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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 1003 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S4W-26492

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 July 2015
Current Status: Answered by Aileen McLeod on 5 August 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of the level of (a) lead and (b) E coli in public and private water supplies.

The Drinking Water Quality Regulator collates and reviews data on water quality compliance on behalf of Scottish Ministers.

The Scottish Government is not able to release the 2014 data until the publication of the private water supply annual report in August 2015. This is due to the private water supply datasets we hold being classified as an official statistic.

Private Water Supplies

The following table shows compliance for the relevant parameters in private water supplies as reported by local authorities to the Drinking Water Quality Regulator for the year 2013:

Parameter	Private Water Supplies Class	Compliance (%)
E.coli	A	86.42
E.coli	B	79.78
Lead	A	95.82
Lead	B	96.31

Private water supplies are divided into two classes – type A supplies are larger, or those supplying a commercial undertaking; type B supplies are smaller, domestic supplies.

The mean concentration of lead in the 1,957 private water supply samples collected during 2013 was 6.61 microgrammes per litre. The majority of samples recorded lead concentrations below the analytical limit of detection.

Public Water Supplies

The following table below shows compliance for the relevant parameters in the public water supply for the relevant parameters in 2014:

Parameter	Compliance (%)
E.coli	99.99
Lead	99.20

The mean concentration of lead in the 1,500 public water supply samples collected during 2014 was 1.11 microgrammes per litre. The majority of samples recorded lead concentrations below the analytical limit of detection.

Question reference: S4W-26491

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 July 2015
Current Status: Answered by Aileen McLeod on 5 August 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many quality of drinking water standards have been broken since 1 December 2013 by each local authority and (a) public and (b) private water supplier.

Local authority name	Public supplies: tests taken	Public supplies: tests failed
Aberdeen City Council	10,802	7
Aberdeenshire Council	19,616	16
Angus Council	8,260	8
Argyll and Bute Council	11,829	14
Clackmannanshire Council	5,854	6
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	4,477	3
Dumfries and Galloway Council	11,242	8
Dundee City Council	4,938	4
East Ayrshire Council	14,217	13
East Dunbartonshire Council	17,712	13
East Lothian Council	7,832	6
East Renfrewshire Council	12,191	10
Falkirk Council	14,017	14
Fife Council	13,409	14
Glasgow City Council	32,054	26
Highland Council	22,683	23
Inverclyde Council	5,289	7
Midlothian Council	10,643	9
Moray Council	7,794	9
North Ayrshire Council	7,965	10
North Lanarkshire Council	26,946	26
Orkney Islands Council	2,894	1
Perth and Kinross Council	17,895	12
Renfrewshire Council	15,008	16
Scottish Borders Council	10,304	5
Shetland Islands Council	2,652	2
South Ayrshire Council	7,533	6
South Lanarkshire Council	22,089	16
Stirling Council	12,037	9
The City of Edinburgh Council	22,212	14
West Dunbartonshire Council	12,402	11
West Lothian Council	18,792	16

The table shows the number of tests undertaken by Scottish Water that failed a drinking water standard in each local authority area for the period 1 December 2013 – 31 December 2013. The public water supply data relates to samples taken at consumer’s taps – the main point at which compliance is assessed. Scottish Water public water supply zones do not align with local authority boundaries, therefore some supply zones fall into a number of authority areas. In such cases a failing result has been recorded against each local authority covered by that zone, therefore some failures are counted more than once in the table.

There is no private water supply data available for the period of interest, as the Drinking Water Quality Regulator (DWQR) is not able to release this data prior to the publication of the private water supply section of the DWQR annual report. This is due to the dataset being classified as an official statistic. The data will be available after the report’s publication date later in August 2015.

Question reference: S4W-26490

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 July 2015
Current Status: Answered by Aileen McLeod on 5 August 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment has been made of the degree of compliance that private water supplies have with water quality standards for (a) lead and (b) E coli.

The Drinking Water Quality Regulator collates and reviews data on water quality compliance on behalf of Scottish Ministers. The following table shows compliance for the relevant parameters in private water supplies as reported by local authorities to the Drinking Water Quality Regulator for the year 2013.

Parameter	Private Water Supply Class	Compliance (%)
E.coli	A	86.42
E.coli	B	79.78
Lead	A	95.82
Lead	B	96.31

Private water supplies are divided into two classes – type A supplies are larger, or those supplying a commercial undertaking; type B supplies are smaller, domestic supplies.

Question reference: S4W-26685

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 July 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 31 July 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how Police Scotland plans to enhance the capability of the Scottish Safety Camera Programme.

Following the Review of the Scottish Safety Camera Programme, capability of the Programme will be enhanced through greater deployment flexibility and improved operational effectiveness. Any efficiencies from structural savings will be reinvested into frontline enforcement activity, maximising resource and the Programme’s collision reduction potential.

The delivery of the Programme is the responsibility of Police Scotland and the relevant safety camera units. For further information on how Police Scotland plan to enhance the capability of the Programme, questions should be directed to Police Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-26513

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 July 2015
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 31 July 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) endorsable and (b) non-endorsable fixed penalty notices have been issued for motoring offences in each year since 2006-07, broken down by offence.

Information concerning endorsements and police fixed penalty notices is not held centrally. The available information concerning fiscal fixed penalties is given in the following table. Please notice there is no data available for before 2008-09.

The increase shown for the number of fiscal fixed penalties in the year to 2013-14 can be attributed, in part, to Police Scotland focussing their attentions on road traffic and motor vehicle offences. Police Scotland's annual plan for the period identifies road safety and road crime as one of its priorities. Following consultation this showed to be a top concern for the general public.

Fiscal fixed penalties issued for motoring offences 2008-09 to 2013-14.

	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
Total	18,074	18,580	20,337	21,051	21,613	23,467

Top 30

SEJD Crime Code

Motor vehicle offences:sub-total

Serious Driving Offences

Speeding Offences

Signal and Direction Offences

Lighting, Construction & Use Offences

Documentation Offences

Other MV Offences

1	-
6,150	5,860
2,133	2,432
1,069	1,182
3,836	3,768
4,885	5,338

-	1	1	28
6,502	7,888	7,458	7,949
2,860	2,631	2,656	2,871
1,240	1,137	1,326	1,239
3,689	3,690	3,760	4,075
6,046	5,704	6,412	7,305

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings Database.

Question reference: S4W-26514

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 July 2015
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 30 July 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many licensed premises there are in Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-26503

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 July 2015
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 24 July 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to address the health needs of people in the criminal justice system since publication of the Annual Report of the Chief Medical Officer 2013.

Since publication of the Chief Medical Officer’s report in December 2014, the Scottish Government has continued to work with key partners to improve healthcare outcomes for those in the criminal justice system.

The National Prisoner Healthcare Network is undertaking a range of activities in order to improve health outcomes for individuals in the custody of the Scottish Prison Service. This includes workstreams on female offenders, substance misuse, throughcare, alcohol and drugs and mental health, many of which will report shortly.

The Ministerial Group on Offender Reintegration, established by the Scottish Government in 2013, has endorsed a series of health-related recommendations for improvement, which will be published in autumn 2015 as part of its final report.

Among a range of practical measures that have been introduced is the installation of a single IT system in all custody suites in Scotland to support the accurate recording of the healthcare needs of those in police care; the provision of access to NHS records by clinicians working in a custody setting; the upgrading of examining rooms in line with NHS standards, and the development and delivery of a bespoke training programme.

National consistency in the quality of service delivery has been supported by the establishment of a memorandum of understanding and information sharing protocol between health boards and Police Scotland, and joint Police Scotland/NHS Scotland national guidance for the delivery of healthcare and forensic medical services to people in police custody.

Question reference: S4W-26510

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 July 2015
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 24 July 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what smoking cessation services are available to prisoners.

Since 2013-14, funding for the provision of smoking cessation services in prisons is contained within the smoking cessation allocations to the relevant NHS boards listed below. It is for individual NHS boards, in partnership with the Scottish Prison Service, to determine the delivery of cessation services for their local prison population. To support this, NHS Health Scotland published a national prison smoking cessation service specification on 30 June 2015. This specification sets out performance measures and service requirements to provide a consistent and high quality prison smoking cessation service. This will also provide a foundation for the Scottish Government requirement for the Scottish Prison Service to agree plans by the end of 2015 which set out the process for making Scottish prisons smoke-free. The national prison smoking cessation service specification is available at: http://www.healthscotland.com/documents/25618.aspx

NHS board	Prisons
Grampian	HMP – YOI Grampian
Lothian	Addiewell Edinburgh
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	Barlinnie Greenock Low Moss
Forth Valley	Cornton Vale Glenochil Polmont
Dumfries and Galloway	Dumfries
Highland	Inverness
Ayrshire and Arran	Kilmarnock
Tayside	Castle Huntly Perth
Lanarkshire	Shotts

Question reference: S4W-26511

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 July 2015
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 24 July 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what access female prisoners have to breast and cervical screening services and what the take-up rate is.

Question reference: S4W-26509

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 July 2015
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 24 July 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the average waiting time for prisoners who require (a) emergency dental treatment and (b) dental treatment following a routine dental check in the last (i) six months, (ii) year and (iii) two years.