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: S5O-03629

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 September 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what impact infrastructure failures at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and Royal Hospital for Children and Young People have had on patients who are on surgical waiting lists.

Question reference: S5W-25240

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 25 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many commercial properties in Dundee have been viewed by (a) it and (b) Social Security Scotland as part of the search for a new headquarters for the agency.

Question reference: S5W-24974

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 24 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) delays and (b) cancellations there have been on the Borders Railway in each month in 2019.

ScotRail reports its performance based on the industry-standard four-weekly reporting period. The number of delays and cancellations on the Borders Railway in each period of 2019 is set out as follows, with the total number of trains provided each period also included.

Period	Date Range	No of trains planned	No of trains delayed	No of trains cancelled
Period 11	6 Jan - 2 Feb 2019	1,624	10.2%	3.3%
Period 12	3 Feb - 2 March 2019	1,624	9.2%	5.8%
Period 13	3 -31 March 2019	1,654	7.8%	6.7%
Period 1	1-27 April 2019	1,590	9.7%	6.5%
Period 2	28 April - 25 May 2019	1,624	9.4%	3.0%
Period 3	26 May -22 June 2019	1,624	10.3%	3.0%
Period 4	23 June - 20 July 2019	1,624	11.0%	3.3%
Period 5	21 July - 17 August 2019	1,630	16.4%	2.6%

The increase in delays in the last reporting period (Period 5) are primarily as a result of infrastructure and fleet incidents which occurred and impacted on the industry’s ability to run trains to their scheduled times.

Question reference: S5W-25241

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 24 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) team manager, (b) client adviser and (c) learning facilitator positions at Social Security Scotland are vacant.

Question reference: S5W-25195

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 23 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government on what date applications for Round 5 of the Coastal Communities Fund will open.

Question reference: S5W-25201

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 23 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how funding will be provided to coastal communities from the net revenue generated by the Scottish Crown Estate marine assets out to 12 nautical miles.

Funding sourced from the net revenue from Scottish Crown Estate marine assets out to 12 nautical miles will be distributed to each coastal local authority to deliver benefit for coastal communities. We have agreed with COSLA an interim formula-based approach to distribution of funding that is based on the area of sea within 12 nautical miles adjacent to each local authority area. This interim arrangement will be reviewed in the medium term future and discussions will continue with COSLA on the detail of that process.

The first allocations of funding to individual coastal local authorities will be announced this month.

Question reference: S5W-25190

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 23 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-23136 by Roseanna Cunningham on 14 May 2019, on what date the announcement will be made on the future of the Coastal Communities Fund.

Question reference: S5W-24976

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has undertaken of how the implementation of a Low Emission Zone in Edinburgh would impact commuters in Midlothian.

It is for individual local authorities implementing Low Emission Zones to consider any impact on commuters. City of Edinburgh Council is engaging with neighbouring local authorities and Regional Transport Partnership SESTRAN to assess the wider impact of their Low Emission Zone on the Edinburgh Travel to Work Area, which will include parts of Midlothian. Initial analysis of such assessments will be presented to Edinburgh’s Transport and Environment Committee in October 2019.

Question reference: S5W-24978

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that all future NHS building projects are protected against problems with the water, ventilation and drainage systems.

We are establishing a national body for reducing risks in the healthcare built environment. The new national body will have oversight for the design, planning, construction and maintenance of major NHS Scotland infrastructure developments. It will hold expertise in these areas and critically, a clear understanding of the inter-relationship between the built environment and effective infection prevention and control.

The importance of a clean, safe environment for all aspects of healthcare should not be underestimated. To mitigate and reduce the risk of harm from the built environment - such as infections linked to water, ventilation and drainage systems, or injury from fire or electricity - harm prevention measures must be “designed-in” at the very outset of the planning, design and construction stages of our healthcare facilities.

Assurance mechanisms must be in place at all stages of the build and beyond, including impartial compliance monitoring . Compliance monitoring requires the input of national experts to independently assess that the key national standards, guidance and specifications required to ensure health systems are safe for patients have been adhered to. This body will provide advice and challenge to all capital investment projects currently in development, including the Elective Centre Programme, the Monklands Replacement Project, the Baird and Anchor in Aberdeen and the various primary health and social care centres across the country.

Question reference: S5W-25123

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 19 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether there should be a presumption in law that grants grandparents the right to access their grandchildren following a family breakdown.

The Scottish Government recognises the important role that grandparents can play in a child’s life.

The Scottish Government has recently introduced the Children (Scotland) Bill into the Scottish Parliament. Section 12 of the Bill includes a list of factors the court should consider when making an order under section 11 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. One of the factors is the child’s important relationships with other people. This could include grandparents.