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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: S5T-01851

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 October 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the University of Glasgow research finding that former professional football players are three and a half times more likely to die of degenerative brain disease than the general population.

Question reference: S5O-03655

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether children with additional support needs should be educated at the nearest appropriate school to their home.

Question reference: S5F-03600

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 September 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 October 2019

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to reports that the number of police officers injured in attacks has risen by almost a third amid heightened sectarian and other tensions.

Question reference: S5O-03618

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 September 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the percentage change has been in the number of recorded crimes in North Ayrshire over the last decade, and how this compares with the national figure.

Question reference: S5W-25041

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 18 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the most recent figures are for the number of electric vehicle charging points that have been installed in Scotland.

There is currently around 1,800 charge points on the ChargePlace Scotland network, of which around 1,100 are publicly available. In addition, there is a further 184 charge points funded through our Workplace Charging Scheme and just under 4,000 home charge points funded through our domestic home charge scheme. In addition, there is also a few privately funded electric vehicle charging networks in Scotland available to the public.

Question reference: S5W-25042

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 18 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether all electric vehicle charging points that have been installed in Scotland are compatible with all vehicles, or whether there are a variety of different types that only work with certain makes of vehicle.

All charge points on the ChargePlace Scotland network, with the exception of three, are capable of charging any electric vehicle (EV) on sale in Scotland. There are currently over 1,000 publicly available charge points on the network including over 250 50kW rapid chargers capable of charging an EV from 0% to 80% in around 30 minutes. We are aware that some charge points that form part of private charging networks in Scotland may not be suitable for all EVs.

Question reference: S5O-03541

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 September 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when a women’s health group will be convened and whether it will prioritise the treatment of pre-eclampsia.

Question reference: S5W-24419

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 6 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it records the cause of a drug death in the same way as the rest of the UK and, if not, what the differences are.

The National Records of Scotland (NRS) report Drug Related Deaths in Scotland in 2018 was published on 16 th July 2019. It states there were a total of 1,187 drug related deaths in 2018.

The NRS report records deaths as drug-related on the basis of its implementation of the ‘baseline’ definition for the UK Drugs Strategy. This is essentially the same as the definition of "drug misuse deaths" that is used by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for its statistics for England and Wales, and by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) for its figures.

There are a number of definitions of drug related deaths, details of some are given in Annexes A and B of the report.

The report also provides statistics based on the ONS ‘wide’ definition of 'drug poisoning' deaths, and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) ‘general mortality register’ definition. In both cases, NRS applies the same definitions as ONS and NISRA use to produce the corresponding figures for their areas. These are detailed in Annex G and Table X of the report.

In addition there are some technical differences between Scotland and other parts of the UK in some aspects of the collection of information about drug-related deaths, which may affect slightly the comparability of their statistics, these are outlined in Paragraph G10 of the report.

The full report can be accessed via the following link:

https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/vital-events/deaths/drug-related-deaths-in-scotland/2018 .

Question reference: S5W-24418

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 6 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many deaths in each of the last five years have been caused by drugs prescribed for insomnia or other sleep-related conditions.

The National Records of Scotland report Drug Related Deaths in Scotland in 2018 was published on 16 July 2019. It states there were a total of 1,187 drug related deaths in 2018.

The report provides extensive information on the drugs implicated in or probable cause of death. Most drug-related deaths are people who took more than one substance. Of the 1,187 drug-related deaths in 2018, there were just 68 for which only one drug (and, perhaps alcohol) was found to be present in the body.

Specific analysis of drugs prescribed for insomnia or other sleep-related conditions is not included in the report. In addition the report does not link to prescribing data therefore it is not possible to determine if drugs were prescribed to the individual prior to death.

However, the report is accompanied by supplementary tables SUB1 and SUB2 which provide detailed information on drugs and other substances which were reported as being present in the body for drug-related. These tables include drugs which are known to be prescribed for insomnia.

The full report and supplementary tables can be found at the following link,
https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/vital-events/deaths/drug-related-deaths-in-scotland/2018

Question reference: S5W-24417

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 6 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many deaths have been caused by drugs in each of the last five years for which figures are available, broken down by drug.

The National Records of Scotland report Drug Related Deaths in Scotland in 2018 was published on 16 th July 2019. It states there were a total of 1,187 drug related deaths in 2018.

The report provides extensive information on the drugs implicated in or probable cause of death. Most drug related deaths were people who took more than one substance. Of the 1,187 drug-related deaths in 2018, there were just 68 for which only one drug (and, perhaps alcohol) was found to be present in the body.

Table 3 of the report provides details of drug related deaths by selected drugs reported for the years 2008 – 2018.

Table Y of the report provides information about a larger range of drugs on the basis of the Office for National Statistics "wide" definition (this includes deaths caused by drugs which were not controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act).

Additional data tables on the NRS website Tables SUB1 and SUB2 show how often the name of each drug (or other substance) was reported to NRS as being involved in deaths which were counted in NRS's standard definition of drug-related deaths and in the ONS "wide" definition, respectively.

The full report and supplementary tables can be accessed from the following link.
https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/vital-events/deaths/drug-related-deaths-in-scotland/2018 )