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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: S5W-02986

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 28 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how it assesses the work done by each local community planning partnership on suicide prevention.

The Scottish Government sets national policy and direction for suicide prevention. It does not formally assess local suicide prevention action as this is a matter for local agencies to plan and implement, taking account of local needs and local circumstances.

Support to local Choose Life coordinators and their partners in implementing local action is provided by NHS Health Scotland's National Suicide Prevention Programme team on behalf of the Scottish Government.

Nationally we monitor annual statistics on deaths by suicide, using five-year rolling averages, which show that in the last ten years, there has been a reduction of 18% in the rate of suicide in Scotland. The work which is being done locally is supporting this reduction.

In 2017 we will publish a new Suicide Prevention Strategy; our development of this Strategy will include consideration of local suicide prevention actions and how best to support this in the future.

Question reference: S5W-02985

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 28 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support Choose Life co-ordinators in the next five years.

Question reference: S5W-02984

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 27 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding was provided to each local authority to implement the suicide prevention strategy, Choose Life, in each year since 2013.

Provision of £3.298 million per annum was added to the Local Government Finance Settlement baseline from 2008-09 for the "Choose Life" Strategy and included within the block grant support from the Scottish Government. It is the responsibility of each individual authority to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including funding for the suicide prevention strategy, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

Question reference: S5T-00099

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that NHS staff feel able to raise concerns about the service.

Question reference: S5W-02622

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 12 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding the Centre for Integrative Care at Gartnavel has received each year since 2011.

Question reference: S5W-02623

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 12 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review the feedback from the consultation on the future of the Centre for Integrative Care at Gartnavel.

These are matters for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, who are responsible for planning and delivering services to meet the assessed needs of their resident population.

All NHS boards must adhere to national guidance (CEL (2010) 4) which can be accessed at: http://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/mels/CEL2010_04.pdf. This guidance details expectations around appropriate public engagement in potential service change.

Question reference: S5W-02469

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 09 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 23 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when it will set out its plans for the Scottish Care Information Diabetes Collaboration system.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of the Scottish Care Information Diabetes Collaboration system. It is standard eHealth programme management practice to review the effectiveness of all IT systems in use in NHSScotland and how they are managed. A Strategic Oversight Group is being set up which has the remit of agreeing the future direction of SCI-Diabetes and its associated management and funding. No date has yet been set for the delivery of a plan.

Question reference: S5W-01922

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 12 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 21 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce greater regulation in the building trade.

The Scottish Government’s approach to Better Regulation focuses on five key principles – that regulation should be transparent, proportionate, consistent, accountable and targeted only where needed.

The regulatory environment should also encourage and support sustainable economic growth, competitiveness and innovation while maintaining a level playing field.

The construction industry is already statutorily required to hold specific licences or permits in order to carry out certain types of work and its practices are controlled by a wide range of regulations.

Question reference: S5W-01923

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 12 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 21 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce regulations to introduce licensing for companies carrying out building works.

Question reference: S5W-01924

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 12 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 21 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce legislation that would allow builders who carry out substandard work and cause properties to become dangerous to be charged with a criminal offence.

The Scottish Government has no such plans currently for further legislation. Under building standards legislation, constructors and building owners have statutory responsibility for works carried out to buildings. A person carrying out work without a building warrant where a warrant should have been obtained, or a person not building in accordance with a building warrant, is guilty of an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £5,000 (level 5 on the standard scale).