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-23581

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 18 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made in taking forward the proposals in its document, A Manufacturing Future for Scotland, published in 2016, and what the outcomes were of the re-shoring pilot projects detailed in the document.

There has been significant progress made since the Manufacturing Action Plan – A Manufacturing Future for Scotland – was published in February 2016 including:

The Scottish Government has committed £48 million towards the development of the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS) and we are establishing an £8.9 million Lightweight Manufacturing Centre which will be a significant first step in NMIS delivery.
Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) launched a Circular Economy Investment Fund which has funded projects to a value in excess of £1.3 million. In addition, ZWS have also launched an enhanced Circular Economy Support Service to provide SME businesses across all sectors in Scotland with a tailored consultancy service to help them explore more circular ways of doing business.
The first call of the Advancing Manufacturing Challenge Fund (AMCF), which will utilise £14 million of European Regional Development Funding (ERDF), was launched on 29 May 2019. AMCF aims to have a significant impact on advancing the manufacturing capabilities of SMEs leading to long-term transformational change.
Scottish Enterprise (SE) launched a Capital Asset Review service delivered by the Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Service (SMAS). To date, over 600 reviews have been carried out to support manufacturers to develop future-proofing investment plans. This total figure includes 64 Manufacturing 4.0 Reviews which help businesses identify and evaluate the opportunities for them around digital technologies.
Skills Development Scotland has reviewed sectoral Skills Investment Plans with significant manufacturing components and is developing a skills plan as part of NMIS
Over 300 leaders have participated in manufacturing best practice visits as a part of the Smart Excellence Programme to develop and promote knowledge and experience sharing.
The re-shoring pilot projects identified did not proceed for commercial reasons but wider work, managed by SE and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), is being carried out to support more Scottish companies to achieve supply chain excellence as outlined in the Manufacturing Action Plan (MAP). SMAS is working closely with a portfolio of 10-15 Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) tier 1 companies across aerospace, energy, space and pharmaceuticals on local supply chain development challenges, analysis and intervention strategies.

Outcomes expected include: helping SE and HIE to identify how to support wider participation in global manufacturing supply chains, using supply to Scottish-based tier 1 manufacturers as a launch-pad to international success, through innovations in processes, materials and products; and informing a new SE/HIE supply chain development product which can be rolled out across all manufacturing sectors.

Question reference: S5W-23582

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 18 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to develop a re-shoring programme within the (a) life sciences, (b) chemicals, (c) aerospace and (d) any other sector of the economy.

Scottish Enterprise is working closely with a range of businesses to explore the potential for reshoring projects in Scotland.

The life sciences industry has worked with SDI to develop an international sales prospectus, and SDI has worked closely with account-managed inward investors to attract investment with over 700 new or safeguarded jobs created in more than 20 projects from new and existing life and chemical science manufacturing companies since 2016.

Within the aerospace sector, an example is the Spirit AeroSystems A320 Spoiler project, announced by the First Minister in August 2017 and supported by £2.1m from Scottish Enterprise.

In the chemicals sector, Scottish Enterprise alongside Scottish Development International and Falkirk Council, is working with industrial chemical sciences landowners in Grangemouth to promote colocation to attract Foreign Direct Investment.

The Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Service (SMAS) works closely with a portfolio of prime manufacturers across aerospace, energy, space and pharmaceuticals on local supply chain development challenges, analysis and intervention strategies. Whilst this activity is not limited to re-shoring it seeks to identify how the Enterprise Agencies support the wider participation of companies based in Scotland in global manufacturing supply chains.

Question reference: S5F-03459

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 June 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 June 2019

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to ensure that cases of Lyme disease are diagnosed and treated as early as possible.

Question reference: S5W-23652

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 14 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made towards a national database/audit for fracture liaison services in Scotland similar to the Fracture Liaison Service Database (FLS-DB) in England and Wales.

Question reference: S5W-23548

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 7 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-22800 by Joe FitzPatrick on 14 May 2019, what opportunities for Scotland to contribute to the evidence base it is exploring with the UK screening committee, and whether this includes a population-based screening pilot.

The Scottish Government is currently exploring what opportunities exist for Scotland to contribute to the emerging evidence base. Officials have recently met with academics, the Chair of the UK National Screening Committee, and the Scottish Screening Committee to discuss ongoing studies and trials to identify where Scotland can best add value. These discussions are ongoing and any recommendations regarding potential pilot programmes in Scotland will be carefully considered.

Question reference: S5O-03364

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 June 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve safety on the A77.

Question reference: S5W-23484

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 5 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is regarding the practice of resetting waiting times for patients who are forced to defer treatment due to unavoidable personal or professional commitments.

The Patient Rights (Treatment Time Guarantee)(Scotland) Regulations 2012 came into force on the 1st October 2012, confirming which patients were eligible for TTG and that treatment must start within 12 weeks.

It expanded on which periods of time should not be counted towards the 12 week waiting time, explaining that if a patient is unavailable for a known period of time then the next available appointment offered should be the next available appointment following the period of unavailability.

Guidance issued to NHS Board advises that this prioritisation should not be to the detriment of another patient with a greater clinical need.

Question reference: S5W-22943

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 28 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport on 27 June 2017 (Official Report, c. 28), what progress has been made with the commitment to "establish an oversight group comprising families and representative organisations to undertake scrutiny from the service users’ perspective of the changes that are happening not only in NHS Ayrshire and Arran but in maternity and neonatal services throughout Scotland".

The Scottish Government is committed to increasing engagement with service users in maternity services and is looking at a variety of mechanisms to do this.

Following the former Cabinet Secretary’s statement in June 2017 initial discussions took place concerning the setting up of a Maternity Oversight Group with Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) and Scottish Health Council (SHC). In parallel the Maternity Voices project was developing in England, which aims to support and provide a national forum for local Maternity Service Liaison Committees (MSLC’s), and this was highlighted by our service user representatives as something we should consider to deliver our aims in Scotland. We have therefore reviewed our approach to the Maternity Oversight Group and have asked the Scottish Health Council to engage with local MSLC’s in each Health Board to understand the support they need to engage with Health Boards locally and how they want to engage with each other and input into national policy. Subject to the outcome of the consultation with the MSLC’s we expect to bring together a national forum for these discussions in the Autumn.

Question reference: S5O-03306

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 May 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on finalising contracts with the DWP for continued delivery of some devolved benefits.

Question reference: S5W-23094

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-21941 by Michael Matheson on 6 March 2019, whether it will provide the information that was requested regarding the date that the South West Scotland Transport Study will be published.

Further to the answer to S5W-21941, Transport Scotland welcomes the high number of detailed responses to the engagement which has taken longer than anticipated to analyse, this process is nearing completion and the Draft Final report will be published as soon as possible in June. There will then be a period of up to 2 months for stakeholders and the public to review and comment on this before the final report, taking these views in to account, will be published. Transport Scotland continue to keep stakeholders updated via its website.