- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 January 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 20 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported statistics from the Office for National Statistics stating that 20% of firms in Scotland have had more difficulty recruiting workers, compared with other parts of the UK.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises challenges faced by businesses and particular circumstances faced in Scotland, and that is why the Scottish Government stands ready to support the UK Government to design an immigration system that addresses the requirements of Scotland’s economy and communities.
The Scottish Government is working with business to grow the economy and address labour and skill shortages, promoting fair work to make it easier for people to enter and remain in the workforce and ensuring our education and skills system are responsive to national needs .
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 January 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 16 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to increase access to NHS dentistry, in light of reported figures from Public Health Scotland stating that 1.8 million adults have not seen a dentist since 2022.
Answer
Public Health Scotland statistics published in November 2024 show that NHS dental services are performing well at a national level, with almost 4 million courses of treatment delivered to patients between November 2023 and September 2024.
There are many reasons why people may choose not to attend the dentist, which is not shown in participation data. This does not necessarily mean that these patients are unable to access an NHS dentist.
The Draft Budget reinforces our commitment to NHS dentistry, with an increase of almost 15% in funding for primary care dental services planned for 2025-26. Within this we will look to continue our work to improve NHS dental workforce and training measures, in line with our Vision for Healthcare Services.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
-
Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 22 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, as part of the cross-government co-ordination on islands, including island connectivity, what discussions the rural affairs secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding the impact on islanders of the relocation of the Arran ferry service from Ardrossan to Troon.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 22 January 2025
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 January 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 15 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported figures stating that more than £4 million has been spent dealing with infestations of rats, mice, maggots and cockroaches in hospitals and medical facilities, including more than £2 million by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
Answer
Spending money on pest control is a necessary part of maintaining any estate, especially one as large as the NHS which is almost the size of the city of Stirling at 1,572 hectares in size.
It would also be useful to note that the figure quoted, £4 million, relates to spend over a six year period.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 January 2025
-
Current Status:
Answered by Siobhian Brown on 15 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to tackle serious violent crime, in light of reported figures stating that serious violent crime has almost doubled in a decade to more than 1,000 incidents per month.
Answer
Any level of violence is a concern but it is not correct to say that serious violent crime has almost doubled in a decade. The number of serious assaults and attempted murders recorded by the police has increased by 9% since 2014-15. However, levels have fallen over the past six years, down 21% from 4,361 in 2018-19 to 3,457 by 2023-24. This is replicated in other sources, with the number of hospital admissions related to assault down by a third between 2014-15 and 2023/24. Despite this encouraging progress we are determined to do more.
That is why, through the Violence Prevention Framework; Supporting documents - Violence prevention framework - gov.scot we have provided over £4 million investment over the last two years, to fund a range of targeted prevention and intervention activity across communities. Key actions so far include:
- Extending the support of the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit, to reach more individuals and communities across Scotland, including North and South Lanarkshire, Fife, Highlands, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
- Extending the Medics Against Violence Hospital Navigator Programme in two Children’s Hospitals in Aberdeen and Glasgow.
- Supporting Medics Against Violence engagement with young people to highlight the consequences of knife carrying and knife injuries in primary schools, youth clubs and secondary schools.
- Supporting the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit to develop a community of practice for over 100 police School Liaison Officers across Scotland.
- Trained over 800 teachers in schools to provide young people with key messages on violence, reaching 19 local authorities across Scotland.
- Supporting YouthLink Scotland to deliver various online and face to face No Knives, Better Lives training sessions to hundreds of practitioners working with young people, in addition to working directly with young people across Scotland.
- Supporting Education Scotland to deliver the Mentors in Violence Prevention programme, in schools across all 32 local authorities.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2025
-
Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 15 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to comments made by the Auditor General for Scotland that the “future of the Ferguson Marine Port Glasgow shipyard remains uncertain".
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 15 January 2025
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 8 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve community flood defences, in light of reports that fewer than half of projects scheduled to be built by 2021 have been completed.
Answer
Local authorities are responsible for the developing and delivering flood protection schemes, supported by Scottish Government funding. The 2015-2021 Flood Risk Management Strategies published by SEPA prioritised 42 flood protection schemes. These schemes require complex planning and consultation and often take years to complete, so it has always been recognised that completion of construction work on all 42 schemes might not have taken place by 2021.
In addition to an annual £42 million provided to local authorities for flood resilience, Scottish Government has committed to an additional £150 million over the course of this Parliament.
Since 2015 this investment has led to the completion of 18 flood resilience projects, including Millport Coastal, one of three completed in 2024. An additional two projects are in an advanced stage and nearing completion.
The National Flood Resilience Strategy published in December underscores Scottish Government’s long term commitment to tackling climate-related challenges. An additional £15 million has been set aside in the draft 2025-2026 Scottish Budget to support the delivery of the Strategy, wider flooding resilience and coastal adaptation work.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 8 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what steps it is taking to encourage increased use of public transport, in light of recently reported disruption, delays and staff shortages on the ScotRail network.
Answer
Any cancellations, delays or disruptions are disappointing and we recognise the impact that this has on rail users. However cancellations represent a small percentage of the overall number of ScotRail services. ScotRail’s performance is consistently higher than the GB network average.
I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-32514 on 8 January 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: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 8 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with ScotRail regarding improving the service's Sunday timetable, in light of reports of disruption during the festive period.
Answer
Whilst staff working on rest days and overtime is a measure adopted by all GB train operating companies, ScotRail has been recruiting more staff to minimise this reliance. ScotRail is currently recruiting 160 Drivers each year, one of the highest numbers across all UK operators, which will help to reduce these challenges in the future.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 December 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 8 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government when it expects the lifting of the two-child benefit cap to come into force.
Answer
The 2025-26 budget commits to spending £3 million to develop the systems needed to deliver mitigation of the two-child cap, which could lift an estimated 15,000 children out of poverty in Scotland.
The detailed work of building the system and developing legislation to do that has started, however implementation requires, not just the co-operation of the UK Government, but also legislation in the UK Parliament. Officials from both governments have already met to discuss this, and myself are seeking a Ministerial meeting so that this vital policy can be progressed as a priority.
We will start paying families as early as possible in 2026.
