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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: S5W-09162

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 31 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given in the last five years to taking the operations of the Grangemouth refinery into public ownership.

Scotland’s oil and gas sector continues to offer major economic opportunities. It is estimated that, with the right fiscal, regulatory and market environment, as many as 20 billion barrels of recoverable oil remain under the North Sea and wider UKCS basin and the industry supports almost 125,000 Scottish jobs.

The Scottish Government is supportive of investment which is consistent with our economic strategy, is beneficial for the Scottish oil and gas sector, and good for the Grangemouth petrochemical plant and refinery and its workforce.

Question reference: S5O-01064

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the retirement age for prison officers, and what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding this.

Question reference: S5W-09163

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 23 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take if Ineos continues to be categorised as "poor" in its compliance by SEPA.

Question reference: S5W-09161

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 23 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that Ineos improves its operation regarding environmental performance.

Delivery and enforcement of environmental regulations is the responsibility of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). SEPA engages with regulated bodies through inspections, monitoring and wider engagement to ensure that environmental requirements are complied with; and where not, that appropriate remedial and enforcement action is undertaken in-line with the SEPA enforcement policy.

Question reference: S5W-09158

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 08 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 22 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the number of staff projected to be employed in the social security agency announced in the ministerial statement is lower than the 3,000 estimated for option 1 in the outline business case published on the same date.

The outline business case for the social security agency estimated that option one would employ around 2,500 staff, including around 500 staff administering assessments.

The initial estimate of at least 1,500 jobs associated with the chosen model, as referred to in my statement to Parliament on 27 April 2017, does not include staff administering assessments nor does it include additional staff who will provide pre-claims support locally. Estimated staff numbers will be refined as we move into detailed service design.

Question reference: S5W-09157

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 08 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 17 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether social security agency staff will be employed under Scottish Government Main bargaining unit terms and conditions.

Question reference: S5W-09155

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 08 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 17 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many staff the preferred delivery model for the social security agency will directly employ (a) centrally and (b) locally in each year to 2020.

Question reference: S5W-09156

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 08 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 17 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether the social security agency will be directly responsible for locally employed staff under the preferred delivery model.

Question reference: S5W-09154

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 08 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 16 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether the (a) transfer of UK Government staff to the social security agency and (b) Cabinet Office statement of practice is on the agenda for the next meeting of the Ministerial Working Group on Welfare.

Question reference: S5W-08794

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how it will support NHS Lanarkshire in meeting the primary care sector workforce capacity requirements identified by the consultation, Achieving Excellence.

On Friday 10 March 2017, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport announced an additional £71.6 million will be invested in direct support of general practice, helping transform the way services are delivered in the community. The funds will directly support general practice in 2017-18, by improving recruitment and retention, reducing workload, developing new ways of delivering services and covering pay and expenses.

This new funding forms the first stage of the Scottish Government’s commitment to invest an extra £250 million in direct support of general practice per year by 2021 – as part of a pledge to increase overall annual funding for primary care by £500 million by 2021.