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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-15507

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 17 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to support the cruise ship industry in the West Scotland region.

The Scottish Government is highly supportive of the cruise industry and its continued growth. Cruise Scotland figures for the 2018 season show an estimated 815 vessel calls at member ports delivering an expected 821,000 passengers right across Scotland. Our public bodies, including VisitScotland and Scottish Enterprise, are working with the industry to help sustainable growth in the industry. This includes increased support for cruise tourism in consumer facing communications from VisitScotland plus closer working with Cruise Scotland at a corporate level.

The Scottish Government has also been working with the cruise industry at the strategic, global level. This is in order to highlight the industry success to date and continued potential sustainable growth in order to encourage further private investment, matching the continued Scottish Government spending on marine infrastructure.

In addition the Scottish Government has run three highly successful Cruise seminars bringing Scottish cruise industry representatives, global operators and relevant Scottish policy makers together.

As part of the Glasgow City Region City Deal, Inverclyde Council and Peel Ports are building an expansion of the quayside and delivering a new visitor centre to further expand cruise ship capacity and facilities at Greenock .

Question reference: S5W-15676

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has undertaken regarding the feasibility of expanding the Glasgow underground and the (a) costs and (b) benefits of doing so.

The responsibility for the operation management and investment in the Glasgow Subway rests with Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT). The Scottish Government has not undertaken any analysis of the feasibility of expanding the Subway. (The Scottish Government is currently providing SPT with up to £246 million towards its Subway Modernisation programme but this does not involve expanding the Subway system.)

Question reference: S5W-15675

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have used the Glasgow underground in each year since 2012.

The Glasgow Subway is the responsibility of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT). Subway patronage figures are reported to SPT's Operations Committee and are available at: http://www.spt.co.uk/corporate/about/minutes-agendas/operations-committee/ .

SPT have provided the following patronage figures for years since 2011-12 (rounded to one decimal place):

Year	Patronage
2011-12	12.9 million
2012-13	12.6 million
2013-14	12.8 million
2014-15	13.0 million
2015-16	12.7 million
2016-17	10.6 million

The lower figure for 2016-17 was affected by the temporary closure of the Subway for approximately eight weeks in summer 2016 for modernisation works.

Question reference: S5W-15673

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 17 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on the number of mobile phones that have been in use in Scotland in each year since 2012.

Question reference: S5W-15490

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many Smartcards are used each day on trains, and how much passengers spend using these.

Question reference: S5W-15503

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 17 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to prevent Citizens Advice centres from closing.

The Scottish Government recognises the excellent work that Citizens Advice Bureaux do in helping some of the most vulnerable people in our communities. The Scottish Government includes funding to support the most vulnerable people as part of the block grant which we provide to all local authorities as part of the annual local government finance settlement. This provides flexibility to local authorities and it is for each of them to allocate their resources in the way that best meets local needs. Each Bureau is responsible for putting together its own package of funding, including any core funding from the local authority and project funding from other sources. I commend Bureaux for their use of a variety of approaches to identify funding streams, and I encourage Bureaux to continue to work closely with potential funders and Citizens Advice Scotland to develop sustainable plans for the future.

Question reference: S5W-15505

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 12 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the number of special constables has reportedly decreased over the last five years.

Question reference: S5W-15445

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has conducted a cost-benefit analysis of any expenditure on providing non-emergency medical transportation and, if so, what the results were.

Question reference: S5W-15439

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it provides for non-emergency medical transportation for people who require it.

Individual NHS Boards are responsible for paying for or reimbursing the cost of patient travel, in accordance with their own patients’ travelling expenses scheme policies and within their overall baseline budgets which are increasing by 3.7% in 2018-19 for frontline Boards. In addition, in 2018-19, a new Neonatal Expenses Fund of £1.5 million will include support for travel and subsistence costs for families whose babies are born prematurely and require long term admission to a neonatal unit.

Question reference: S5W-15436

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to facilitate non-medical emergency transportation for people who require it.

As part of its core funding from the Scottish Government, the Scottish Ambulance Service delivers the Patient Transport Service for patients who have a need for assistance from skilled clinical staff during transport to healthcare appointments.

If the Scottish Ambulance Service feel that a patient does not have a clinical need for patient transport, they will be signposted to information regarding alternative transport providers, where applicable.

There are a number of community based initiatives to provide transport to patients and some Health and Social Care Partnerships will link with voluntary organisations or community groups who provide transport via volunteer drivers. Information on accessing these Services is often available to patients at their local GP practice.

Also, under the National Health Service (Travel Expenses and Remission of Charges) Regulations 2003, travel expenses incurred by patients to attend hospital appointments can be reimbursed for individuals who are on certain types of benefits or a low income. This is based on an assessment of each claimant's ability to pay in light of their financial circumstances at the time a claim is made or a charge was paid.

All of these services and systems are in place to support patients throughout Scotland in travelling to and from healthcare appointments.