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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: S4O-03960

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 January 2015
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 28 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what progress the SQA has made on the development of the Scottish Baccalaureate qualification.

Question reference: S4F-02554

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 January 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 January 2015

To ask the First Minister what discussions the Scottish Government has had with NHS boards regarding the reported reduction in funding for mental health research.

Question reference: S4W-23848

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 January 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 21 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what new facilities and opportunities have been created in each local authority area under its new youth arts strategy.

Time to Shine – Scotland’s Youth Arts Strategy, sets out a vision and key recommendations to enable Scotland's children and young people to flourish and achieve, in and through the arts and creativity, centred around the themes of participation, progression and provision.

A network of nine newly established youth arts hubs have been developed to improve youth arts provision and infrastructure in the following areas across the country: Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, Moray, Highlands, West Dunbartonshire, Glasgow, Argyle and Bute, Ayrshire, Edinburgh and Fife and are all helping to facilitate new opportunities for young people. These hubs have been developed through partnerships between local and national arts and youth services providers to increase access to youth arts across Scotland in a range of art forms and aim to engage with over 40,000 children and young people.

Notable developments in the youth arts hubs so far include the launch of a new youth arts digital platform for Fife, the introduction of a youth led arts network for Ayrshire, a pioneering programme of new arts delivery for West Dunbartonshire and the creation of an arts traineeships and apprenticeships scheme for young people in Edinburgh. In addition to the youth arts hubs, targeted project funding is supporting An Lanntair (Western Isles) and Voice of My Own (Scottish Borders) to give young people in remote and rural areas better access to the arts.

Young people are central to the decision making process and development of the strategy and the hubs development with 13 young people selected from across Scotland to be on the ‘Youth Arts Voice Scotland’ group to advise on the development and forward plans of Time to Shine.

We will continue to support initiatives taking forward Scotland's first national youth arts strategy and in November 2014 we announced an additional £1 million of public and private funding for the national youth arts companies to deepen youth arts participation in the run up to Scotland's Year of Young People in 2018.

Question reference: S4W-23595

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 20 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many jobs have been linked to the film and television production sector in Scotland in each year since 1999.

The Scottish Government does not hold information centrally on how many jobs have been linked to the film and television production sector, or how much it has contributed to the economy each since 1999 as the statistics have breaks in the series due to changes in definition and methodology made by the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

Information on recent employment rates can be found in the ONS publication Business Register and Employment Survey at:

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/about-ons/get-involved/taking-part-in-a-survey/information-for-businesses/a-to-z-of-business-surveys/business-register-and-employment-survey--bres-/index.html.

Information on turnover and Gross Value Added can be found in the ONS publication The Annual Business Survey at:

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/abs/annual-business-survey/index.html.

Question reference: S4W-23596

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 20 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how much the film and television production industry has contributed to the Scottish economy in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S4W-23733

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 13 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to review the provision of inpatient services for young people with autism and other learning disabilities.

We made a commitment in the Mental Health Strategy for Scotland: 2012-2015 to work with clinicians in Scotland to identify good models of Learning Disability Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (LD CAMHS) service delivery in use in different areas of Scotland or other parts of the UK which could become, or lead to, prototypes for future testing and evaluation.

In support of the commitment we have commissioned Glasgow University and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to undertake a project to identify good models of LD CAMHS service delivery.

Further details can be found at the following link:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/Services/Mental-Health/Strategy/Child-Adolescent-Services/C10

Question reference: S4F-02517

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 January 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 January 2015

To ask the First Minister what discussions the Scottish Government has had with the UK Government in light of the recent terrorist attacks in France.

Question reference: S4W-23594

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 6 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many loans it has provided from its £2 million loan fund to assist the film and television production sector.

Question reference: S4W-23566

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 5 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the announcement that the UK Government will fund income-contingent loans of up to £10,000 for postgraduate students on taught masters courses from 2016-17, whether it will match per capita funding for postgraduate students in Scotland.

Prior to the UK Government’s announcement in the Autumn Statement 2014, the Scottish Government announced the formation of a working group to review support for taught postgraduate education in Scotland. The group, to be chaired by Professor Bryan MacGregor, will consider the barriers to participation in taught postgraduate study by Scottish domiciled students and identify options for how these might be overcome. The group will produce a report by summer 2015.

From academic year 2012-13, all eligible Scottish domiciled and EU postgraduate students undertaking courses on a prescribed list have been able to apply for non means-tested fee loan funding of up to £3,400. From 2015-16, eligible Scottish domiciled students on an eligible taught postgraduate course can also apply for a maintenance support loan of up to £4,500.

There are no immediate plans to change this package of support for taught postgraduate students prior to the issue and consideration of the report from the working group.

Question reference: S4W-23571

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 19 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of Transport Scotland’s recent review of the speed limits on the A85.

<>Following completion of the Speed Limit Review on the trunk road network, including the A85, Scottish Ministers are satisfied that a number of recommendations are being implemented to improve road safety. These recommendations can be accessed on Transport Scotland’s website at: http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/road/road-safety/speed-limit-review.

The statutory process is underway for three sections of the A85 as a result of the Speed Limit Review. These draft Road Orders can be accessed at: http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/road/road-and-traffic-orders/north-west-traffic-orders .