 Reports
I touched on the doubled amount that we are going to loan, which is predominantly taken up by capital. You said that you will try to provide us with a bit more information, and I think you said that you will give us the subsidy per operation versus the capital investment, but ...
Drew Smith Lab Committee
25 Feb 2015
Section 23 Reports
Would it not be prudent for the investment to be made in the essential maintenance that you talked about and in things that are about the basic capacity of the airport? I can entirely understand that we might want to invest in the passenger experience in the hope that we will ...
Drew Smith Lab Committee
25 Feb 2015
Section 23 Reports
I have a general point. Quite a lot of the conversation has been about the policy decision. Colin Keir talked about the devastating impact that closure would have had on Ayrshire, in particular, and on the whole of the Scottish economy. I think that we all appreciate that. Me...
Drew Smith Lab Committee
25 Feb 2015
Section 23 Reports
That would be very welcome. Thank you.
Drew Smith Lab Committee
25 Feb 2015
Section 23 Reports
As a new member of the committee, I am happy to go with the wisdom of members who have followed the issue for longer. I agree that we should proceed in the way that Colin Beattie said, according to bullet point four of paper 3, which suggests that we take a progress report in ...
Drew Smith (Glasgow) (Lab) Lab Committee
11 Mar 2015
Section 23 Reports
I wonder if you can briefly talk me through the section from paragraph 35 onwards that refers to the European regional development funding. We are talking about pretty significant public investment here; over the page, we find that public money accounts for almost 90 per cent ...
Drew Smith Lab Committee
11 Mar 2015
Section 23 Reports
Sandra White asked about the extent to which local authorities might be involved. Can you give me a bit more detail about that? Under what criteria can local authorities put their own money in? At one level, you are interested in a consistent approach but, at the same time, th...
Drew Smith Lab Committee
11 Mar 2015
Section 23 Reports
I am concerned that if one local authority is proactive and says, “We want to be involved in improving this situation and invest money in it”, and another says, “Well, we’re not willing to do that”, the outcome will be that the state might end up picking up the tab for the peo...
Drew Smith Lab Committee
11 Mar 2015
Section 23 Reports
We now have the Highlands and Islands contract and what is rather inelegantly called the rest-of-Scotland contract. The report says that that happened primarily because the process in the Highlands and Islands was at a more advanced stage, but on the face of it, it would have ...
Drew Smith Lab Committee
11 Mar 2015
Section 23 Reports
That is helpful. My final question is about the exit point for these contracts and when they complete. Will the outcomes at the end of these contracts be future proofed? Given that technology marches on, is it the case that the process is not going to end here? Will we get to ...
Drew Smith (Glasgow) (Lab) Lab Committee
25 Mar 2015
Section 23 Reports
What we have gained from this and the previous evidence session on this report is an understanding of Prestwick airport’s huge significance to the Ayrshire economy in terms of jobs and of the airport’s potential as a strategic asset for the whole Scottish economy. I wonder wh...
Drew Smith Lab Committee
25 Mar 2015
Section 23 Reports
This is all public money, and as I think Tavish Scott said, we need to follow the public pound. An element of that money will cover the operating loss. As we made the decision to run the airport, I do not think that that will be too controversial, and I do not think that the e...
Drew Smith Lab Committee
25 Mar 2015
Section 23 Reports
That is helpful. If management had an idea that might make a difference, it would make the case for that to the board, and the board would scrutinise the proposal and either approve it or send it back. Would an application then be made to Transport Scotland that would be subje...
Drew Smith Lab Committee
25 Mar 2015
Section 23 Reports
Who would give final approval to increase the amounts of money available?
Drew Smith Lab Committee
25 Mar 2015
Section 23 Reports
Yes.
Drew Smith Lab Committee
25 Mar 2015
Section 23 Reports
And you would decide whether to involve the minister; it would not necessarily be a ministerial decision. There would be an element of flexibility.
Drew Smith Lab Committee
25 Mar 2015
Section 23 Reports
That is helpful. It was also helpful that you said that the purchase decision was not predicated on the possibility of a spaceport at Prestwick, but that it is an interesting and exciting prospect and that you are potentially hopeful about the future vision. Can we assume tha...
Drew Smith Lab Committee
25 Mar 2015
Section 23 Reports
But, as the owner of one of the candidates, it does not view that candidate as being its preferred solution.
Drew Smith Lab Committee
25 Mar 2015
Section 23 Reports
Is the Scottish Government giving advice or support in relation to the other two locations in Scotland?
Drew Smith Lab Committee
25 Mar 2015
Section 23 Reports
I am in your hands, convener. I am happy to leave the matter there.
Drew Smith Lab Committee
25 Mar 2015
Section 23 Reports
On one level, the Commonwealth games were a huge success. All credit should go to Glasgow City Council’s previous executive for going for the bid, and to the council and the Scottish Government for pursuing it when circumstances changed. In many ways, the environment for hosti...
Drew Smith Lab Committee
25 Mar 2015
Section 23 Reports
For me, one of the greatest achievements of the games is that they challenge our cynicism about things. I spoke to people in advance of the games, and they said that, if we were planning and going for the event in the current environment, we would not do it—yet the fact is tha...
Drew Smith Lab Committee
25 Mar 2015
Section 23 Reports
There is much cause for optimism there. I have two further questions. The first is on the legacy. You have spoken about the challenge of public budgets. Where is the legacy from the commercial elements of revenue and sponsorship? Perhaps it was not possible to do more, but is...
Drew Smith Lab Committee
25 Mar 2015
Section 23 Reports
You make a specific recommendation about the GoWell research project. I give you an opportunity to say a bit about why you think that what you recommend is important. I presume that you think that it is deliverable—that it could be fairly easily done and that it would be worth...
Drew Smith Lab Committee
25 Mar 2015
Section 23 Reports
I presume that that is a decision for the Scottish Government to make. You have not had a response to the publication of the report that says that the Government is considering your recommendation, so it might be for Parliament to encourage it to do that.
Drew Smith Lab Committee
01 Apr 2015
Accounts Commission Report
Are there any examples of best practice, where the information is communicated clearly and there is a culture of greater scrutiny of it? That takes me on to my next question. Later in the report you mention the use of external advisers on borrowing. Is there any issue around i...
Drew Smith Lab Committee
01 Apr 2015
Accounts Commission Report
We have discussed how councillors can be encouraged to undertake training to improve their understanding of the reports that are given to them and the role of officers in improving and encouraging that. To whom are officers responsible? They have a number of different responsi...
Drew Smith (Glasgow) (Lab) Lab Committee
27 May 2015
Section 23 Reports
You discuss the issue of the long-term strategy and how to deal with the funding gap that you have identified. You suggest that a five to 10-year strategy should be available by March 2016. Is that entirely deliverable for the service, given where it is now with financial plan...
Drew Smith Lab Committee
27 May 2015
Section 23 Reports
I take your point about the differences between the fire and police services in terms of complexity and other issues. In terms of the plan, and particularly the workforce element of that plan and how many personnel are needed in the future, can the fire service benefit from th...
Drew Smith Lab Committee
27 May 2015
Section 23 Reports
Perhaps those are lessons for politicians as well as for the people who run our emergency services. I end with this point. You comment in the report about the reduction in the number of fire incidents, which of course we all welcome. How is that reflected in other parts of t...
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Committee

Health and Sport Committee 15 January 2013

15 Jan 2013 · S4 · Health and Sport Committee
Item of business
Healthcare Improvement Scotland and Scottish Public Services Ombudsman
Smith, Drew Lab Glasgow Watch on SPTV
I want to understand the practicalities. Before inspecting a facility, ward or whatever, what information do your inspectors collate? I assume that for a follow-up report, they look at previous reports. Over time, there will be a bank of previous reports about an institution or service, which the inspector would want to look at.Dr Simpson talked about getting from the boards information on what they get complaints, comments and praise about. Are such things among what the inspector looks at, or does he or she simply write a checklist of what he or she wants to see and look at things objectively on the basis of that checklist? Do you go in knowing that concerns have been raised within the service about X and look at that specifically?

In the same item of business

The Convener (Duncan McNeil) Lab
Good morning. I welcome members and the public to the first meeting of the Health and Sport Committee in 2013. As usual, I remind everyone present to switch ...
Dr Denise Coia (Healthcare Improvement Scotland)
Thank you very much, convener. You have already introduced my team, but I must pass on apologies from our chief executive, Dr Frances Elliot, who is, unfortu...
The Convener Lab
Thank you for those opening remarks. Let me begin with some general questions on the role and priorities of Healthcare Improvement Scotland that I note are l...
Dr Coia
I will briefly answer that question and then hand over to two of my colleagues.To be perfectly honest, as a chair I think that it would be lovely to be able ...
Robbie Pearson (Healthcare Improvement Scotland)
I echo the point that the issue is about our skills and competencies to perform the role that is vested in us by the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 20...
Dr Coia
Perhaps Susan Went can comment on the improvement side.
Susan Went (Healthcare Improvement Scotland)
The improvement function forms one half of the evidence and improvement directorate, which has just over 100 staff, so my directorate has both those remits w...
Dr Coia
However, our clinical engagement strategy gives us additional resource in terms of people. Brian Robson might want to comment on that.
Dr Brian Robson (Healthcare Improvement Scotland)
We have a small core clinical team in the organisation with a chief pharmacist, a chief nurse, midwife and allied health professional and a consultant in pub...
The Convener Lab
Will you have more or less money in three years’ time to carry that out? What efficiencies will you have to put in place during the next three years to build...
Dr Coia
I will hand over to Robbie Pearson in a moment. Because the new organisation acquired a range of other groups and bodies, during the past year the board has ...
Susan Went
I will start with the two points that the convener raised. I am certain that, as far as the evidence and improvement portfolios are concerned, it is vital th...
Robbie Pearson
The question was about how we will exert our independence as a body—
The Convener Lab
The question was how, with less money over the next three years, you will manage those efficiencies while meeting the organisation’s priorities, which the ch...
Robbie Pearson
The raw numbers are that the budget will decline from £16.7 million to £15.9 million in 2013-14 and is projected to be £15.2 million in 2014-15—that is for o...
The Convener Lab
You have 12 inspectors, but you consider that that is not enough and you need to increase capacity. How many inspectors do you need?
Robbie Pearson
I think that we could probably have more inspectors to support our work, but we are currently reviewing that as part of a scrutiny and assurance directorate ...
Dr Coia
I should also mention that we have joint inspections. You asked about our core numbers for inspections in the NHS, but we also engage with the care inspector...
The Convener Lab
I am sure that we will come on to some of that detail, but it is important to put the situation in context: you have a reducing budget; if possible, it would...
Dr Coia
I would absolutely agree with that summary.
Mark McDonald (North East Scotland) (SNP) SNP
Thank you for attending.What percentage of the inspections that you undertake are proactive and what percentage are reactive?
Robbie Pearson
We have a mix of inspections. There is the healthcare environment inspectorate and its work on healthcare-associated infection. There are inspections as part...
Mark McDonald SNP
You will have a plan for who is to be inspected and when in the year, but there will always be occasions when events will overtake that. For example, complai...
Robbie Pearson
I will make a broad statement before handing over to Ian Smith to talk about our responsiveness to that. It varies according to the area that we are inspecti...
Ian Smith (Healthcare Improvement Scotland)
At the moment, we have carried out 13 inspections in relation to the care of older people, two of which were follow-up inspections that came from issues that...
Mark McDonald SNP
I am still not 100 per cent sure that I am getting the information that I am looking for, so I will word my question in a different way. You have annual or q...
Ian Smith
For the NHS inspections, we do not investigate complaints—that is not our role. The boards have to investigate complaints. We would take intelligence from th...
Mark McDonald SNP
What criteria do you use to determine your inspection timetable? Do you have a spreadsheet that shows when operations were last inspected? Are different crit...
Robbie Pearson
I will make a general point, if I may, then Ian Smith will pick up the detail. As Dr Coia indicated, we are increasingly maturing our intelligence base to in...
Ian Smith
For the inspections of acute care services for older people, we had no baseline from which to work because the inspections were new. When the risk assessment...