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-19434

Asked by: Tom Mason, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 22 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recommendations in the paper, The Best Start: A Five-Year Forward Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Care in Scotland, what contingency plans it has in place in the event of any closures of neonatal care centres in NHS Grampian.

As outlined in S5W-19431 on 22 November 2018 the options appraisal process is still underway and therefore no decision has been made on where the neonatal intensive care units will be located. No neonatal units will be closed.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

Question reference: S5W-19431

Asked by: Tom Mason, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 22 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recommendations set out in the paper, The Best Start: A Five-Year Forward Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Care in Scotland, by what date the Implementation Programme Board will conclude its options appraisal of neonatal intensive care.

Question reference: S5W-19432

Asked by: Tom Mason, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 22 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-18959 by Jeane Freeman on 2 October 2018, what impact a reduction in the number of neonatal care centres in NHS Grampian, as recommended in the paper, The Best Start: A Five-Year Forward Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Care in Scotland, could have on the ability to ensure that babies requiring care receive this "as quickly as possible".

No neonatal units will close as a result of The Best Start recommendations for neonatal intensive care and the Best Start does not recommend a reduction in the number of neonatal care centres in NHS Grampian. It recommends a reprofiling of neonatal intensive care from the current eight units to five and then to three. It does not say where these units would be, and those units that are reprofiled will continue to deliver neonatal care, including a level of neonatal intensive care to babies in their area.

Question reference: S5O-02634

Asked by: Tom Mason, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 November 2018
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that 13 locations in Aberdeen have illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide pollution.

Question reference: S5O-02563

Asked by: Tom Mason, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 November 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government when recommendations will be published for the location of the three national neonatal intensive care units outlined in the five-year plan in the 2017 report, The Best Start.

Question reference: S5W-19471

Asked by: Tom Mason, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 7 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-18750 by Derek Mackay on 2 October 2018, in light of concerns that the data regarding taxpayer numbers that it used to underpin its income tax policy is now out-of-date, following it being updated by the Scottish Fiscal Commission, whether it will revise this policy, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

The Scottish Government’s proposals for rates and bands for Scottish Income Tax in 2019-20 will be published in the Draft Budget on
‎12 December 2018. These proposals will be informed by an updated set of forecasts by the independent Scottish Fiscal Commission, which will take into account the 2016-17 income tax outturn data published by HMRC as well as any changes in Scotland’s economic outlook. Regardless of these updates, we still expect our income tax reform in 2018-19 to provide additional resources for investment in vital public services and the economy.

Question reference: S5W-19472

Asked by: Tom Mason, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 7 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-18746 by Kate Forbes on 5 October 2018, whether it will provide the information that was requested regarding the number of businesses that have welcomed the Large Business Supplement being twice that in England.

The Scottish Government is doing all it can to support the Scottish economy, including maintaining a competitive non-domestic rates regime for businesses in Scotland.

We have taken the decision to prioritise small businesses and seek a balance between having a competitive and sustainable taxation environment and delivering sufficient resources to fund the public service upon which we all rely. We are committed to reviewing the Large Business Supplement at each future budget in light of affordability.

The Scottish Government does not routinely collect the type of data requested on businesses. Non-domestic rates are a property tax and the data we hold relates to the characteristics of non-domestic properties (such as rateable values and reliefs awarded).

Question reference: S5W-19470

Asked by: Tom Mason, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 7 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-18750 by Derek Mackay on 2 October 2018, whether it will provide the information that was requested regarding its position on whether there will be an overall loss in income tax revenue when considering tax motivated incorporations, behavioural effects and the over-estimation of the number of taxpayers by the Scottish Fiscal Commission, and what action it is taking to reduce any potential loss in revenue.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC) is responsible for producing economic and tax revenue forecasts for Scotland. Although it expects behavioural effects to reduce the yield from our 2018-19 income tax policy by £0.3 billion, its forecasts show that it expects our income tax reforms to deliver an additional £1.2 billion over the next 5 years (see Table 3.7 in its May forecast ). We will publish the Draft Budget for 2019-20 on 12 December 2018 which will include our income tax policy for 2019-20.

Question reference: S5W-19469

Asked by: Tom Mason, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 7 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-18752 by Kate Forbes on 5 October 2018, whether the assertion that “Scotland does provide the most competitive non-domestic rates relief package available anywhere in the UK” is based on evidence supplied by any independent institution and, if so, which.

Analysis based on the independent Scottish Fiscal Commission's forecasts, on data provided by local government, and on official statistics published by the UK Government's Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, shows that the Scottish Government does provide the most generous rates relief package available anywhere in the UK.

These measures include the most generous Small Business Bonus Scheme thresholds which lift over 100,000 properties out of rates altogether, Fresh Start, the Business Growth Accelerator and the Day Nurseries relief which are currently unique in the UK as well as the most generous support for the renewables sector through Hydro relief.

The average relief provided to businesses in Scotland is worth over £4,500 in 2018-19, while the comparable figure in England is less than £4,000.

Question reference: S5W-19452

Asked by: Tom Mason, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 7 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-17428 by Derek Mackay on 16 July 2018, what its position is on borrowing less than the maximum level of available of capital borrowing in its post 2019-20 budgets over a shorter repayment period to free up borrowing space.