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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.

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Question reference: S5W-25824

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 30 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether sensors have been fitted to the Queensferry Crossing to alert engineers to the hazard of ice building up on its cables, with risk of it falling on to the carriageways.

The issues with ice are thought to be a result of a very specific set of weather conditions arriving in March 2019. Since then, processes have been developed to ensure that any ice formation is monitored and managed to minimise the impact on traffic over the structure.

Sensors which detect ice accumulation will be fitted to the bridge and incorporated in the structural health monitoring system.

The conditions that can lead to a build-up of ice of this kind are very rare in the Forth estuary.

Question reference: S5W-25632

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 29 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what studies it has conducted of the impact on the freshwater salmon fishing industry of the open cage salmon farming industry in Scotland.

Research funded by Scottish Government has identified 12 high level pressures impacting on salmon in our waters and further afield, and aquaculture is recognised as one component of these pressures. https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/marine/Salmon-Trout-Coarse/fishreform/licence/status/Pressures

Whilst there are currently no studies from Scotland that have directly assessed the effects of open cage salmon aquaculture on the freshwater salmon fishing industry (angling), studies have been conducted on the potential effects of aquaculture on wild Atlantic salmon populations more generally. This includes studies of

differences in the trends shown by rod catches in the west coast aquaculture zone compared to the rest of Scotland ( https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1098/rspb.2008.1600 ; https://www2.gov.scot/Resource/0051/00515729.pdf ).
the potential impacts of fish farm disease on wild salmon populations ( https://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jfd.12654 )
the effects of fish farm escapes on genetic introgression through the National Electrofishing Programme for Scotland ( https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/marine/Salmon-Trout-Coarse/Freshwater/Monitoring/ElectrofishingProgramme/GeneticSampling ) and other targeted local sampling near fish farms.
the impact of coastal sea lice from aquaculture on wild salmon populations using anti-lice treatment/ release studies on contrasting east and west coast rivers, the latter having a greater aquaculture influence ( http://www.sarf.org.uk/SARFSP010%20Feb2019.pdf ).

Question reference: S5O-03680

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 October 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what targets it has set local authorities to deliver accessible housing.

Question reference: S5W-25631

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 21 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has conducted an economic analysis of the salmon farming industry in Scotland and, if so, whether it will publish this.

The Scottish Government regularly monitors the economic contributions of Scotland’s aquaculture industry. In the past five years, Scottish Ministers have published two reports providing economic analysis of Scotland’s aquaculture industry. For more information on these two reports please see:

https://www2.gov.scot/Resource/0045/00450799.pdf

http://www.hie.co.uk/regional-information/economic-reports-and-research/archive/value-of-aquaculture-2017.html

The latest report published in 2017, was jointly commissioned between the Scottish Government and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and it estimated that the industry has significant wider impacts across the supply chain at around £620 million in gross value added terms and 12,000 Full Time Equivalent employment posts across the Scottish economy.

Question reference: S5W-25505

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 9 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when it will bring forward the next Comprehensive Spending Review, and what period this will cover.

The Spending Review Framework, published in the Scottish Government’s second Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) on 30 May 2019, sets out the Scottish Government’s approach for the resource and capital spending reviews.

On resource, the Scottish Government is undertaking a review of spending beyond 2019-20. We have announced that the Scottish Budget, which will detail resource and capital spending plans for 2020-21, will be published on 12 December 2019. Due to insufficient clarity from the UK Government, including its delayed plans to undertake a multi-year Spending Review until 2020, it may not be possible to publish resource spending plans beyond 2020-2021 at the same time as the 2020-21 Budget.

On capital, the Scottish Government plans to publish future capital budgets by June 2020 to take account of the findings of the Infrastructure Commission for Scotland which are due at the end of December 2019. Capital budgets beyond 2020-21 will take account of the Scottish Government’s next Infrastructure Investment Plan which itself will also be informed by the Infrastructure Commission’s advice.

Question reference: S5W-25506

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 8 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what commitment it will give to protecting the health budget and to passing on any Barnet consequentials it receives as a consequence of any increased health expenditure by the UK Government.

The Scottish Government continues to protect the health budget and deliver its commitment to pass on all health resource consequentials until the end of this parliamentary term.

The Scottish Government is investing more than £14 billion of funding in health and care services in 2019-20, including an increase to resource funding of over £730 million from 2018-19. This is despite the challenges faced by the Scottish Government due to UK Government austerity.

Question reference: S5W-25388

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 30 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many commercial properties in the (a) whisky, (b) banking and insurance, (c) oil and gas, (d) construction, (e) energy and (f) legal sector are liable for the large business rates supplement in 2019-20; how much it expects to raise, and how this compares with each of the last two years.

The Scottish Government does not hold Non-Domestic (business) rates data by business sector. Data on the number of properties liable for the supplement, and the estimated net amount raised in 2019-20 and in each of the previous two years are shown in the following table. The number of liable properties in 2019-20 is based on the Valuation Roll as at the 1st of July 2019 and may therefore change over the course of the financial year.

Number of properties liable for the Large Business Supplement and the estimated net amount raised, by property type.

Property Type	2017-18		2018-19		2019-20
Property Type	Number of Liable Properties	Estimated Net Amount Raised(£m)	Number of Liable Properties	Estimated Net Amount Raised(£m)	Number of Liable Properties	Estimated Net Amount Raised(£m)
Advertising	19	0.1	20	0.1	21	0.1
Care Facilities	791	0.3	803	0.3	802	0.3
Communications	80	0.6	94	0.8	92	0.6
Cultural	157	0.2	163	0.2	162	0.2
Education and Training	2,090	10.1	2,101	10.2	2,091	10.3
Garages and Petrol Stations	327	1.1	323	1.1	321	1.1
Health and Medical	570	4.1	576	4.3	578	4.4
Hotels	914	5.6	917	5.7	923	5.9
Industrial Subjects	4,558	21.4	4,524	21.8	4,509	22.2
Leisure, Entertainment, Caravans etc.	924	2.4	941	2.3	928	2.4
Offices	3,637	16.3	3,635	16.6	3,580	16.3
Other	386	2.3	384	2.2	380	2.3
Petrochemical	79	3.2	77	3.2	77	3.2
Public Houses	667	1.7	647	1.7	615	1.6
Public Service Subjects	1,041	5.7	1,048	5.9	1,055	6.0
Quarries, Mines, etc.	85	0.3	83	0.3	81	0.3
Religious	88	0.0	91	0.1	91	0.1
Shops	5,111	27.6	5,065	27.8	5,040	27.9
Sporting Subjects	42	0.3	41	0.3	41	0.3
Statutory Undertaking	397	23.9	449	24.3	469	24.7

Source: Assessor's Valuation Roll and Local Authority Billing Snapshot.

Question reference: S5W-25297

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 26 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason older people living in some parts of the country, including in the NHS Fife area, are reportedly only being offered the 3-virus flu vaccine, and whether it plans to make the 4-virus vaccine available to them later in the year.

The vaccines that have been procured for Scotland for the forthcoming season are in line with the recommendations of the independent expert ‘Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’ (JCVI).

Individuals aged 65 years and over will receive adjuvanted Trivalent Inactivated Vaccine (aTIV) (Fluad ®) or cell based Quadrivalent Inactivated Vaccine (QIVc) (Flucelvax Tetra®). Both vaccines are considered by the JCVI to be equally effective for this cohort. Health Protection Scotland have worked with Health Board Leads to allocate vaccines appropriately between Boards.

Question reference: S5O-03611

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 September 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made in completing the snagging work on the Queensferry Crossing, which is due to be completed by the end of the year, and whether this will lead to roadworks.

Question reference: S5O-03544

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 September 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with NHS Tayside regarding the delivery of primary care services across the area.