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: S5O-02698

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 13 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it promotes the protection of mining heritage in Fife.

The support for promotion and conservation of Scotland’s heritage is a key function for a number of Scotland’s publicly funded bodies, including Historic Environment Scotland, Museums Galleries Scotland, National Museums Scotland and Scotland’s Industrial Museums. The National Mining Museum in Newtongrange, for example, promotes the history of mining and mining heritage sites across Scotland, including from Fife.

Question reference: S5W-20123

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 5 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to improve take-up of the bowel cancer home testing kit in Fife.

The Scottish Government is committed to working with all NHS boards to increase the early detection of cancer.

A number of initiatives are underway to help improve early detection rates of bowel cancer, including:

(a) A new bowel screening test - FIT - was introduced to the Scottish Bowel Screening Programme in November 2017 which those eligible for screening in NHS Fife will now be receiving and benefiting from. The easier single-sample test is believed to be helping boost participation in bowel screening, which remains the most effective way to find bowel cancer early.

(b) Public awareness of early signs and symptoms is key to driving early stage diagnoses and ultimately improving cancer outcomes for people in NHS Fife. A new Detect Cancer Early campaign was launched in September this year to reduce fear around cancer and empower people to act early

Question reference: S5W-20104

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 3 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the establishment and operation of GP community hub fellowships in Fife.

The Community Hub project in Fife commenced in 2015. The first year consisted of a training year for the new GP Fellows (qualified GPs) to furnish them with additional skills followed by two years of guaranteed employment in the "hub" located at the Queen Margaret Hospital.

The Fife pilot has centred on better management of patients with frailty in the community, building on the expertise developed by the newly trained GP fellows. Community Health and Wellbeing Hubs are being developed across Fife and the three GP fellows have during their time in post helped to shape this service model working alongside other primary and secondary care doctors.

The ethos of the Hub is to improve coordination of health and social care systems, reduce duplication and simplify access to services. By teams working together more efficiently patients are experiencing more rapid local access and improved joined up care. An improvement in the interface and clinical pathways supporting older people being cared for at home or nearer to home in Fife has already been observed.

An expansion of the community hub project into old age psychiatry is currently being considered.

Question reference: S5W-20217

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 November 2018
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 28 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in publishing statistical information regarding the devolved employment service, Fair Start Scotland.

Fair Start Scotland is Scotland’s devolved employability support service and is designed to offer support on a voluntary basis to help people, including those who are further removed from the labour market, who want help to find work and stay in work.

The Scottish Government has proactively published information on its devolved employability services since December 2017. Today we are publishing information on the first six months of operation of Fair Start Scotland, which shows a total of 4,978 people have started on Fair Start Scotland during the period 3 April to 28 September 2018.

The publication outlines the number of starts and referrals to the service. It also provides further information on the transitional services introduced in April 2017.

We will continue to publish statistical data relating to Fair Start Scotland on a quarterly basis.

Question reference: S5O-02554

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 November 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on SEPA's investigation into the Mossmorran petrochemical plant.

Question reference: S5O-02529

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with ScotRail regarding operations on the Fife Circle.

Question reference: S4O-03747

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S4O-03709

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 November 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what impact the introduction of the mandatory workforce and workload planning tool for nursing has had on the number of nurses in NHS Fife.

Question reference: S4W-22948

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 October 2014
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 October 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what criteria it will use in determining the suitability of proposals for the location of the national headquarters of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

Question reference: S4W-22797

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 October 2014
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Keith Brown on 8 October 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress with the development of plans for rail services.