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-11337

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 19 November 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 28 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what training is provided to teachers regarding giving support to children with imprisoned parents.

The teaching standards set by the General Teaching Council for Scotland require teachers to be able to identify and respond appropriately to pupils with difficulties in or barriers to learning and recognise when to seek advice in relation to their additional support needs. A child with a parent in prison would be likely to fall into this category.

One and four year courses of initial teacher education in each of Scotland's eight teacher education universities address, to differing extents, children's family circumstances and contexts, including those of children whose parents are imprisoned. Beyond that, schools and local authorities are responsible for ensuring that continuing professional development is provided to meet teachers' agreed development needs both during their induction year and throughout their careers.

Question reference: S4O-01541

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 November 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what reduction there has been in the number of female college students in the west of Scotland since 2006-07.

Question reference: S4O-01443

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Frank Mulholland on 7 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what the Lord Advocate’s interpretation of the Scottish Ministerial Code is in relation to the legal advice provided to ministers on an independent Scotland's membership of the European Union.

Question reference: S4W-10433

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 6 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether NHS boards have a consistent approach to dealing with gender reassignment and, if not, what variations there are.

Question reference: S4W-10430

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 6 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what guidelines there are regarding the length of time between receiving funding for gender reassignment and having the surgery.

Patients going through the gender reassignment pathway contained in the protocol should experience no delay due to funding if they go on to full genital surgery.

However, there is currently no clinical expertise in Scotland to undertake this surgery and boards will need to seek treatment in England for patients going on to full genital surgery.

As this surgery would be undertaken in England, patients would not be covered by the legal treatment time guarantee contained in the Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011.

Question reference: S4W-10432

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 6 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how much it spent on gender reassignment surgery in 2011-12.

Question reference: S4W-10429

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 6 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that NHS boards adhere to the Gender Reassignment Protocol, CEL 26.

Question reference: S4W-10434

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 6 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have attended accident and emergency units because of a mental health issue in each year since 2002 and how many of them were accompanied by a police officer.

Question reference: S4W-10431

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 6 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government which NHS boards use private hospitals for gender reassignment surgery.

Question reference: S4W-10427

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 5 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how much it spent on (a) raising awareness of and (b) dealing with obstructive sleep apnoea in 2011-12.