- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 27 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on any legal advice sought from external counsel in each year since 2018, broken down by (a) its department and (b) the legal firm or provider.
Answer
As Scottish Government functions have increased and matured, the volume and complexity of outsourced work has also evolved. This work is procured and we are now utilising the third iteration of a framework providing Legal Services to the Scottish Government and the wider public sector. The figures provided in the table set out how much the Scottish Government has spent through those frameworks and the breakdown of costs to each legal firm. We do not centrally gather information on the department spend as there is no business requirement to do. We have interpreted the question as legal costs incurred for outsourced legal work.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 31 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many civil servants at Food Standards Scotland in Aberdeen are working on issues related to food labelling and allergens.
Answer
Figures are not kept in the form requested as FSS officials will work on a range of policy areas according to priorities and workloads. Four policy officials have the necessary expertise to deal with food labelling and allergen issues
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 31 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what the staff budget is for Food Standards Scotland’s operations in Aberdeen, and how this compares to its other locations.
Answer
Please see the following table for a breakdown of how the staff budget contributed to the overall FSS’ baseline budget in each financial year since the establishment of FSS. FSS staff costs are not dependant on where staff are located but by pay grade, therefore there are no comparisons to be made between Aberdeen and other locations.
Financial year | FSS baseline resource budget £m | Including Staff £m | Staff cost vs FSS Budget % |
2015-16 | 15.3 | 6.5 | 42% |
2016-17 | 15.3 | 7.3 | 48% |
2017-18 | 15.3 | 7.6 | 50% |
2018-19 | 15.3 | 7.8 | 51% |
2019-20 | 15.9 | 9.1 | 57% |
2020-21 | 15.6 | 11.2 | 72% |
2021-22 | 19.0 | 13.9 | 73% |
2022-23 | 22.6 | 17.0 | 75% |
2023-24 | 22.6 | 17.2 | 76% |
2024-25 | 22.6 | 18.1 | 80% |
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many patients are on waiting lists for community audiology services in (a) Aberdeen and (b) each NHS board.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-34203 on 27 February 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what the average waiting time is for community audiology services in (a) NHS Grampian and (b) Aberdeen, and how this compares with the national average.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-34203 on 27 February 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what action is being taken to ensure that patients requiring community audiology services in rural areas are not disadvantaged compared with those in urban centres.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-34203 on 27 February 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how it is addressing any recruitment and retention challenges in community audiology services, particularly in rural and remote areas.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-34203 on 27 February 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to reduce waiting times for community audiology services in (a) NHS Grampian and (b) Aberdeen.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-34203 on 27 February 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 27 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on external legal advice in relation to judicial reviews, broken down by case since 2018.
Answer
The Scottish Government has spent the following amount in relation to judicial reviews. We are unable to provide a breakdown by case name due to GDPR considerations. Some case names will be in the public domain because the judgments have been published with the full name. However, some cases have been name anonymised and others will not be in the public domain due to being disposed of without a judgment.
We have therefore provided a breakdown by the number of cases.
Prior to the introduction of a new Case Management system on 1 March 2024 the information was not recorded in way that would enable us to answer the full timeframe covered by the question. The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Therefore, we have provided the information on judicial reviews from 1 March 2024.
Please note that the figures contained in the following table are the total case costs and the expenditure has been incurred over multiple financial years.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 31 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many food businesses have been closed following Food Standards Scotland inspections in each year since 2018, broken down by local authority.
Answer
The following table provides the detail of Local Authority enforcement actions that have resulted in business closure. The data relates to the use of Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notices, Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Orders and Voluntary Closures.
| | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Grand Total |
Aberdeen City Council | 17 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 20 | 10 | | 74 |
Aberdeenshire Council | 5 | 4 | | | | 1 | 4 | | 14 |
Angus Council | 1 | | | | 2 | 4 | | | 7 |
Argyll And Bute Council | | | | 1 | 1 | 2 | | | 4 |
City of Edinburgh Council | 30 | 36 | 17 | 7 | 30 | 39 | 34 | 2 | 195 |
Clackmannanshire Council | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | | 1 | | | 13 |
Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar | 3 | 3 | | 1 | | | | | 7 |
Dundee City Council | 5 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 4 | 5 | | 36 |
East Ayrshire Council | | | | 2 | 1 | | 3 | 4 | 10 |
East Dunbartonshire Council | 7 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 33 |
East Lothian Council | 5 | 1 | | | | 3 | 9 | | 18 |
East Renfrewshire Council | 2 | 1 | | | 1 | | | | 4 |
Falkirk Council | 11 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | | 1 | 28 |
Fife Council | 7 | 4 | | 4 | 8 | 5 | 16 | 1 | 45 |
Glasgow City Council | 10 | 4 | | | 8 | 2 | | | 24 |
Inverclyde Council | 1 | | 1 | | | | 1 | | 3 |
North Ayrshire Council | 2 | 1 | | | | | | | 3 |
North Lanarkshire Council | 13 | 10 | | | 2 | 1 | 2 | | 28 |
Orkney Islands Council | | | | | | 1 | | | 1 |
Renfrewshire Council | 12 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 32 |
Scottish Borders Council | | 3 | | | 1 | | | | 4 |
South Ayrshire Council | | 1 | | | | | | | 1 |
South Lanarkshire Council | 4 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 4 | | | 23 |
Stirling Council | 3 | 2 | | | | 3 | 3 | | 11 |
The Highland Council | 4 | 3 | | 3 | | | 3 | | 13 |
The Moray Council | 2 | 2 | | | | 1 | | | 5 |
West Dunbartonshire Council | 4 | 2 | 1 | | 2 | 5 | | | 14 |
West Lothian Council | | | | | 2 | | | | 2 |
Grand Total | 153 | 114 | 30 | 39 | 96 | 108 | 101 | 11 | 652 |