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-21935

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 18 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, following the completion of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR), whether it plans to detrunk the section of the A92 between the Charleston and Findon junctions and, if so, for what reason, and for what reason other sections of the A92 south of the Findon junction are not being considered for detrunking.

The Detrunking Order published in 2010 sets out the detrunking requirements for the project. Our plans for detrunking were extensively discussed with Local Authorities prior to publishing the Orders and as a consequence of this we are not planning to detrunk the section of A92 between Charleston and Findon nor sections further south. This is standard practice and consistent with our strategy across all major projects.

Question reference: S5W-21936

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 18 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of information provided by its officials in July 2018 regrading detrunking sections of the A92, and following the completion of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR), whether it has altered its plans for detrunking on this road since that date and, if so, for what reason.

Question reference: S5O-03045

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 March 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what steps it is taking to ensure that offices receive post before the start of parliamentary business.

Question reference: S5O-03013

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when it will next meet Screen Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-21891

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 12 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the Human Tissue (Authorisation) (Scotland) Bill stipulates that a family member or close friend must present "evidence that would convince a reasonable person", and what consideration it has given to using the wording provided in the Human Transplantation (Wales) Act 2013, which states that the third party need only provide "knowledge" of the deceased’s wishes that would convince a reasonable person.

The Human Tissue (Authorisation) (Scotland) Bill includes safeguards which aim to ensure that evidence of a potential donor’s views about donation can be provided in order to ascertain whether or not donation is authorised.

The provisions, including the Duty to Inquire provisions, are designed to provide a clear mechanism for inquiries to be made of the relevant people and for those people to be able to bring evidence forward, if necessary. The Bill does not require the evidence to be in any particular form and the provisions are designed to be flexible to allow the Specialist Nurses for Organ Donation (SNODs) and Tissue Donor Co-ordinators to take into account different types of evidence provided and to reach a conclusion as to whether the evidence represents the potential donor’s views.

In developing the Bill, the approach taken in the Human Transplantation (Wales) Act 2013 (the 2013 Act) on this issue was examined. In implementation, the application of the ‘reasonable person’ test in the 2013 Act, supported by Human Tissue Authority guidance which refers to ‘evidence’ of a potential donor’s views, provide for the same practice as will be developed in Scotland. The Bill is flexible as it allows any kind of evidence provided by relatives, friends or others with relevant information to be taken into account and does not require that person to “know” the most recent views of the potential donor.

The guidance, supporting the 2013 Act, assists SNODs in assessing the evidence presented to reach a decision as to whether a reasonable person would be satisfied that it represents the potential donor’s views. The intention is to provide similar guidance to support the implementation of the Bill.

Question reference: S5W-21723

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 28 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of changes to General Medical Council guidance on the principle of informed consent, and the findings of the case, Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board, which saw the legal protection of patients’ autonomy enhanced, how it will ensure that (a) practitioners are informed about the new guidelines and are compliant with them and (b) patients receive the relevant documentation in advance of medical intervention.

The General Medical Council (GMC) review of consent guidance is currently underway and it expects to publish the final updated guidance towards the end of 2019.

Once published the Scottish Government is committed to working with the GMC to support the implementation of the guidance, which may include jointly developing key messages and tools for practitioners and patients.

The Scottish Government expects all NHS Boards and their clinicians to adhere to the GMC guidelines and to have clinical governance in place to ensure that the principles and framework contained in the guidance are applied by all doctors when seeking informed consent to treatment from patients.

Question reference: S5O-02959

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 February 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the rural secretary has had with the transport secretary regarding the impact on the rural economy of the proposals in the Restricted Roads (20mph speed limit) (Scotland) Bill.

Question reference: S5W-21463

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 21 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when Transport Scotland plans to detrunk the existing A90 trunk road through Aberdeen.

The final section of the AWPR opened on 19 February 2019 and we are already receiving very positive reports of traffic reductions within the city.

Following the opening of this last remaining section, the existing A92 (previously A90) trunk road through Aberdeen (excluding the section at the A90/A96 Haudagain Improvement Project) will be de-trunked on 1 April, following the opening of the final section of the AWPR. This is standard practice and aligns with the Detrunking Orders published in 2010.

Question reference: S5W-21466

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 21 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of delays to the completion of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route and the so-called Don Crossing, whether this will this result in further delays to the detrunking of the existing A90 trunk road through Aberdeen.

Question reference: S5W-21468

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 21 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has carried out any assessment of the impact of delays to the detrunking of the existing A90 trunk road through Aberdeen on traffic, local communities and local authority planning and expenditure.

The final section of the AWPR opened on 19 February 2019, following which, the existing A92 (previously A90) trunk road through Aberdeen (excluding the section at the A90/A96 Haudagain Improvement Project) will be de-trunked on 1 April. This plan has been in place since the detrunking Orders were published in 2010. Until detrunked, the existing A92 (previously A90) remains the responsibility of Transport Scotland and as such there has been no adverse impact on local authority expenditure to date.

With the AWPR now fully open, strategic traffic will switch from using the existing road network onto the AWPR. It is estimated that this will cut the journey across Aberdeen by up to half at peak periods and will also provide safer access on local roads.