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-18958

Asked by: Tom Mason, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 2 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the recommendation in the report, The Best Start: A Five-Year Forward Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Care in Scotland, which was published in January 2017, to reduce the number of neonatal intensive care units from eight to three.

The Minister for Public Health and Sport welcomed all of the recommendations in The Best Start report in a statement to Parliament in February 2017, and at the same time announced the creation of an Implementation Programme Board for the Best Start recommendations, chaired by Jane Grant, Chief Executive of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. A Sub Group of this Implementation Programme Board is considering the recommendations on the model of neonatal intensive care, and is undertaking an options appraisal. When this is concluded, recommendations will be made to Ministers.

Question reference: S5W-18747

Asked by: Tom Mason, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 2 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-17420 by Derek Mackay on 16 July 2018, what its position is on the Scottish Fiscal Commission forecasting in its report that any gap between Scottish and UK RDHI, after narrowing, will immediately widen throughout 2020-21 and not close again.

As highlighted by the Scottish Fiscal Commission’s latest report and the previous response in question S5W-17420, any gap between the growth rate of Scottish and UK Real Disposable Household Income (RDHI) on a per capita basis (controlling for differences in population growth) is forecast to close by 2020-21.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission go on to forecast a positive trajectory in the growth rate of Scottish RDHI on a per capita basis, with growth of 0.8% by 2022-23. This is very similar to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast of UK RDHI per capita of 0.9% by 2022-23.

Question reference: S5W-18748

Asked by: Tom Mason, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 2 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-17419 by Derek Mackay on 16 July 2018, what its position is on whether its policy to increase income tax levels for people earning over £26,000 compared with people in the rest of the UK, holding other factors constant, will widen or narrow the gap between Scotland's and the UK’s levels of real household disposable income.

Our income tax policy ensures that for the majority of income tax payers - those earning less than £26,000 - Scotland is the lowest taxed part of the UK.

The latest statistics from ONS show that over the period 2007 – 2017 (the latest available year) Gross Household Disposable Income per person in Scotland has grown at 2.2% a year in current prices, the same as in the UK as a whole. Although the SFC has initially forecast a lower growth rate for household income as compared to the rate forecast by the OBR for the rest of the UK, the SFC’s forecast does indicate that the gap will close – see figure 5 of its May 2018 report: http://www.fiscalcommission.scot/media/1314/scotlands-economic-and-fiscal-forecasts-may-2018-full-report.pdf

Question reference: S5W-18639

Asked by: Tom Mason, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 25 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-17603 by Jeane Freeman on 20 July 2018, whether it considers that the widening of the negative gap between real NHS performance and the 90% target was solely because more patients required treatment.

I welcome the increase in the number of patients being treated within the 18 weeks referral to treatment standard. Delivery of the standard can be influenced by a number of factors, this could be due to a significant increase in patients but will also be affected by the individual patient's wait for each part of the patient pathway.

To help deliver improvement, you will be aware that the recently published Programme for Government, indicated I will be publishing a plan to substantially and sustainably improve waiting time performance across all our standards in the face of the rising demand for services.

Question reference: S5W-18638

Asked by: Tom Mason, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 25 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-17602 by Jeanne Freeman on 20 July 2018, how the additional £25 million funding is being spent by each NHS board.

The information requested is provided in the following table below. Boards are using the funding across the whole patient pathway - outpatients, diagnostic tests and inpatient and day case treatment waiting time standards and guarantee - to ensure long waits are significantly reduced. The answer provides information on the key specialties each Board is addressing to reduce waiting times. A further £25 million will be issued before the end of this month

Board	Allocation of Initial £25 Million £’000	Key Specialties Being Addressed.
Ayrshire and Arran	1,852	General Surgery and Cardiology
Borders	526	General Surgery and Orthopaedics
Dumfries and Galloway	745	Ophthalmology, Orthopaedics and General Surgery
Fife	1,701	Cardiology, General Surgery and ENT
Forth Valley	1,355	Urology, general Surgery and Gastroenterology
Grampian	2,468	Gynaecology, Neurology, Cardiology
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	5,584	General Surgery, Urology, ENT
Highland	1,611	Orthopaedics and Surgical
Lanarkshire	3,087	Dermatology, neurology and Cardiology
Lothian	3,701	Urology, ENT and Dermatology
Tayside	1,962	General Surgery Gynaecology
Orkney	121	Endoscopy
Shetland	123	Endoscopy
Western Isles	164	Endoscopy
NHSScotland	25,000

Question reference: S5W-18646

Asked by: Tom Mason, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 25 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-17603 by Jeane Freeman on 20 July 2018, whether the cabinet secretary’s response confirms that ministers welcome the news that more patients were treated and seen within the 18-week standard in March 2018 compared with December 2017 when considering the widening of the negative gap between real NHS performance and the 90% target over that period.

Whilst I welcome the increase in the number of patient journeys within the 18 week referral to treatment waiting time standard, I am very much aware that performance is well below the level I require from Boards. As you will be aware the Scottish Government has made £50 million available in 2018-19 to specifically reduce the number of patients with exceptionally long waits and I expect to see improvements in performance during this year.

The recently published Programme for Government committed me to publishing a plan to substantially and sustainably improve waiting times performance in the face of rising demand for services - this plan will be published shortly.

Question reference: S5W-18595

Asked by: Tom Mason, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-17786 by Derek Mackay on 3 August 2018, and, in light of its reference to the June Panelbase poll referred to in the question as being "one of a succession of polls" showing a "wider public acceptance" of Scottish Government policy, what action it is taking on responses to other poll questions on (a) charging people for missing NHS appointments and (b) the removal of certain cosmetic treatments on the NHS, which received a larger share of support than the issue referred to in the answer.

Question reference: S5O-02399

Asked by: Tom Mason, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 September 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of short-term lets on tourism levels in Aberdeen and other local authority areas.

Question reference: S5W-18594

Asked by: Tom Mason, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 18 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-17787 by Derek Mackay on 3 August 2018, whether it will provide the information requested regarding the sample size of the YouGov poll that it used in its publication, expressed as a percentage of the Scottish electorate, and for what reason it did not do so in its answer.

The poll in question was carried out by YouGov and reported on in the Times in an article titled, " Scottish voters back SNP plan to raise taxes ”. The poll was not commissioned by the Scottish Government and therefore the Scottish Government did not have a say in the size of the sample, although this was 1002 adults as stated in my previous answer. It is for YouGov and the Times to comment on the size of the sample and sampling methods used in their survey, however private survey companies regularly use samples of this size to gauge public opinion.

Question reference: S5W-18593

Asked by: Tom Mason, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 13 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of a reported continued fall in Higher pass rates in the last decade, and given the 0% productivity growth in the last two years as reported by the Scottish Fiscal Commission, what its position is on the assertion that the (a) current education system is conducive to the low productivity growth in recent years and (b) continued fall in pass rates will have a negative effect on productivity growth over the next 10 years.

This year’s SQA results demonstrate that overall performance remains broadly consistent at Higher with around 77% getting A to C, despite a 2.4% fall in the S5-S6 school roll.

Scotland’s productivity has increased by 6.7% since 2007, compared to an increase of just 2.2% for the UK as a whole over the same period. Furthermore, Scotland’s productivity growth has been higher than any other country or region of the UK, including London, since the global recession.

The Scottish Government is taking action to support the Scottish economy’s productivity, in line with the priorities set out in our Economic Strategy – to tackle inequality and increase competitiveness. This is very much aligned with our vision for education in Scotland – to ensure that we achieve excellence and equity for all of our children and young people in a highly performing education system.

The Scottish Government is investing enormously in the provision of funded early learning and childcare (ELC) for all 3 and 4 year olds and for the most disadvantaged 2 year olds and has recently announced a multi-year funding deal with local authorities that will ensure the successful delivery of the transformational expansion of ELC to 1140 hours a year from 2020. We are investing £750m through the Attainment Scotland Challenge over the course of this parliament to tackle the attainment gap. Furthermore, we are making Higher education more accessible and investing over £1.8 billion to support the Further and Higher Education sectors through the Scottish Funding Council’s 18-19 budget, guaranteeing that Higher Education will remain free of tuition fees for all eligible Scottish or EU domiciled undergraduate students.

Taken together, these measures are creating an excellent, work relevant education offer for Scotland’s young people, giving them the skills for the current and anticipated jobs market – which can help drive increased productivity. These policies can also help deliver inclusive growth by helping to close the attainment gap, contributing to our preventative actions to reduce Child Poverty and ensuring that every child, no matter their background or circumstances, has an equal chance of going on to higher education.