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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: S5W-09844

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 4 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to engaging or re-engaging employees of Doosan Babcock at the manufacturing centre at the former Doosan Babcock factory at Westway, Renfrew.

The creation of the Lightweight Manufacturing Centre responds to a valuable market opportunity for the development and manufacture of lightweight components and is expected to support significant economic and employment opportunities at the local, regional and national level. The Centre, located within the Doosan Babcock site at Westway, Renfrew, will be operated by the University of Strathclyde’s Advanced Forming Research Centre.

The Scottish Government’s Partnership Action for Continuing Employment team was engaged with both Doosan Babcock and union officials to support employees affected by the recent redundancies at the company’s Renfrew site.

Question reference: S5W-09842

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 4 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the £8.9 million being invested at the manufacturing centre at the former Doosan Babcock factory at Westway, Renfrew; which organisations will benefit from the investment; how much they will receive, and what they will use the support for.

The £8.9m being invested in the Lightweight Manufacturing Centre over the period 2017-20 consists of £3.9m from the Scottish Government, £3.4m from Scottish Enterprise and £1.6m from the University of Strathclyde. This will support the University’s Advanced Forming Research Centre to establish, manage and run the Centre for the benefit of Scottish companies in sectors such as aerospace, automotive, oil and gas and renewables to develop lightweight products and components.

Question reference: S5W-09840

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 4 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many direct full-time equivalent jobs will be created at the manufacturing centre at the former Doosan Babcock factory at Westway, Renfrew, following the £8.9 million investment.

Question reference: S5W-09841

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 29 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) financial and (b) other support it has offered to Doosan Babcock in each year since 2015 to support the continuation of its manufacturing and other operations at its site at Westway, Renfrew; on what dates this was offered, and what the company's response was.

Doosan Babcock is account managed by Scottish Enterprise.

Since 2015 Scottish Enterprise has been actively working with Doosan Babcock to explore sector and market opportunities, through the provision of market research and sector insights.

Scottish Enterprise has also provided the following financial assistance to Doosan Babcock for projects that support the development of the Renfrew site since 2015:

£260k in support of an Open Innovation project with the R & D team (Programme initiated: October 2015, the project is ongoing).

£97,214 Training Aid for the Fuel Cell Division (Grant Award: April 2016, the project is ongoing).

Doosan Babcock have accepted the awards and are currently delivering the resulting projects.

Question reference: S5O-01152

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 21 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when the temporary removal of orthopaedic services at Monklands General Hospital will come to an end, and when trauma and elective services will be restored.

It is incorrect to suggest that all orthopaedic services have been removed from Monklands Hospital. Around 85% of all orthopaedic patient contacts are outpatients and these have continued to be seen at Monklands Hospital.

NHS Lanarkshire’s interim model on trauma and orthopaedics, in place since last November, was about building necessary service resilience; not about removing services. It was put in place to ensure clinical safety and the quality of care, and the Board was supported in this position by the Academy of Royal Colleges and Faculties in Scotland. Since the interim model was introduced the length of time trauma patients spend in hospital has reduced.

NHS Lanarkshire’s longer term plan for orthopaedics, as informed by the views of the Academy, is to move to two local sites of clinical excellence, comprising a single trauma site and a single elective site. This is consistent with the national strategy of developing major trauma networks, and has been the subject of public consultation as part of NHS Lanarkshire’s approved health care strategy 'Achieving Excellence'.

Wishaw Hospital will be the trauma site in Lanarkshire and an options appraisal will be undertaken to identify whether Hairmyres or Monklands Hospital should be the elective orthopaedic centre of excellence. The Board are confident such plans will enable them to develop a complementary network of centres of excellence across the key three hospital sites, with core A&E Departments remaining on each.

Question reference: S5W-09584

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 14 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many responses to freedom of information requests it has made after the 20-working day deadline in each of the last five calendar years.

Question reference: S5W-09585

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 14 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many appeals to the Scottish Information Commissioner there has been in each of the last five calendar years regarding its treatment of freedom of information requests.

Question reference: S5O-01119

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 June 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with Police Scotland regarding its estates strategy.

Question reference: S5W-09381

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 7 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government who the members are of the Scottish Energy Advisory Board, broken down by length of service, and what its position is on the board's gender balance.

The current members of SEAB are listed on the Scottish Government website at the following link which is updated periodically:

Those members, and their respective length of service are as follows:

Co-Chairs

Rt Hon Nicola Sturgeon MSP, First Minister- Chair (February 2015 - Current)

Professor Sir Jim McDonald, Principal, University of Strathclyde - Co-chair (May 2009 - Current)

Board Members

Paul Wheelhouse, Scottish Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy (May 2016 - Current)

Alistair Phillips-Davies Chief Executive Officer, Scottish and Southern Energy (May 2014- Current)

Andrew Jamieson, Chairman, Scottish Renewables Forum, later Chairman RenewableUK, ORE Catapult (May 2009 - Current)

Charles Hammond, Group Chief Executive, Forth Ports Plc (May 2009 - Current)

Charlotte Wright, Chief Executive, HIE (New member)

Cordi O’Hara, National Grid (March 2016 - Current)

Damien Yeates, Chief Executive, Skills Development Scotland (October 2009 – Current)

David Sigsworth, Chairman SEPA (September 2011- Current)

Deirdre Michie, Chief Executive Oil and Gas UK (March 2016 - Current)

Dick Winchester, Managing Director, The Old Schoolhouse (January 2010 - Current)

Dr Graeme Sweeney, Managing Director – Generation, EDF Energy later Independent Energy Consultant with Ardnacraggan (Energy Services) Ltd (July 2014 - Current)

Frank Mitchell, Director Energy Networks, Scottish Power later Chair, ESAG (May 2010 - Current)

Graeme Smith, STUC (New Member)

Jim McColl OBE, Chairman & Chief Executive Clyde Blowers Ltd (May 2009 -current)

Keith Anderson, chief of Corporate Officer, Scottish Power Renewables (September 2011 - Current)

Les King, Doosan Power Systems (May 2014 - Current)

Margaret McGinlay, Director of Energy and Low Carbon, Scottish Enterprise (October 2012 - Current)

Melfort Campbell, Chair & Chief Executive, IMES Group. (February 2011 - Current)

Niall Stuart, Chief Executive of Scottish Renewables, (January 2010 - Current)

Professor Alex Kemp, Professor of Petroleum Economics, University of Aberdeen (September 2011 - Current)

Roy MacGregor, Chairman Global Energy (November 2012 - Current)

Sam Ghibaldan, Head of Consumer Futures Unit, Citizens Advice Scotland (March 2016 - Current)

Stuart Crooks, Managing Director, EDF Energy (July 2014 - Current)

The issue of gender balance on boards was discussed by SEAB in February 2015 in light of the Scottish Government’s voluntary 50:50 by 2020 challenge. Discussion highlighted that members recognised the benefits of such balance and the importance placed by all members on the need to increase gender balance in the energy sector more generally.

Question reference: S5W-09380

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 7 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government which of the recommendations that have been made by the Scottish Energy Advisory Board in each of the last five years have led to the commissioning of consultants or facilitators, broken down by the (a) the name of the project, (b) person or organisation commissioned and (c) cost of comissioning, and which recommendations have not been taken forward by ministers.

There have been a number of recommendations agreed by the Scottish Energy Advisory Board that have led to work being commissioned. These are set out in the following table:

Project Name	Recommendation	Organisation	Cost	Year of recommendations
Scottish Security of Supply Assessment	National Grid to respond to the Board’s call for an annual capacity assessment for Scotland, working with the ILG for Thermal Generation and CCS	National Grid	£0	2016
SEAB Supply Chain Report	Agreed that a short life subcommittee focusing on the supply chain in Scotland be established	SEAB appointed working group	£30,912	2016
Assessing Scotland’s security of supply in the GB Electricity market	Agreed commissioning of further analysis security of supply issues, impacts and potential solutions	KPMG	£103,240.80	2014
Green Growth Action Plan	Agreed that a structured short-life group be established to produce a detailed routemap to enable “green growth”.	SEAB appointed working group	£28,755	2015

There have been no recommendations agreed by the Board that have not been taken forward by Ministers.