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: S5W-04489

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 16 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-03223 by Keith Brown on 1 November 2016, whether it will provide the information that was requested regarding what action it is taking to improve the availability of its data on (a) the balance of trade and (b) (i) primary and (ii) secondary incomes.

The development of Scottish Government economic statistics is reviewed and discussed with users at the annual meeting of the Scottish Economic Statistics Consultation Group (SESCG). The latest meeting was on 19 May 2016 and focussed on plans for the year 2016-17. Minutes of SESCG meetings are published online at .

As discussed at SESCG, the Scottish Government is continuing to develop statistics relating to the offshore oil and gas industry and its contribution to various aspects of the Scottish economy, including the balance of trade. In addition, the Scottish Government is engaging with the Office for National Statistics and HM Revenue and Customs on the use of administrative data sources to improve the accuracy and reliability of statistics for UK countries and regions. We await forthcoming developments to HMRC Regional Trade Statistics and will review how changes to this data source can be used to improve export and import statistics for Scotland. There was also discussion at SESCG that the Scottish Government plans to continue research into the development of sector income accounts and Gross National Income statistics next year.

Question reference: S5F-00492

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 November 2016

To ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet.

Question reference: S5W-04106

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 9 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been made ill after consuming raw milk cheese in each year since 2010, also broken down by the (a) type of illness and (b) pathogen that was identified.

A number of illnesses can be caused by consuming contaminated cheese made with unpasteurised milk, for example, brucella, listeria, salmonella and shiga
toxin-producing Escherichia coli. All these diseases can be acquired through a number of routes, including contaminated food and contact with animals. Therefore it is extremely difficult to determine the source of infection in individual cases. However, where there are clusters of cases of particular pathogens or sub-types, the relevant Health Protection Teams will undertake investigations to try and establish any common links between the cases. Between 2010 and 2015 there were no outbreaks reported where the suspected vehicle was reported as either unpasteurised milk or unpasteurised cheese. In 2016, to date, there has been one outbreak of E.coli O157 associated with unpasteurised cheese, affecting 26 individuals.

Health Protection Scotland (HPS) report data on laboratory confirmed cases of illness due to a number of pathogens, including those listed above, which can be found on the pathogen specific pages of the HPS website, . It should be noted that these data will only include cases of illness where the individual has sought medical attention and had samples submitted for testing.

Question reference: S5W-04071

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 8 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact on (a) housing markets, (b) antisocial behaviour and (c) tourism of short-term letting platforms such as Airbnb.

Question reference: S5W-04072

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 4 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to local authorities to ensure that they have sufficient flexibility to tailor their approaches to dealing with the issues arising from the growth of short-term letting platforms such as Airbnb.

Question reference: S5W-04075

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 4 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the regulatory approaches taken in other countries to deal with the growth of short-term letting platforms such as Airbnb.

The Scottish Government has not made a specific assessment of the regulatory approaches taken in other countries to deal with the growth of short-term letting platforms such as Airbnb.

The Scottish Government is however already working closely with the independent Regulatory Review Group. The Regulatory Review Group is currently undertaking a review of the regulatory environment within Scotland for key sectors (including tourism) affected by digital disruption. This is to ensure that it remains appropriate to encourage and support innovation while maintaining a level playing field. The Regulatory Review Group will report their findings to Scottish Ministers in due course.

Question reference: S5W-04074

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 4 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the recommendation of the Scottish HIV PrEP Short Life Working Group that people at the highest risk of HIV are provided with the option of pre-exposure prophylaxis to protect them from becoming HIV positive.

The Scottish Government recognises that reducing HIV transmission is a public health priority. In Scotland, all medicines must be licensed before they can be made routinely available on the NHS. The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer has written to the manufacturer of the drugs used for pre-exposure prophylaxis asking them to make a submission to the Scottish Medicines Consortium, at a fair price, so its routine use in Scotland can be considered as quickly as possible.

Question reference: S5W-03223

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 1 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve the availability of its data on (a) the balance of trade and (b) (i) primary and (ii) secondary incomes.

The Scottish Government produces a broad range of economic statistics. All statistics are subject to quality assurance of data and results at the time of production, and the methods used and availability of source data are regularly reviewed to ensure continuous improvement.

(a) Estimates of exports and imports (the balance of trade) for the onshore Scottish economy are published as part of the Quarterly National Accounts Scotland (Table G) and annual Supply and Use Tables statistics releases. The latest results can be accessed at:

and . The Scottish Government is also developing statistics on the imports and exports of oil and gas from Scottish Adjacent Waters. The latest results can be accessed at . In addition to estimates of the balance of trade, detailed statistics on exports are also published in the annual Export Statistics Scotland publication. This can be accessed at: .

(b) The Scottish Government publishes estimates of the balances of primary and secondary incomes for the Households and Non-Profit Institutions Serving Households (NPISH) sector as part of the Quarterly National Accounts Scotland statistics release. This information is used in the calculation of Gross Disposable Household Income (GDHI). The latest results can be accessed in Table I of the Quarterly National Accounts Scotland at:

(i) Estimates of the primary income flows for all sectors of the economy (Government and Corporations) are required for the calculation of Gross National Income (GNI). The Scottish Government published an initial overview of development work on the production of GNI estimates in November 2013, including provisional results for 2010. This work can be accessed at:

(ii) The Scottish Government does not currently produce estimates of secondary income flows (transfers of income), other than for the Household and NPISH sector.

Question reference: S5F-00407

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 October 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 November 2016

To ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet.

Question reference: S5F-00381

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 October 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 October 2016

To ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet.