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-12562

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 25 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on planned road safety precautions for winter weather, and how much has been allocated for (a) gritter services and (b) emergency road repairs.

The annual Winter Service period began on 1 October 2022 and continues through to 15 May 2023. The publicity launch for Transport Scotland’s Winter Service 2022/2023 took place on 3 November, Winter service launch 22/23 | Transport Scotland .

For the 2022-23 winter service Transport Scotland has 240 vehicles available for spreading salt and ploughing snow, typically one spreader for every 16 km of trunk road. Salt barns are full and more salt is currently in stock than was used across both Scotland’s trunk and local roads during the whole of last winter.

Enhanced patrol provision will be in place across the network and route specific snow plans have been updated. To prevent snow or ice forming, gritters also provide precautionary salt treatments to roads, depending on the forecast weather conditions.

Financial spend on delivery of winter service by Transport Scotland’s Operating Companies for 2022/23 is forecast to be £29,194,484.

The 2022-23 budget allocation for emergency road repairs (Category 1 defects) is currently £1.8M, however, this may be subject to change depending on the severity of repairs experienced throughout the period.

Question reference: S6W-11631

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with (a) ScotRail and (b) Network Rail regarding Ayr Station and the Station Hotel.

Ayr Station Hotel is owned by an absentee landlord who has remained unresponsive to any approach regarding the future of the Station Hotel building. Network Rail’s sole responsibility, due to the proximity of the railway to the hotel building and the rail infrastructure, is to ensure the safety of the rail infrastructure.

Transport Scotland continues to engage with ScotRail, Network Rail and South Ayrshire Council through the Ayr Station Strategic Governance Group, to review the long-term options for the Station Hotel building. The Group last met on 14 November 2022.

Transport Scotland has provided significant investment to this project including fully funding the erection of the scaffolding and encapsulation, and the ongoing maintenance costs up to March 2020. Transport Scotland continued to fund 50% of the ongoing maintenance costs from April 2020 until May 2022 and has also fully funded the feasibility study and subsequent options review.

The Ayr Station Strategic Governance Group continues to lead the preparation and publication of the Ayr Station Hotel Option Review under the leadership of South Ayrshire Council. I met with the Leader of and Chief Executive South Ayrshire Council in May 2022.

I had expected this report would have been published by the new administration before now. I am advised that it is now expected to be published before the end of the year. While I of course recognise the good progress made; it has been 6 months since my last meeting with South Ayrshire Council and I would urge the Strategic Governance group to work together bring this process to the earliest possible conclusion.

Question reference: S6W-12539

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 December 2022

Question reference: S6W-12218

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the cost for agency nurses has been in the current financial year to date, and what it estimates the cost will be for the whole of the current financial year.

Question reference: S6W-12217

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 30 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how the number of people employed in the creative industries sector has changed between 2018, when it was reportedly 87,000, and 2022, and what the employment figures in the sector represent as a percentage of total employment in Scotland.

The information requested is publicly available on the Scottish Government website and can be found here: Growth Sector Statistics Database .

The latest figures showing employment in the sector, in 2020, had remained broadly the same at 87,000, representing 3% total employment in Scotland.

We are aware however that they do not truly reflect some key aspects of the sector, such as the number of freelancers and self-employed people. We estimate this to be around 40,000, which we have gathered from the APS data source.

Question reference: S6W-12213

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 29 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many foreign trips for its ministers are planned in the next six months; how many air miles in total these trips will cover, and what the total estimated cost of the trips is.

Scottish Government officials make provisional overseas travel plans as part of official government business diary management and planning for Ministers. Until the date of the visit, these are provisional and contingent on Parliamentary Business and other commitments and issues arising. They are also subject to last minute changes.

All Ministerial engagements and travel information (including costs) are proactively released 3 months in arrears and available here Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Information regarding the distance of the journeys (miles travelled by air) can be released in response to a PQ or FOI after the event on request, or calculated based on the information released when the visit has been completed.

Question reference: S6W-12219

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 29 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the current nurse retention rate is, given as a percentage, for nurses who completed a funded degree programme in nursing and midwifery in 2022.

Question reference: S6W-12214

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 24 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made on its Creative Communities programme in the last year.

Phase 3 of the Creative Communities programme ran between August 2021- August 2022 and provided funding to 24 organisations across 17 local authorities. Led by Inspiring Scotland, the programme has: engaged with 56 volunteers, employed 112 artists, 22 community support workers, assisted 10 young people to complete internships and facilitated over 3,500 hours of arts workshops and creative activities. The third phase of the programme received a total of £600,000 in joint funding from Scottish Government’s culture and justice portfolios.

Question reference: S6W-12216

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 24 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how the National Partnership for Culture is progressing, and whether it will provide examples of any opportunities that it has identified to date for individuals and organisations.

The National Partnership for Culture published its recommendations on 16 March 2022. These 14 recommendations were underpinned by principles for meaningful delivery such as pooling of experience and resources across different fields. In response we are taking forward a range of actions, which are detailed in full in our publication of 27 September 2022, available at: National Partnership for Culture recommendations: Scottish Government response - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . This includes strengthening cross-portfolio links in areas such as health and wellbeing to harness opportunities for collaboration, as well as taking forward actions with partners to support cohesive working between national and local organisations. The National Partnership for Culture will meet to discuss its future plans on 14 December 2022.

Question reference: S6O-01621

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many pharmacists have been recruited into primary care since 2018.