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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S5W-12790

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 14 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether Police Scotland’s call centre at Bilston Glen has been required to deal with calls from police forces elsewhere in the UK due to them being unable to cope with demand; if so, which police forces, and how many such calls there have been in the last six months.

The delivery of Police Scotland's contact, command and control function is an operational matter for Police Scotland with oversight from the Scottish Police Authority.

Every Police Force (and other Emergency Authority) has an established reciprocal arrangement in place to assist each other at times of high demand or exceptional need called the Public Emergency Call Service (PECS) Code of Practice. This applies only to emergency 999 calls and not those calls which are received on the 101 platform.

During the month of July Police Scotland received requests from British Telecom to assist the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) which resulted in Police Scotland dealing with a total of 29 MPS calls during the month. This equates to 0.0001% of the total call volume for the month which was 211,468.

Full details of what happens within Police Scotland service centres (call handling centres) are outlined in the Police Scotland statement issued 14 October by Nelson Telfer, ACC Service and Protection, Police Scotland, available at http://www.scotland.police.uk/whats-happening/news/2017/august/c3-message-from-acc-nelson-telfer.

I would encourage you to contact Police Scotland directly for further detail.

Question reference: S5F-01841

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 December 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 December 2017

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government understands by the term "Regulatory Alignment", and what this means for commerce between Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Question reference: S5W-12777

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 29 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much public funding was spent in response to the legal action taken by the Scotch Whisky Association on minimum unit pricing of alcohol.

Question reference: S5W-12265

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 9 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provided details of each NHS PPP/PFI contract, including where it acts as a rental agent for the third party for GP and dental practice premises.

The following link provide project details which include the actual/estimated annual unitary payment charges paid/to be paid by public sector procuring bodies in Scotland to private sector consortiums for services agreed over the length of NPD, hub and PPP/PFI contracts:

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Government/Finance/18232/12308

The Scottish Government does not hold centrally any information relating to contracts where NHS Boards acts as a rental agent for the third party for GP and dental practice premises.

Question reference: S5F-01688

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 November 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 November 2017

To ask the First Minister what measures the Scottish Government can put in place to curtail tax avoidance.

Question reference: S5W-11267

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 26 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will implement a ban on the export of live animals for consumption after the UK leaves the EU.

The Scottish Government is committed to the welfare of all animals during transport, whether within the UK, or for export purposes. Animals should only be exported in line with strict welfare standards, ensuring freedom from harm and sufficient rest and nourishment to ensure that transport welfare rules are fully complied with. There are no current plans for the Scottish Government to ban this legal, and well regulated, trade.

Question reference: S5W-11266

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 26 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many live animals were exported to Europe for consumption in each of the last five years, broken down by breed.

Question reference: S5W-09886

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 13 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-09661 by Roseanna Cunningham on 21 June 2017, in light of it holding no information on the location of snares or animals caught, how it assesses whether the legislation is being properly implemented, and whether it will introduce a register of licensed snares.

As set out in Section 11E of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended by the Wildlife and Natural Environment Act 2011), snaring operators must keep records of all the individual snares they have set, including the location of the snare, the date it was set/removed, and details of any animal caught in it. Snaring operators must provide this information when requested to do so by Police Scotland to ensure compliance with the legislation.

The Scottish Government does not intend to introduce a register of licensed snares.

Question reference: S5W-09866

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 7 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the number of horses in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-09885

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 29 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the number of (a) pigs, (b) sheep and (c) (i) beef and (ii) dairy cows in Scotland.