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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-21064

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 29 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the specifications in the contract that it has put out to tender for Northern Isles Ferry Services from October 2019, and what the final deadline is for the submission of bids.

Question reference: S5W-21066

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 29 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to facilitate discussions between trade unions and bidders for the Northern Isles Ferry Services contract.

Question reference: S5W-21071

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 28 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to the fourth supplementary to question S5O-02769 by Mairi Gougeon on 16 January 2019 (Official Report, c. 29), regarding its plans for legislation, whether this is a new consultation, and, if so, when it will be launched, and what its scope will be.

During a Food and Drink parliamentary debate in September 2018, we undertook to introduce legislation to underpin the excellent work already being done to deliver the Good Food Nation ambition. The Good Food Nation Proposals for Legislation consultation launched on 21 December 2018. The focus is on a straightforward framework placing responsibilities on Scottish Ministers and selected public bodies with regard to food.

The Good Food Nation framework will include regard for food insecurity and relevant international human rights instruments. The option of exploring a right to food which is directly enforceable as a matter of Scots law is being considered by the First Minister’s Advisory Group on Human Rights Leadership. The Group reported in December 2018 and full account will be taken of its recommendations.

We have confirmed our intention to introduce an agriculture bill, primarily to provide the framework for the continuance of rural payments. The bill will provide the powers necessary to implement “Stability and Simplicity: Proposals for a rural funding transition period”, on which we have already consulted.

Question reference: S5W-20826

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 24 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much Serco NorthLink will raise from passenger fares from the extension of the Northern Isles Ferry Services contract from April 2018 to October 2019, and how much would have been raised without the introduction of road equivalent tariff on most routes from 29 June 2018.

Serco NorthLink Ferries is a commercial operator. As such, any financial information in relation to the amount of revenue raised from passenger fares during the extension of the Northern Isles Ferry Services contract and how much would have been raised without the introduction of road equivalent tariff is commercially sensitive.

The cost effectiveness of the policy to introduce Road Equivalent Tariff will be evaluated, in due course, as part of the planned evaluation of what has been a significant policy change.

Question reference: S5W-20822

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 24 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5T-01427 by Michael Matheson on 8 January 2019 (Official Report, c.4), whether it has identified a body to act as an operator of last resort if the ScotRail franchise is terminated early and, if so, whether it will confirm which organisation this will be.

Question reference: S5O-02830

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 January 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to maximise the benefits of Robert Burns' legacy in the South Scotland region.

Question reference: S5W-20839

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 23 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in Scotland are diagnosed with interstitial lung disease.

The information requested is not held centrally. However, the number of hospital discharges per year for the last 5 years in Scotland for interstitial lung disease is available. Note that the same person may be counted more than once in these figures and that they do not include patients with interstitial lung disease who were not admitted to hospital during this period.

Number of patients discharged from an acute hospital with a diagnosis of interstitial lung disease, by year and ICD-10 code, Scotland, 2014-18*.

Year of Discharge	J80	J81	J82	J84
2014	186	2622	44	2555
2015	202	2755	40	2750
2016	226	2961	51	2863
2017	182	2875	58	2889
2018*	115	2023	46	2298
* Please note that the data for 2018 includes patients discharged from hospital between January 1st, 2018 and September 30th, 2018.

The International Classification of Diseases codes (ICD-10) used in this analysis are as follows:

Other respiratory diseases principally affecting the interstitium

ICD-10 code

ICD-10 description

J80

J81

J82

J84

Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome

Pulmonary Oedema

Pulmonary Eosinophilia, not elsewhere classified

Other Interstitial Pulmonary Diseases

Source: ISD Scotland, SMR01

Question reference: S5W-20636

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government who carries out the maintenance of the ScotRail fleet, broken down by location.

The fleets which are currently leased by Abellio ScotRail from rolling stock owning companies (ROSCOs) are all maintained in Scotland at four main depots (Inverness, Haymarket, Corkerhill & Shields) with the split as follows:

	staff	apprentices
Corkerhill	82	4
Haymarket	142	5
Inverness	85	4
Shields Road	146	8
In Service Fleet Engineering	89	/

More staff have been recently recruited to maintain the HST fleet at Inverness and Haymarket. Other staff are also involved in train presentation and general fleet servicing within Scotland giving a total of 892 currently employed by Abellio ScotRail.

In addition, the new Class 385 electric trains will be maintained by Hitachi staff at Craigentinny depot plus Millerhill yard in Edinburgh. There are around 300 staff based there to maintain a range of fleets for Abellio ScotRail and other cross border operators.

Question reference: S5W-20820

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5T-01427 by Michael Matheson on 8 January 2019 (Official Report, c.4), whether the remedial action plan will allow ScotRail to reduce the number of (a) carriages available compared with the current franchise agreement and (b) timetabled services available compared with the current timetable.

Question reference: S5W-20818

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5T-01427 by Michael Matheson on 8 January 2019 (Official Report, c.4), whether it will publish the remedial action plan that it has agreed with ScotRail; how it will monitor the implementation of the plan, and by what date it will publish its assessment of its effectiveness.