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: S4O-04020

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 18 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what impact the recent fall in oil prices has had on the economy of and employment in the Highlands and Islands.

The fall in oil prices will be beneficial in terms of reduced transport costs – helping individuals and businesses. We are aware that this has the potential to impact on levels of investment in the UK Continental Shelf and that is why we have repeatedly pressed the UK Government to ensure a competitive and stable fiscal regime, and proposed a package of measures which we believe will sustain investment and support thousands of jobs.

The First Minister launched the Energy Jobs Taskforce in January 2015 to deliver a co-ordinated response to the issues being faced by the industry, with partners working across the sector both to maintain jobs and to mitigate the potential impact of any losses.

Question reference: S4W-24304

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 17 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what contingency plans there are to accommodate court business if Inverness Sheriff Court is unavailable.

Question reference: S4W-24303

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 17 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has for the former Dingwall Sheriff and Justice of the Peace Court building.

Question reference: S4W-24137

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 January 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to protect the terms and conditions of GPs on 17C contracts.

Question reference: S4W-24136

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 January 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to encourage NHS boards to recruit and retain GPs on 17C contracts.

Health boards have a range of options at their disposal in ensuring appropriate service provision: in addition to securing provision through independent contractors under the terms of the nationally negotiated general medical services contract, or through section 17C (of the 1978 NHS (Scotland) Act) contractual agreements, they can provide services directly themselves with board employed GPs.

Statutory responsibility for the provision of primary medical services rests with health boards and it is for each board to put in place those services that best meet the reasonable needs of their patient populations.

The service options chosen for each community are entirely operational matters for the territorial health board.

Scottish Ministers are fully committed to ensuring that all communities in Scotland receive safe, reliable and sustainable health care services.

Recruitment into GP training remains high, with a 91 per cent fill rate. However the Scottish Government is certainly not complacent, and we are working on a range of initiatives to improve matters.

The new GP contract, agreed in August 2014, contains several measures to help ease recruitment and workload pressures in general practice.

Question reference: S4W-24138

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 January 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to protect dispensary services for GPs on 17C contracts.

Under the provisions set out in the NHS Pharmaceutical Services (Scotland) (Regulations) 2009 NHS boards must establish a Pharmacy Practices Committee to consider applications made to them to open a community pharmacy in their area. If an application is granted to open a pharmacy in an area where a GP practice has authority to prescribe and dispense to its patients, the board must take a decision on whether that GP practice can continue to dispense.

Question reference: S4O-03976

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to tackle poverty in the Highlands and Islands.

Question reference: S4W-24095

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 January 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 28 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government which hospitals were placed on red alert between 1 December 2014 and 15 January 2015 and for how long; how many beds were available during the red alert period, and how this compared with demand.

While hospitals have experienced pressures this winter, none has needed to declare a major incident because of the demands that it was facing. Boards have been keeping the Scottish Government informed daily about the pressures that they face and the actions that are being taken to address them. Additional support has been provided to the boards when required.

Official statistics on hospital activity and beds relating to the quarters ending December 2014 and March 2015 will be published in March 2015 and June 2015 respectively.

Question reference: S4W-24096

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 January 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 28 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government which (a) local authority and (b) private care homes in each local authority area are subject to admission restrictions set by the Care Inspectorate, and how long these have been in place.

The Care Inspectorate has a restriction in place in Marine House Care Home in Forfar at present. This restriction is to limit admissions to no more than one older person every 14 days up to a maximum of 45 older people. This restriction came into effect on 28 August 2014 and is still in place.

Although it is uncommon for the Care Inspectorate to place such restrictions, it works closely with local authorities who may cease admissions to services with poor grades until quality improves. This is currently the case in Marine House Care Home as well as in other services across Scotland. The Care Inspectorate works closely with local authorities to keep them informed of its findings and with care services to ensure they can achieve sustainable improvements to their service. In some cases, services themselves may voluntarily stop or restrict admissions for a range of reasons such as refurbishment, staff recruitment issues or whilst they make improvements.

Question reference: S4W-24070

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 19 January 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 28 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on extending the Lochboisdale – Mallaig ferry service to include summer crossings.

Current vessel deployment considerations mean that it is not possible to introduce a summer Lochboisdale to Mallaig ferry service at this stage, as this would impact on existing services elsewhere on the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services network. The winter pilot service will be evaluated over the full three year pilot period before decisions about the way forward are taken. The evaluation will take into account the severe weather disruptions experienced on the route.

Costs to operate a year round Lochboisdale to Mallaig ferry service have not therefore been considered.