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-21557

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 1 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much additional income each Citizens Advice Scotland bureau has brought in as a result of the funding for the Scottish Legal Aid Board programme, Making Advice Work.

Question reference: S5W-21556

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 1 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much income each Citizens Advice Scotland bureau has generated as a result of the funding for the Scottish Legal Aid Board programme, Making Advice Work.

Question reference: S5W-21707

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 18 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been detained in prison in each year since 1999, also broken down by how many were recorded as (a) being homeless and (b) having a reliance on drugs or alcohol prior to sentencing.

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

The Scottish Prison Service does not hold the information you request.

Information on the average daily prison population and the maximum daily prison population for each establishment is detailed in Appendix 2 of SPS’ Annual Report and Accounts each year. These reports can be found on SPS’ website at http://www.sps.gov.uk/Corporate/Publications/Publications.aspx

Whilst we do not hold information on the number of people being homeless or having a reliance on drugs prior to sentencing, SPS’ Prisoner Survey contains information on accommodation and drug use. These surveys can be found at http://www.sps.gov.uk/Corporate/Publications/Publications.aspx and may provide some useful information.

Question reference: S5W-21555

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 1 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many families have been supported by the funding for the Scottish Legal Aid Board programme, Making Advice Work.

Question reference: S5W-21554

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 1 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what evaluation it has made of the Scottish Legal Aid Board’s funding for the programme, Making Advice Work.

Question reference: S5W-21558

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 1 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it is reducing funding for the Scottish Legal Aid Board programme, Making Advice Work.

The Scottish Government continues to provide £2.7 million to fund 27 advice projects as part of the Scottish Legal Aid Board programme. Nonetheless, in the face of tightening budgets resulting from the UK Government’s continuing austerity programme, we must target our funding to ensure it goes where it is most needed. We have therefore had to take the difficult decision not to continue funding of some of the Scottish Legal Aid Board projects which overlapped other funding from Scottish, UK and local governments. We will be working with affected projects in the coming weeks to offer support for the transition away from Scottish Government funding.

Question reference: S5O-02938

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 28 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress being made in addressing the reported parking problems at St John's Hospital.

As I set out in the chamber on 7 February, in response to Mr Findlay’s previous question on this matter, NHS Lothian has taken steps to manage the availability of spaces and to provide alternatives to on-site parking, along with alternative forms of transport.

The Board remains committed to ongoing, constructive engagement with patients, staff, visitors and neighbours to understand and address parking-related issues. This engagement, along with other measures undertaken by the Board to alleviate parking-related issues, is ongoing and will continue to be ongoing.

Question reference: S5W-21744

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 28 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the average waiting time is to see an audiologist for a hearing aid fitting, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S5W-21553

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 28 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding the Scottish Legal Aid Board has received in each of the last five years.

This information is in the public domain and can be found on the Scottish
Government’s website within the Budget Bill documents covering the last five
years. This information can also be found on the Scottish Legal Board’s
website in the published Annual Accounts covering the last five years. Links
to these websites and documents are attached.

Scottish Budget 2019-20
https://www.gov.scot/budget/

Scottish Budget – Archive https://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback//
archive/20170105064207/https://www.gov.scot/Topics/Government
/Finance/18127/Documents

Scottish Legal Board – website – Published Annual Accounts
https://www.slab.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/annual-report/ .

Question reference: S5W-21360

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 26 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how long it takes to (a) train and (b) recruit a GP.

(a) The GMC, acting as the regulator of the medical profession, oversees UK medical education and training. Medical training leading to qualification as a GP generally consists of a 5 year degree at medical school or in the case of Scotland’s first graduate entry medical programme (ScotGEM) which has a GP focus, a 4 year degree. The undergraduate degree is followed by 2 years of foundation training and three years of GP specialty training. For those who train less than full time (LTFT) or return from out of practice, it can take longer.

(b) There is not a typical timescale for GP recruitment and it is a matter for independent contractors i.e. individual GP practices. The Scottish Government is taking forward a number of measures to improve recruitment and retention of GPs in the short and long term. For example by offering the ScotGEM course and return of service bursary we are encouraging more students into GP and, therefore, aim to increase the number of GPs in the long term.