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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-21589

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Liam McArthur on 6 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how much it has spent on organising the Festival of Politics in each of the last three years, also broken down by what financial assistance it has received from the Scottish Government.

The Festival of Politics is in its 15th year and continues to be one of the Scottish Parliament’s major public engagement events with over 5,000 people attending last year’s Festival.

The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body allocates an annual budget to support the development and delivery of the Festival of Politics. This covers Festival development; advertising; promotion; programme design and production; panellist travel, accommodation and expenses; audio-visual costs; Festival Assistants; and the free Festival Café Bar programme of music, exhibitions, dance and comedy. The overall costs are offset by ticket sales, sponsorship and gifts in-kind.

The costs vary slightly year-to-year depending on the numbers of days the Festival runs; the number of events staged; the number of participating panellists; and the number of tickets sold. The direct costs to the SPCB after ticket sales and other revenue have been taken into account for the last three years were as follows: 2016 (£54k); 2017 (£49k); and 2018 (£60k).

The Festival receives no financial assistance from the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S5F-03140

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 04 March 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 March 2019

To ask the First Minister whether the merger of Police Scotland and the British Transport Police has been permanently abandoned.

Question reference: S5T-01518

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 February 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on providing legal aid to victims' families for fatal accident inquiries.

Question reference: S5O-02909

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 February 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with local authorities regarding any expected increase in demand for social work services over the next 12 months.

Question reference: S5W-21348

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the importance of the National Counter Terrorism Police Network to Scotland's counter terrorism capabilities.

Question reference: S5W-21347

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Police Scotland regarding its continued participation with the UK Counter Terrorism Police Network, and what consideration Police Scotland has given to withdrawing from this structure.

Question reference: S5W-21341

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether (a) it and (b) Police Scotland has applied for or enquired about contingency funding for the police to deal with the possible consequences of Brexit.

Any costs related to EU exit should not have a detrimental impact on Scotland’s public finances and should be met in full by the UK Government. The Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work and the Cabinet Secretary for Justice wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 8 February 2019 outlining that any additional costs for policing in Scotland associated with Brexit – in relation to additional police officers and any further resources that may be required - should fall to the UK Government.

Question reference: S5W-21269

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 7 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on Police Scotland’s Staff Pay and Reward Modernisation Project, and how many staff have been (a) affected by the introduction of the new pay grading structure and (b) transferred to a lower pay grade since the new grading structure was introduced.

No new pay grading structure has been introduced. The pay and conditions of police staff are a matter for the Scottish Police Authority who, with Police Scotland, are taking forward the Staff Pay and Reward Modernisation Project working closely with trade unions. The SPRM project is addressing inequalities that arose from arrangements inherited from legacy forces. I understand that the proposed package would benefit the majority of police staff and that the pay and allowances of others would be protected for a two year period.

Question reference: S5W-21271

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 4 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the cost is of completing the new Edinburgh children’s hospital, broken down by building costs and other set-up costs, and how this compares to the costs that were originally announced.

The Scottish Government’s Infrastructure Investment Plan, along with updates on major capital projects, is publically available on the Scottish Government’s website at the following location: https://www.gov.scot/policies/government-finance/infrastructure-investment/#plan.

The Plan and the latest capital projects progress update (September 2018) set out total capital investment in the Royal Hospital for Children in Edinburgh of £230 million, made up of £150 million Non-Profit Distributing (NPD) financing and £80 million capital investment from the Scottish Government; this remains consistent with the costs contained in the Full Business Case.

While additional costs are likely at this point, they have not been finalised. NHS Lothian is working closely with the Project Company to confirm a revised handover date for the hospital and discussion continues to agree what further works needs to be undertaken along with the level and apportioning of any additional costs.

There remains a clinical imperative to ensure that any issues are fully resolved before NHS Lothian take ownership of the new Hospital and, until that time, high quality clinical services continue to be delivered at the existing Royal Hospital for Sick Children.

Question reference: S5O-02846

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 31 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what contact it has had with the Home Office regarding the recently reported case of Mozaffar Saberi and Rezvan Habibimarand.

I have written to the UK Immigration Minister in support of Mr Saberi and Ms Habibimarand and asked her to urgently review the case and properly consider all factors that clearly indicate this couple should be allowed to stay.

My officials have also been engaging with the Home Office regarding this difficult situation which once again highlights the failure of the UK Government’s one-size-fits-all immigration policy.

We have consistently called for a more compassionate system that takes into account individual circumstances particularly around family migration. This is why we will shortly be setting out detailed proposals on family migration that will consider its complexity and seek to reintroduce more compassion into the system.