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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: S6W-12595

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 5 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what enhancements to the Forestry Grant Scheme it plans to bring forward in order to improve the condition of ancient woodland.

The Forestry Grant Scheme already provides an extensive package of support to help landowners improve the condition of ancient woodlands. This funding is available through the Woodland Improvement Grant Habitats and Species option. This offers capital grant support to remove invasive species such as Rhododendron, for fencing costs, felling and tree removal. Forest management and enhancement is also supported through 5 year management agreements covering habitat monitoring and deer control as well as stock management support for grazed woodland. For special sites, such as SSSI’s or Natura 2000 sites, the support available can cover 100% of the costs.

Since 2016 the Forestry Grant Scheme has supported over 210 projects to restore native woodlands with a combined value of over £12m.

Question reference: S6W-12598

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 2 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many property factor enforcement orders have been issued by the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-12599

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 30 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many property factor enforcement orders have not been complied with in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-12600

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 30 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many times the Scottish Ministers have been informed that a property factor has failed to comply with a property factor enforcement order in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-12602

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 30 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many times the police have been informed that a property factor has failed to comply with a property factor enforcement order in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-12264

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 29 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the Minister for Transport (a) last met Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, and what issues were discussed and (b) will next meet Strathclyde Partnership for Transport.

Question reference: S6W-12052

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what data it holds on the number of appointments currently offered per full-time equivalent GP, and how many of those appointments are (a) face-to-face, (b) video and (c) telephone appointments.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the number of appointments offered per full time equivalent GP.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) will publish data on activity levels in General Practice on 6 December 2022. This will include activity by encounter type. Encounters are recorded each time a member of the practice team enters information into the GP electronic health record. These include face to face consultations, telephone consultations, e-consultations, medicines management and administration.

The data will be published as experimental statistics, reflecting the developing nature of the data in relation to quality and ability to meet user needs.

PHS will also publish the GP In Hours General Practice Workforce Survey on 29 November 2022, which will provide estimates of GP workforce numbers.

Question reference: S6W-12053

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of GP practice patients are currently being seen by (a) GPs, (b) advanced nurse practitioners, (c) physiotherapists, (d) pharmacists, (e) occupational therapists, (f) link workers, (g) mental health nurses and (h) phlebotomists.

The data requested is not centrally held by the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government have commissioned Public Health Scotland (PHS) and National Services for Scotland (NSS) to undertake a programme of work to extract regular GP in hours activity data from GP systems. This data will be published for the first time by PHS on 6 December 2022 and will include a breakdown between activity by (1) GPs and (2) other clinicians.

Discussions are ongoing with PHS and NSS on the next phases of the programme of work.

Question reference: S6W-12051

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will define what constitutes "a session" in general practice.

Question reference: S6W-12066

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-11710 by Jenny Gilruth on 8 November 2022, what actions and processes ScotRail has put in place to improve its arrangements for passengers requiring travel assistance.

ScotRail and Network Rail teams have reinforced to staff the importance of passenger assistance adhering to the correct procedures when a passenger is being assisted onto or off a train.

In the event there is no ticket examiner on board the train to deploy the ramp, the station staff will alert the Customer Service Centre and alternative arrangements can be made. At unstaffed stations, customers are advised to make contact with the Customer Service Centre team via the platform Help Point.

If customers are unable to book assistance in advance, they can turn up and request assistance from ScotRail’s on-train staff. Both the station and on-train staff are trained to look out for customers who appear to need help on platforms before the train leaves the station. If customers are travelling from an unstaffed station, they can speak to a member of staff via the station Help Point. Managers have been asked to ensure they monitor these procedures.