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-16513

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 17 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what training regarding autism is provided to (a) people working in the criminal justice system, (b) teachers and (c) community psychiatric nurses.

The Scottish Government is committed to increasing awareness and understanding of autism for staff working in health and social care, education and criminal justice.

a) Through the Scottish Strategy for Autism , the Scottish Government has committed funding to support work with the Supporting Offenders with Learning Disabilities (SOLD) Network, the National Autistic Society and relevant partners to set out priorities and required actions to ensure autism is understood across the justice system.

All police officers receive regular training, an element of which is designed to raise awareness of autism. Through our autism strategy, Police Scotland is working with justice partners and third sector organisations to develop further training materials and to consider measures such as autism alert cards.

b) We want all children and young people to get the support that they need to reach their full learning potential. To support those working with pupils with autism in schools, the Scottish Government has funded the Autism Toolbox. This provides information to support the identification, support and planning of learning for pupils with autism.

c) There are a number of key workforce groups who play their role in supporting autistic children and adults, including community psychiatric nurses. Strategy funding supported the development of the NHS Education Scotland Autism Training Framework and the delivery of a training plan to improve autism skills across key groups and to build capacity in the NHS workforce. The Scottish Government is committed to continue to fund the dissemination of education across the health and social care workforce.

Question reference: S5W-15894

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 2 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many people under the age of 18 requiring non-forensic child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) tier 4 support have been treated in (a) adult mental health, (b) other adult and (c) paediatric wards in each of the last five years.

This data is not centrally held by the Scottish Government.

The Mental Welfare Commission publishes an annual report showing the number of young people under the age of 18 who were admitted to non-specialist mental health beds https://www.mwcscot.org.uk/media/387820/young_person_monitoring_report_2016-17.pdf . This includes where children and young people have been admitted to a non-mental health paediatric ward for mental health reasons, but the report does not cover physical health admissions. In 2016-17 (the latest year for which data is published) the number had decreased compared to previous years.

Question reference: S5W-15781

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-13982 by Humza Yousaf on 29 March 2018, how much it estimates it will cost to change some of the initial steelwork already erected at the site.

I announced on 16 March 2018 that, following discussion with key stakeholders, a decision had been taken to take forward a greatly enhanced development at the North Hanover Street car park site at Queen Street station. At an investment cost of £80m this will deliver extensive retail, food and beverage opportunities which will generate a greater rental income. In addition a development deck will be delivered upon which further private sector investment can be taken forward.

The full announcement can be located using the following link:

https://www.transport.gov.scot/news/alternative-plans-at-queen-street-station-made-public/

A Steering Group involving key stakeholders has been formed and will take forward the development of the alternative proposal.

The outputs of these discussions will determine the nature of any change required to the initial steelwork already erected.

Question reference: S5W-15587

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 18 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish an update on year one of its Race Equality Action Plan.

In the Race Equality Action Plan we committed to provide a progress report to Parliament in early 2021, setting out achievements and early thinking about the focus for the next Action Plan, which will cover the period 2021-2026. In line with the Independent Race Equality Advisor’s recommendations for enhancing policy co-ordination around race equality, we will also establish a Programme Board including senior officials from across the Scottish Government to drive implementation of the Action Plan. The minutes of the Programme Board will be published online to provide transparency and regular public reporting on progress, building up to the 2021 report.

In addition we will hold an annual Race Equality Summit to be attended by key organisations and individuals, which will provide a further important opportunity to discuss progress on the actions.

Question reference: S5O-01981

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 April 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress with developing the Glasgow low emission zone.

Question reference: S5W-15580

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to the question S5W-15191 by Shona Robison on 21 March 2018, whether it will publish the minutes of (a) each of the meetings that have been held and (b) the meeting that is planned for 27 March 2018.

Question reference: S5W-15586

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 3 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in relation to its Equality Evidence Finder to prioritise identifying gaps, defining projects and working with research partners to improve evidence based on ethnicity.

Scotland’s Equality Evidence Strategy, published in July 2017, outlines the Scottish Government’s plans to work in concert with its partner organisations and academic colleagues to strengthen Scotland’s equality evidence base. High quality equality evidence and analysis is vital to underpin effective and inclusive policy making in Scotland, and a stronger evidence base on ethnicity will help inform the Race Equality Action Plan and actions in the Race Equality Framework.

During the development of the evidence strategy the Scottish Government held a roundtable event with its stakeholders to discuss evidence gaps on ethnicity. Over the four year period of the strategy it intends to hold further discussions to prioritise identified gaps, define projects and work with research partners to improve the evidence base. In addition, the Scottish Government carried out a survey of Equality Evidence Finder users in 2017 and intends to use the findings from this to help modernise the web resource and improve the presentation of online ethnicity evidence to better meet the needs of users.

Question reference: S5W-13982

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 29 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that a partially constructed building as part of the Queen Street Station building project is to be demolished.

Following the conclusion of Scottish Minister led discussions with key stakeholders, including Glasgow City Council and Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, a decision has been taken to accelerate investment in the North Hanover Street site at Queen Street Station. This significantly larger development will result in an enhanced economic return as well as unlocking wider development opportunities in the area, delivering substantial benefits for Glasgow.

The site clearance works undertaken to date facilitate the new proposal. The new design will build on much of the work already delivered. However, some of the initial steelwork already erected at the site as part of the original proposal will now need to be changed to accommodate the enhanced design.

A Steering Group involving Transport Scotland, Network Rail, ScotRail, Glasgow City Council and Glasgow Chamber of Commerce is being formed to ensure the timely delivery of the development and the securing of benefits for the city which all parties are committed to.

Key works continue on the station redevelopment being undertaken as part of the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP) with the new proposal for North Hanover Street having no impact on the milestones to deliver 8 car platform extensions and enhanced station concourse and frontage.

Question reference: S5W-15422

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 28 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to improve support for pupils with additional support needs (ASN), in light of the number of teachers with ASN training reportedly falling from 3,248 to 2,733 between 2012 and 2017.

The Additional Support for Learning Act requires education authorities to identify, provide for and to review the additional support needs of their pupils. In order to meet these requirements it is for education authorities to ensure that appropriate resources are in place to provide for pupils needs, this includes teaching and support staff.

95% of children with additional support needs are educated in mainstream schools, this has been consistent for a number of years. It should be noted that all teachers provide support to pupils not just ‘support for learning’ teachers.

Local Government Financial Statistics for 2016-17 showed that local authorities spent £5.07 billion on education in Scotland. This has gone up from £4.95 billion in 2015-16 - a 0.3% increase in real terms (2.5% in cash terms). Of that, £610 million was on additional support for learning – this has risen from £584 million in 2015-16 a 2.3% increase in real terms (4.5% in cash terms).

Question reference: S5O-01956

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 28 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to prevent further shop closures in Glasgow city centre.

The Scottish Government recognises that the retail sector in Scotland is transforming in response to, among other things, significant changes to shopping habits and through new technology. We are aware that some retailers are choosing to consolidate their portfolios and re-structure their organisations to remain competitive. Regretfully some stores are closing, not only in Glasgow, but across Scotland and the UK and in Scotland, w e will continue to offer support for any employees facing redundancy through our Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) initiative.

We recognise the value of a successful and vibrant retail sector and regularly engage with the Scottish Retail Consortium and other key stakeholders across a wide range of policy priorities. We are aware that UK Government austerity measures and Brexit are affecting consumer confidence and spending. Despite this, we are doing everything within our powers to support our economy, including our retailers. For example, this year we will enhance measures to support both new development and re-use of vacant property in town centres and elsewhere as part of a total rates relief package of around £720 million. This includes the Small Business Bonus Scheme which will lift over 100,000 properties out of rates altogether. In addition, we are taking forward the Scotland's Town Centre First principle in planning and implementing the Town Centre action plan, while working with the Scottish Retail Consortium to develop a retail strategy which will set out a clear road map for future tax and regulatory changes.

We will continue to use all levers at our disposal to ensure that Scotland remains an attractive place for retailers to do business.