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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-22799

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 14 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with the National Screening Committee ahead of the publication of the full findings of the recent international study (the NELSON trial) into the impact of the use of CT screening to assist with the early identification of lung cancer.

The Scottish Government, along with the rest of the UK, is advised on all aspects of screening by the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) an independent expert advisory group. The Scottish Government is represented on the UK NSC and is fully engaged in discussions around the results of the NELSON randomised lung cancer screening trial.

UK NSC recommendations are based on robust, peer-reviewed, published evidence, and while the preliminary results from the NELSON study are promising and encouraging, the UK NSC await the full published report from the NELSON study before making any recommendations regarding screening for lung cancer.

Question reference: S5O-03210

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that environmental safety standards are met in landfill sites.

Question reference: S5O-03170

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 April 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the impact on local authorities' autonomy of increases in ring-fenced funding.

Question reference: S5W-21784

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 8 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-21273 by Michael Matheson on 19 February 2019, on what date the mandatory standstill commenced; how long it proceeded before a bidder raised queries; what its intended duration was, and for what reason the successful bidder was not named publicly at the commencement of the standstill period, in light of it naming successful bidders in other similar contracts.

As confirmed in my answer to question S5W-21273 on 19 February 2019, on conclusion of the procurement competition for the contract to construct the A77 Maybole Bypass, bidders were informed of our intention to award the contract. This marked the commencement of the mandatory minimum 10 day standstill period.

During this period queries were raised by one of the bidders and we are currently progressing to resolve these queries before the contract is awarded and the successful bidder announced.

In line with the legislation governing procurement of public contracts, it would not be appropriate for me to comment further at this time on any matters relating to the queries raised to avoid prejudicing the outcome of their resolution.

Question reference: S5O-02962

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 7 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to ensure that Scottish suppliers have access to public procurement contracts for food.

We remain committed to getting more local produce served in our schools, hospitals and prisons and facilitate this through a range of measures such as the Supplier Accreditation Programme, Regional Showcasing, and the expansion of the Food For Life programme. Through this work we have seen most recently Downies of Whitehill securing the contract for fish across schools in Scotland, McWilliams butchers in Aberdeen supplying the NHS Contract for meat in Grampian and Stoats introducing a healthy bar for use within the NHS.

Question reference: S5O-02981

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to prevent knife crime.

Question reference: S5W-21273

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 19 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government on what date the mandatory standstill period commenced in the award of the contract for construction of the Maybole bypass; what its duration was, and for what reason the successful bidder was not named publicly at the commencement of the standstill period, in light of it naming successful bidders for other similar contracts.

On conclusion of the procurement competition for the contract to construct the A77 Maybole Bypass, bidders were informed of our intention to award the contract. This marked the commencement of the mandatory standstill period.

During this period all bidders have an opportunity to review the intention to award the contract prior to formal award taking place. In this case, queries were raised by one of the bidders and we are currently seeking to resolve these queries before the contract is awarded and the successful bidder announced.

In the meantime, I am pleased to report that the advance works are progressing well. These works will prepare the site for the main construction work.

Question reference: S5F-03017

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 January 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 January 2019

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to address the risk of young people being exposed to harmful content on social media.

Question reference: S5F-03006

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 January 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 January 2019

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government is doing to ensure that partner providers are part of a sustainable solution for the roll-out of 1,140 hours of funded childcare.

Question reference: S5W-20690

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 15 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government which NHS boards are meeting its commitment for all neo-natal multi-disciplinary teams to take part in mandatory cardiotocography (CTG) scanning training twice a year.

CTG is used to monitor fetal heart rate prior to birth and during labour. CTG training is not undertaken by neonatal staff as they do not deal with pregnant women or babies in utero. CTG training is undertaken by midwives and obstetricians however it is not mandatory to undertake this twice a year. There are two packages of training and NHS Boards mandate that staff undertake one of these, both take around 8 hours to complete. The Chief Medical Officer and Chief Nursing Officer wrote to all NHS Boards on 21st December stating that:

"On an annual basis, all midwives and obstetricians will undertake clinical training in fetal heart monitoring in a multidisciplinary setting, such as regular CTG review meetings or local face-to-face bespoke unit training, in line with the Maternity and Children Quality Improvement Collaborative CTG package. This should be a minimum of two hours per year. It is important that aspects of intermittent and continuous monitoring are included in the clinical training where appropriate. Additional to this, all midwives and obstetricians will complete either the K2 or the Royal College of Midwives (RCM)/RCOG eLearning package at least every two years."

NHS Boards have been asked to report on this in December 2019 and again in 2020.