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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: S5O-03031

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to address patient access issues at GP practices.

Question reference: S5W-21516

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 5 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government which businesses and industry bodies met or were hosted by the (a) Scottish Affairs Office in Washington DC and (b) Scottish Development International office in (i) Boston, (ii) Chicago, (iii) Houston and (iv) San Jose in 2018, broken down by the number of times each business or body was met or hosted.

The Scottish Affairs Office routinely hosts and co-hosts events showcasing Scotland as the best place to live, work, study, invest and visit. Invites to these receptions run into the hundreds and include some business and industry body representatives with an affiliation to Scotland as well as members of the GlobalScot network. The scale of the events is such that invites are recorded but actual attendance by organisations is not.

A core part of SDI’s operations and engagement is to meet and host business and industry bodies across a range of sectors including financial services, technology, life sciences, energy, food & drink and tourism. This equates to thousands of records of meetings and interactions, which is recorded and stored on our in-house customer relationship management system and subject to the normal rules governing privacy and customer/prospect confidentiality.

Examples of industry bodies that the organisations have met with include:

Scottish Affairs Office

Business Network for Offshore Wind
American Wind Energy Association
Distilled Spirits Council (DISCUS)

Scottish Development International

Department for International Trade
Science and Innovation Network
Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Prosperity officers
British American Business Council
Silicon Valley Leadership Group
The Chicago Council on Global Affairs

Question reference: S5O-02953

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 February 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the environment secretary has had with the energy minister regarding the environmental impact of the proposed decommissioning of oil rigs at Hunterston.

Question reference: S5F-03073

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 February 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 February 2019

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the Youth Strike 4 Climate.

Question reference: S5W-21493

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 18 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many companies involved with the arms trade are account managed by (a) Scottish Enterprise and (b) Highlands and Islands Enterprise, broken down by the (i) name of each company and (ii) length of time that they have been account managed.

Question reference: S5W-21108

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 18 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 30 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what projects were funded by the £13.8 million that was provided by Scottish Enterprise to Selex/Leonardo between 2006-07 and 2017-18, also broken down by what the purpose was of each project.

Question reference: S5W-20900

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 22 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to answer to question S5O-02755 by John Swinney on 10 January 2019 (Official Report, c. 7), (a) how many and (b) what proportion of the teachers who are employed using the Attainment Scotland Fund are on temporary contracts, also broken down by local authority area.

A breakdown of the full time equivalent number of teachers employed using
the Attainment Scotland Fund by permanent or temporary employment type
and local authority at the time of the 2018 teacher census is provided in the following table.

FTE of Attainment Scotland Fund teachers by Employment Type
	Permanent	Temporary 2	Total 1	Percentage in temporary 2 posts
Aberdeen City	1.4	4.2	5.6	75%
Aberdeenshire	4.4	3.6	8.0	45%
Angus	16.2	1.6	17.8	9%
Argyll & Bute	0.0	4.1	4.1	100%
Clackmannanshire	8.8	3.4	12.2	28%
Dumfries & Galloway	4.4	13.3	17.7	75%
Dundee City	25.0	13.2	38.2	35%
East Ayrshire	33.3	16.6	49.9	33%
East Dunbartonshire	6.7	8.2	14.9	55%
East Lothian	3.1	7.3	10.5	70%
East Renfrewshire	15.1	6.6	21.7	31%
Edinburgh City	21.1	24.0	45.1	53%
Na h-Eileanan Siar	0.0	0.0	0.0	N/A
Falkirk	4.4	12.1	16.5	73%
Fife	24.9	31.3	56.2	56%
Glasgow City	140.2	46.6	186.8	25%
Highland	6.3	9.9	16.2	61%
Inverclyde	9.0	22.8	31.8	72%
Midlothian	6.7	7.3	14.0	52%
Moray	1.8	1.2	3.1	40%
North Ayrshire	13.6	25.7	39.3	65%
North Lanarkshire	41.3	58.6	99.9	59%
Orkney Islands	0.0	1.0	1.0	100%
Perth & Kinross	3.1	3.0	6.1	50%
Renfrewshire	40.4	33.2	73.6	45%
Scottish Borders	4.4	5.3	9.8	54%
Shetland Islands	0.0	0.5	0.5	100%
South Ayrshire	4.0	13.6	17.6	77%
South Lanarkshire	67.7	14.2	81.9	17%
Stirling	2.9	4.8	7.7	62%
West Dunbartonshire	14.7	11.4	26.1	44%
West Lothian	17.0	11.2	28.2	40%
Scotland 1	542.0	419.9	961.9	44%
1. Totals may not sum due to rounding 2. Includes teachers on induction schemes

Question reference: S5O-02802

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 January 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve the relationship between the police and the Kurdish community.

Question reference: S5O-02770

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 January 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it will engage stakeholders and the public with the Good Food Nation consultation.

Question reference: S5W-20218

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 9 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what meetings it has had with the Office for Nuclear Regulation regarding safety concerns at Hunterston B, and whether any such future meetings are planned.

Scottish Government officials are and will continue to be in regular contact with the nuclear safety and security regulator, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), in respect of safety matters at all Scottish Civil Nuclear sites.

In respect of Hunterston B, whilst there have been no specific scheduled meetings, telephone and written contact has been regular, with ONR providing their latest updates to officials. During the latest communications on 28 November and 19 December 2018, ORN outlined their extensive involvement in this issue, namely:

ONR regulates EDF through on-site inspections which ensure that EDF controls its hazards effectively and maintains the highest nuclear safety and security standards. Site inspectors also provide advice on how to comply with legal requirements. ONR also assesses the adequacy of safety cases to ensure that the hazards are properly controlled. ONR holds regular meetings with EDF to discuss graphite cracking.

Supporting front line site inspectors is a team of specialist inspectors from ONR's assessment units, whom the site inspector can draw upon for in-depth specialist expert advice.

Permission will only be granted for the reactor to return to service if the ORN is satisfied that it is safe to do so. This assessment will include consideration of the timing of further inspections. The specialist inspectors are called onto site to support particular inspections.

I will next meet ONR on 21 February 2019.