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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-18300

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 5 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce overcrowding on trains between the central belt and Fife

Over £475M is being invested in ScotRail’s rolling stock which will deliver major enhancements to train facilities and increase seating capacity by 23% by the end of 2019. Compared to the start of the franchise, ScotRail will be operating more than 200 additional services and providing a substantial increase to seats on services across the network. Passengers across Tayside, Stirlingshire, Perthshire, Aberdeenshire, Fife and the Borders will all benefit from these improvements.

Introduction of the Hitachi class 385 electric trains and the iconic High Speed Trains allows three carriage Class 170 diesel trains to ‘cascade’ onto Fife and Borders routes. More trains at peak times will be formed of 6 carriages and these will provide 20% more seats than today for customers in Fife.

Question reference: S5W-18296

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 5 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many nursing posts at NHS Tayside have been (a) advertised and (b) filled in each of the last five calendar years.

Information on the total number of nursing posts that have been advertised or filled in NHS Boards in a particular year is not centrally held.

ISD Workforce collects quarterly census data on the number of nursing vacancies at national and NHS Board level. A vacancy is defined as a post which has been cleared for advert after being through the redeployment process (internal or external advert) and remains a vacancy until an individual starts in the post.

The most recent data, published on 4 September 2018, can be found at http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2018-06-05/Nursing-and-Midwifery.asp .

Question reference: S5W-18299

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 5 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how much money each NHS board has received from the Clinical Teaching (ACT) levy.

The Scottish Government provides Additional Cost of Teaching (ACT) funding to support the clinical training of undergraduate medical and dental students in the NHS. This funding is administered by NHS Education Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government.

The most recent available annual funding amounts are set out in the following table. Figures for 2017-18 will be available after the Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts for 2017-18 have been signed off by the Auditor General for Scotland and laid in the Scottish Parliament. We expect this to be completed by the end of September.

Medical ACT
Board	2016-17
Ayrshire & Arran	£2,706,021
Borders	£667,018
Dumfries & Galloway	£873,594
Fife	£2,891,186
Forth Valley	£1,240,771
National Waiting Times Centre	£393,262
Grampian	£12,722,567
Greater Glasgow & Clyde	£16,737,663
Highland	£3,051,567
Lanarkshire	£2,704,458
Lothian	£17,873,447
Orkney	£49,936
Scottish Ambulance Service	£5,198
Shetland	£127,304
National Services Scotland (SNBTS)	£30,781
State Hospital	£31,853
Tayside	£12,531,034
Western Isles	£151,193
Medical ACT Total	£74,788,855
Dental ACT
Board	2016-17
Grampian	£3,147,059
Greater Glasgow & Clyde	£9,178,427
Tayside	£5,426,275
Dental ACT Total	£17,751,761

Total of All ACT	£92,540,616

Question reference: S5T-01186

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 September 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how NHS boards ensure that patients’ concerns regarding surgical practices are properly addressed.

Question reference: S5W-18326

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many teachers in (a) mathematics, (b) science, (c) computing, (d) modern languages and (e) English have been employed by each local authority in each year since 2011.

Question reference: S5W-18301

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 30 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many new businesses have been started in (a) Perth and Kinross, (b) Fife, (c) Stirling and (d) Clackmannanshire in each of the last five calendar years.

Business births – based on VAT/PAYE registrations - are produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) within their Business Demography publications. VAT/PAYE registrations do not represent a complete picture of start-up activity as only businesses with an annual turnover above the VAT threshold or who have employees on a Pay As You Earn (PAYE) scheme are required to register.

The table below provides the number of business births, for Scotland, for 2012 to 2016. The figures for 2017 will be published by the ONS in November 2018.

Table 1 - Business births, VAT/PAYE registrations, 2012 to 2016

Council Area	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Clackmannanshire	135	150	165	165	140
Fife	920	1,210	1,170	1,260	1,410
Perth and Kinross	520	615	625	565	550
Stirling	335	420	430	405	405

Source: Businesses Demography, Office for National Statistics.

Question reference: S5O-02273

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 June 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to tackle the recent rise in homelessness.

Question reference: S5O-02236

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 14 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on whether future increases in the non-domestic poundage rate will be linked to CPI or RPI.

Question reference: S5F-02430

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 June 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 June 2018

To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government’s 2018-19 budget will be affected by the Scottish Fiscal Commission’s downgraded forecasts for tax receipts.

Question reference: S5W-16523

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 23 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government when the public local inquiry regarding the proposed A9 dualling project near the Killiecrankie Battlefield will be held; what its response is to reports that Transport Scotland has not notified residents regarding this, and when the agency will issue this notification.

Draft Orders for the A9 Dualling Killiecrankie to Glen Garry project were published in November 2017. Effective engagement with affected parties is a key part of the statutory process for the project and Transport Scotland is currently negotiating with objectors to try and resolve objections where possible. Given the number of objections received it is anticipated a Public Local Inquiry will be required to consider objections received but not withdrawn. However, a Public Local Inquiry has not yet been arranged.

The arrangements for setting up and managing a Public Local Inquiry, including any relevant timescales, will be the responsibility of the Reporter(s) following appointment. The Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA) of the Scottish Government will notify those involved when an Inquiry is arranged.