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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: S5O-01206

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 August 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Fair Work Framework applies to NHS Lothian.

Question reference: S5W-10597

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on non-departmental government bodies endorsing large-scale killings of mountain hares in situations where there is an absence of evidence that this practice is sustainable and an absence of animal welfare standards.

Question reference: S5W-10600

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its policy is on large-scale recreational killing of mountain hares, in light of reports of one estate claiming to have shot up to 2,000 in the course of a season.

Question reference: S5W-10663

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 30 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how it will report the findings of the social security experience panels.

Experience Panels research will be analysed and reported by Scottish Government researchers working on Social Security. The findings of Experience Panels research will be shared with Experience Panel members, and published as part of the Scottish Government’s social research publication series. Links to all publications will be made available at www.gov.scot/socialsecurity.

It is crucial that Experience Panel members - all of whom are unpaid volunteers - are able to see how their knowledge and direct, personal experience is shaping the new Social Security system for Scotland, So we will be communicating with them regularly, giving updates on the research programme and how the results are being used.

Question reference: S5W-10665

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 30 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5O-00981 by Angela Constance on 17 May 2017 (Official Report, c. 18), how the Scottish Social Security Agency will seek to maximise incomes.

In recognition of the Scottish Government’s commitment to help maximise peoples’ incomes and encourage the take-up of all benefits to ensure that those who are eligible receive the benefits to which they are entitled, the Social Security (Scotland) Bill includes the principle that “the Scottish Ministers have a role in ensuring that individuals are given what they are eligible to be given under the Scottish social security system.”

Scotland’s new social security agency will play an important part in helping to deliver this commitment to maximising family income and tackling poverty, through encouraging people to claim the benefits that are their due. The Agency will do this by providing accessible information about the assistance it provides, helping people to understand what they are entitled to and supporting them through the application process and any follow up actions relating to their case. It will also work closely with the advice service sector and local authorities to form local relationships with organisations and refer people to relevant areas to ensure they get the maximum support personally and financially.

Question reference: S5W-10662

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 30 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to how the findings by Sheffield Hallam University, which suggest that £800 million in benefit reductions in the UK will fall on households with dependent children between 2015 and 2020, will impact on its strategy to reduce child poverty.

The report by Sheffield Hallam University, and the Scottish Government’s own report on the impacts of welfare reform published in June 2017, set out a concerning picture of the impacts of social security cuts imposed by successive UK Governments.

The Scottish Government has also contracted Landman Economics and Virtual Worlds Research to produce projections of child poverty in Scotland based on current known UK and Scottish policies. This Scottish specific evidence will be important in helping us understand the scale of the challenge we are facing.

The Scottish Government is setting ambitious targets to reduce levels of child poverty in Scotland by 2030 through the Child Poverty (Scotland) Bill. Meeting these targets will require cross-government action, indeed action across all of Scotland, in the period to 2030. Actions to be taken by the Scottish Government will be set out in regular delivery plans due under the Bill, the first of which will be published by April 2018.

Question reference: S5W-10599

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 28 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) financial support and (b) non-financial support such as endorsements and training it has given to the Scottish Country Sports Tourism Group, including through VisitScotland and Scottish Natural Heritage, in each of the last three years.

There is no Scottish Government funding given directly to the Scottish Country Sports Tourism Group. In December 2016 VisitScotland approved a grant of £17,925 to the Scottish Country Sports Tourism Group to promote Scotland as the destination of choice for all country sports, including angling. The Group will use this to develop content and supporting digital activity to attract visitors from across the UK and Scandinavia.

In conjunction with Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Natural Heritage provided £10k project funding for research into the economic impact of country sports tourism in Scotland. The Executive Summary "Benefits and Volume and Value of Country Sports Tourism in Scotland" by Public and Corporate Economic Consultants (PACEC) was published in March 2015.

In addition, as part of the Scottish Natural Heritage project "Scotland’s Natural Larder", Scottish Natural Heritage rented stand space on a joint British Association for Shooting and Conservation/Scottish Country Sports Tourism Group stand at a cost of £1,500 in order to attend a Game Fair in England in July 2014. At the fair, Scottish Natural Heritage distributed recipe cards and served tasters of venison, rabbit, goose and wild garlic from the stand.

Further non-financial support to both individual tourism enterprises and membership associations is provided in conjunction with a number of different public sector partners, and through a variety of industry events and channels (including free downloadable toolkits and webinars) and therefore all non-financial assistance cannot be enumerated. However, one member of Scottish Natural Heritage staff sits as a non-executive on the board of Scottish Country Sports Tourism Group for an average of four days per annum in order to strengthening engagement with stakeholders and provide strategic advice in relation to public interest priorities and opportunities for sustainable economic growth based on the use of natural resources.

Question reference: S5T-00624

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 June 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that inpatient paediatric services are permanently available at St John’s Hospital in Livingston.

Question reference: S5W-09637

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 20 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in prison have dementia; what support is given to people with dementia in prison, and, in light of an ageing population, what plans it has for the provision of support to people with dementia in prison in the future.

A report published in December 2016, commissioned from NHS National Services Scotland's Information Services Division by the Scottish Government, provides estimated and projected diagnosis rates for Dementia in Scotland 2014-2020 by Health Board area: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2016/12/9363. The number of people with a diagnosis of dementia in prisons is not available.

An individual care plan, care package and accommodation adjustments would be put in place, if required, for an older prisoner admitted to prison with specific needs. The same support would be put in place for someone in prison who had come to be classed as an older prisoner over the course of their prison sentence and who required additional support due to declining health.

HMP Shotts recently held a Dementia Awareness Day and is working towards becoming Scotland’s first dementia friendly prison. The prison has teamed up with Alzheimer Scotland to run workshops for staff in order to raise awareness. In addition, a team of NHS Forth Valley and SPS employees working in HMP Glenochil recently won the 2016 Scottish Health Award for Integrated Care for Older People.

Question reference: S5W-09511

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 15 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what rationale it used in selecting its preferred option at stage 2 of the assessment for improvements to the Sheriffhall roundabout.

Each route option was considered in terms of value for money and risk and ability to meet overall scheme objectives. When taking all of these factors into consideration Option B was assessed to be the preferred option.

Further details on the options assessment is available from the A720 Sheriffhall Roundabout DMRB Stage 2 Options Assessment Report a copy of which is available from the Transport Scotland website at: https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/drmb-stage-2-assessment-report-a720-sheriffhall-roundabout/.