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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-18643

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 3 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-17330 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 12 July 2018, in light of its responses to FOI request 18/02151 to 53 that the Special Customer Records policy remains under development and that an interim policy solution is being used to administer the first carers allowance supplement payments where the recipient is regarded as having a Special Customer Record, what that interim policy solution is.

Question reference: S5W-18642

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 3 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to the question S5W-17330 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 12 July 2018, in light of its response to FOI request 18/02153, for what reason the Special Customer Records policy is not operational and it is relying on an interim policy solution to administer the carers allowance supplement payments where the recipient is regarded as having a special customer record.

The delivery of the Carer’s Allowance Supplement relies heavily on DWP data. DWP already have a strategy and standards in place for the protection of such records. For this reason, for the purposes of Carer’s Allowance Supplement, following the existing DWP arrangements is the safest and most appropriate approach.

More broadly, in considering the approach to other devolved benefits and all of the records that Social Security Scotland will hold, it is critical to ensure the policy is fully aligned with the Social Security Scotland ethos of dignity, fairness and respect and broader Ministerial policy whilst recognising that individuals still have a relationship with other government departments.

Question reference: S5W-19053

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 2 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it encourages the use of natural stone sourced in Scotland in construction projects.

Scotland’s built environment has a rich legacy of the innovative use of stone and we are keen to capitalise on and promote the use of our national assets wherever possible. The then-Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy met with the three founders of the Scottish Stone Group in November 2017, which was established to raise awareness of locally sourced stone.

‘Creating Places’, the Scottish Government’s policy on Architecture and Place advises that project clients, commissioners, designers and approvers should encourage design innovation and take advantage of locally sourced materials to facilitate sustainable development. Scotland’s built environment has a rich legacy of the innovative use of stone and we are keen to capitalise on and promote the use of our national assets wherever possible. The Scottish Government’s architecture and planning policies encourage new development that responds appropriately to its context and which reinforces local identity and character. The use of appropriate materials is recognised as a key consideration in this.

Question reference: S5W-18626

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 25 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the SCDI report, Automatic…For the People?.

The SCDI report “Automatic…For the People?” provides a helpful and well evidenced contribution to debate and policy on the pace of change of new technologies and their impacts on the Scottish economy and labour market. We are already responding to many of the issues and recommendations highlighted in the report through, for example, our investment in the National Manufacturing Institute for Scotland; our support for digital skills and commitment to providing superfast broadband to every home and business in Scotland; our STEM Strategy for improving education and training in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics across early years education, community learning and development, schools, colleges universities; and, working with trade unions and employers bodies, the establishment of a national retraining partnership to help workers and businesses prepare for future changes in their markets by enabling the workforce to upskill and retrain where necessary.

Question reference: S5W-18625

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 25 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to establish a commission on the fourth industrial revolution, which will involve industry, academics, policy-makers and workers.

Question reference: S5W-18708

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many criminal investigations Police Scotland carried out in each year since 2013, and, of these, how many were dropped in the first (a) 24 and (b) 48 hours of investigation.

The information requested is not held centrally. The data we receive from Police Scotland to produce the Recorded Crime in Scotland publication is a simple count of the numbers of crimes and offences, for each Local Authority, which the police have recorded and cleared up. We do not receive information on the number of investigations which have been carried out, or the length and outcome of individual investigations.

Question reference: S5O-02388

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the quality of the engagement with patients by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde regarding the development of proposals to centralise breast cancer services away from the Vale of Leven Hospital to the Royal Alexandra Hospital.

Firstly, it is important to note that this review is still underway and that no service change decisions have been made.

The Government has been consistently clear that the development of formal proposals must be informed by meaningful engagement with local stakeholders. The Health Board has assured us that it will work closely with the Scottish Health Council to take this forward, in line with national guidance.

Question reference: S5O-02402

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 September 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve visitor experience by working with local authorities to enhance facilities such as car parking.

Question reference: S5W-18641

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 18 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-17695 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 10 August 2018, which stated that the Scottish Government would not publish its Special Customer Records policy as “the security of Special Customer Records is paramount”, and further to its response to FOI requests 18/02151 to 53 on 3 September 2018, which stated that the policy could not be published as “releasing information about this may undermine or constrain the Government’s view on that policy while it is still under discussion and development”, whether it will clarify its position and confirm whether once the policy is agreed it will be published.

Question reference: S5W-18325

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 14 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government when it will make the annual maintenance payment to participatants in the Forestry Grant Scheme, and what the reason is for the reported delay.