Chamber and committees

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-06205

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 26 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether workers employed on the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route project were assessed on their English language skills to determine health and safety risk.

Safety is a key priority for the project contractor, Aberdeen Roads Limited (ARL).

ARL has assured us that workers employed on the project require basic English skills. ARL has also confirmed that where a group of workers share a common first language which is not English, there will be a designated multi-lingual member of the group with a high level of English verbal and written skills. This ensures that all briefings, tool box talks, method statements etc. are communicated clearly and effectively and priority is given to health and safety issues.

In addition, to compliment the health and safety communications, ARL produces project communications and health & safety materials in several languages, with further translations added as and when a need is identified.

Question reference: S5W-05826

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 12 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to alleviate any negative impact to businesses in (a) North East Scotland and (b) the rest of the country arising from the increase in business taxes.

In my Draft Budget 2017-18 announcement to Parliament on 15 December I set out a comprehensive package of action in light of the revaluation to deliver a highly competitive business rates regime that will benefit businesses in the North East and across Scotland.

The package includes expansion of the Small Business Bonus Scheme from April 2017 to lift 100,000 properties out of rates completely, 8,000 business properties will no longer pay the Large Business Supplement and the overall business rates poundage will be cut by 3.7% to 46.6p.

In addition an external review led by Ken Barclay is exploring how business rates can better reflect economic conditions and support growth. We will respond quickly when the review concludes in the summer of 2017.

Question reference: S5O-00551

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2017
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will clarify what the Education and Skills secretary meant by "radical reform of Scotland's education system", following publication of the recent PISA results.

Question reference: S5W-05650

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 20 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government on what date (a) ministers and (b) officials were informed of recently-announced delays to the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route and by whom.

The project contractor advised Transport Scotland on the rescheduled plans for the opening of the Balmedie to Tipperty section of the project on 9 November 2016.

Transport Scotland worked with the contractor to establish the facts of the situation, provide initial challenge to the revised timescale and to ensure that no other solution could be found to keep the Balmedie to Tipperty element of the project on time.

I was briefed by Transport Scotland on this issue on 17 November 2016 and subsequently instructed Transport Scotland and their advisers to interrogate and challenge the contractor’s programme.

Question reference: S5W-05653

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 20 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government on what dates in the last 12 months (a) ministers and (b) officials met Transport Scotland regarding the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route, broken down by attendees.

Question reference: S5W-05655

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 20 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the letter by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Jobs and Fair Work to the Convener of the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee of 9 December 2016, for what reason Transport Scotland did not make public that the contractor advised it on 9 November 2016 that there would be delays to the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route project and, in light of this information being known by the agency at that time, for what reason it did not inform the Public Audit and Post-legislative Scrutiny Committee about this when giving evidence on 24 November 2016, and what its position is on whether this constitutes information being knowingly withheld from members.

The Public Audit and Post-legislative Scrutiny Committee asked about the overall costs and timeline and officials confirmed that “we are where we expected to be on costs, and winter 2017 is still achievable for the overall programme”. Given that Transport Scotland was still in the process of challenging and verifying the contractors information, it would have been inappropriate to provide information until the facts had been fully established.

I have been fully transparent on this matter and informed the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee of the rescheduled plans for the opening of the Balmedie to Tipperty section by letter on 9 December 2016.

Question reference: S5W-05248

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the number of police hours that are spent handling offences by people under the age of 18 that involve (a) antisocial behaviour, (b) vandalism, (c) violence, (d) alcohol or (e) other domestic issues.

Question reference: S5W-05296

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2016
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 13 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many teachers trained through the planned fast-tracked process are expected to work in the north east, and whether there will be an incentive for new recruits to work in (a) Aberdeen City, (b) Aberdeenshire and (c) Angus.

Question reference: S5W-05295

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2016
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 13 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many teacher vacancies in (a) Aberdeen City, (b) Aberdeenshire and (c) Angus are expected to be filled as a result of the £1 million allocation from the Attainment Scotland Fund to recruit new teachers.

Question reference: S5W-05297

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2016
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 13 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what incentives it is providing to fill long-term teacher vacancies in (a) Aberdeen City, (b) Aberdeenshire and (c) Angus.

Whether to offer incentives in order to recruit teachers is a decision for each local authority as their employer. The Scottish Government is supporting teacher recruitment by increasing student intake targets, by supporting the creation of new routes to teaching and by working with the General Teaching Council for Scotland to allow teachers from outwith the country to more easily register and work in Scottish schools.