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-27611

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 1 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding how the mental health of children and young people in care compares with those who are not care-experienced.

The Scottish Government are overseeing a research project on how the wellbeing of children in different areas is being met by local areas, including the emotional wellbeing of looked after and non-looked after children. The project is currently ongoing. Data analysis and reporting on the first three Community Planning Partnership areas will be undertaken in May 2016.

The 27-30 month review data which data published by Information Services Division Scotland

(https://isdscotland.scot.nhs.uk/Health-Topics/Child-Health/Publications/2014-12-16/2014-12-16-Child-Health-27m-review-Summary.pdf?278872252) records if children have social, emotional and behavioural concerns/disorders. The preliminary data not including information on whether children were looked after was published in December 2014. This may be a source of comparable wellbeing data for looked after and non-looked after children in future.

Question reference: S4O-04682

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 September 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the UNISON Scotland survey claiming that staff morale at colleges "is at rock bottom with 79% of respondents saying staff felt negative or extremely negative".

Question reference: S4W-27523

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 30 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it (a) has had and (b) plans to have with ScotRail regarding increasing capacity on the Borders rail link and what plans it has to work in conjunction with the operator to increase capacity.

Transport Scotland has had regular meetings with ScotRail since the construction of the Borders Railway began in 2013, through the delivery of the project and since services were reintroduced on Sunday 6 September 2015. ScotRail is well aware of the issues with busy services and has put plans in place to reduce pressures by adding extra carriages, in some cases doubling the number on some Borders services.

ScotRail will continue to closely monitor passenger numbers to ensure there is sufficient capacity on scheduled services.

Question reference: S4W-27599

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 30 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what the timetable is for implementing the introduction of opt-out blood borne virus testing in prisons.

Question reference: S4W-27444

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Aileen McLeod on 30 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether there is a national shortage of spawning salmon; whether this has resulted in a reduction in juvenile salmon in Scottish rivers, and whether it will publish the statistical evidence in this regard.

Question reference: S4W-27442

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Aileen McLeod on 30 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what legal or other advice it has received in the context of the habitats directive in relation to its management of Atlantic salmon and whether it will publish this.

Question reference: S4W-27443

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Aileen McLeod on 30 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government for what conservation reasons it has introduced a system under which salmon can only be killed by anglers under licence.

The introduction of a kill licence was a key recommendation of the independent Wild Fisheries Review published in 2014. The review called for this issue to be given immediate consideration given the conservation status of wild salmon. The revised proposals recently published by Scottish ministers details a system which provides a mechanism to control fishing activity. The killing of salmon will be managed on an annual basis by categorising fishery districts and Special Areas of Conservation in relation to their conservation status.

Question reference: S4W-27445

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Aileen McLeod on 30 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it considers that its proposed controls on salmon spawning could have a significant effect on numbers, given that it is understood that up to 90% of salmon in Scottish rivers escape to spawn elsewhere.

It is believed that most wild Scottish salmon return to spawn in the river where they were themselves spawned. Below a critical level of spawning adults, the production of smolts depends not on how many juveniles can be supported by the river habitat, but rather by the number of eggs deposited. In this circumstance, an increase in spawning fish by reducing numbers killed by a fishery can be expected to increase the number of smolts produced and increase population strength.

Question reference: S4W-27544

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 28 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the finding in the Scottish Consortium for Learning Disability report, Learning Disability Statistics Scotland, 2014, that 52.8% of adults with learning disabilities for whom the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation information is known live in the 40% most deprived areas in Scotland.

The Scottish Government works in partnership with the Scottish Consortium for Learning Disabilities in the collection of statistics about adults with learning disabilities who are known to local authorities in Scotland.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving the lives of people with learning disabilities, their families and carers through the implementation of The keys to life in Scotland. The focus of the keys to life strategy is to reduce the significant health and social inequalities faced by people who have learning disabilities. Specifically the strategy aims to reduce the significant health inequalities and early mortality of the population.

A strategic framework with identified outcomes has been developed to support the delivery of the keys to life. This will concentrate on outcomes and key activities to support their achievement, including supporting the development of effective physical activity interventions and facilitating innovative social connectedness and employment opportunities for people with learning disabilities. The framework can be found in the following link: http://keystolife.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/The-Keys-to-Life-Implementation-Framework-and-Priorities.pdf

Question reference: S4W-27504

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 14 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 28 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) GP consultations and (b) hospital admissions have been attributed to allergic disease in each year since 2009-10.

The table at the following link: http://www.scotpho.org.uk/health-wellbeing-and-disease/allergic-conditions/data/secondary-care-data shows the number of hospital discharges following admission with a diagnosis of any allergic condition. The figures include asthma within the total.

Primary care data relating to allergic conditions are available at

http://www.scotpho.org.uk/health-wellbeing-and-disease/allergic-conditions/data/primary-care-data which shows “Patients in Scotland consulting a GP or Practice Nurse at least once in the year: rates per 10,000 population for anaphylaxis from 2004-5 to 2012-13.”