- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 19 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) guns, (b) knives, (c) other offensive weapons and (d) prohibited drugs have been seized/intercepted in mail and courier delivery services by Police Scotland, including items imported from overseas, in each year since 2016.
Answer
The Scottish Government produces a range of Official Statistics that include information on crimes involving firearms, crimes of possessing an offensive weapon and drug seizures, However, we do not hold any information on the number of firearms, weapons or prohibited drugs that were specifically seized within mail and courier delivery services.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 19 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports on 4 January 2022 that, when excluding those aged between 16 and 24 in full-time education, 148,000 people living in Scotland have never been in employment.
Answer
Many people who report that they have never worked are suffering from long-term sickness or disability, or are looking after family. Just because someone does not have a job does not mean they are not making a valuable contribution to our economy and society.
The Scottish Government’s devolved employment support service, Fair Start Scotland, helps people with disabilities, long term health conditions and other barriers to progress into sustainable employment.
Through our Fair Work policy we are supporting the development of a labour market that is open, inclusive and offers good quality and rewarding jobs for everyone.
We are committed to developing life-long skills training opportunities, which support people to enter the workforce and enjoy valuable and rewarding careers.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 19 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made on its aim of achieving 10% of everyday trips being made by bike by 2020, and whether it will provide a breakdown of progress by local authority area.
Answer
In the previous Parliament, the then Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Michael Matheson, announced on 18 June 2019 that the Cycling Action Plan for Scotland vision that, by 2020, 10% of all journeys in Scotland would be made by bike would not be met. In this Parliamentary term, the Cycling Action Plan for Scotland will be succeeded by the Cycling Framework for Active Travel. A draft version of the cycling framework was put to public consultation in late 2022 and the final version will be published this year. The Framework takes account of the independent review of the previous Cycling Action Plan, which was carried out by Professor Tom Rye in 2020 and which made recommendations for the future priorities for cycling for active travel in Scotland.
Based on the latest Annual Cycling Monitoring Data, the cycling mode share broken down by local authority is as follows:
Authority | Cycling Mode Share (%) |
Aberdeen City | 0.83 |
Aberdeenshire | 0.56 |
Angus | 0.69 |
Argyll & Bute | 1.08 |
Clackmannanshire | 0.41 |
Dumfries & Galloway | 0.68 |
Dundee City | 0.61 |
East Ayrshire | 0.25 |
East Dunbartonshire | 1.52 |
East Lothian | 3.71 |
East Renfrewshire | 0.88 |
City of Edinburgh | 2.59 |
Eilean Siar | 0.56 |
Falkirk | 0.43 |
Fife | 0.27 |
Glasgow City | 2.04 |
Highland | 1.66 |
Inverclyde | 0.13 |
Midlothian | 0.86 |
Moray | 1.09 |
North Ayrshire | 2.11 |
North Lanarkshire | 0.25 |
Orkney Islands | 1.55 |
Perth and Kinross | 0.54 |
Renfrewshire | 1.64 |
Scottish Borders | 1.25 |
Shetland Islands | 0.45 |
South Ayrshire | 0.50 |
South Lanarkshire | 0.63 |
Stirling | 1.19 |
West Dunbartonshire | 1.94 |
West Lothian | 0.76 |
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Ben Macpherson on 19 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what proportion of calls to Social Security Scotland went unanswered in each quarter of 2022, including quarter four to date.
Answer
The number and proportion of telephone calls that are not connected to a Social Security Scotland client advisor are provided in the following table, as well as the average call waiting times for connected calls.
Quarter | Number of calls not connected to a client advisor | Calls not connected to a client advisor as a proportion of all received calls | Average call wait time for connected calls (minutes:seconds) |
1 January to 31 March 2022 | 18,490 | 23.6% | 07:44 |
1 April to 30 June 2022 | 33,462 | 29.5% | 11:34 |
1 July to 30 September 2022 | 45,549 | 30.0% | 13:10 |
1 October to 21 December 2022 | 66,839 | 29.4% | 11:14 |
Messaging is regularly updated or added to the Social Security Scotland automated telephony system (Interactive Voice Response) to provide Social Security Scotland clients with urgent information. This may include updates to payment dates, due to public holidays, or asking clients to wait for a certain period of time after submitting their application prior to contacting Social Security Scotland. These messages direct clients to mygov.scot where they can obtain more information. In these instances, a client may choose to end the call prior to being connected with a Social Security Scotland client advisor if their query has been met by the Interactive Voice Response message.
This information is based on internal management information and has not yet been quality assured to the same standard as published information on telephony services.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 18 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported comments by Peel NRE that its decision to withdraw plans for a facility in Clydebank to turn plastic waste into fuel for buses and cars was made due to the Scottish Government’s moratorium on thermal treatment facilities, which “creates a negative environment”, and what assessment it has made of the number of jobs and value of investment that could result from such a facility.
Answer
The Scottish Government’s priority is to move to a circular economy, which means reducing our demand for raw material, increasing reuse and repair, and recycling more. Where we do produce unavoidable and unrecyclable residual waste, we must ensure we treat it responsibly.
In terms of waste incineration, the independent review of the role of incineration in the waste hierarchy made it clear that Scotland does not need additional waste incineration facilities to treat our unavoidable and unrecyclable municipal residual waste beyond those for which planning permission has already been granted. That is why National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4), as approved by parliament on 11 January, makes clear that development proposals for energy-from-waste facilities will not be supported except under very limited circumstances. The independent review did not consider waste to fuel facilities, such as the proposed plastics to hydrogen development.
Scottish Government has not assessed the number of jobs or value of investment that could result from such a facility. However, available evidence suggests that delivering a circular economy provides local employment opportunities and lower cost options to access goods. 10,000 tonnes of waste can create up to 296 jobs in repair and reuse, compared to 1 job in incineration, 6 jobs in landfill or 36 jobs in recycling.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Elena Whitham on 18 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the findings of the research commissioned by the Fire Brigades Union, Scottish Firefighters Occupational Cancer and Disease Mortality Rates: 2000-2020, which was published on 10 January 2023.
Answer
The safety and wellbeing of all fire and rescue officers is of upmost importance to the Scottish Government.
We will continue to support SFRS in its partnership work with the Fire Brigades Union and Professor Anna Stec to build on the existing work of their dedicated Contaminants Group.
The Scottish Government will carefully consider any related proposals from the FBU or SFRS as a result of this important research.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 December 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 17 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports in the Sunday Mail on 18 December 2022 that 1,029 Police Scotland officers retired between January and October 2022, and that the number of police officers is at its lowest level in 14 years.
Answer
As I said in my answer to Donald Lumsden (S6O-01659), policing is and will continue to be a priority for the Scottish Government. Scotland has a higher number of officers than at any time during the last administration – and more per head of population than England and Wales (30 officers per 10,000 population in Scotland, compared to 24 officers per 10,000 population in England and Wales (at 31 March).
Officer numbers fluctuate due to the cycle of recruitment and retirement, and this was further impacted by last year’s police pension changes. However, I was pleased to see that Police Scotland welcomed around 900 new recruits in 2022.
Our officers are the best paid in the UK, which recognises the hard work and dedication of the police workforce across Scotland. Basic starting salary for a constable in Scotland is around £5,000 more than in England and Wales and the maximum salary is also higher.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2023
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 17 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported comments by the Chief Inspector of the Constabulary that some Police Scotland officers lack empathy and show outdated attitudes in domestic abuse cases.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 17 January 2023
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 16 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to reduce the current backlog and waiting times for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s Sandyford Gender Identity Clinic.
Answer
A range of work, including via the National Gender Identity Healthcare Reference Group, is being undertaken to help improve service delivery of these clinical services.
In addition, the 2023-24 draft Scottish Budget provided £2 million for gender identity healthcare improvement within NHS Scotland.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 16 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been diagnosed with kidney failure and in need of a transplant in (a) the NHS Ayrshire and Arran area and (b) Inverclyde in each year since 2016, and what the average waiting time to receive a transplant has been in each year since 2016.
Answer
The number of patients that have been or are on the active kidney transplant waiting list as of 31 March each year since 2016 in the NHS Ayrshire and Arran and the Inverclyde local authority postcode areas is as follows:
Postcode Area | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
NHS Ayrshire & Arran | 37 | 27 | 20 | 26 | 33 | 15 | 20 |
Inverclyde | 7 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 11 |
Some patients who receive a living donor transplant may never be registered on the waiting list for a deceased donor transplant so those patients would not be included in the table above.
The risk-adjusted median waiting times for kidney only transplants for adults in the various UK transplant centres are published annually by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT). In Scotland, kidney transplants are undertaken at the Edinburgh and West of Scotland (Glasgow) Transplant Units; patients living in either Ayrshire and Arran or Inverclyde would receive their transplant at the Glasgow Unit. The figures for those adults registered at the Glasgow transplant unit from 2016 were published in the 2019-2022 NHSBT annual reports as follows:
Year published | Patient Registered | Waiting time (days) | | | | Unadjusted median | 95% Confidence Interval | Risk-adjusted median | 2022 | 01-04-16-31-03-19 | 622 | 566-678 | 626 | 2021 | 01-04-15-31-03-18 | 644 | 579-709 | 689 | 2020 | 01-04-14-31-03-17 | 622 | 558-686 | 689 | 2019 | 01-04-13-31-03-16 | 699 | 622-776 | 721 |
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Please note that there are significant differences in waiting times depending on a number of factors, such as the patient’s blood group and also antibodies they have from previous pregnancies, transplants or blood transfusions.
