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-15729

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what qualifications firearms licensing officers require, and whether people applying for these posts must undergo basic firearms training as part of the application process.

Question reference: S5W-15984

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what plans NHS Education for Scotland (NES) has to provide training for staff who deal with adults with ME.

I have asked Caroline Lamb, Chief Executive Officer of NHS Education for Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) has a key role in co-ordinating recruitment to and overseeing the quality of postgraduate Medical training for both GPs and hospital specialists. The training curricula are written by Medical Royal Colleges and approved by the General Medical Council – who will consider advice from a wide range of stakeholders – including NES. These curricula are subject to regular review and updating, and the training is delivered by territorial NHS Boards in clinical placement settings, also approved by the GMC.

Beyond that quality management role, NES is involved in delivering and commissioning on-going continuous professional development in training and education in a number of areas for a range of staff groups.All qualified healthcare practitioners have a professional obligation to undertake continuous professional development to meet identified learning and professional development needs, and the Medical Royal Colleges and NHS Education for Scotland provide a selection of courses and learning resources to support their further development.

ME/CFS is one of many health conditions that involves both physical and psychological aspects. There is good evidence that using a ‘bio psychosocial’ model to both understand and treat all health conditions, irrespective of cause, is highly beneficial in both improving psychological and physical health outcomes and enabling health professionals to deliver holistic care without perpetuating a mind/body dualism. To that end, NES has been involved with stakeholders to develop a range of interventions for staff working with children and adults with a range of health conditions including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis and ME/CFS.

Question reference: S5W-16036

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 25 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review drainage charges for nursery schools, which are reported to have been subject to large increases as a result of new property rateable values.

Question reference: S5W-15476

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 19 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-14829 by Roseanna Cunningham on 8 March 2018, how much the SEPA licences will cost, and how much revenue they will generate.

Question reference: S5W-15461

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 18 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been allocated to each NHS board to provide FreeStyle Libre glucose monitoring devices to people with type 1 diabetes, and how many each board has issued.

FreeStyle Libre flash glucose monitoring sensors were added to the Scottish Drug Tariff in November 2017. It is for NHS Boards to consider their inclusion on local prescribing formularies. These decisions will be informed by evidence of clinical and cost effectiveness, local needs, pressures and resources including funding. In 2018-19, frontline NHS Boards are receiving additional funding of £354 million - a 3.7% increase.

Information on the number of Freestyle Libre devices is not held centrally.

Question reference: S5W-15548

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 12 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-14829 by Roseanna Cunningham on 8 March 2018, how much it estimates it will cost for an oil storage facility to comply with the regulations; what information it has regarding how many sites (a) comply and (b) do not comply with these, and what its position is on extending the deadline to comply for members of the Federation of Petroleum Suppliers.

SEPA has offered advice and provided a checklist to assist operators in carrying out a compliance assessment. Until such times as this process is carried out SEPA will not have an indication of the number of licences required.

Those sites which are compliant with the general binding rules (GBRs) will incur no cost. Those which are not compliant with GBRs will initially be subject to the licence application cost. Any further cost will be dependent on the level of improvement required in the Asset Improvement Plan, as agreed between SEPA and the operator.

Following discussion, on 8 March, with sector representatives which included FPS, there was agreement that there would be a relaxation on the date for the submission of Asset Improvement Plans from the previously stated 9 months to 12 months from the date of issue of the licence. Within the licence a mutual timescale for the actual improvements to be carried out will be agreed between SEPA and the operator.

Question reference: S5W-15549

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 12 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-14829 by Roseanna Cunningham on 8 March 2018, whether it has carried out a marketplace impact assessment of the licenses and, if so, whether it will publish this.

Question reference: S5W-15550

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 12 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-14829 by Roseanna Cunningham on 8 March 2018, whether it will publish the findings of the 2015 study on the condition of the oil storage facilities.

Question reference: S5W-15478

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 March 2018
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 29 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what meetings it has had with VisitScotland to discuss new signage on the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Road (AWPR); what plans it has to install tourist signage on the road to promote nearby points of interest and attractions, including the Cairngorms National Park, Highland and Deeside Tourist routes, and National Trust properties.

It has not been necessary for the Scottish Government to hold any meetings with Visit Scotland to discuss new signage on the AWPR/B-T. The provision of tourist signage is dependent on eligibility criteria set out in Visit Scotland’s ‘Eligibility for Brown Tourist Signposting’ document published in January 2011.

Tourist facilities for the AWPR/B-T have been developed in line with the Scottish Office Development Department Circular 27/1995 and the “Trunk Road and Motorway Tourist Sign Posting Policy”. The tourist facilities which are to be represented by new Brown Signs are “The Den and the Glen”, “Wyndford Farm”, “Country Park and Beach”, and “Coastal Trail North”. Some of these locations will be signposted from more than one location.

Question reference: S5W-15259

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the practice adopted in Europe, what consideration it has given to using pure rock salt instead of a mix of grit and rocksalt during hazardous icy road conditions, which is understood to minimise issues caused by excess grit.

Our winter service includes precautionary salting of all carriageways and the more important footways in advance of forecast ice and snow. Since 2007-08, pre-wetted salting has been used on all our trunk roads.

Our pre-wetted salting involves spreading dry rock salt and brine in the proportion of 70% dry salt to 30% of fully saturated brine with a salt concentration of around 23%. All salt for de-icing on our trunk roads is required to be 6.3 millimetre grading particle size complying with British Standard 3247:1991 and treated with an anti-caking agent. Our contract specification does allow for abrasive aggregates to be considered in a ratio of 50:50 with salt but this is rarely used and is predominantly as an additional mitigation measure for extreme snow events.

Transport Scotland continues to collaborate and support winter service best practise on a local, national and world level through its current relationships with Local Authorities, Highways England, the National Winter Service Research Group (NWSRG) and the World Roads Association (WRA).

For winter salt treatments, roads authorities in Europe and North America are moving more and more to liquid-only spreading to prevent ice forming on roads. Recent studies from Europe have demonstrated the durability of liquid brine-only spreading in comparison with pre-wetted salt. They concluded that for precautionary salt treatments, especially on dry and moist surfaces, that sodium chloride brine-only spreading is recommended because it requires less salt and stays longer on the surface. For the past four winter seasons, we have been trialling sodium chloride-only liquid treatments on specific routes (A9, A77, A702 and A835) to develop our understanding of liquid performance in the range of conditions experienced on the Scottish trunk road network.