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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-19773

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 15 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the target time is for disabled students to receive Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) support for the start of the academic year.

The Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) are committed to ensuring that all students will have their funding (tuition fee and living-cost support) in place by the start of their course. To make this possible, students need to apply by 30 June each year with a fully completed application, supported by all the necessary documentation.

Students applying for Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA) have to complete an additional application, supported by a needs assessment report, usually from the college or university’s Disability Adviser. SAAS aim to process a DSA application within 21 days of receipt.

Question reference: S5W-19477

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how may (a) collisions and (b) other accidents there have been on the (i) A1, (ii) A68 and (iii) A7 in each year since 2007, also broken down by how many led to (A) fatal and (B) serious injury and the number of people (1) killed and (2) seriously injured.

Police Scotland collect data on road traffic accidents that were a) reported to the police and b) involved someone being injured or killed.

The following tables show the number of injury road accidents and the number of casualties recorded by the police as occurring on the A1, A68 and A7.

Number of injury road accidents (in Scotland) on the A1, A68 and A7, classified by most severe injury sustained
		A1
	Fatal	Serious	Slight	Total
2007	5	15	83	103
2008	1	6	86	93
2009	0	12	64	76
2010	4	7	60	71
2011	0	12	46	58
2012	0	8	61	69
2013	0	5	40	45
2014	1	7	60	68
2015	1	6	60	67
2016	3	6	54	63
2017	3	8	52	63
		A68
	Fatal	Serious	Slight	Total
2007	2	7	36	45
2008	2	9	53	64
2009	1	12	29	42
2010	0	8	30	38
2011	1	6	20	27
2012	1	5	27	33
2013	1	10	22	33
2014	0	9	21	30
2015	1	10	10	21
2016	4	9	20	33
2017	0	3	19	22
		A7
	Fatal	Serious	Slight	Total
2007	2	28	88	118
2008	2	22	112	136
2009	3	11	96	110
2010	0	19	96	115
2011	2	18	74	94
2012	2	15	80	97
2013	1	18	74	93
2014	4	8	64	76
2015	3	18	72	93
2016	0	19	73	92
2017	3	9	53	65

Number of casualties from injury road accidents (in Scotland) on the A1, A68 and A7, by severity
		A1
	Fatal	Serious	Slight	Total
2007	5	16	104	125
2008	2	6	106	114
2009	0	17	84	101
2010	4	10	83	97
2011	0	12	64	76
2012	0	11	89	100
2013	0	6	52	58
2014	3	10	74	87
2015	1	6	80	87
2016	3	12	71	86
2017	3	10	80	93
		A68
	Fatal	Serious	Slight	Total
2007	2	9	52	63
2008	2	15	76	93
2009	2	17	42	61
2010	0	8	42	50
2011	1	9	31	41
2012	3	6	52	61
2013	1	16	36	53
2014	0	12	33	45
2015	1	11	15	27
2016	6	14	42	62
2017	0	4	34	38
		A7
	Fatal	Serious	Slight	Total
2007	2	35	120	157
2008	2	22	157	181
2009	3	16	133	152
2010	0	21	115	136
2011	2	19	103	124
2012	2	15	102	119
2013	1	19	90	110
2014	5	11	82	98
2015	4	19	95	118
2016	0	22	91	113
2017	3	10	71	84

Note: These figures have been derived from the dataset used to produce Transport Scotland’s Reported Road Casualties National Statistics publication.

These figures may differ from other sources, such as those produced from Transport Scotland’s Trunk Road Accident Manager Database or those provided by Local Authorities.

Whilst these sources are all based on the same data returns from Police Scotland, there may be differences in how databases interrogate and present the information and in the recording of updates and corrections.

Question reference: S5W-19478

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 9 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many farm businesses are awaiting outstanding CAP payments for (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.

As at 5 November 98.9% of all Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments for 2017 had been completed, with only 37 BPS payments still to make.

We have also completed 99.57% of all 2017 payments under the Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme and Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme with only 34 payments still to make.

We have also completed 89.7% of Pillar Two CAP payments for 2017 and we are aiming to complete the vast majority of the remaining 2017 Pillar Two payments by the end of the year.

Under European Commission regulations the window for making 2018 BPS and other Pillar One CAP payments doesn’t open until 1 December 2018, but as at 2 November 13,056 farm businesses had received payments worth £303.9 million under our 2018 national BPS loan scheme.

Question reference: S5W-19720

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 9 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what additional funding it will be providing to local authorities as a consequence of the Vibrant Libraries, Thriving Schools strategy.

Decisions on the level of local authority funding settlement for 2019-20 are subject to negotiation with COSLA and the results will be confirmed as part of the Budget next month.

The Scottish Government is already providing £1 million over three years through the School Library Improvement Fund. The fund supports implementation of the national strategy for school libraries and opened again for applications on 5 November. More information can be found on the Scottish Library and Information Council's website at https://scottishlibraries.org/funding/school-library-improvement-fund/ .

The Scottish Government will be considering any further funding requirements for implementation of the strategy in the coming months, informed by the work of the School Library Strategy Implementation Group.

Question reference: S5W-19480

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 6 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) community mental health nurses, (b) mental health nurses, (c) consultant psychiatrists, (d) psychologists NHS Borders has employed in each year since 2007.

The number of mental health nurses employed by NHS Borders from 2007 to the most recent published data as at 30 June 2018 is available on the ISD website: https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2018-09-04/Non-Medical_Trend_J2018.xls

(Nursing and Midwifery tab).

The link above shows the number of mental health nurses who have a location of service delivery recorded as (i) community, (ii) hospital, (iii) combined hospital / community or (iv) other.

The number of consultant psychiatrists employed by NHS Borders from 2007 to the most recent published data as at 30 June 2018 is available on the ISD website: https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2018-09-04/Medical_Trend_J2018.xls

(Consultant SIP tab).

The number of psychologists employed by NHS Borders from September 2010 to the most recent published data at 30 June 2018 is available on the ISD website: https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2018-09-04/2018-09-04-Psychology-Workforce-Tables.xls .

Question reference: S5W-19476

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 2 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the maintenance budget for the (a) A1, (b) A68 and (c) A7 for 2018 has been in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S5F-02737

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 29 October 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 November 2018

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to ensure that there is mental health support for college and university students.

Question reference: S5O-02489

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 October 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce levels of social isolation among older people.

Question reference: S5W-18868

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 25 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government when the Scottish Health Technology Committee last discussed the Freestyle Libre glucose monitoring system.

Question reference: S5W-18479

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 20 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of research by the James Hutton Institute, which suggests that they are at risk of losing more than 25% of their population by 2046, what action it is taking to reduce population decline in rural areas.

The Scottish Government recognises that people are key to driving forward our rural communities and economies.

In order to retain and attract people, action is needed to grow the rural economy and to invest in the infrastructure that supports communities like broadband and housing. The Scottish Government has stepped in to provide 97% of the £600 million investment in the initial phase of the Reaching 100% programme to deliver superfast broadband for rural and island communities across Scotland. We are purposely prioritising this substantial public funding where it is needed most – in rural Scotland. This initial phase will extend a future-proofed, accessible fibre network into remote rural areas, providing the essential platform for delivering superfast broadband for all and for a variety of technologies.

On top of work to increase community ownership of land, the Scottish Government also announced the Rural Housing Fund in 2016, providing £25m over five years with the aim of increasing supply of long term affordable housing in rural Scotland with a complementary £5m Islands Housing Fund to focus on the housing needs of our island communities.

However the research by the James Hutton Institute illustrates the critical importance of a migration policy that increases Scotland’s population and grows the economy.

The dual threat of leaving the Single Market and Customs Union and the UK Government’s approach to immigration is risking Scotland’s future.

We need a tailored migration system which meets the needs of Scotland and the evidence is clear that the current system is not fit for purpose.

The case is overwhelming for the Scottish Government, accountable to the Scottish Parliament, to be able to set the rules for migration in a way that will attract and retain people with the skills we need to ensure the future sustainability and vitality of our rural communities.