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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: S4O-03990

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2015
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 4 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to incentivise businesses to pay the living wage.

The Scottish Government fully supports the Living Wage Campaign and recognises the real difference the living wage can make to the people of Scotland. Although the Scottish Government is not able to set pay levels in the private sector, or indeed the private and wider public sector in Scotland where employees are not covered by our pay policy, we actively encourage all organisations to ensure all staff on lower incomes receive a fair level of pay.

In line with this, the Scottish Government has funded a pilot by the Poverty Alliance to increase the number of employers across all sectors in Scotland paying the living wage. And I am pleased to say these now number over 100.

We have also made a commitment in our Programme for Government that we will introduce a Scottish Business Pledge – making it clear that we want companies to commit amongst other things to pay the living wage and to fair work.

Question reference: S4W-23984

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 January 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 22 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has requested additional submissions on wild land issues for certain applications for consent for wind turbine developments on areas of designated wild land and not others.

Question reference: S4W-23986

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 January 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 22 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what it considers to be a reasonable timescale for the determination of applications to the Energy Consents Unit for wind turbine developments.

Question reference: S4W-23985

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 January 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 22 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what its policy is on dealing with applications for wind turbine developments on areas designated as wild land submitted prior to the adoption of the National Planning Framework 3 and the new Scottish Planning Policy.

Question reference: S4W-23569

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many times and (b) for how long on average the (i) A9, (ii) A85, (iii) A90, (iv) A92 and (v) M90 has been closed as a result of a crime scene investigation due to an accident in the last three years, and what factors affect the time it takes to reopen the roads for managed traffic flow.

Transport Scotland does not hold definitive data that indicates when Police Scotland have carried out a crime scene investigation.

The following table signifies a closure on the route concerned where police attendance was reported and which may or may not have involved a crime scene investigation. It should also be noted that Police Scotland do on occasion close roads for crime scene investigation without notifying Transport Scotland.

Road

Year

Total Number of Incidents Involving Closure

Average Closure Time in Hours/Minutes

2012	38	3:17
2013	47	3:19
2014	35	3:23

A85

2012	9	1:47
2013	11	5:18
2014	7	1:58

A90

2012	12	2:04
2013	20	4:05
2014	14	4:47

A92 (excludes Tay Bridge)

2012	12	2:32
2013	12	2:17
2014	18	3:05

M90

2012	7	2:06
2013	11	2:16
2014	3	2:46

The average closure time does not necessarily reflect how long the police investigation and subsequent clear up takes. Some incidents involve detailed complex investigations while others can be fairly straightforward. In some cases road closures are maintained overnight to allow a more thorough examination in daylight hours. Crime scene investigation does not always relate to road traffic collisions. Vehicle recovery and infrastructure repair can also influence closure times.

The decision by Police Scotland to close a road is never taken lightly and only occurs when the incident itself requires closure to manage an ongoing incident, or where there is a need to protect those who might already have been injured and the emergency service staff who are dealing with the incident.

The impact on local communities and the wider economy is always at the forefront of investigators' minds, but there is a need to ensure that incidents are investigated thoroughly to ensure that families of those killed or seriously injured receive the support and information that they deserve and also to ensure that any safety issues are identified and addressed.

Question reference: S4W-23591

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 19 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) whole-time equivalent and (b) headcount places were available in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects at each college in (i) 2012-13 and (ii) 2013-14.

Data on students in colleges in Scotland are collected by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC).

The SFC Baseline Report for Academic Year 2013-14 shows that the number of funded full-time equivalent (FTE) students at college in 2013-14 increased by three per cent over the year to 119,636, again exceeding the 116,000 commitment.

Table 1 contains the number of students studying on STEM courses, expressed as headcount and FTE, for 2012-13 and 2013-14.

For the purposes of this answer the following superclass summary groups are counted as STEM:

C – Information technology and information

R – Science and mathematics

X – Engineering

Note that the Scottish Government is currently working with partners to develop a more detailed definition of STEM, as a focus on these subjects sits at the heart of the development of Scotland’s young workforce.

Table 1 – Number of students studying on STEM courses at colleges in Scotland, 2012-13 and 2013-14

College

2012-13

2013-14

Headcount

FTE

Headcount

FTE

Aberdeen College	3,144	2,235	3,260	2,388
Adam Smith College	4,693	1,611	4,807	1,450
Angus College	1,491	549	1,475	569
Anniesland College	1,292	789	1,135	833
Ayr College	1,205	617	1,095	649
Ayrshire Kilwinning College	-	-	651	553
Banff and Buchan College of Further Education	3,019	842	3,126	881
Barony College	26	0.7*	0	0
Borders College	343	118	393	140
Cardonald College	1,187	748	1,015	754
Carnegie College	3,469	1,472	3,529	1,114
City of Glasgow College	-	-	2,220	1,584
Clydebank College	1,288	497	-	-
Coatbridge College	504	347	517	369
Cumbernauld College	729	464	818	484
Dumfries and Galloway College	914	421	949	465
Dundee College	2,342	1,176	1,874	1,159
Edinburgh College	-	-	3,452	2,720
Edinburgh's Telford College	682	465	-	-
Elmwood College	157	19	29	3
Forth Valley College	2,694	1,542	3,226	1,803
Glasgow Metropolitan	2,520	1,746	-	-
Inverness College	883	436	1,036	543
James Watt College of Further and Higher Education	2,697	1,226	-	-
Jewel and Esk College	1,147	797	-	-
John Wheatley College	6,025	644	6,609	529
Kilmarnock College	1,034	528	974	539
Langside College	898	454	746	646
Lews Castle College	197	61	164	91
Moray College	665	277	606	295
Motherwell College	2,690	1,616	2,941	1,718
North Glasgow College	532	362	529	327
North Highland College	1,189	343	943	382
Oatridge College	26	0.5*	18	0*
Orkney College	173	33	108	20
Perth College	889	377	975	391
Reid Kerr College	2,334	805	-	-
Shetland College of Further Education	532	73	404	67
South Lanarkshire College	132	49	123	16
Stevenson College Edinburgh	1,152	747	-	-
Stow College	1,195	776	1,344	863
West College Scotland	-	-	5,074	1,918
West Lothian College	728	449	733	506
Total	56,815	25,709	56,897	26,770

Source: SFC

Notes:

*At some specialist colleges, general STEM subjects are not part of the core range of subject areas. However, these colleges do offer specialist courses in subjects which are classified as STEM (e.g. welding). Such courses are often very short in duration. For some colleges in the table above this gives rise to a relatively small headcount and an FTE between 1 and 0.

- Data not available

Question reference: S4O-03922

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 January 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to promote major events in Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-23755

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 14 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many schoolchildren there have been with a speech and language disorder in each year since 1990.

The requested information is as follows.

Pupils with a main difficulty of learning of ‘language and communication disorder’, 1990-2001

1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
N/A	771	N/A	724	N/A	981	N/A	N/A	942	1,039	1,127	1,077

Pupils with records of needs and/or an individualised education plans and a main difficulty in learning of ‘significant language and speech disorder’, 2002-07

2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
1,300	1,440	1,514	1,679	853	393

Pupils with additional support needs and a reason for support of ‘language or speech disorder’. (Pupils can have more than one reason for support)

2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014
2,134	3,330	4,415	4,754	7,200	9,782	11,367	12,708	13,697

Please note that due to changes in legislation, definitions and recording methods over the years, it is not possible to directly compare data from 1991 with 2014. The major changes in this data series are as follows:

1. Changes to definitions (including inclusion criteria) and recording methods between 2001 and 2002.

2. Legislative and recording changes following the introduction of the Additional Support for Learning Act 2004. The main change is that all reasons for support rather than just the main difficulty are recorded; it also covers a wider range of pupils with varying support needs. As a result of the phased introduction of the Additional Support for Learning Act 2004, in 2006 and 2007 pupils could be recorded under either the old ‘main difficulty of learning’ or the new ‘reason for support’ basis.

3. Changes to recording in 2010 to include ‘other’ types of support and in 2011 to include ‘child plans’ which increased the number of pupils recorded with an additional support need.

Question reference: S4W-23754

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 14 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many non-verbal schoolchildren there are.

This information is not held centrally. However, data is collected on children with speech and language disorders more generally, as set out in my answer to question S4W-23755 on 14 January 2014. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Question reference: S4W-23703

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 8 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the costs associated with funding a third full cycle of (a) IVF treatment and (b) intracytoplasmic sperm injection.

The National Infertility Group, chaired by a Health Board Chief Executive, and whose members include senior infertility consultants, senior infertility nurses, senior planners, and the patient stakeholder group Infertility Network Scotland, reconvened in December 2014.

The expert group will, as part of the 2015 review, reflect on the implementation of access criteria changes from 1 July 2013 and emerging clinical evidence in light of new treatment pathways. The expert group will also look at the recurring service cost, and available capacity before any further criteria changes are considered.