Questions and answers

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 ��˿�� 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: S4W-24674

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to support (a) patients and (b) the families of patients if they are referred to mainland hospitals due to delayed discharges at Western Isles Hospital, Stornoway.

We are working closely with NHS Western Isles and the Comhairle nan Eileen Siar to ensure a reduction in the level of delayed discharges. However, to date NHS Western Isles have not been required to transfer any patients to the mainland due to delayed discharges.

To assist all partnerships tackle delayed discharge we are investing £100 million over the next three years, and NHS Western Isles will receive a £640,000 share of this funding.

Question reference: S4W-24672

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce the level of delayed discharges at Western Isles Hospital, Stornoway.

Question reference: S4W-24545

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 20 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 5 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many children have been admitted to adult psychiatric wards in each year since 2003.

Accurate data for the years prior to 2008-09 is not available.

Data taken from the Mental Welfare Commission shows the number of children and young people admitted to adult psychiatric wards since 2008:

Year	Number of children/young people admitted to adult psychiatric wards
2008-09	138
2009-10	147
2010-11	128
2011-12	115
2012-13	148
2013-14	179

Further information can be obtained from the following link:

Question reference: S4W-24528

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how and (b) by how much it expects Abellio to improve journey times on the (i) Highland Main Line and (ii) Far North Line.

We expect Abellio ScotRail to save around 10 to 12 minutes on the Highland Main Line by taking advantage of the government’s infrastructure investment on this route and introducing refurbished intercity high speed train rolling stock by 2019. We expect Abellio ScotRail to reduce journey times for services on the Far North Line; this is dependent on the outcome of Network Rail and First ScotRail’s current review of line speeds on the route. The scale of journey time reduction will be available on the conclusion of this review.

Question reference: S4W-24526

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Abellio in relation to the (a) Highland Main Line and (b) Far North Line.

Transport Scotland are meeting Abellio frequently to discuss a wide range of issues relevant to the delivery of the new ScotRail franchise, that will commence on 1 April 2015. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring a continuously improving service for rail passengers, including services on the Highland Main Line and Far North Line. The new ScotRail franchise will bring popular high speed trains between Inverness and the central belt, increasing capacity, reducing journey times and improving on-train comfort. The new franchise will also deliver a scenic railway service on the Far North line.

Question reference: S4W-24529

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it expects Abellio to provide trains on the Far North Line and the West Highland Line with upgrades to enhance the tourist experience and, if so, what upgrades.

Question reference: S4W-24527

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many new trains it expects Abellio to provide to service the (a) Highland Main Line, (b) Far North Line, (c) West Highland Line north and (d) West Highland Line south.

Question reference: S4W-24338

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 25 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many teacher vacancies there are in (a) Highland, (b) Moray, (c) Orkney Islands, (d) Shetland Islands, (e) Western Isles and (f) Argyll and Bute Council.

Question reference: S4W-24339

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 19 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release of 2 January 2015 regarding 250 additional teacher training places for 2015-16, what further action it is taking to create more teacher training places at colleges in (a) the Highlands, (b) the Western Isles, (c) the Northern Isles and (d) Moray.

The Scottish Government has recommended that initial teacher education (ITE) student intake targets for 2015-16 should be increased by 150 in the primary sector and by 100 in the secondary sector.

The Scottish Government’s advice to the Scottish Funding Council recommends that, from the planned additional ITE places in 2015-16, target intakes for the Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) Primary course at the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) should be increased from 40 to 60. On the strength of this recommendation, UHI are planning to train teachers in each of the following six UHI colleges in 2015-16: Argyll, Inverness, Lews Castle, Moray, Orkney and Shetland.

It is also recommended that the remaining increase in the primary sector should be distributed between the Universities of Aberdeen, Dundee and the West of Scotland.

It is also recommended that eight of the secondary places should be allocated for the PGDE Secondary course that UHI is planning to introduce in 2015-16 in partnership with Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, and that the remaining increase in the secondary sector be distributed proportionately across all the other universities that offer ITE courses, including Aberdeen.

The University of Aberdeen has been allocated additional places since 2014-15 and, with Scottish Government funding, is working with partner local authorities to train existing employees, such as classroom assistants, as primary teachers, through a part-time PGDE course on a distance learning basis. Highland Council already has a cohort following this route into teaching and Moray Council is due to join soon.

Question reference: S4W-24328

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 18 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how it protects land used for sport or recreation from development not related to sport or recreation.

There are existing planning measures in place, both in terms of planning policy and through the notification direction, which help safeguard outdoor sports facilities from inappropriate development.

Scottish Planning Policy (SPP), published in 2014, sets out ministers’ clear position on the protection of outdoor sports facilities, that they should be safeguarded from development except in a limited number of prescribed circumstances, such as where the proposed development is ancillary to the use as sports facility, only involves a minor part of the sports facility and would not affect its use for sport and training, or where if the facility to be lost would be replaced by a new facility of comparable or greater value. Through SPP, ministers expect local authorities to identify and protect open space in their local development plans.

Ministers also have a scrutiny role, and have set out in the Town and Country Planning (Notification of Applications) (Scotland) Direction 2009 details of the types of applications which require to be notified to them. This includes development which is likely to a) result in the loss of an outdoor sports facility; b) prejudice the existing use of an outdoor sports facility for that purpose; or c) prevent the use of land, which was last used as an outdoor sports facility, from being used again for that purpose, to which sportscotland has objected or has recommended conditions which the planning authority does not intend to attach to the planning permission.