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: S5W-24836

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 10 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what criteria it uses to decide whether a business should be brought under public ownership.

Question reference: S5W-24753

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many calls to Police Scotland in each of the last five years have concerned an issue related to mental ill health.

This information is not held by the Scottish Government. However, it is widely recognised that Police Scotland plays a significant role in assisting and safeguarding individuals who present to services in emotional or mental health distress. The Health and Justice Collaboration Improvement Board, chaired by the Scottish Government, is committed to working with all partners to strengthen collaborative approaches in this area.

Question reference: S5W-24752

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many times in the last two years police cover in West Lothian has been below the planned staffing rota level.

Question reference: S5W-24669

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 30 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle workplace bullying in publicly-funded industries and services.

The Scottish Government is clear that bullying and harassment of any worker, under any circumstance, is unacceptable. Under the Equality Act (2010), all publicly funded organisations are obliged to comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty and must work to eliminate unlawful discrimination.

Respect and security at work for all workers is central to our Fair Work policy. The Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work has made plain the expectation for public bodies and agencies in Scotland - along with the Scottish Government - to lead the way on Fair Work. He wrote to public bodies on 28 August, encouraging them to adopt the terms of the Fair Work Agreement between the Scottish Government and the relevant Civil Service trade unions, signed up to in November 2018. The Agreement is underpinned by the Fair Work Framework and sets out a range of principles that will help employers embed fair work into employment practices, helping Scotland to be a Fair Work Nation by 2025.

Question reference: S5O-03467

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address climate change.

Question reference: S5W-24601

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 28 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has withdrawn funding from the NASplus autism service in West Lothian.

The National Autistic Society (NAS) Scotland were awarded £224k over three years from Scotland's ALLIANCE Self Management fund for the NASplus service, this ended in ended in March 2019. The Scottish Government then provided NAS with bridge funding to allow NAS more time to secure other sources of funding. NAS Scotland has taken the difficult decision to close the service after attempts to secure funding to cover the project's running costs were unsuccessful.

The Scottish Government does not directly fund local services. The Integration Authorities are responsible for the strategic planning and decision making for all functions delegated to them, including autism services in line with their statutory responsibilities under the Public Bodies (Scotland) Act (2014). No assessment has been carried out, as the funding was not core or long term.

NASplus provided personalised and tailored support to around 60 autistic people and their families in West Lothian. NAS Scotland can provide more detailed data on the exact number of people the service supported if required.

NAS Scotland have given assurances that it will continue to secure funding so that it can continue to offer support for autistic people in West Lothian.

Question reference: S5W-24602

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 28 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has carried out of the impact of the withdrawal of funding for the NASplus autism service in West Lothian.

Question reference: S5W-24604

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 28 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how the young people and families who use the NASplus autism service in West Lothian will be supported after the service closes.

Question reference: S5W-24603

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 28 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many young people and families have received support each year from the NASplus autism service in West Lothian.

Question reference: S5W-24499

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 26 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the Scottish Prison Service budget for each of the last 36 months, and how much the underspend or overspend has been in each month.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:

A breakdown of SPS’ budget for financial years 2016-17, 2017-18 & 2018-19 is provided in the following tables. The information has been broken down to show Resource, Non-cash (depreciation), Capital and Annually Managed Expenditure (AME).

Financial Year	Resource Budget £m	Resource Variance £m	Resource non-cash £	Resource non-cash variance £m	Capital Budget £m	Capital Variance £m	AME Budget £m	AME Variance £m
2016-17
Apr-Jun	74.7	-0.8	8.1	0.0	2.6	-2.4	0.0	0.0
Jul	25.6	-1.4	2.7	0.0	0.8	-0.7	0.0	0.0
Aug	26.1	-0.6	2.7	0.0	0.8	-0.9	0.0	0.0
Sep	25.7	-1.1	2.7	0.0	0.8	-0.7	0.0	0.0
Oct	24.5	1.1	2.8	0.0	0.8	-0.7	0.0	0.0
Nov	25.8	-0.6	2.8	0.0	0.8	-0.7	0.0	0.0
Dec	25.7	0.4	2.8	0.0	0.8	-0.6	0.0	0.0
Jan	26.6	-1.5	2.8	0.0	0.9	-0.6	0.0	0.0
Feb	24.9	-0.2	2.8	0.0	0.9	-0.4	0.0	0.0
Mar	28.5	4.7	1.8	-0.4	-6.0	6.9	-5.0	-3.7
Total	308.1	0.0	32.0	-0.4	3.2	-0.8	-5.0	-3.7

Financial Year	Resource Budget £m	Resource Variance £m	Resource non-cash £m	Resource non-cash variance £m	Capital Budget £m	Capital Variance £m	AME Budget £m	AME Variance £m
2017-18
Apr	25.3	-1.4	2.9	0.0	0.2	-0.1	0.0	0.0
May	25.3	0.4	2.9	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0
Jun	25.5	-0.7	2.9	-8.4	0.1	-0.1	0.0	0.0
Jul	25.7	-2.1	2.9	8.4	0.1	0.1	0.0	0.0
Aug	25.5	-0.6	2.8	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0
Sep	25.6	-0.7	2.8	-0.1	0.2	-0.2	0.0	0.0
Oct	26.5	-2.0	2.8	-0.1	0.2	0.6	0.0	0.0
Nov	26.6	-1.5	2.8	-0.1	0.2	0.3	0.0	0.0
Dec	26.5	-1.1	2.8	-0.1	0.2	0.1	0.0	0.0
Jan	26.6	-1.3	2.8	-0.1	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0
Feb	26.8	-2.2	2.8	-0.1	0.3	0.6	0.0	0.0
Mar	26.8	7.8	-1.2	0.4	10.0	-1.7	1.4	-7.4
Total	312.7	-5.4	30.0	-0.2	12.1	-0.4	1.4	-7.4

Financial Year	Resource Budget	Financial Year	Resource Budget	Financial Year	Resource Budget	Financial Year	Resource Budget	Financial Year
2018-19
Apr-May	51.4	-4.5	5.5	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0
Jun	26.8	1.8	2.7	0.0	0.2	0.7	0.0	0.0
Jul	25.9	1.9	2.7	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0
Aug	26.1	-0.2	2.7	0.0	0.2	0.5	0.0	0.0
Sep	25.7	-0.1	2.7	0.0	0.2	0.1	0.0	0.0
Oct	26.3	-1.2	2.7	0.0	0.2	0.1	0.0	0.0
Nov	26.4	-0.8	2.8	0.0	3.5	-2.8	0.0	0.0
Dec	25.3	0.4	2.8	0.0	0.9	0.5	0.0	0.0
Jan	26.5	-0.5	2.8	0.0	3.5	-2.9	0.0	0.0
Feb	26.4	-0.8	2.8	0.0	3.5	-2.7	0.0	0.0
Mar	26.9	2.5	2.8	-1.8	6.6	3.3	-1.4	0.1
Total	313.7	-1.5	33.0	-1.8	19.3	-3.2	-1.4	0.1