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-09840

Asked by: Richard Lyle, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 9 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on a 16% success rate for individual patient treatment requests for cancer treatment.

The Scottish Government does not recognise the statistic of a 16% success rate for Individual Patient Treatment Requests (IPTRs) for Cancer.

The summary report of NHS board data on IPTRs for the period 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012 which was provided as part of a written submission to the Scottish Parliament’s Health and Sport Committee clarified that a total of 291 IPTR requests were received during the period of which, 194 were approved – a 66% approval rate.

The IPTR data indicated that 123 of the IPTRs requested were for cancer medicines of which 78 were approved indicating a 63% approval rate.

Question reference: S4O-01313

Asked by: Richard Lyle, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 September 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what improvement plans it has for Monklands Hospital.

Question reference: S4O-01267

Asked by: Richard Lyle, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 September 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to Citizens Advice Scotland's report suggesting that the number of Scots receiving food parcels from charities has doubled in the last two years due to changes to the benefits system.

Question reference: S4W-07889

Asked by: Richard Lyle, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 26 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what contribution it has made to the bee industry in the last five years.

A number of contributions have been made including:

The launch in 2010 of the 10-year Honey Bee Health Strategy which aims to develop Education, Training, Knowledge Transfer and Communications as well as promote Surveillance, Diagnosis, Biosecurity and Research and Development.

Organising and delivering of three Bee Health Days and a comprehensive advisory service provided by the Scottish Agricultural College.

The restructuring of the SG Bee Inspectorate which includes Bee Inspectors delivering local level education through delivering informative talks to beekeeping associations.

The introduction of a control plan, to be used by bee farmers, for the notifiable disease European Foulbrood (EFB).

The introduction in 2012 of a surveillance programme to help establish the disease situation throughout Scotland.

Provision of a free diagnostic service by Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA) to identify and confirm the presence of notifiable bee pests and diseases.

An improved cross-border working relationship with colleagues in Fera’s National Bee Unit (NBU).

Utilising and contributing to the NBU’s database and information system “BeeBase”. Nearly 900 Scottish beekeepers have registered since 2010.

Signing up to the EU COLOSS (Prevention of Colony Losses) network.

Contributing £550k to the £10 million multi-agency research programme “Insect Pollinator Initiative (IPI)”.

Question reference: S4W-07891

Asked by: Richard Lyle, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 26 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many tonnes of carbon are captured by peat bogs.

Question reference: S4W-07890

Asked by: Richard Lyle, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 25 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it has made available to local authorities to establish sports hubs in the last two years.

Question reference: S4W-07888

Asked by: Richard Lyle, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 22 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive which fuel poor areas it expects to benefit first from the National Retrofit Programme.

In my Statement to Parliament on 6 June 2012 I confirmed the Scottish Government’s plans to develop a National Retrofit Programme which will offer a range of free or discounted heating and home insulation measures to people across Scotland who struggle with fuel poverty.

The programme will adopt an area based approach that prioritises fuel poverty and other deprivation factors. Support and measures provided will be tailored to home and household needs, based on a thorough assessment.

We expect the programme to start in 2013 and cover the whole of Scotland in 10 years.

Question reference: S4W-07887

Asked by: Richard Lyle, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 22 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of the £32 million for superfast broadband that it has been given by the UK Government will be allocated to Central Scotland.

The additional £32 million allocation announced on 8 June 2012 by the UK Government will be added to the Scottish Government’s central funding pot for broadband delivery across Scotland, which is now £244.5 million. This comprises £143.7 million from the Scottish Budget and £100.8 million from the UK Government. In addition to this, around £40 million, to date, has also been secured in local authority contributions.

This funding will be used to invest in infrastructure that will have the capacity to deliver broadband at a speed of 40-80 Megabits per second (Mbps) to 85-90% of premises by 2015, as set out in Scotland’s Digital Future: Infrastructure Action Plan, published on 31 January 2012.

Question reference: S4W-07583

Asked by: Richard Lyle, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 14 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the proposal by the Nursing and Midwifery Council to increase the annual nursing and midwifery fee from £76 to £120.

The regulation and registration of nurses and midwives is reserved to the UK Government and Scottish Ministers have no statutory powers in this matter. However, a fee increase of this magnitude would impose an unwelcome burden on key frontline health professionals across Scotland and I am not convinced that such a measure can be justified. The Scottish Government is in regular contact with the UK Department of Health and continues to monitor developments on this issue closely.

Question reference: S4W-07397

Asked by: Richard Lyle, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 8 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason North Lanarkshire Council's figure of 4.3% of pupils with additional support needs is lower than expected for a deprived area.

The Additional Support for Learning Act provides the framework for all support for learning. It is the responsibility of all education authorities to identify, make provision for and review the support in place for the additional support needs of the pupils for whose education they are responsible. As this is the responsibility of North Lanarkshire Council it is not appropriate for the Scottish Government to comment on.

The Scottish Government will consider the issue of statistical collection as part of the long-term plan to support implementation of the Additional Support for Learning Act.