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-01117

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 14 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce class sizes.

In 2010 we introduced legislation to reduce the maximum class size in P1 to its lowest ever level of 25, and we have committed £88 million to local authorities to maintain pupil-teacher ratios.

Our investment in teacher numbers will allow local authorities to take flexible decisions about how best to meet the needs of their schools. Had we not taken action to maintain teacher numbers, the number of teachers in our schools could have fallen further, resulting in larger classes with much higher pupil teacher ratios.

Question reference: S5W-09565

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 13 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport on 16 May 2017 (Official Report, c. 4), what support it has offered to NHS Ayrshire and Arran following the cyber-attack.

Question reference: S5T-00586

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 June 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what the final cost will be of the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme.

Question reference: S5W-09563

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 7 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it can take to help prevent young people being bullied on internet gaming platforms.

Internet safety is a reserved matter. However, Scottish Ministers do have significant scope to develop and implement policy relating to child internet safety as a direct result of devolved responsibility for education, policing and child protection.

The Scottish Governments National Action Plan on Internet Safety for Children and Young People published on 21 April 2017 sets out a number of actions to improve internet safety. Its priorities include equipping children and young people to build their own personal resilience to stay safe online, supporting professionals, parents and carers and continuing to work with digital and social media providers to ensure children are not exposed to harm.

The Scottish Government also launched ‘A National Approach to Anti-bullying for Scotland’s Children and Young People’ in 2010. This approach forms part of our wider attempts to improve the health and wellbeing of our children and young people. In recognition that there have been a number of significant policy developments since the publication of the National Approach a working group was established in January 2015 to refresh the guidance.

The Deputy First Minister recently agreed to a request from the Scottish Parliament’s Equalities and Human Rights Committee for further engagement by the Committee on this issue. We will carefully consider the issues raised by the Committee before we publish the refreshed guidance later this year.

Question reference: S5T-00578

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 June 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it takes to comply with freedom of information requests.

Question reference: S5O-01093

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to protect low- and middle-income earners from negative growth.

Question reference: S5W-09178

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 24 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent review by the property adviser, Ryden, which suggests that the possibility of a second independence referendum is undermining investor confidence in the housing market.

Question reference: S5W-08709

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 16 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to figures suggesting that, in the last quarter, Scotland's economy contracted by 0.2% compared with the UK figure of 0.7% growth, and that construction output contracted by 0.9%, and, in light of this, whether it will bring forward a proposal for a parliamentary debate on the economy.

The Scottish economy grew by 0.4% in 2016 despite the continued challenges posed by the slowdown in the oil and gas sector, but contracted by 0.2% in the fourth quarter reflecting, in part, lower consumer confidence in Scotland compared to the rest of the UK, as a result of the Brexit vote. Construction sector output contracted by 0.8% in the fourth quarter following exceptionally fast growth during 2015, however, output in the sector remained significantly higher than it was in 2014.

The Scottish Parliament debated Scotland’s Economy on 19 April 2017.

Question reference: S5W-09110

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 16 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what the economic impact would be of a so-called hard border between Scotland and England.

Question reference: S5W-09113

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 16 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its latest projection is of the outlook for the oil and gas industry.

During what has been a challenging time for the industry, the recent Oil and Gas UK Business Outlook and Scottish Chambers of Commerce reports demonstrate that confidence is slowing returning to the sector. We have seen first oil from the Flyndre field come on stream, exciting developments taking place in the West of Shetland region, and the recent licensing round which saw 25 licenses awarded. These announcements highlight that this is an important time for the industry, with the focus firmly on maximising economic recovery, efficiency and sustainability of extraction and cost reduction.

The North Sea still holds significant potential with up to 20 billion boe remaining available for potential extraction. With the key economic levers currently reserved at Westminster, the Scottish Government is however doing everything within its devolved powers to support the industry and its workforce through these challenging times and ensure that the North Sea remains open for business and will continue to encourage the UK Government to take necessary steps to stimulate exploration, promote maintenance of infrastructure and help sustain late life assets and future develop Scotland’s decommissioning capability.