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-19142

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 23 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it consulted specifically on its proposal to extend the period in which assets vest in a trustee to four years and, if so, with what outcome.

This proposal arose as a result of feedback from stakeholders who, after the consultation on bankruptcy law reform, reported an issue with the current approach, for example, in protected trust deeds where the practice was often to write the period in which assets would vest in the trustee into the body of the trust deed. This resulted in inconsistencies with debtors being treated differently depending on the terms of their trust deed. The outcome of this stakeholder feedback was that the Scottish Government agreed to correct this inconsistency.

Question reference: S4W-19138

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 15 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how much the NHS has spent treating injuries caused by dog attacks in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S4W-18535

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 3 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that deaf British Sign Language (BSL) users have continued access to the NHS 24 service beyond the current three-month funded period.

Question reference: S4W-18534

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 3 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what the reasons were for the closure of the British Sign Language (BSL) interpreting service for NHS 24 on 29 October 2013.

The pilot online British Sign Language (BSL) interpreting service is still in operation.

The online service is part of the NHS24 led BSL pilot project which was introduced in April 2012 to improve linguistic access to health service for members of the deaf community in Scotland.

The report of an independent evaluation of the pilot commissioned by NHS 24 is currently being considered.

The British Sign Language service will continue in the interim and both the Scottish Government and NHS 24 are clear that the outcome of considerations should secure the best possible future service to the deaf community.

Question reference: S4O-02564

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 November 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made on the Tay Estuary Rail Service.

Question reference: S4O-02551

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 6 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what financial commitment sportscotland has made to the regional performance centre in Dundee.

Question reference: S4W-17537

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 28 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce a register of teachers of deaf people.

Keeping the register of teachers in Scotland is one of the functions of the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS). The GTCS became the independent, profession-led regulatory body for the teaching profession under The Public Services Reform (General Teaching Council for Scotland) Order 2011, on 2 April 2012. It is the statutory duty of the GTCS to maintain the register of teachers and they fulfil this duty by setting out registration criteria for applicants who are seeking inclusion in that register and who subsequently can be employed by local authorities to teach in schools.

In particular at Article 14(1) of the 2011 Order:

It is for the GTCS to sub-divide or otherwise organise entries in the register in such manner as it thinks fit.

As part of the Doran Review implementation, we will work with the GTCS and other partners to find a pragmatic solution to the issue of knowledge of the skills and qualifications of teachers.

Question reference: S4W-17239

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 7 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what organisations it funds to provide care and support to children who have been trafficked.

Within Scotland our policy around child trafficking is robust. We have firmly embedded child trafficking into the wider child protection system through multi agency working at local level. We do not hold information centrally on the resources these agencies may provide.

We are providing the Scottish Refugee Council, in partnership with Aberlour Childcare Trust, a grant of £200,000 a year for the next three years starting in 2013 to help fund the Scottish Guardianship Service. The Scottish Guardianship Service help unaccompanied asylum seeking and trafficked children and young people navigate through the immigration and welfare processes and get the help they need when they need it. It is a unique service in the UK and provides independent advocacy both on the matters of immigration and welfare.

Question reference: S4O-02432

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 September 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what its financial commitment is to the regional performance centre in Dundee and when it will open.

Question reference: S4T-00452

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 September 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to prevent attacks by dangerous dogs.