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: S6W-20969

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 04 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the reported 255 NHS buildings that are suspected to contain reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete have been inspected by structural engineers.

Question reference: S6W-20968

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 04 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish a list of all hospital buildings that are (a) suspected and (b) have been confirmed to contain reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.

The list of buildings to be surveyed was included in the answer to question S6W-19366 on 21 July 2023. NHS Scotland Assure published the list of buildings to be surveyed on the 15th September 2023: RAAC -List of Properties v1 Jul 23 (nhs.scot) . In response to part (b) of the Question; there have, as of the 19th September 2023, been 14 properties confirmed to contain RAAC, these will also be published in due course. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

Question reference: S6W-21165

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to take forward the recommendations made by the COVID-19 Recovery Committee in its letter to the Minister for Public Health and Women's Health on 5 July 2023 regarding its Recovery of NHS dental services inquiry, including the recommendation that "the Scottish Government provide costings for – and consults on – different service model options".

The Scottish Government remains committed to implementing NHS dental payment reform on 1 November 2023 which will retain independent dental practices as the mainstay of NHS provision. Payment reform will also continue to comprise fee-per-item, capitation and allowance payments within a blended model.

In bringing forward payment reform, Scottish Government is seeking to address how best to maximise patient care and access to NHS dental services within a challenging financial position, and ensure value-for-money to the public sector. It is our view this can only be done by maintaining the blended system of payment, and our engagement with the sector during the development of reform has shown that dentists prefer being able to determine their own income and workload through the fee-per-item model.

The Scottish Government is currently responding to the committee’s letter in full, and this response will be published in due course.

Question reference: S6W-20836

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its assessment is of the Industrial Development Authority of Ireland's performance at capturing inward investment relative to Scottish Development International.

All Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) have distinct methodology and approaches for the attraction of inward investment, impacting each IPA’s reporting and monitoring of country-level or sub-national inward investment performance and securing of inward investment global market share. Without a full and detailed knowledge of how other IPAs approach this, including the approach adopted by the IDA Ireland, it would be inappropriate for the Scottish Government to comment on comparative inward investment agency performance.

However, the Scottish Government does take an evidence-based approach to inward investment attraction and performance, which we keep under regular review. According to the most recent independent, industry recognised EY Annual Attractiveness Survey 2023, Scotland has been the most attractive foreign direct investment (FDI) location outside of London for the last eight years, providing clear evidence that our Team Scotland approach to attracting good quality inward investment is working.

For ease of reference I’ve included a link to EY’s independent Annual Attractiveness Survey 2023 if you would like to know more Scotland’s foreign investment grows with record results | EY UK

Question reference: S6W-20729

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 14 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will continue any discretionary funding awards made to Health and Social Care Partnerships for community link worker programmes for 2023-24 in the next financial year.

Question reference: S6W-20728

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 14 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government to which Health and Social Care Partnerships it has awarded discretionary funding in 2023-24 for community link worker provision, and how many posts were covered by any such discretionary funding awards.

Question reference: S6W-20730

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 14 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many community link worker posts were funded by the Primary Care Improvement Fund in financial years (a) 2022-23 and (b) 2023-24, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S6W-21137

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 14 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported marketing for sale of the Clydebridge Steelworks by Liberty Steel, what it is doing to safeguard Clydebridge's future as a green steelmaking facility of strategic importance to the Scottish economy.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17708 on 16 May 2023 The Clydebridge Steelworks site in Cambuslang is not currently operational and no staff are currently employed at the site. The future of the site is an operational matter for Liberty Steel and I understand that a number of options for the future of the site are being considered including a possible sale.

Scottish Government maintain an open dialogue with Liberty Steel and have regular meetings with them.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

Question reference: S6O-02524

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 September 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to support Glasgow’s museums and galleries.

Question reference: S6W-20684

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 12 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any corrosive or erosive effect of rock salt used for the treatment of roads and pedestrian areas in cold weather on the built environment, compared with alternative grit products.

As members of PIARC (World Road Association) and the National Winter Service Research Group (NWSRG), Transport Scotland routinely participates and contributes to research programmes to enable the production of industry best practice.

In 2020, Transport Scotland commissioned the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) to undertake an introductory review into the effects of the use of rock salt on the major structures and bridges on the Scottish trunk road network.

Transport Scotland are currently reviewing the outcomes of this research including the next phases of research and potential use of alternative de-icing products as advised by the findings.

As an increase in the standard applied to the treatment of footpaths in the recently awarded Scottish Ministers Network Management Contracts (NMCs), precautionary footpath treatments are now undertaken using liquid treatment applications.