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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-03603

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether there are contingency plans to retain beds at the current Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary beyond the initial transfer period to the new district general hospital.

NHS Dumfries and Galloway advise that they are currently finalising detailed transfer plans for the migration of patients to the new facility. The Board envisage that this will take a small number of days and that a degree of 'double running' will be necessary during this period.

The Board also advise that there are no plans to retain inpatient beds on the current Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary (DGRI) site once the new hospital opens. However, a range of ambulatory care services, including ophthalmology and renal day-care, will continue to be delivered from the Cresswell Building immediately adjacent to DGRI.

Question reference: S5W-03308

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 31 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to help meet the needs of children with autism.

The Scottish Government is committed to meeting the needs of children with autism. We want all children and young people to reach their full potential.

Education authorities and other agencies have duties under the Additional Support for Learning Act 2004 (as amended) to identify, provide for and keep under review the additional support needs of pupils, including children and young people with autism.

In addition the Scottish Government launched the Autism Toolbox website in April 2014, to help teachers and educational support staff (both in primary and secondary schools) meet the needs of pupils with autism. This online tool identifies best practice for all education staff in schools to support pupils with autism.

Through the Scottish Strategy for Autism we have funded a range of projects to support children and young people with autism. Two young girls involved in one of the funded projects can be seen in the video below:

http://www.autismstrategyscotland.org.uk/news/autism-europe-congress-highlights-video-released.html

We will continue to build on the work that the strategy has achieved in order to further support the needs of children with autism.

Question reference: S5W-03307

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 27 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to attract GPs to rural communities in Dumfriesshire.

The Scottish Government is fully committed to supporting primary care, including GPs, and ensuring that all communities in Scotland, including remote and rural areas, receive safe, reliable and sustainable health care services.

Over three years, the Scottish Government is investing £85 million, as part of the Primary Care Fund. As part of this, over £2 million will be invested in work to explore with key stakeholders the issues surrounding GP recruitment and retention which can be particularly challenging in remote and rural areas. This will support a range of initiatives over the next two years including the establishment of a Scottish Rural Medicine Collaborative between NHS Dumfries and Galloway and six other health boards. This initiative will bring together recruitment strategies and support networks for GPs working in remote and rural areas.

Question reference: S5W-03309

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 26 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many cross-border farmers have received their full CAP payment.

Question reference: S5W-03306

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 26 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has made of any potential benefits associated with leaving the EU.

Following the outcome of the referendum on the UK's membership of the EU, the Scottish Government has been undertaking extensive work to assess the implications of leaving the EU. This includes internal analysis, advice from the First Minister's Standing Council on Europe, consideration of other specialist opinions as well as direct and wide-ranging stakeholder engagement across a number of sectors. This analysis is evidence-led and takes into account all aspects of leaving the EU.

It is clear that there is an increasing body of evidence, such as the economic analysis published by the Scottish Government on 23 August and the recently leaked Treasury analysis, which demonstrates that any potential benefits in areas would be heavily outweighed by negative long-term ramifications.

Question reference: S5W-03601

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 26 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many cross-border farm businesses are still awaiting balancing payments for 2015 payments, and what the reasons are for the delays.

Of the 93 cases for which the Scottish Government is the paying agency, 87 have been paid in full as of 17 October 2016, and the remaining 6 will be settled by the end of this month. All elements of the business’ application must be confirmed as eligible by each administration involved. By their nature, these cases are more complex than single country cases because they have to be judged against the specific CAP rules in each part of the UK in which they have made a claim.

Question reference: S5W-03305

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 26 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what representations it is making to the UK Government regarding state aid rules as part of Brexit negotiations.

The Scottish Government is committed to protecting Scotland’s relationship with the EU, including state aid rules, following Scotland’s unequivocal vote to retain the wide range of economic and social benefits membership provides. We are considering all possible steps to ensure Scotland’s continuing relationship with the EU and are engaged at ministerial and official level with the UK Government to ensure the best outcome for Scotland following the EU referendum.

Question reference: S5T-00125

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 October 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it made of the reported level of support for independence ahead of the decision to bring forward the draft Referendum Bill before Article 50 has been invoked.

Question reference: S5W-03335

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 21 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) regarding sediment management and extraction in the River Esk.

Question reference: S5W-03310

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 19 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many staff it employs, broken down by local authority area.

Figures on Scottish Government staff headcount are collated regularly for the Quarterly Public Sector Employment Survey published by the Office for National Statistics, at Scotland level. The same Scotland-level headcount data are also published as part of the Scottish Government Workforce Information quarterly release.

These reports show that, at 30 June 2016, there were 5,416 directly-employed staff in the Scottish Government core directorates.

When this Scotland-level information is broken down by local authority area using management information from the HR system, we find that these staff are based in offices in 20 local authority areas in Scotland and 2 overseas offices, and that the staff headcount by the local authority area of the office is as follows:

Local authority	Staff headcount
Aberdeen City	265
Aberdeenshire	86
Angus	5
Argyll and Bute	42
City of Edinburgh	3,723
Dumfries and Galloway	34
Dundee City	22
Falkirk	45
Fife	2
Glasgow City	729
Highland	127
Moray	16
Na h-Eileanan Siar	33
Orkney Islands	16
Perth and Kinross	115
Scottish Borders	41
Shetland Islands	15
South Ayrshire	47
South Lanarkshire	25
West Lothian	20
Outside Scotland	8
Total	5,416

There are no staff based in Clackmannanshire, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, Midlothian, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, Stirling, and West Dunbartonshire.