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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: S4W-10130

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that all abortion and other sexual and reproductive health services are fully supportive of women's reproductive rights.

In 2011 the Scottish Government launched the Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Framework which sets out five high level outcomes for the NHS and others to deliver in Scotland. These outcomes include that we wish to see fewer sexually transmitted infections and fewer unintended pregnancies in Scotland; that there should be a reduction in health inequalities in sexual health; and that sexual relationships should be free from coercion and harm.

The Scottish Government is investing £29 million per year into Framework activities and is working with local authorities and NHS boards to increase access to sexual health services, including specialist services for young people and those most at risk of poor sexual health; to increase the provision of longer acting reversible contraception; and to reduce the numbers of unintended and teenage pregnancies.

All NHS boards in Scotland provide abortion, and almost all abortions carried out in Scotland are provided by the NHS, unlike in other parts of the UK. The framework specifically states that women who attend for termination should be made aware of the availability of sexual health services and where appropriate that Longer Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) should be provided as well as advice about other methods of contraception. This is supported by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland Sexual Health Standards which set targets for the prescription of intrauterine and implantable contraceptives.

The Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Framework also identifies that high quality, integrated sexual health services should be available throughout Scotland. The government has promoted the integration of sexual health and family planning services in NHS boards, to ensure that specialist services are set up in such a way that they can provide holistic care based on the needs of the individual.

Question reference: S4O-01328

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 September 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its policy on nuclear weapons, whether it will participate in the spring 2013 conference in Norway on the humanitarian consequences of these.

Question reference: S4O-01295

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 19 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what actions it is taking to combat far right extremism.

The Scottish Government is committed to creating a society in which intolerance and prejudice have no place and in building trust, respect and understanding within Scotland’s multi-faith and multi-cultural society.

Prejudice and intolerance can fracture communities and undermine community cohesion and at its extremes can give rise to serious criminal behaviour. That is why we give priority to work on community safety, support programmes to promote equality, tackle discrimination and hate crime. It is also why we work closely with police colleagues through, among other things, the Scottish Preventing Violent Extremism Unit, to create a safer Scotland within which there is no place for violent extremism of any kind.

Question reference: S4W-09197

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 13 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-06539 by Nicola Sturgeon on 23 April 2012, what funding has been allocated to establish the consultant level training posts in community sexual and reproductive healthcare; what the (a) process and (b) timescale for recruitment for this is and what future funding arrangements will be put in place to ensure that this continues.

As indicated in the answer to question S4W-06539, the intention is to advertise training posts in Community Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare from next year. As part of the Scottish Government project to reshape the medical workforce, last year, the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Cities Strategy approved the disestablishment of two training posts in Public Health Medicine from August 2013.

Salaries arising from training posts disestablished under the Reshaping Project are returned by NHS Education Scotland (NES) to the Scottish Government for reallocation as appropriate. The two salaries released by the disestablishment of Public Health Medicine training posts will be returned to NES for the purpose of funding the creation of two new training posts in Community Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare.

These training posts will be advertised and recruited to, under the established national processes for recruitment to all specialty training posts across Scotland. This process commences in late 2012, with a view to having trainees commence in August 2013.

In the longer term, the overall training establishment in this specialty will be guided by the ongoing work of the National Reshaping Medical Workforce Project Board, which will provide advice to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing on the establishment of training grade doctors.

Question reference: S4W-09333

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 10 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has assessed the impact of the provision of fixed-odds betting terminals on the issue of problem gambling.

Question reference: S4W-09335

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 10 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether limits could be set on the number of betting shops that can operate in certain areas, in a manner similar to the limits applied to sex shops under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act.

Gambling is a reserved matter and the Scottish Government has no power to set limits on betting shop numbers.

Decisions about premises licences for betting shops must be made in accordance with the criteria set out in the Gambling Act 2005 and with regard to statutory guidance. Whilst the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 offers the local authority the ability to designate an appropriate number of sex shops for a locality (and for that number to be zero), neither the Gambling Act 2005 or the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 allows the same in relation to betting shops.

Question reference: S4W-09334

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 10 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether its powers under the Gambling Act 2005 allow it to set limits on the provision of fixed-odds betting terminals in premises licensed under the Act.

Question reference: S4W-09332

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 10 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what discussion it has had with the UK Government regarding the implementation of the Gambling Act 2005 and its impact on problem gambling.

Question reference: S4W-08524

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the possible consequences of a widespread outage of banking services and what contingency plans exist to deal with such a situation.

Matters relating to the financial services industry are reserved to the UK Government. However, the Scottish Government is working with Her Majesty's Treasury and others to strengthen the resilience of the industry in Scotland. In the event of a widespread outage of the banking sector, the Scottish Government would be part of a nationwide response involving the relevant authorities, including local emergency responders in Scotland. Any response by the Scottish Government to a widespread outage would be complementary to the business continuity plans of the banking sector.

Question reference: S4W-08874

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 15 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether its proposed bill on same-sex marriage will also provide for mixed-sex civil partnerships.