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-18303

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 5 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how much each NHS board spent on homeopathy and alternative medicine in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S5W-18308

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 4 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether there are any NHS training posts that include placements in homeopathy.

None of the GMC approved medical training programmes require placements in homeopathy, and there are currently no training rotations in any medical placements which include homeopathy attachments.

There are no homeopathy nurses or allied health professions (AHP’s). Homeopathy is an entirely different training and not directly related to any AHP or Nursing; it is not a skill which would be registered or annotated on the Health and Care Professions Council/Nursing and Midwifery Council (HCPC/ NWC) register.

Question reference: S5T-01185

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 September 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the integration of British Transport Police and Police Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-18228

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of how it will spend the Barnett consequential of £11.6 million that arose from the UK Government’s announcement of £100 million to support computer science education development, which is assigned to Industry Strategy Skills in the Autumn Budget.

The UK Government Block Grant Transparency Document confirms that the Scottish Government received Barnett consequentials of £4.3 million this financial year and £7.3 million in 2019-20 as a result of Autumn Budget announcements made by the UK Government for expenditure on a ‘National Retraining Scheme initial investment and investment in computing science teachers and maths’. The relevant HM Treasury documents may be found at .

Given the broad nature of this funding allocation, it is not possible to relate these allocated Barnett consequentials specifically to computing science teachers. Such consequentials are not automatically received by the corresponding Scottish Government portfolio but form part of the wider Scottish Government budget for the financial year concerned.

As part of the Government’s STEM Education and Training Strategy, we are continuing to develop and invest in teacher professional development in computing science, for both the primary and secondary sectors. This includes the Barefoot Computing programme which provides teaching resources for the primary sector, an online learning course to develop teachers’ knowledge and skills for delivery of National 5 Computing Science, and the Digital Schools Award for Scotland which helps schools embed digital technology within their learning and teaching.

Education Scotland is also establishing a Computing Science Lead Teacher network that will offer national level training that can be cascaded to local practitioners. This network builds on the support arrangements provided by Computing at School Scotland (CASS) and the ‘PLAN C’ project, and will link to the STEM Hub network being developed through the college network as part of our STEM Strategy.

Question reference: S5W-18229

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will commit to spending the Barnett consequential of £11.6 million that arose from the UK Government’s announcement of £100 million to support computer science education development, which is assigned to Industry Strategy Skills in the Autumn Budget, specifically on computer science education.

Question reference: S5W-18018

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 24 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-17535 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 12 July 2018, when it will complete its consideration of the recent UK Supreme Court judgement.

Question reference: S5W-17620

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 July 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 23 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many emergency calls were made and responded to by the Scottish Ambulance Service within (a) 10 mins, (b) 30 mins, (c) 1 hour and (d) 2 hours, in each of the last five years.

Please find the requested information set out in the following table:

Minutes	2013 - 2014	2014 - 2015	2015 - 2016	2016 - 2017	2017 - 2018
Under 10	326865	311421	281426	257652	206745
10-30	141875	167555	185601	202110	229813
30-60	8998	13615	20440	30485	53187
60-120	2361	3267	4603	6639	17263
120 plus	644	845	1239	1560	4798

The new clinical response model, being trialled by the Ambulance Service since November 2016, maintains the focus on responding to the most serious, life threatening calls as quickly as possible. Ambulance call handlers are, when appropriate, spending more time on less urgent calls to better understand the patients’ needs and ensure that the correct, and not the nearest, resource is sent first time, improving patient outcomes. This is the main reason behind the reduction in calls responded to in under 10 minutes, outlined in the table.

Question reference: S5W-17528

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how much it anticipates it will pay Ernst & Young in total for its work on the proposed merger of British Transport Police in Scotland with Police Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-17611

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 July 2018
Current Status: Answered by James Wolffe QC on 30 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the longest time is for a fatal accident inquiry to be (a) completed and (b) currently awaiting completion following a death in custody.

(a) Table A indicates for individuals who died in prison custody during the financial years (1 April to 31 March) from 2010-11 through to 2017-18, the longest time taken from the date of death to conclusion of evidence in the FAI.

It is important to note that there are investigations ongoing in relation to deaths of individuals reported during this same period, where FAIs have yet to be concluded. Therefore the figures below, particularly in respect of the latter years, will change as further FAIs are concluded.

(b) The longest time since the date of death of an individual for a death in prison custody, in respect of which an FAI is yet to be held is 1533 days.*

Table A:

Deaths of individuals reported to COPFS who have died in prison custody, in respect of which an FAI has concluded


Financial Year	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18
Longest number of days*	1317	1271	1428	1327	1333	967	572	372

* Based on COPFS figures as at 27 June 2018.

Question reference: S5W-17613

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 July 2018
Current Status: Answered by James Wolffe QC on 30 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason there are long delays in conducting fatal accident inquires following a death in custody.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-17612 on 30 July 2018. The progress of a death investigation depends on a variety of factors. While most death investigations conclude once a cause of death is known, other cases require further investigation, which may include complex technical and medical issues requiring the instruction of experts. Equally, where a FAI is to be held, the speed with which it proceeds to the conclusion of evidence, and, thereafter, to issue of the sheriff’s determination depends on a variety of factors, including the scale and complexity of the inquiry and the other demands on court and judicial time.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at .