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-09324

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 31 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 11 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what support it has given to Eden Springs Ltd hand for what reason it provided this.

The financial assistance paid to Eden Springs UK from Scottish Enterprise since 2010 has totalled £173,397.59 of a maximum of £200,000 payable over three years.

This has encompassed a number of grants providing assistance towards: training needs analysis; director team development; sales training; HR systems support; market development; e-business development; mergers and acquisitions support and supply chain development.

This support is helping to safeguard jobs at the firm's Blantyre facility, and forms part of Scottish Development International and Scottish Enterprise's vital work to drive forward sustainable economic growth across Scotland's business community.

Question reference: S4F-00851

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 September 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 September 2012

To ask the First Minister what steps the Scottish Government is taking to address the growing demand for food banks.

Question reference: S4W-09318

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 10 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the legislation concerning rehabilitation of offenders.

Question reference: S4W-09181

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether dental practices that have received investment from the NHS must carry out NHS work.

Significant financial incentives have been made available by NHS boards aimed at encouraging dentists to join NHS board’s dental lists, to improve access to, and increase delivery of NHS treatment.

Grants under the Scottish Government Scottish Dental Access Initiative have been available to dentists wishing to establish new or expand or purchase existing NHS dental practices. A condition of the grant is that the recipient is required to derive a minimum of 80% of his/her annual gross income from NHS General Dental services.

Vocational Training (VT) Practice Improvement Allowance is available to NHS practices to enable them to recruit a NHS vocational trainee, who in turn has to provide NHS care.

Question reference: S4W-09163

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 4 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what the cost is for pupils to buy a school meal, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S4W-09016

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 3 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how it encourages the reporting of female genital mutilation.

Scottish Government takes the issue of female genital mutilation (FGM) very seriously and sees it as a form of physical abuse of women and girls and a violation of their human rights under the guise of culture and/or religion.

A number of methods are used to encourage the reporting of FGM including engaging with individuals and groups of people from communities affected by FGM, raising awareness of the harm caused by FGM, the law against FGM and the government’s position; working closely with police, voluntary organisations, social services, education departments, and statutory sector organisations to prevent FGM, support victims and engage with communities; increasing confidence in reporting by supporting minority ethnic organisations that work with FGM victims. Recently the Scottish Government has funded Saheliya, a minority ethnic women’s organisation in Edinburgh, £225,000 over the three years 2012-15 to work with women from communities affected by FGM.

Question reference: S4W-09178

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 3 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what monitoring it carries out of fees charged by GPs for providing references for patients and what its position is on such charges being applied to benefit claimants and appellants.

The Scottish Government does not monitor professional fees. The majority of GP practices in Scotland operate as independent contractors under the terms of a UK general medical services contract and when GPs agree to provide services outwith their NHS contractual terms and conditions, they are entitled to charge a professional fee as remuneration for doing so.

Matters relating to welfare, employment and tax benefits remain reserved to the UK Government and as such it would not be appropriate for Scottish Ministers to directly intervene.

Question reference: S4W-09177

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 3 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how the system of charging fees for access to medical records operates.

Question reference: S4W-09180

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 3 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether charging schemes must be on display in dental surgeries.

NHS Regulations require a dental contractor to display in a prominent position at the practice premises such information as the health board or the agency may issue.

Information regarding the leaflet: HCS2 - A Quick Guide to Help with Health Costs, should be displayed and this contains information on the costs of some of the most common NHS dental treatments.

Charges for private dental treatment are a matter for the individual dentists concerned and dentists are free to set their private charges at any level they wish. The Scottish Government has no control over private dental treatment or charges.

Question reference: S4W-08878

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 30 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how it recognises the contribution that wild places make toward promoting Scotland as a location for hill walking and wildlife tourism.

Wildlife tourism and hill walking are valuable niche markets within the tourism industry in Scotland. The industry-led tourism strategy “Tourism Scotland 2020” identifies “nature, heritage and activities” as one of four groups of key assets that the industry will use in targeting the markets that offer Scotland the greatest growth potential.

Recognising the importance of these assets, 2013 has been designated as our Year of Natural Scotland, a year in which we will celebrate Scotland's reputation as a place of outstanding natural beauty with a landscape and biodiversity to engage with and enjoy responsibly. In the run up to, and during, the year we will focus on promoting the activities, including wildlife tourism and walking, available in Scotland’s natural tourism attractions and will inspire the people of Scotland and our visitors to experience and participate in Scotland’s natural heritage at festivals and events, natural tourism attractions and outdoor locations.

In addition to this, the ninth guide in the (free) Tourism Intelligence Scotland “Opportunities for Growth” series was published in July and provides key intelligence on the wildlife tourism sector, as well as offering advice on how business can ensure that wildlife enthusiasts have the best experience possible. The guide, produced by Highland and Island Enterprise, Scottish Enterprise and VisitScotland (in partnership with Scottish Natural Heritage, Forestry Commission Scotland and Wild Scotland) is available at http://www.tourism-intelligence.co.uk/.

As well as a dedicated ‘walking’ section on their website, VisitScotland also produce (in association with Forestry Commission Scotland) the “Walk in Scotland. Scotland. Created for Walking 2012” guide available at http://www.visitscotland.com/see-do/activities/walking/.