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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: S4F-00972

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 November 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 November 2012

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's assessment is of the economic impact on Scotland of the planned three pence increase in fuel duty.

Question reference: S4W-10800

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 November 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 9 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what assistance it provides to victims of crime in West Scotland.

The Scottish Government provides funding for a number of organisations which offer support and assistance to victims throughout Scotland, such as Victim Support Scotland, People Experiencing Trauma and Loss (PETAL) and Rape Crisis Scotland.

In addition, around £25m is made available each year to fund Scottish cases within the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme.

The Scottish Government offers a range of information which may be of assistance to victims. This includes the Victims of Crime website which can be found at; www.victimsofcrimeinscotland.org.uk; tailored information aimed at victims of serious crime, such as rape and sexual assault; and for bereaved families following murder, culpable homicide or a road death.

The Scottish Government is committed to introducing a Victims and Witnesses Bill in this Parliamentary session to further improve the support available to victims and witnesses across Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-10186

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 8 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what provisions are there to help people wanting to take a civil case forward but unable to obtain legal representation.

<>The Scottish Government provides funding through the legal aid scheme to assist people who might not otherwise be able to afford legal representation in civil litigation. The Scottish Legal Aid Board (“the Board”) has a statutory responsibility to monitor the availability and accessibility of legal services in Scotland, and the first monitoring report can be found at the following link. http://www.slab.org.uk/export/sites/default/common/documents/about_us/whatwedo/2012_Final_Monitoring_Report.pdf.

The Board found no general evidence of lack of access to legal services. The Board also provides four Civil Legal Assistance Offices in Scotland, which offer legal services in targeted geographical and subject areas.

The Law Society of Scotland offers a comprehensive online search facility on its website (www.lawscot.org.uk) to help members of the public find a solicitor. Other sources of information and support include independent advice agencies, such as Citizens Advice Bureaux or Shelter, and local authority advice services.

Ultimately, though, the Government cannot direct solicitors to provide legal representation in individual cases, and nor is legal representation formally required in order to bring forward a civil case.

Question reference: S4O-01438

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to improve the prison estate in the west of Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-09287

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 21 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what the value was of office furniture that has been (a) scrapped and (b) recycled by each NHS board in each of the last 10 years.

This information is not held centrally.

Zero Waste Scotland is currently taking forward a programme of support for NHSScotland and one of the tasks in relation to clarification of the NHS boards current policy for furniture and waste electrical equipment (WEE). This includes:

undertaking a situational analysis to identify current disposal routes for furniture, WEE and IT;

gathering available information on the weight of furniture, WEE and IT disposed;

estimating the level of furniture, WEE and IT which could be available for recycling;

undertaking research on good practice methods of disposal of furniture, WEE and IT, and

investigating the potential for implementing a re-use tool which NHS boards would use to improve data capture and tracking of items available for reuse or redeployment.

Question reference: S4W-09284

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 21 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what guidelines regarding surplus office furniture NHS boards have.

Question reference: S4W-09280

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 21 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what are each NHS board's (a) procurement strategies for and (b) contract providers of office furniture.

The management and procurement of office furniture is an operational matter for NHS boards.

NHS National Services Scotland (National Procurement) has in place a national contract for furniture and which is available for all NHS boards to use. The scale and scope of the contract is based on engagement between NHS National Services Scotland and NHS boards regarding their requirements.

Such opportunities for suppliers and details contracts let are published on the Public Contracts Scotland Website. Details of the current contract can be accessed at:

http://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=SEP098738.

Question reference: S4W-09285

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 21 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how much was spent on (a) new and (b) used office furniture by each NHS board in each of the last 10 years.

The information as requested is not held centrally. The information in the following table is taken from NHS Board Annual Accounts and relates to total expenditure on office furniture and fittings. For consistency, information has been provided from 2004-05 as this is when the reconfiguration of NHS Trusts took place.

NHS Board	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
	£000	£000	£000	£000	£000	£000	£000	£000
Argyll and Clyde	23	31	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ayrshire and Arran	180	667	753	752	6	1519	2857	51
Borders	0	282	53	20	100	20	146	0
Dumfries and Galloway	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Fife	0	13	19	0	0	0	0	0
Forth Valley	0	0	0	82	133	0	162	507
Grampian	5	30	238	70	83	153	35	87
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	9	0	497	76	0	629	0	0
Highland	0	27	63	24	0	0	0	0
Lanarkshire	0	0	0	1505	41	0	25	0
Lothian	0	0	73	2	0	0	0	0
Orkney	16	12	0	14	1	5	2	5
Shetland	0	18	0	7	0	0	0	0
Tayside	36	0	97	40	6	0	0	9
Western Isles	1	0	82	214	89	0	0	22
National Services Scotland	7,038	2,455	134	384	1,022	1,313	272	79
Scottish Ambulance Service	9	0	0	62	20	51	60	377
Education	0	0	7	11	0	16	27	0
NHS24	26	457	26	0	154	53	12	10
Golden Jubilee	0	35	0	0	11	0	0	0
State Hospital	0	0	0	0	0	180	12	1,023
Health Scotland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Healthcare Improvement Scotland	0	0	0	0	51	0	0	49
Total	7,343	4,027	2,042	3,263	1,717	3,939	3,610	2219.00

Source: NHS Board Annual Accounts.

Question reference: S4W-09283

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 21 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government when the asset register of office furniture for each NHS board was last (a) updated and (b) published.

Question reference: S4W-09281

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 21 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what joint procurement strategies for office furniture NHS boards have.