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-03039

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 30 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on reports that the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland is failing to act impartially, and what action it plans to take on this issue.

The Mental Health Tribunal Scotland is an independent organisation which reports to Scottish Ministers. The aim of the Tribunal is to provide a responsive, accessible, independent and impartial service when making decisions on the compulsory care and treatment of people with mental disorders.

The Tribunal consists of the President and around 300 members. There are three groups of members – legal, medical, and general. Each hearing will have a panel of three members which includes one person from each group. The legal members will chair the hearing. Medical members are psychiatrists. General members are people with a special interest in mental health including psychiatric nurses, social workers, psychologists, service users and carers. None of the panel should have had any previous connection with the patient/service user.

There is a right under the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 to appeal to the Sheriff Principal (with a further appeal right to the Court of Session). It would be for the sheriff principal and then the Court of Session to review a decision made by the Tribunal. The Court may set aside the decision of the Tribunal and can also substitute its own decision.

Question reference: S5W-03041

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 30 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 does not contain a provision for appeal against a decision regarding incapacity, compared to the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000, which does contain such a provision.

There is not a test in the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 (“the 2003 Act”) which results in patients being deemed incapable generally. A patient’s capacity to consent to treatment is assessed by experienced, specialist clinicians subject to the safeguards in Part 16 of the 2003 Act and having regard to guidance issued by the Mental Welfare Commission. Under the 2003 Act, judgements of capacity to consent are made in relation to the ability to consent to that treatment at that time.

The Millan report, which was the basis for the 2003 Act, noted that “there are differences between the typical situation which may arise under the Adults with Incapacity Act, and the use of mental health law. It may be easier to determine that a person with a long-standing condition such as learning disability or dementia does not have capacity, than in the case of someone with an acute mental illness, which may fluctuate above and below the capacity ‘threshold’. Even if incapacity can be established at a particular time, it would seem impractical for an order for compulsory treatment to stop and start if capacity fluctuates perhaps on a daily basis or even more frequently.”

Question reference: S5W-02624

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 27 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the annual spend for the Detect Cancer Early Programme in (a) Scotland and (b) NHS Grampian (i) will be for 2016-17 and (ii) was in each year since 2013-14.

£41 million in total has been allocated to the Detect Cancer Early programme since 2013-14.

£5.6 million was made available to territorial NHS boards recurrently from 2014-15 and an additional £2.25 million made available recurrently to NHS boards from 2015/16 (£7.85 million in total to NHS territorial boards).

A further £600k was made recurring to NHS NSS from 2014/15 to support NHS ISD data collection, LDP standards reporting and to support improvements is the cancer screening programmes.

The Scottish Government does not hold the details regarding the full annual spend on the Detect Cancer Early programme by NHS Board or by NHS Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-02473

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 23 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to improve the provision of superfast broadband in (a) the City of Aberdeen and (b) Aberdeenshire, and what steps it will take to improve that provision.

The Scottish Government and our partners are delivering a number of national broadband projects that will benefit the City of Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.

The Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) Programme will extend fibre broadband access to at least 95% of premises in Scotland by the end of 2017. Following completion of the DSSB Programme at least 96% of premises in the City of Aberdeen and 89% in Aberdeenshire will have fibre access. In parallel, Community Broadband Scotland is supporting community-led broadband projects across the region.

Digital infrastructure projects will also form part of the £250 million Aberdeen City Region Deal that was agreed between the Scottish Government, UK Government and regional partners earlier this year. The Scottish Government is providing an additional £254 million, over and above the City Deal, to help deliver a more significant step change to the economy of the north east.

The Scottish Government is committed to building on the success of these programmes and achieving 100% superfast broadband coverage by 2021. Areas within the City of Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire which currently receive sub-superfast speeds, and where no commercial investment is planned, will fall within the scope of this programme.

Question reference: S5W-02471

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 23 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what level of coverage the roll-out of superfast broadband has achieved in (a) the City of Aberdeen and (b) Aberdeenshire.

By the end of April 2016, the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) Programme had extended fibre broadband access to at least 91% of premises in the City of Aberdeen and to 74% of premises in Aberdeenshire. By the end of DSSB deployment, those coverage figures will rise to at least 96% in the City of Aberdeen and 89% in Aberdeenshire. These figures assume that commercial rollout is completed on time and in line with plans submitted to the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S5W-02474

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 23 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with BT regarding the (a) use of current and (b) building of new infrastructure as part of its commitment to delivering superfast broadband to all premises.

Question reference: S5W-02472

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 23 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of properties in (a) the City of Aberdeen and (b) Aberdeenshire has technical access to broadband achieve internet speeds of 24 Mbps or better.

By the end of April 2016, the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) Programme has delivered speeds of 24Mbps or more to at least 90% of premises in the City of Aberdeen and to 70% of premises in Aberdeenshire. By the end of DSSB deployment, those coverage figures will rise to at least 95% in City of Aberdeen and 79% in Aberdeenshire. These figures assume that commercial rollout is completed on time and in line with plans submitted to the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S5W-02528

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 22 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether the construction of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route is on schedule to be completed by winter 2017 and the Balmedie to Tipperty section will open in spring 2017.

Construction work is continuing across the site of the longest road construction project currently underway in the UK which, over the next 30 years, is expected to generate an additional £6 billion to the north-east economy and create around 14,000 new jobs. As with any major infrastructure project of this scale and complexity, the successful delivery is dependent on a significant number of factors including weather and ground conditions. The Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route and Balmedie to Tipperty section currently remains scheduled to open to traffic in winter 2017 and spring 2017 respectively.

Question reference: S5O-00188

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 September 2016
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Government what the mechanism will be for distributing monies from the Attainment Scotland Fund to schools.

Question reference: S5W-02455

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 21 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to mitigate the impact on business during upgrades to older buildings under the Assessment of Energy Performance of Non-domestic Buildings (Scotland) Regulations 2016.

The regulations provide for mitigation of impact. Within a framework, building owners decide the improvement measures they will undertake within three and a half years. Should they not be in a position to do the work, it may be deferred by the reporting of operational energy use.

Further to this, in delivering our national infrastructure priority for energy efficiency, the Scottish Government will be consulting stakeholders in the development of proposals for Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme, including those around new or additional regulation and standards, as part of a wider package of financial incentives, advice and support for building owners and tenants.