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-22766

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 2 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it takes to support communities that have recently lost or are under threat of losing services such as post offices and banks, including how it supports workers and businesses.

The Scottish Government shares such concerns and recognises that access to post offices and local banking services remains extremely important to the day-to-day lives of many of Scotland’s communities and businesses.

Like post offices and postal services, the regulation of financial services remains reserved to the UK Government, meaning that the Scottish Government is unable to compel banks towards any particular remedy or course of action. The Scottish Government meets regularly with the banking sector through the Financial Services Advisory Board (FiSAB) and the Banking & Economy Forum. It has also publicly called on banks to consider the needs of Scotland’s communities, and will continue to press the need for ongoing provision of local banking services.

In the event of any employees facing redundancy, the Scottish Government provide support through its Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) initiative, which aims to minimise the time individuals affected by redundancy are out of work.

Question reference: S5W-22763

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 1 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has cost in staff overtime to deliver the Basic Payments Scheme in each year since 2015-16.

Year	Amount
2015-16	£531k
2016-17	£430k
2017-18	£471k
2018-19	£404k

The 2018-19 could be amended as the final accounts for this year are not yet finalised.

Please note that the figures in each case are totals, across the Rural Payments and inspections Division (RPID) and the Information Systems Division (ISD). Staff in these divisions work on a range of activities, which are more or less related to the task of making payments (application processing, validation, inspections, field mapping, monitoring, administering, supporting the IT, etc). A precise breakdown by activity is not available.

Question reference: S5W-22760

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 1 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Parliament agreeing motion S5M-8497, as amended, on 31 October 2017, what progress is being made in allowing every school child in the country access to cycle proficiency training.

Transport Scotland funds Cycling Scotland to deliver Bikeability training, which is available to all schools in Scotland. 42% of schools participated in 2018-19 reaching over 36,000 pupils, an increase from 37% in 2015-16.

To compliment Bikeability training, in 2018-19 we provided £2.35 million in grant funding to Sustrans to run its Safer Routes To Schools programme which supports the building of safer infrastructure to and around schools to enable more walking and cycling to schools by both teachers and pupils.

Question reference: S5W-22381

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 23 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many times the NHS has been subject to litigation in each year since 1999 because of alleged damage caused by vaccines, also broken down by NHS board; whether it will list the cases where the claim was upheld, and what information it has for the period from 1978 to 1998.

Question reference: S5W-22433

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 01 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 18 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it tracks its policy announcements and associated deadlines; what management system it has for this, and whether it will make this information public in a transparent and accessible format.

The annual Programme for Government lays out the Government’s policy and legislative agenda, the aim of which is to work towards achieving the Outcomes in the National Performance Framework (NPF).

Other policy announcements are made in Parliament and/or through the Scottish Government website to ensure accessibility and transparency. Delivery is monitored through embedded business management and monitoring processes.

The Government reports annually on spending, and a range of information including policy specific plans and progress reports is published at www.gov.scot .

Information on Scotland’s progress on the NPF can be accessed at www.nationalperformance.gov.scot.

Question reference: S5O-03102

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 March 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when the transport secretary last met representatives of the Rail Freight Group.

Question reference: S5W-22044

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 15 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 26 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered introducing legislation similar to the private members' bill recently considered in the House of Commons on a minimum height for letterboxes; what regulations on letterbox height apply in Scotland, and how these can be amended.

Question reference: S5T-01584

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when passengers will see improvements as a result of ScotRail’s recent remedial plan.

Question reference: S5O-03068

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 March 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that its management of the public finances takes account of the needs of the people of the North East Scotland region.

Question reference: S5W-21981

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 19 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has discussed with the UK Government the impact of imported hormone treated beef entering Scottish markets if external trade deals are agreed with nations that allow the practice following Brexit, and what the outcome was.

Through our membership of the EU, farming and food production in Scotland is undertaken under some of the highest animal health and welfare standards for livestock in the world. Our products, including Scotch Beef, Scotch Lamb and Specially Selected Pork are world renowned for their quality and provenance. The Scottish Government is clear that we will continue to adhere to current and future EU standards and regulations.

We have been absolutely clear that we would not tolerate any trade deal which would allow imports that would compromise these health and safety standards of our meat, and this includes the introduction from any country of hormone treated beef.

The UK Government has indicated that UK (and hence Scottish) producers will not face unfair competition from imports produced under lower standards, however, it has refused to accept an amendment into its agriculture bill which would provide in law that imported food should meet the same standards as food produced in Scotland and the UK.

As you may be aware, in October of last year the European Council authorised the European Commission to open negotiations on an agreement with the United States on imports of high quality beef from animals not treated with certain growth promoting hormones. We would expect the UK Government to take the same approach and stance in any trade negotiations in the future with the USA to not allow any imports of hormone treated beef.