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-25785

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 30 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects an enhanced passenger information system to be introduced at all Northern Isles Ferry Services terminals, and what estimate it has made of the cost of this project.

Question reference: S5W-25784

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 30 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects a new demand analysis and forecasting model for passengers and freight customers on Northern Isles Ferry Services to be introduced, and how the cost of this project will be met.

Question reference: S5W-25759

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 29 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-25418 by Kevin Stewart on 30 September 2019, and in light of a range of industry experts who have reportedly criticised the BS 8414 large-scale fire test, including expert witnesses to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, which has led to an ongoing review of the standard, and the European Commission’s rejection of BS 8414 as a harmonised test standard, for what reason it continues to permit this route to using combustible materials on the façades of high-rise and high-risk buildings in Scotland.

The Scottish Government will consider the recommendations of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry when they are published. National and International members of the Building Standards Fire Safety Review Panel fully supported the continued use of the BS 8414 large scale façade test.

It is incorrect to say that the European Commission (EC) have rejected BS 8414. The EC have invited tenders to finalise and fine tune the European approach to assessing the fire performance of facades and are using BS 8414 as the basis of their large scale fire exposure condition. The deadline for submission of tenders is 8 November 2019. More detailed information is available on the Commission’s website which can be found at https://ec.europa.eu/growth/content/finalisation-european-approach-assess-fire-performance-facades_en .

Question reference: S5W-25758

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 29 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-25418 by Kevin Stewart on 30 September 2019, whether it will confirm that the alternative BS 8414 test is a large-scale fire test, rather than a full-scale fire test.

BS 8414 is a large-scale test of a full-scale cladding system though neither of the terms ‘large-scale’ or ‘full-scale’ are used in the document itself. BS 8414 tests the vertical fire spread performance of an 8 metre tall external wall cladding system.

The system includes sheeting rails, fixings, cavities, cavity barriers, insulation and membranes, coatings, flashings or joints. The fire exposure is representative of an external fire source or a fully-developed (post flashover) fire in a room, venting through an opening such as a window or other aperture.

Question reference: S5W-25755

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 29 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-25418 by Kevin Stewart on 30 September 2019, whether it will clarify if the requirement for external wall cladding systems on buildings with a storey at more than 11 metres above ground level to have a fire classification of either A1 (non-combustible) or A2 (will not contribute to the fire spread) can be circumvented using the alternative BS 8414 large-scale fire test, which permits combustible materials on to the outside of buildings.

Question reference: S5W-25756

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 29 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-25418 by Kevin Stewart on 30 September 2019, whether it will clarify if the requirement for external wall cladding systems on assembly and entertainment buildings and to hospitals and residential care buildings, regardless of height, to have a fire classification of either A1 (non-combustible) or A2 (will not contribute to the fire spread) can be circumvented using the alternative BS 8414 large-scale fire test, which permits combustible materials on to the outside of buildings.

Question reference: S5W-25757

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 29 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-25418 by Kevin Stewart on 30 September 2019, whether it will confirm that desktop studies, which use data from previous BS 8414 large-scale tests to extrapolate how an external system would perform if it were tested, are supported and recognised as a route to compliance with Scottish building regulations via legally permitted alternative guidance.

The term “desktop study” has commonly been used to describe an assessment in lieu of a fire test. Desktop studies have never been recognised or supported as a route to compliance with Scottish building regulations.

Direct application rules for cladding systems which has been subjected to a single or multiple BS 8414 fire tests has recently been published by the British Standards Institution, based upon the work of a committee which is both expert and independent of government. The new standard (BS 9414) is cited in the Scottish Technical Handbooks which came into force on 1 October 2019.

Question reference: S5O-03685

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 October 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what changes it will make to disability assistance and carer's allowance to help reduce loneliness and social isolation.

Question reference: S5W-25638

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 18 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its policy is on the accountability for the follow-up care of patients who have received private health screening that has not been authorised by the UK National Screening Committee.

All screening programmes which are offered by NHS Scotland are done so following recommendations made by the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), and are supported by expert advice and robust evidence. We cannot provide the same assurances of private healthcare companies which often test for a wider range of conditions.

If screening, outside of the UK NSC’s recommendations, is being offered it is the responsibility of the person offering screening to ensure that the patient is sufficiently informed about both potential benefits and potential harms of the screening.

The follow up of patients referred to the NHS for further investigations or treatment following a screening test will be in line with current NHS Guidelines, regardless of their referral route.

Question reference: S5W-25301

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 8 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its geographical differences with the rest of the NHS Highland area, what its response is to calls for an inquiry, similar to that of the Sturrock review, to be carried out into alleged bullying and harassment in the Argyll and Bute area, and what discussions it has had with NHS Highland, the Argyll and Bute Health and Social Care Partnership and the local trade unions regarding this.

Following publication of the Sturrock Review, I visited NHS Highland in June to meet with the Board and staff-side partners to discuss progress. At those meetings I asked the Chair and Chief Executive of NHS Highland to consider further the options for taking forward a review in Argyll and Bute and to engage with relevant stakeholders.

The board has advised that on 24 September it approved the decision to proceed to tender for an independent individual or organisation to undertake a culture review within Argyll & Bute, as recommended in the Sturrock report.

NHS Highland are developing the tender documentation and selection process for consultation with staff-side and local management prior to placing this on the tender portal. The Board expect to commission the review in late November with a view to this commencing in early January 2020 and reporting at the end of March 2020.