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-23583

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 8 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) timescale and (b) criteria will be for applications to the agri-environment climate fund in March 2015.

Our current plan is to launch the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme in January 2015 and customers will be invited to apply online from March 2015, with contracts issued from late 2015.

High level guidance was available on-line from 15 December 2014, and detailed scheme guidance will be available to customers for January 2015. We will also be running pillar 2 roadshows around Scotland from February 2015.

Question reference: S4O-03888

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 January 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to increase the number of mental health officers being trained.

Question reference: S4W-23775

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the pilot project in England that allowed GPs to prescribe double glazing and loft insulation for patients living in cold, damp homes, which reportedly reduced GP and outpatient visits by a third.

The Scottish Government welcomes any initiative that helps give people affordable, warm homes. We are committed to tackling fuel poverty and would encourage anybody in Scotland to call the Home Energy Scotland hotline on 0808 808 2282 to get expert impartial advice on improving the energy efficiency of their home.

As the recently published 2014 Progress Report on the Scottish Fuel Poverty Statement highlights, we are working with stakeholders to help join up the messaging between the link worker programme and the Home Energy Scotland advice and support provision. One of the aims is to raise awareness of fuel poverty and the assistance that is available amongst patients and health professionals, including link workers.

Question reference: S4W-23773

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 7 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what the priorities are for the Minister for Sport, Health Improvement and Mental Health.

In line with the objectives set out in the programme for government my main priority is to work with my ministerial colleagues and their teams across government and with the wider public sector and the third sector to tackle inequalities in our society. I will focus my efforts on ensuring that the policies under my direction contribute fully to help make Scotland’s communities vibrant, thriving and resilient places where people can achieve their full potential, where they can access the appropriate level of support and services that help them do this.

Question reference: S4W-23774

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 19 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 6 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government on what date the expansion of the child and adolescent mental health services unit in Dundee will be complete.

Question reference: S4W-23586

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 19 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government when it will consult on its proposed Succession Bill.

<>The Scottish Law Commission (the Commission) reviewed the law of succession and issued a report in 2009 - Report on Succession (Scot Law Com No 215). The report made recommendations on a range of succession issues including:

Intestacy (where a person dies without making a will), protection against disinheritance, protection for cohabitants, bonds of caution (a form of indemnity insurance) for executors-dative and a range of technical issues on jurisdiction, choice of law: wills and survivorship.

The Scottish Government carried out a period of informal pre-consultation dialogue with a number of stakeholders on the report’s key recommendations. There was a lack of consensus amongst those stakeholders consulted as to some of the recommendations in relation to the first three bullet points above. Given this and in order to avoid delay in reforming the largely technical law on the administration of estates and succession, on 14 August 2014 the Scottish Government issued a consultation on technical issues relating to succession:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2014/08/1185. This consultation sought views on the technical issues relating to succession law and bonds of caution. The consultation closed on 7 November 2014. Responses are currently being analysed and will inform the Succession Bill announced in the Programme for Government on 26 November 2014.

A second consultation on the more complex and substantive proposals for reform of succession will follow in 2015.

Question reference: S4W-23422

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 16 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to improve the level of secure inpatient care provision for children and young people with mental health issues.

There are three inpatient mental health facilities for children and adolescents (over the age of 12), and one inpatient mental health facility for children (under the age of 13) in Scotland.

We are working with NHS directors of planning to determine the most appropriate and clinically effective and safe model of secure Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services inpatient care in Scotland.

We have also been working with NHS boards to develop a new model of ‘hospital at home’ type care and treatment which has now been introduced across many NHS boards. This new approach creates new capacity. In the areas where the new approaches are most advanced this has been demonstrated to have had the effect of significantly reducing the need for unscheduled and temporary admissions of under 18s to adult psychiatric hospital beds.

Question reference: S4O-03830

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 December 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support enterprise and business across the South Scotland parliamentary region.

Question reference: S4T-00866

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 08 December 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support hospital emergency departments in light of reports of increased waiting times and concerns that GP closures over the festive period will exacerbate the situation.

Question reference: S4W-23421

Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 5 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many admissions to specialist inpatient units there have been under section 23 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 in each year since 2011, broken down by NHS board.

Parliament dissolved ahead of election

Chamber and committees

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