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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-02771

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 January 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has for the single farm payment scheme post-Brexit.

Question reference: S5O-02741

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to analysis by COSLA, which suggests that the 2019-20 Local Government Settlement will result in a £237 million reduction to the core revenue budget and a decrease in the core capital budget of £17 million.

Question reference: S5W-20372

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 13 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5T-01371 by Michael Matheson on 4 December 2018 (Official Report, c. 3), what action is being taken by ScotRail in response to reports of an increase in the scale and frequency of (a) overcrowding and (b) cancellations on the Fife Circle; what work it is carrying out to ensure that the overall customer experience on these services improves, and how it will monitor the effectiveness of this.

The Member will be aware that the industrial action over rest day working impacted significantly on ScotRail’s recent performance on the Fife Circle, notably the level of cancellations which subsequently impacted on overcrowded services. You will be pleased to note a deal to resolve the dispute has been agreed and the work to rule action withdrawn and this will see services impacted by industrial action returning to normal.

When all the HST trains are in service ScotRail will redeploy some of the existing class 170 trains to Fife and this will mean more peak trains will be formed of 6 carriages and off peak services will generally be 3 carriages.

ScotRail is delivering a programme of performance improvement initiatives, including changes to maintenance regimes for infrastructure and rolling stock on Fife routes,

ScotRail’s performance and actions being delivered to support performance improvement are challenged, monitored and discussed between Transport Scotland officials and the ScotRail Alliance at regular forums.

Question reference: S5O-02705

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 December 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many integration joint boards have projected an overspend for 2018-19.

Question reference: S5W-20440

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 11 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that ministers have excluded themselves from open public sessions at NHS annual reviews and are attending private sessions only.

Question reference: S5W-20439

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 11 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what changes it has made in the last year to the format for NHS annual reviews.

There is no change to the core purpose of Annual Reviews, which is to hold NHS Boards to account. All 14 territorial Boards will receive a Ministerial Review, as well as the majority of Special Boards.

Ministers continue to have separate meetings with the Area Clinical Forum, Area Partnership Forum and local patients on the mornings of territorial Board Ministerial Reviews. There is also an opportunity in the Review schedule for Ministers to visit a nearby NHS facility/service and/or meet with local staff.

In terms of changes to the format of Reviews: Ministers are not present at the public session; nor are they meeting with the full NHS Board during the private session. I am clear that Health Boards should be accountable to the communities they serve, and want to continue to encourage as much direct engagement and accountability between NHS Boards and local people as possible. That is why all Boards will continue to hold a public session in addition to Ministerial Reviews. This will ensure local people continue to have the opportunity to question their NHS Board on matters of importance and share their views. This approach to Private Sessions, with just the relevant Board Chair and Chief Executive, allow for a focused, free and frank exchange on local performance between the minister and those directly accountable from the board.

Ministers will continue to issue detailed letters to NHS Boards following Reviews. These letters will cover the Board’s performance against national targets and priorities in the reporting year, as well as Ministerial expectations for the coming year. The letters will continue to be published on the relevant Board’s website.

At the conclusion of this round of Annual Reviews, Ministers will carefully consider the experience before deciding on the approach for future years.

Question reference: S5O-02622

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 November 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding the UK's exit from the EU to ensure that Scotland is promoted as a destination for economic migration.

Question reference: S5O-02546

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 14 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the salmon industry's reported plan to expand production by up to 400,000 tonnes by 2030 is economically and ecologically viable.

The Scottish Government remains absolutely committed to an aquaculture policy and regulatory framework that enables sustainable growth while maintaining our economic, environmental and social responsibilities.

Within the Strategic Plan for farming Scotland’s seas, the Scottish Aquaculture Sector venture towards doubling the value of the sector sustainably by 2030, projecting potential production in the range of 300,000 to 400,000 Tonnes per annum for finfish, but that can only happen if key environmental challenges are addressed. I think that level of ambition should be recognised and welcomed subject to sustainability being achieved.

Question reference: S5W-19615

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 6 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government in which countries in the (a) EU and (b) rest of the world it has an office, broken down by the (i) annual running cost of and (ii) number of staff employed by each office.

The Scottish Government’s network of offices outside the UK are currently located in:

(a) Belgium, Ireland, Germany and France, and,

(b) China, USA and Canada

The annual budget for each location, as included in the 2018-19 Draft Budget, and number of Scottish Government posts in each location are set out in the following table. The full year budgets for 2019-20 will be included in the draft budget document in December.

Country	Posts	Annual Budget
Belgium	18	£2 million
Ireland	3	£350,000
Germany	3	£300,000
France	3	£500,000*
China	4	£395,000
USA	4	£700,000
Canada	3	£500,000*

* Note: Indicative allocations as offices not operational until Autumn 2018.

Question reference: S5O-02425

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 September 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the teacher-pupil ratio or class sizes in primary schools has an impact on learning outcomes.