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: S5O-01818

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 1 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Glasgow Centre for Population Health and Joseph Rowntree Foundation report, Building Connections: co-locating advice services in general practices and job centres.

We welcome this report from the Glasgow Centre for Population Health and Joseph Rowntree Foundation. We are aware of the benefits of co-locating advice services with other services to ensure people are given all of the support they need in one location. There is good evidence that embedding welfare advisers in general practice contributes significantly to improvements in incomes and benefits claimed as well as enabling GPs to make better use of their time and to focus on delivering primary healthcare.

We have provided funding to support the Improvement Service to promote the benefits of placing welfare advisors in health and social care settings and we plan to co-locate the Social Security Agency’s local services with other organisations. This means that if a person is looking to apply for a benefit administered by the agency, they will be supported to complete the forms and advised on the evidence needed to support their application. And where a person is already receiving benefits from the agency, they will be able to get advice on their payments, on notifying a change in their circumstances, on other benefits they may be entitled to or on making a complaint where their expectations have not been met.

Question reference: S5W-13308

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 December 2017
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Keith Brown on 11 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government��whether it will confirm the location, lead partners and funding for the National Manufacturing Institute for Scotland.

The National Manufacturing Institute for Scotland (NMIS) will be an industry-led international centre of manufacturing expertise where research, industry and the public sector work together to transform skills, productivity and innovation to attract investment and make Scotland a global leader in advanced manufacturing.

NMIS will be located at Inchinnan in Renfrewshire, a key part of Scotland’s manufacturing and industrial heartland and close to Glasgow International Airport, the M8/74 and the River Clyde. It will be hosted by the University of Strathclyde which has a strong track record in manufacturing and engineering and in delivering translational research with economic impact, including the Advanced Forming Research Centre at Inchinnan.

The Scottish Government is providing £48 million towards NMIS over 2018-19 and 2019-20. This is in addition to the £8.9 million announced in June 2017 for the Lightweight Manufacturing Centre which will open in 2018 as a first step towards the wider NMIS facilities. Additional funding of £39.1 million will be provided through the Glasgow City Region Deal to support wider site infrastructure work at Inchinnan

I wrote to Greg Clarke, UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, on 26 September seeking a UK Government commitment of £40 million towards NMIS.

Question reference: S5O-01596

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 December 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding European Structural Funds and regional policy after Brexit.

Question reference: S5O-01529

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde regarding the planned upgrade of the Parkhead Hospital site.

Question reference: S5O-01481

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Network Rail concerning the impact on��bus services when��its engineering work requires road closures.

Transport Scotland encourages Network Rail to plan engineering work with local partners well in advance to minimise potential disruption to local communities and the travelling public and thus enable, in respect of road closures, local authorities and Regional Transport Partnerships, who are responsible for ensuring the provision of alternative bus services, sufficient time to assess and if necessary implement alternative arrangements.

Question reference: S5O-01434

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 8 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans to tackle air pollution through the implementation of a low emission zone in Glasgow.

Question reference: S5O-01399

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 October 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses in Glasgow��receive support��from the Small Business Bonus Scheme.

Question reference: S5O-01346

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 October 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it is giving to how tenement housing can be better maintained.

Question reference: S5O-01278

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 September 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the proportion of retailers adhering to single use carrier bag legislation.

Question reference: S5W-10973

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 August 2017
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Fergus Ewing on 29 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what��the revised indicative SRDP scheme budgets that are included in the latest SRDP modification are.

We have taken a range of circumstances into account in determining whether to make any modifications to the Scottish Rural Development Programme between now and 2020. These include the expectation that Scotland’s overall discretionary budget is expected to be 9.2% lower in real terms in 2019-20 compared to 2010-11 and the failure of the UK Government to transfer £160 million convergence funding which rightly belongs to Scottish farmers, despite repeated requests to do so. Moreover, despite our best efforts, we still do not have certainty about the future of the SRDP beyond a commitment from the UK Government to maintain Pillar 1 payments to farmers until 2022. Just one example of this is the Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS) 2019, for which I have been seeking guarantees from the UK Government since November last year.

The Scottish Government remains determined to take a strategic approach to maintaining the SRDP 2014-2020 budget, ensuring that we maximise the EU funds, while continuing support for key government priorities. That approach means we do not intend to modify current indicative budgets for providing direct support for farmers and crofters, that we will increase SRDP funding to support new and young entrants and will maintain planned support for forestry grants to help deliver the 10,000 hectare tree planting target.

With regard to other changes, we have also taken account of spend to date in some schemes which has been lower than expected and adjusted future budgets accordingly.

The revised indicative budgets, which we are seeking approval from the European Commission for SRDP period 2014-2020 are:

Less Favoured Area Support Scheme - £419 million

Agri-Environment Climate Scheme - £308 million

Forestry Grant Scheme - £266.8 million

Beef Efficiency Scheme - £25.4 million

New Entrants - £22 million

Crofters Agricultural Grant Scheme - £12 million

Small Farmers Grant Scheme - £2 million

Food Processing, Marketing and Cooperation Grant Scheme - £66 million

Environmental Co-operation Action Fund - £4 million

Advisory Services - £19.5 million

Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Fund- £6 million

LEADER - £82 million

Broadband - £9 million

It is important to note that these are indicative budgets, and we will continue to monitor scheme performance and demand, along with the impact of future Spending Reviews, to ensure that the SRDP continues to deliver towards our commitment to build growth all across rural Scotland.