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

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Question reference: S4W-28821

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 December 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many women who have been injured by transvaginal mesh implants have been refused surgery because of pending litigation involving surgeons, broken down by NHS board, and what treatment options are available for them.

No woman who has been assessed and has agreed to treatment for a complication following a mesh implant has been refused treatment; her care will be transferred to an appropriately trained clinician.

The treatment options offered will be individual to each woman depending on the complication and other relevant health considerations. However, the most common surgical treatment offered is mesh removal.

Question reference: S4W-28782

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 December 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Pentland on 15 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it has carried out an audit of the randomised system for selecting members for oral questions to ensure that the recent issue with the software has not happened previously.

The recent issue with the software used to manage parliamentary motions, amendments, questions and answers (MAQA) resulted in not all of the members who submitted their names for the random draw for General and Portfolio Questions being included in the draw. The fault was inadvertently introduced when changes were made to the software in March 2015 as part of a scheduled software update.

Replacement software to address the fault was tested and then subsequently put in place on 7 December 2015. The latest software also introduces audit functionality which will provide assurance that the system is working as intended. Chamber Desk staff will be able to provide members with information relating to their own draw histories on request.

In order to give additional reassurance to members that the random draw for General and Portfolio Questions has been carried out correctly since the introduction of the MAQA system at the start of this parliamentary session, the Scottish Parliament Information Centre has been commissioned to audit the results of the draw during that period. The audit will be independently peer reviewed. The results will be made available to all members.

Question reference: S4W-28734

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government on what dates and at what times it had meetings with Police Scotland or its predecessor forces to discuss the deployment of undercover officers for the purpose of monitoring environmental, political, trade union or pressure group activists between 1999 and 2015.

Question reference: S4W-28732

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many times Police Scotland, or a predecessor force, gave authorisation for the deployment of undercover officers for the purpose of monitoring environmental, political, trade union or pressure group activists between 1999 and 2015.

Question reference: S4W-28733

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what correspondence it had with Police Scotland and its predecessor forces regarding the deployment of undercover officers for the purpose of monitoring environmental, political, trade union or pressure group activists between 1999 and 2015.

Question reference: S4W-28820

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 December 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many women injured by transvaginal mesh implants currently require corrective surgery, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S4W-28623

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 20 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 8 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Office of the Charity Regulator having no objection to the review of Voluntary Sector Gatweway West Lothian being published, whether it will now publish the report.

The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) is inquiring into matters relating to the charity. The Scottish Government has recently been made aware by OSCR that the report does not inform their inquiry, and therefore we are now reconsidering matters in relation to release of the report on the Voluntary Sector Gateway West Lothian. The Scottish Government have a request for a copy of the report, which is being considered under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Question reference: S4W-28592

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government which GP practices in Lothian are using locum GPs to cover vacancies.

The Scottish Government does not hold information about which GP practices in Lothian are using locum GPs to cover vacancies.

The Scottish Government and NHS Lothian do not hold this information because the majority of practices are responsible for filling their own vacancies for GPs and other staff.

The results of the National Primary Care Workforce Survey for 2015 should provide more information on vacancies and fill rates once it is published in 2016.

Question reference: S4O-04910

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 December 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether its non-profit distributing programme is regarded by the Office for National Statistics as a public sector programme.

Question reference: S4W-28591

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government which GP practices in Lothian have (a) GP and (b) staff vacancies.