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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: S4T-00093

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 29 October 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government when the Borders Railway will be operational.

Question reference: S4O-01406

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 October 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it provides for research and development.

Question reference: S4W-08935

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 20 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many Young Scot National Entitlement Cards have been issued in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority area.

The following five year breakdown includes the total number of active cards at each report date. It does not include cards that have expired or are pending approval.

Local Authority	5 June 2007	7 January 2008	1 April 2009	1 April 2010	28 January 2011	28 July 2012
Aberdeen City	134	301	4,842	8,316	10,860	15,710
Aberdeenshire	1,585	4,263	17,741	19,910	22,586	29,469
Angus	1,319	1,427	7,153	7,855	9,013	11,244
Argyll and Bute	846	968	1,128	1,158	1,222	1,359
City of Edinburgh	1,359	4,987	17,574	20,677	24,336	31,369
Clackmannanshire	648	947	2,481	3,435	3,846	4,309
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	618	688	1,273	1,545	1,915	2,540
Dumfries and Galloway	3,635	5,367	7,921	9,880	12,487	16,300
Dundee City	1,261	2,961	5,052	6,520	8,255	11,314
East Ayrshire	827	1,366	6,707	7,681	7,886	9,496
East Dunbartonshire	158	2,571	6,840	7,984	9,165	11,066
East Lothian	407	693	6,062	6,992	8,164	10,490
East Renfrewshire	1,942	3,369	9,155	10,284	11,643	13,969
Falkirk	1,115	1,691	2,402	4,686	5,574	7,950
Fife	11,987	18,137	31,153	33,807	38,238	45,939
Glasgow City	4,577	9,828	22,512	26,242	30,479	37,551
Highland	365	547	17,825	17,862	19,586	22,540
Inverclyde	4,811	5,129	5,488	5,289	6,211	6,364
Midlothian	161	251	2,311	4,408	5,713	6,870
Moray	2,445	6,062	7,734	8,994	9,764	11,739
North Ayrshire	2,270	6,140	11,128	12,520	14,072	16,875
North Lanarkshire	426	13,952	26,723	30,337	31,723	39,793
Orkney Islands	339	402	803	1,037	1,399	2,079
Perth and Kinross	1,963	4,125	5,979	8,366	10,263	13,375
Renfrewshire	254	477	700	865	1,162	1,890
Scottish Borders	3,293	6,482	8,582	9,622	10,769	13,284
Shetland Islands	410	542	1,882	2,143	2,456	2,946
South Ayrshire	52	127	324	6,753	8,373	10,740
South Lanarkshire	278	439	7,565	12,301	22,577	28,924
Stirling	2,083	2,638	4,971	5,012	6,581	7,746
West Dunbartonshire	26	49	7,023	7,797	8,644	10,368
West Lothian	435	620	977	1,127	2,587	5,897
Totals	52,029	107,546	260,011	311,405	367,549	461,505

Question reference: S4W-08936

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 20 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what the percentage uptake was of the Young Scot National Entitlement Card in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority area.

The following table includes the percentage of card holders, of those who are eligible, in each local authority area. It does not include cards that have expired or are pending approval.

Local Authority	5 June 2007	7 January 2008	1 April 2009	1 April 2010	28 January 2011	28 July 2012
Aberdeen	0.32%	0.72%	11.20%	20.13%	24.88%	34.54%
Aberdeenshire	3.79%	10.18%	42.63%	45.78%	53.14%	68.95%
Angus	7.13%	7.71%	38.94%	41.62%	48.47%	60.47%
Argyll and Bute	5.47%	6.25%	7.27%	7.34%	7.85%	8.85%
City of Edinburgh	1.34%	4.90%	17.31%	21.61%	24.63%	31.30%
Clackmannanshire	7.08%	10.35%	26.59%	36.14%	40.57%	46.03%
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	14.99%	16.69%	30.73%	38.12%	46.95%	63.45%
Dumfries and Galloway	15.15%	22.37%	32.76%	39.98%	50.95%	67.37%
Dundee City	3.94%	9.26%	16.24%	21.44%	26.05%	35.11%
East Ayrshire	3.71%	6.13%	29.98%	34.34%	35.11%	42.97%
East Dunbartonshire	0.78%	12.72%	34.00%	39.86%	45.92%	56.70%
East Lothian	2.59%	4.41%	37.15%	37.22%	46.23%	58.47%
East Renfrewshire	11.39%	19.76%	53.55%	58.85%	67.02%	80.59%
Falkirk	4.14%	6.28%	8.90%	17.01%	20.25%	28.63%
Fife	17.20%	26.03%	44.75%	48.36%	54.42%	65.02%
Glasgow City	3.56%	7.65%	17.74%	21.76%	24.50%	30.54%
Highland	1.02%	1.53%	49.62%	47.94%	53.43%	62.07%
Inverclyde	30.77%	32.81%	35.45%	35.06%	40.89%	43.68%
Midlothian	1.10%	1.71%	15.63%	28.34%	37.69%	44.16%
Moray	15.35%	38.05%	49.74%	55.36%	60.73%	74.78%
North Ayrshire	8.96%	24.23%	43.90%	49.73%	55.98%	68.53%
North Lanarkshire	0.68%	22.14%	42.51%	48.44%	50.69%	64.91%
Orkney Islands	10.06%	11.93%	23.83%	31.00%	41.70%	62.34%
Perth and Kinross	8.30%	17.44%	23.61%	31.07%	38.10%	49.10%
Renfrewshire	0.79%	1.49%	2.21%	2.75%	3.68%	6.05%
Scottish Borders	18.79%	36.98%	48.00%	51.03%	58.24%	72.11%
Shetland Islands	10.56%	13.97%	49.18%	55.85%	62.64%	74.38%
South Ayrshire	0.27%	0.66%	1.68%	34.89%	43.23%	56.62%
South Lanarkshire	0.48%	0.76%	13.07%	21.32%	39.19%	50.99%
Stirling	11.29%	14.30%	26.46%	25.61%	34.06%	37.67%
West Dunbartonshire	0.14%	0.27%	38.72%	44.39%	48.59%	61.27%
West Lothian	1.39%	1.99%	3.08%	3.36%	7.95%	17.99%
Totals	5.28%	10.92%	28.64%	31.63%	37.12%	46.68%

Question reference: S4W-08892

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 17 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what training is given to (a) sheriffs and (b) judges to identify the possibility of someone appearing before them having an autistic spectrum disorder.

Question reference: S4W-08893

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 16 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what provision is made in the penal system for people who are identified as being on the autism spectrum.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

Health professionals conduct a comprehensive health assessment for all prisoners on reception. Responsibility for the delivery of prisoner health care services transferred to NHS health boards in 1 November 2011. SPS will continue to work in partnership with NHS boards to meet the assessed health care needs of prisoners to support rehabilitation.

Question reference: S4W-08890

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 16 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what training is given to police officers to identify the signs of autistic spectrum disorders.

Question reference: S4W-08891

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 16 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what training is given to prison staff to identify the possibility of prisoners having an autistic spectrum disorder.

Question reference: S4W-08889

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 16 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many prisoners have been identified as being on the autism spectrum in each of the last 10 years, also expressed as a percentage.

Question reference: S4W-08586

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Mary Scanlon on 12 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will consider displaying the Saltire flag in the chamber beside the Presiding Officer when the Parliament is sitting.

The issue of whether to display the saltire in the debating chamber has been considered by the SPCB previously, most recently on 4 February 2009. On that occasion, the matter had been raised by a petitioner to the Parliament and, after considering the request, the SPCB responded on 11 February 2009 saying that in its view, the introduction of the flag of Scotland into the chamber was unnecessary, given the unique and instantly recognisable design of the chamber and of the building as whole. That remains the position.