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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: S4W-15121

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 22 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with Strathclyde Partnership for Transport regarding the potential for a new railway station in Parkhead.

Question reference: S4W-14726

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 15 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with Glasgow City Council regarding the council's commitment to roll out free public wi-fi.

The Scottish Government has regular discussions on digital infrastructure issues with Glasgow City Council, along with the other Scottish cities, through the Scottish Cities Alliance. Delivering world-class digital connectivity in Scotland’s cities is a shared objective and collaboration is underway on a number of projects in Glasgow.

The commitment to roll out free public wi-fi is a key component of the Council’s Digital Glasgow Strategy and Scottish Government officials have provided advice and participated in initial market testing sessions on proposed solutions. Glasgow City Council is now preparing to launch a procurement process.

Question reference: S4F-01311

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 April 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 April 2013

To ask the First Minister what assessment the Scottish Government has made of Scotland’s public finances.

Question reference: S4W-13730

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 15 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what impact the opening of the M74 motorway extension has had on traffic flow on the M8 motorway and what the traffic flow is on the extension.

Following the opening of the M74 Completion scheme, the average two-way daily flows along the M8 motorway, between Charing Cross and Ballieston, have reduced by around 18-20,000 vehicles per day. Across the Kingston Bridge the average two-way daily flows have reduced by around 11,000 vehicles per day.

Along the M8 west of the M77 the average two-way flows have increased, for example by around 10,000 vehicles per day between Junctions 25 and 25A, reducing to around 2,000 vehicles per day between Junctions 26 and 27.

On the M74 Completion scheme itself, traffic flows of between 34,000 and 37,000 vehicles per day in each direction have been observed.

Question reference: S4F-01274

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 March 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 March 2013

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the 2013 UK Budget.

Question reference: S4T-00162

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 December 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what impact the Jobcentre Plus system of encouraging work experience is having on its policies that support people into paid employment.

Question reference: S4W-10299

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 12 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many mothers have been identified as drinking alcohol during pregnancy in each year since 1999, broken down by parliamentary constituency.

Data on the numbers of mothers identified as drinking alcohol during pregnancy have been collected on the Scottish Morbidity Record 02 (SMR02) form by Information Services Division Scotland from April 2003. Recording of this information has improved year on year but was not made mandatory until April 2011. It is anticipated that the figures for 2011-12 onwards will be more robust.

Copies of tables holding the requested data have been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 54455).

They show the numbers recorded for each component of this variable, the total number of mothers giving birth and the percentage of records that were not completed in each Parliamentary Constituency for years ending 31 March 2004 - 2011. Please note that data for year ending 31 March 2011 is provisional.

Figures for 2011 provisionally show that 3.7% of women reported drinking alcohol during their pregnancy.

Question reference: S4W-10298

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 8 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what action it takes to discourage mothers from drinking alcohol during pregnancy.

The Chief Medical Officer for Scotland's advice is that alcohol should be avoided when pregnant or contemplating pregnancy as there is no known safe time, type or amount of alcohol during pregnancy.

This advice is incorporated into all relevant Scottish Government and Health Scotland publications and is included in Ready Steady Baby, a publication given to all expectant mothers.

In addition, the Scottish Woman-Held Maternity Record (SWHMR) includes a mandatory question on alcohol use, which midwives ask as part of the routine first midwifery or ‘booking’ assessment.

Through funding provided to the Alcohol and Drug Partnerships, work has been undertaken in maternity services to embed alcohol brief interventions (ABI) as part of routine clinical care at booking for those pregnant women who have been screened as requiring advice and support on stopping alcohol consumption during pregnancy. For women whose alcohol use during pregnancy is deemed as unsuitable for an ABI, care pathways into treatment services and additional support are available.

Question reference: S4W-10297

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 8 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many people are known to have fetal alcohol syndrome.

National information derived from routine data collection relating to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is considered to be incomplete at present. Information is collected from systems which capture data relating to the health of babies shortly after they are born. Data are also available from inpatient or day-case admissions and also from the Child Health Surveillance Programme.

However, a diagnosis of FAS may not be obvious at the time of birth, and the only definitive diagnosis may be made as an outpatient and hence not available nationally.

A national surveillance programme for FAS has been in place since January 2010, funded by the Chief Scientist Office and Scottish Government for four years. In the first two full years of operation, this surveillance programme has identified
40 children under the age of six with FAS.

Question reference: S4T-00097

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 November 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what support will be provided to staff at the Freshlink factory in Shettleston, who have been told that the factory is closing and moving its business to England.