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-04442

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 19 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS boards provide a dedicated physiotherapist for people with multiple sclerosis (MS).

It is for individual NHS boards to determine the number of dedicated physiotherapists they require to treat people with multiple sclerosis (MS) based on local priorities and clinical need and Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. However, Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS, formerly NHS Quality Improvement Scotland) launched its Clinical Standards for Neurological Health Services on 21 January 2010, along with an implementation plan for NHS boards’ use, detailing tools and techniques for improvement. The standards are in part generic, dealing with the early part of the patient journey, including access to specialist neurological services and the quality of the patient experience. The remainder of the standards focus on five specific conditions including MS.

Standard 14, which covers access to specialist MS services, requires that as a minimum the MS multidisciplinary team should consist of: a consultant who specialises in the diagnosis and management of MS; an MS clinical nurse; the patient and carer. Additional input from other healthcare professionals including physiotherapists with experience and training in neurological conditions should also be offered.

Question reference: S4W-04443

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 15 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to improve the A7 through (a) Selkirk and (b) Hawick.

Question reference: S4O-00529

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 December 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is on ending automatic early release of prisoners.

Question reference: S4O-00381

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met representatives of NFU Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-03365

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 October 2011
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 8 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the enhanced support offered for tidal stream technologies by Renewable Obligation Certificates extends to tidal range technologies and, if so, how the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) scheme discourages potentially adverse environmental impacts from tidal range developments.

The Renewables Obligation (Scotland) offers support to tidal range technologies (beneath 1 GigaWatt in size), but at a lower level than the enhanced support available for tidal stream technologies.

The government considers environmental impacts of proposed offshore energy generation through the process of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). The government published an SEA in 2007 which examined the environmental effects of developing wave and tidal power. We are currently updating this SEA, and the results will inform our future wave and tidal sectoral marine plan.

Any proposed offshore energy scheme requires a marine licence before it can be constructed. This licence requires the developers to carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment to assess the likely environmental impacts and to agree any mitigation measures with the regulator. Further guidance about the marine licensing process can be found at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/marine/Licensing/marine .

Question reference: S4W-03364

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 October 2011
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 28 October 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S4W-02931 by Aileen Campbell on 7 October 2011, what work it is doing to identify when the impact of wind turbines on the natural environment would become unacceptable.

Question reference: S4O-00285

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 October 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 October 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met the BBC Trust and what issues were discussed.

Question reference: S4W-02931

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2011
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 7 October 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on setting limits on the number of wind turbines that may be installed in local authority areas.

Question reference: S4W-01964

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 23 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how it is promoting the teaching of Latin in schools.

Curriculum for Excellence offers practitioners the opportunity to introduce study of the classical world, including Latin, into the classroom.

The Scottish Government and The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) are working with a range of experienced teachers, including Latin teachers, to develop a full suite of Latin qualifications from Access to Advanced Higher. These new Curriculum for Excellence qualifications will be ready for pupils to sit in 2014.

Question reference: S4W-01904

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 July 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 22 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many Scottish graduates from universities in Scotland were (a) working in Scotland, (b) working elsewhere in the United Kingdom and (c) unemployed in the year after they graduated in each of the last five years.

Information on the destinations of recent qualifiers from Scottish higher education institutions (HEIs) comes from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey. This survey reports the destinations of qualifiers six months after concluding their course. The following table contains weighted results from this survey, which show the estimated number of Scottish domiciled qualifiers from Scottish HEIs in each of the destination categories requested.

Employment Figures for Scottish Domiciled Qualifiers from Higher Education Courses at Scottish Higher Education Institutions: 2004-05 to 2008-09

Academic Year	Employed in Scotland	Employed Elsewhere in the UK	Believed Unemployed
2004-05	23,585	1,310	1,370
2005-06	23,525	1,260	1,340
2006-07	24,535	1,260	1,230
2007-08	22,705	1,265	1,550
2008-09	21,425	1,185	1,910

Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).

Notes:

Those engaged in other activities other than employment and unemployment have been excluded from this table.

Figures have been rounded to the nearest five. Zero, one, two have been rounded to zero.

Information on the methodology used to calculate these figures can be found from the Attainment in Higher Education and Destinations of Qualifiers National Statistics publication at the following internet address, http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/09/28110151/0. The latest available data relates to qualifiers from the academic year 2008-09. 2009-10 data will be available at the end of September.