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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: S6W-14230

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 1 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of the (a) original capital value of, (b) total spend to date on, (c) cost in each of the last five financial years of and (d) estimated cost per year until the end of the contract to service, each (i) NHS, (ii) education, (iii) justice and (iv) other Private Finance Initiative/Public Private Partnership (PFI/PPP) project in the East Kilbride constituency.

There are 3 operational Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contracts which comprise facilities within the East Kilbride area. These are NHS Lanarkshire’s Hairmyres Hospital, the Police Scotland College (formerly Police Force Training Centre) and South Lanarkshire’s Secondary Schools Modernisation PFI Programme. The Schools PFI Programme included a total of 19 new or refurbished secondary school facilities, 4 of which were within the East Kilbride area. These were Calderglen High School, Duncanrig Secondary School, Sanderson High School and St Andrew's and St Bride's High School.

There is also one operational NPD/hub contract which formed part of the Non-Profit Distributing (NPD) programme that comprises facilities within the East Kilbride area. This is the NHS Lanarkshire Bundle which includes 3 new health centres, 1 of which is in East Kilbride area.

The Scottish Government annually update and publish the cost information in relation to the referred PFI and NPD/hub contracts but not for each of the individual facilities within the contracts as this is not held. Information relating to PFI and NPD/hub contracts as described, is available from the Scottish Government website by way of the following link www.gov.scot

Question reference: S6W-13664

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 1 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how many customer complaints ScotRail has received since it was brought into public ownership.

ScotRail has provided the below data for its closed customer complaints since 1 April 2022, by four-weekly rail period, with the prior year (2021-22) and final pre-pandemic year (2019-20) included for comparison:

Rail Year Period	Complaints 2022-23	Complaints 2021-22	Complaints 2019-20
Period 1	1,142	643	2,174
Period 2	1,867	1,079	2,218
Period 3	1,500	1,364	2,228
Period 4	1,015	1,316	2,130
Period 5	1,136	1,543	2,013
Period 6	1,038	924	2,125
Period 7	973	1,313	1,910
Period 8	1,088	1,951	1,482
Period 9	1,491	1,079	2,115
Period 10	1,269	1,034	1,534
Period 11	TBC	970	1,894
Period 12	TBC	575	1,519
Period 13	TBC	1,059	1,447
Total	12,519	14,850	24,789
Complaints as % of total journeys	0.0265%	0.0318%	0.0257%

ScotRail submits complaints data to the regulator, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), and this data is published quarterly on the ORR website at https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/passenger-experience/passenger-rail-service-complaints/

Question reference: S6W-14028

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether Amey, North Ayrshire Council or both are responsible for keeping the A78 free of detritus from Gailes to Skelmorlie.

Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, litter collection and clearing detritus is the responsibility of the Local Authority even when the road is a trunk road (but not a motorway or specified a ‘Special Road’ that has particular regulations which dictate permitted vehicle use). Consequently, the responsibility for clearing litter and detritus on the A78 remains with North Ayrshire Council.

Question reference: S6W-14030

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many speeding tickets were issued to drivers on the A9 between Perth and Inverness in each year from 2012 up to and including 2022, broken down by whether they were related to (a) mobile safety cameras, (b) traffic police and (c) average speed cameras.

Question reference: S6W-14050

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 31 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Scottish Prison Service regarding the development and publication of its revised mental health strategy for people in custody, which was originally due in 2021.

Question reference: S6W-14034

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 31 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of progress made regarding each of the commitments of the Respiratory Care Action Plan according to those (a) achieved, (b) in progress and (c) not yet started.

Question reference: S6W-14017

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recommendations in the Inland Waterways Association 2022 report, Waterways for Today.

The Scottish Government notes the recommendations included in the Waterways for Today report and recognises the importance of the issues raised by the Inland Waterways Association. The report highlights some of the positive work that Scottish Canals has undertaken in recent years, including the groundbreaking Glasgow Smart Canal.

Scottish Canals has benefitted from significant increases in Grant in Aid awards in recent years. Since 2019, the Organisation has received an annual uplift in resource funding from the Scottish Government and substantial increases to the capital grant allocation. This highlights the value that the Scottish Government places on Scotland’s canal network.

Question reference: S6W-14031

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 31 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-13612 by Maree Todd on 17 January 2023, whether the targets for (a) 2021-22 were met and (b) 2022-23 will be met; whether, as part of that national target, local targets have been set for each NHS board, and how many treatment initiations have taken place in each NHS board since the targets were reinstated.

The Scottish Government remains committed to eliminating Hepatitis C as a major public health concern by 2024. We must nonetheless recognise the impact the pandemic has had across the whole health sector, including the detection and treatment of Hepatitis C. During the financial year 2021-22, 1,390 individuals across Scotland started direct-acting antiviral hepatitis C treatment. This is set out in a report on the PHS website: https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/surveillance-of-hepatitis-c-in-scotland/surveillance-of-hepatitis-c-in-scotland-progress-on-elimination-of-hepatitis-c-as-a-major-public-health-concern-2022-update/

National target data for 2022-23 will be published as soon as the full data has been collected and subjected to the appropriate data quality checks.

Data on targets and treatment initiations at Health Board level cannot be provided centrally as it has not been subjected to the required data quality procedures. However, the Scottish Government can confirm national treatment targets are broken down to indicative levels by NHS Board area to assist with their planning.

Despite the challenges resulting from the pandemic, the PHS report linked above shows there is evidence to indicate that Scotland has already achieved the WHO target to treat 80% of those diagnosed with Hepatitis C.

Question reference: S6W-14013

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how NHS Scotland tracks the number of people presenting with respiratory conditions due to damp and cold homes.

Question reference: S6W-14035

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 31 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-13610 by Maree Todd on 17 January 2023, when its pilot for an online service is expected to begin, and how long it will run for.

The development of the pilot e-prep clinic is in the early stages and is likely to involve a staged approach.

As this is a complex project, involving significant IT and clinical expertise to deliver well, it is not yet possible to provide a definitive start date. The development work that’s currently underway will determine the scale, start date and duration of the initial pilot. While we expect significant progress to be made in the coming months, it is important that when we launch the pilot we ensure that it is fit for purpose and will meet the highest standards of patient safety.

As I committed to during the Parliamentary Debate on World Aids Day, the Scottish Parliament will be provided with an annual report regarding the progress made towards the goal of ending HIV transmission within Scotland by 2030.