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-09819

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 18 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release of 20 June 2017, Queensferry Crossing to open August 30, on what date the final public transport links to the north of the Forth Road Bridge will be completed.

Following the Queensferry Crossing opening to all traffic and the completion of the opening events, work will commence to carry out the final tie-in construction for the public transport slip roads at the north end of the Forth Road Bridge. This will result in the final public transport links to the north of the Forth Road bridge being completed in October 2017. As these works progress, a countdown to motorway regulation activation will take place for the mainline between Admiralty Junction and Queensferry Junction, at which time the Public Transport Link restrictions will also become fully active.

Question reference: S5W-09833

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 17 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government on what date it was informed by NHS Tayside of the consultation on the closure of the Mulberry Unit at Stracathro Hospital.

Question reference: S5W-09738

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 3 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how the recruitment of clinical staff to the Carseview Centre in Dundee is progressing.

Question reference: S5W-09736

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 3 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government by what date the patients who were transferred to the Carseview Centre in Dundee are expected to return to the Mulberry Unit at Stracathro Hospital.

A formal consultation on the future shape and provision of mental health services within the Tayside region will be launched on 3 July 2017. Whilst this is taking place, Integration Joint Boards along with NHS Tayside will continually review the temporary arrangements which are in place at the Mulberry Unit at each change over in medical staffing. The staffing levels are not currently sufficient to allow a return to Strathcaro Hospital and this will be reviewed again when the next medical staffing change over takes place later in 2017.

Question reference: S5W-09735

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 30 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is providing financial assistance to cover the travel costs of the families of patients who were transferred from the Mulberry Unit at Stracathro Hospital to the Carseview Centre in Dundee and, if so, what proportion of the costs it is meeting.

Assistance with travel expenses relates principally to patients on benefits. Following implementation of the contingency arrangements for the Mulberry Unit currently situated in Carseview Centre, Dundee; a caveat has been put in place where families are entitled to apply for assistance on an individual basis through the existing scheme for patient reimbursement. Information on this scheme and how to apply is available on the NHS Tayside website.

Local arrangements have also been put in place with Voluntary Action Angus which is providing patients and carers of the Mulberry Unit, access to 5 vehicles. This will see volunteers support people who face challenges in using public transport and do not have access to alternative transportation; which will allow them to attend important meetings and appointments.

Question reference: S5W-09737

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 30 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients at the Mulberry Unit at Stracathro Hospital were (a) transferred to the Carseview Centre in Dundee and (b) given alternative non-medical accommodation.

Question reference: S5W-09812

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many police officers have taken a leave of absence with the reason given by the officer as stress or any reason that could reasonably be considered to fall within the category of stress in each year since 2012, broken down by division and, if this data is not held centrally, whether it considers that successful implementation of the i6 programme would have enabled this information to be captured, and when it will implement an appropriate HR system that allows appropriate data capture.

Question reference: S5W-09813

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many police officers have taken a leave of absence with the reason given by the officer as mental health or any reason that could reasonably be considered to fall within the category of mental health in each year since 2012, broken down by division and,if this data is not held centrally, whether it considers that successful implementation of the i6 programme would have enabled this information to be captured, and when it will implement an appropriate HR system that allows appropriate data capture.

Question reference: S5O-01178

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 28 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making in tackling poverty.

Our Fairer Scotland Action Plan sets out 50 concrete actions that we will take to tackle poverty and inequality. These include the Child Poverty Bill, currently at Stage 2, with ambitious targets to reduce and eradicate child poverty and establishing a Poverty and Inequality Commission to provide expert advice on tackling poverty.

These and many other positive measures are happening against a backdrop of challenging welfare cuts and austerity measures from the UK government. We have already invested over £350 million since 2013-14 to mitigate these unnecessary and punitive cuts and to support low income families.

Question reference: S5W-09690

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 27 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that people from diverse backgrounds are encouraged to pursue careers in HGV driving, in light of statistics that reportedly reveal that only 1% of HGV drivers are women and an estimated 3% are from black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds.

The Scottish Government is committed to increasing the participation of underrepresented groups in the labour market and the haulage industry. We recently announced the Workplace Equality Fund to reduce employment inequalities and barriers to employment, particularly in relation to recruitment and progression practices. The fund will support delivery of the Scottish Government's Race Equality Framework. Businesses can apply to the Fund when it opens for applications in late Summer.

In addition, SDS, working with Road Haulage Association (RHA) and key partners, commissioned a review of the labour market issues relating to the shortage of drivers within the Scottish Transport Network. The resulting report (Development of Action Plan to Address Shortage of Drivers in Scotland’s Transport Network) provided a number of recommendations, along with an action plan to tackle the identified skills supply and demand issues. SDS are currently scoping a pilot approach with training provider partners to encourage people from ethnic minority backgrounds and young women to consider applying for opportunities in the HGV sector.

The Development of Action Plan to Address Shortage of Drivers in Scotland’s Transport Network Report identified that industry must take an active role in addressing the identified issues. In response a stakeholder group has been established to consider the report’s recommendations and met for the first time on 22 June. Industry trade associations are already taking action to address the skills shortage in the sector through campaigns such as the ‘National Lorry Week’ and ‘She’s RHA’