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: S4W-05381

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 24 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S4W-03666 by Michael Matheson on 11 November 2011, when it will carry out a review of the provision relating to people with learning difficulties and autism in the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003.

Question reference: S4O-00740

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the latest statistical bulletin shows that the Scottish Government is meeting its 2012 homelessness target.

Question reference: S4W-05620

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 22 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual salary is of an NHS employee in the lowest pay band.

Question reference: S4W-05621

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 22 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any NHS employee is exempt from a pay freeze.

The policy adopted in NHSScotland for 2011-12, which mirrored the Scottish Government’s public sector pay policy, saw pay frozen for all staff earning over £21,000 per annum. Staff earning below £21,000 received a £250 flat rate uplift, and those on point 1 of the Agenda for Change pay matrix benefitted from the introduction of the Scottish Living Wage. Staff not yet at the top of their pay scales, however, were still able to benefit from incremental progression. The plan is to adopt the same policy in 2012-13, although the pay review body process (through which recommendations on pay for staff working in the NHS are made each year) is not yet complete.

Question reference: S4W-05590

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 17 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide funding from the Bellwin scheme to West Dunbartonshire Council to help pay for recent storm damage and, if so, how much.

Following the severe storm on 3 January, and as a result of representations from West Dunbartonshire and South Lanarkshire Councils, I confirmed that the Bellwin scheme had been triggered on 16 January. Now that the Scheme has been triggered all local authorities have four months from the date of the incident to submit a formal claim. On receipt of any claims, I will give careful consideration to all eligible expenditure under the terms of the scheme.

Question reference: S4W-05382

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 15 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S4W-03956 by Nicola Sturgeon on 17 November 2011, whether it has received the report of Sir Ian Kennedy’s review of paediatric cardiac surgery at Yorkhill Hospital and, if so, (a) whether the report recommends any changes and (b) when it will be published.

Question reference: S4W-05526

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 15 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S4W-05093 by Nicola Sturgeon on 30 January 2012, when the final element of the Agenda for Change pay system involving remuneration of on-call commitments will be put in place.

When the Agenda for Change terms and conditions system was being discussed in partnership during the early part of the last decade, it was recognised that formulating a unified on-call system would be challenging because of the number and complexity of on-call arrangements in place around the country. Not wanting to delay the implementation of Agenda for Change, therefore, on-call provisions were de-coupled from the main body of the Agenda for Change system when this was introduced in 2004. The Agenda for Change agreement protected staff’s previous on-call arrangements until 31 March 2011 to allow time for an alternative unified system to be negotiated and put in place.

Discussions continued at a UK level through the NHS Staff Council. However, the staff council were not able to identify an appropriate unified system. Instead, in 2010, they agreed a set of general principles within which local agreements should operate. The matter was then devolved to local systems. In Scotland, it was decided this should be the whole country and a Scottish working group was set up under the auspices of the Scottish Terms and Conditions Committee with a remit to negotiate and agree a unified system for Scotland. It was recognised that further time would be needed to progress talks in Scotland and an extension of protection for previous on-call arrangements until 31 March 2012 was sought by the working group and granted.

Discussions remain ongoing and I would not wish to prejudice these by commenting further at this time other than to say that all sides remain committed to finding an appropriate way forward by the end of the present protection period.

Question reference: S4W-05201

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 9 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many calls received by the Scottish Ambulance Service between 6 October 2010 and 18 January 2011 were categorised as (a) red, (b) yellow and (c) amber.

Question reference: S4W-05184

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 9 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the increase in frontline Scottish Ambulance Service staff of approximately 150 announced by the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Cities Strategy on 18 January 2012 will not include the number of current vacancies.

Question reference: S4W-05196

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 9 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many calls received by the Scottish Ambulance Service between 6 October 2011 and 18 January 2012 were categorised as (a) red, (b) yellow and (c) amber.

Emergency calls to the Scottish Ambulance Service are not categorised under these operational definitions, I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-05187 on 6 February 2012. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

The information requested is not held centrally.