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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-05242

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 16 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on establishing an independent investigations body, similar to the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch in NHS England and Wales, to examine incidents in the NHS.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland is responsible for scrutinising healthcare providers in Scotland to provide public assurance about the quality and safety of the care being delivered and for supporting those organisations to deliver high quality, evidence based, safe, effective and person-centred care. The Scottish Government does not consider there is a need to change these arrangements at this time.

In collaboration with NHS boards, HIS has led on the development of the national approach to learning from adverse events and is driving implementation through an improvement support programme. However, individual care providers are responsible and accountable for effectively managing adverse events. All organisations should have a management system for reporting, reviewing and learning from all types of adverse events. This includes clinical events involving patients, families, staff and carers (including health and safety, accidents or incidents) and non-clinical events (including information governance, health and safety at work and finance). This is a developing process and is under constant review.

The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) was established by the UK Government to investigate the most serious risks to patient safety across the NHS in England. HSIB is part of NHS Improvement and has a similar status and, when fully operational, will carry out a similar role to the investigations and inspections undertaken by Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS).

Question reference: S5W-05245

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 16 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5T-00215 by Shona Robison on 22 November 2016 (Official Report, c. 6), what the timescale of the inquiry is; what its (a) parameters, (b) objectives and (c) scope will be, and whether the families affected by the issue will be consulted from the outset.

The terms of reference for the review are now published on the Healthcare Improvement Scotland website: http://www.healthcareimprovementscotland.org/our_work/governance_and_assurance/programme_resources/ayrshire_maternity_unit_review.aspx and it is expected that it will be completed within 3-6 months.

Any family affected will have the opportunity to speak with the HIS review team and some have already made contact.

Question reference: S5O-00476

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 14 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the Ayrshire regional growth deal bid.

The Scottish Government is fully committed to finding ways to support regional economies to thrive in Scotland. I met the three Ayrshire Council Leaders on 30 November 2016 to hear an update on their proposals and I am fully supportive of their ambitions to secure a deal that will improve the Ayrshire economy. They are working closely with Scottish Enterprise, Skills Development Scotland and Scottish Futures Trust and we will continue to support development of their proposals in the coming weeks and months.

Question reference: S5O-00455

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 November 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce personal physical literacy programmes, such as the STEP programme, in schools as part of its obesity strategy.

Question reference: S5W-04588

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many street lights on the A77 between the Bankfield Roundabout and Fenwick are out of order, and when the repairs will be carried out.

There are currently 16 dark lamp repairs identified on the A77 trunk road between Bankfield Roundabout and Fenwick. All outstanding repairs are programmed to be carried out during week commencing 21 November 2016 with the exception of the six dark lamps between Bogend and Symington. These six outstanding repairs are currently being investigated by the Contractor responsible for the A77 Bogend to Symington Project, due to the identification of underlying electrical issues.

Question reference: S5O-00371

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 November 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many specialist primary school PE teachers there are.

Question reference: S5W-04141

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on Gaelic road signage in (a) Ayrshire and Arran, (b) the Scottish Borders, (c) Dumfries and Galloway and (d) the rest of Scotland in each of the last five years.

No money has been spent on Gaelic road signage on trunk roads in (a) Ayrshire and Arran, (b) the Scottish Borders, (c) Dumfries and Galloway in the last five years.

For the rest of scotland, the £5m A82 Crianlarich Bypass, opened in December 2014 included an approximate spend of £115k on signage, 44% included Gaelic text alongside the English text. bilingual direction signing has been provided on the A82 from Tarbet to Inverness and those trunk roads leading to the ports at Kennacraig, Oban, Mallaig, Uig and Ullapool. This programme, which also included the replacement of signs for maintenance reasons, was completed by Transport Scotland in 2010 at a cost of £2 million.

Question reference: S5W-04144

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 14 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what research it has carried out to ascertain whether Gaelic road signage could be a potential hazard as drivers might take more time to read larger volumes of writing.

In 2012, Transport Scotland commissioned a study which looked at whether bilingual signs have had any effect on road safety. The study report is available via the following link: https://trl.co.uk/reports/PPR589

The study concluded that bilingual signs do not result in a significant increase in crash risk and accident involvement. An analysis of accident data in Scotland, carried out as part of the study also supported the conclusions.

Question reference: S5W-04305

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 10 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to ensure that access to physical activity is available to all, irrespective of background or personal circumstance.

Our vision is of a Scotland where more people are more active, more often. The Active Scotland Outcomes Framework sets out our ambitions for a more active Scotland, and is underpinned by our commitment to equality in everything we do.

A range of actions are in place to support participation in physical activity by all of the people of Scotland. These include:

The National Walking Strategy Action Plan which was launched by our partner, Paths for All, on 3 March 2016. Walking is particularly important in our approach to getting more people more active, more often, as it can be done by anyone, anywhere. The 2015 Scottish Household Survey showed an increase of 5 percentage points from the previous year (64% to 69%) in the number of people walking recreationally;
a commitment of over £137 million in active travel since 2011, with a further commitment of £38.3 million in 2016-17;
a massive investment in school sport which has seen an increase in children doing two hours or periods of P.E. a week from less than 10% in 2004/5 to 98% in 2016. This is backed up by £50 million invested in Active Schools between 2015-19 to increase the number of opportunities available to children to participate in sport and physical activity, before school, during lunch, and after school;
supporting Scotland to become the first ‘Daily Mile Nation’, building on the success seen in primary schools to encourage physical activity in other educational institutions and workplaces;
providing more and better places to be active, including investing in Community Sport Hubs. To date, a total of 155 Community Sport Hubs are in place, with 45 more to come by 2020.

Question reference: S5W-03761

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the outcome was of the Transport Scotland consultation on the potential raising of the speed limit on the A77 between the Symington turn-off and the Monkton roundabout.

A draft order revoking the 50mph speed limit between Bogend Toll and Dutch House Roundabout was published on 16th December 2015, eighteen objections were received. Following engagement with objectors and further investigations sixteen objections have been maintained. In accordance with the Secretary of State’s Traffic Orders (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 1987 it is now for Ministers to undertake a review of these objections in advance of making their recommendation.