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-24250

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions or correspondence the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport has had since 26 June 2018 with (a) Integrated Health Solutions Lothian and (b) NHS Lothian regarding the opening date of the new Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh.

NHS Lothian entered into a project agreement with Integrated Health Solutions Lothian (IHSL), for the design, build, finance and maintenance of the new hospital. As the contractual agreement is between IHSL and NHS Lothian, communication with IHSL is managed by the Board.

Officials, on my behalf, have and will continue to have regular engagement with NHS Lothian on progress of the project, timelines and issues arising and I will be kept fully informed.

At my request, NHS National Services Scotland are undertaking a detailed assessment of compliance of all building systems which could impact on the safety of patients and staff at the new site, and KPMG have been engaged to conduct an independent audit of the governance arrangements for the new hospital, and to provide an external and impartial assessment of the factors leading to the delay. I will be kept fully apprised of the output of these reviews as they progress.

An Oversight Board will provide advice on the readiness of the facility to open and on the migration of services to the new facility. The Oversight Board will seek assurance from NHS Lothian that according to its due diligence and governance, the facility is ready to open; and from NHS National Services Scotland that its agreed diligence has been successfully completed.

Further information is contained within S5W-24397 on 18 July 2019, which sets out the events that led to my decision to postpone the move to the new hospital, the work that I have instructed to identify the factors that led to that decision and to determine the actions required to allow the move to go ahead, and the support being provided to the Board, patients and staff.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:

Question reference: S5W-24253

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions or correspondence the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport has had since 26 June 2018 with (a) Integrated Health Solutions Lothian and (b) NHS Lothian regarding the ventilation system at the new Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh.

Question reference: S5W-24492

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 26 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 16 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the annual budget is for Autism Network Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-24485

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 26 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 7 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many dogs have been ordered to be destroyed under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 in each year since it came into force.

Question reference: S5W-24486

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 26 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 7 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there have been under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 in each year since it came into force.

The available information is provided in the following table, which has been produced from the Scottish Government’s criminal proceedings database .

Number of people proceeded/convicted under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991¹, 1991-92 to 2017-18.

Financial Year	Proceedings	Convictions
1991-92	24	16
1992-93	71	54
1993-94	63	48
1994-95	62	52
1995-96	45	30
1996-97	42	35
1997-98	51	27
1998-99	66	44
1999-00	70	47
2000-01	54	36
2001-02	42	26
2002-03	51	37
2003-04	67	48
2004-05	67	52
2005-06	65	52
2006-07	66	50
2007-08	61	43
2008-09	84	68
2009-10	63	49
2010-11	105	86
2011-12	162	96
2012-13	219	97
2013-14	171	86
2014-15	185	94
2015-16	171	78
2016-17	141	64
2017-18	147	82

1 - where main crime

Source: Criminal Proceedings database

Please note: Information for 2018-19 will not be available until publication of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2018-19 Statistical Bulletin. This is due to be published in December 2019.

The dates of all Scottish Government Official and National Statistics publications are pre-announced, and the up to date list of future publications can be found at:

Question reference: S5T-01687

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 June 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that prisoners are being transported in family vehicles.

Question reference: S5O-03278

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5W-22851

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 29 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 15 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the average number of prisoners held at HMP (a) Addiewell and (b) Kilmarnock has been in each year since 2010-11.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:

The following table shows the average populations at HMP Addiewell and HMP Kilmarnock in each year since 2010-2011.

	HMP Addiewell	HMP Kilmarnock
2010-2011	700	565
2011-2012	771	631
2012-2013	767	577
2013-2014	699	501
2014-2015	700	501
2015-2016	699	500
2016-2017	699	499
2017-2018	696	499
2018-2019	700	504
2019-2020	705	593

Question reference: S5W-22655

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kezia Dugdale on 14 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what discussions it has had with the fund trustees regarding the investment policy for the Scottish Parliamentary Pension Scheme in relation to fossil fuels and related industries.

Following the completion of the recent triennial valuation of the scheme the trustees commenced a review of the scheme investment strategy. As part of the review process the fund trustees met with the SPCB, as the scheme sponsor, on Thursday 25th October 2018 to seek their views on the investment strategy. The meeting covered all aspect of the scheme investment strategy including investment in fossil fuels and related industries.

Question reference: S5O-03247

Current Status: Withdrawn