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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 841 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S5W-22018

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government which body will deliver mental health counselling services in secondary schools in Dumfries and Galloway.

Question reference: S5W-21943

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 21 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what percentage of looked-after children away from home, including in foster care, there have been in each of the last five years.

The following information is taken from the annual Children’s Social Work Statistics return, which provides data on children and young people looked after, as well as those on the child protection register and in secure care:

Year	Number of children looked after away from home	Number of children looked after away from home as a percentage of the care population
2013	11,270	70%
2014	11,458	73%
2015	11,475	75%
2016	11,447	75%
2017	11,131	75%

The full publications can be accessed via the following link: .

Question reference: S5W-21942

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 21 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what percentage of looked-after children away from home, including in foster care, have been adopted prior to their fifth birthday in each of the last five years.

Year	Number of children, looked after away from home, who were adopted from care, prior to their fifth birthday	Number of children, looked after away from home, who were adopted from care, prior to their fifth birthday, as a percentage*
2013	195	28%
2014	228	33%
2015	207	34%
2016	238	38%
2017	265	38%

*In this instance, the percentage is of the total number of children leaving care, who were under 5 years old and whose last placement was looked after away from home.

The full publications can be accessed via the following link:

Question reference: S5O-03070

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 March 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment the finance secretary has made of the potential economic impact of a new national park.

Question reference: S5W-21941

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 18 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government by what date the South West Scotland Transport Study will publish its draft report.

Question reference: S5W-21940

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 18 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether Scotland Transerv has the available resources to fulfil its contractual obligations regarding the management and maintenance of the A75 and the trunk road network in the south west.

Question reference: S5W-21871

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 February 2019
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 15 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage the uptake of superfast broadband.

Since the £400 million Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme began, as our response to a failing in the UK wide model to deliver broadband services to many communities across Scotland , take -up of fibre broadband has been encouraged through extensive promotion, including press releases, regular briefings for local and national politicians as well as a variety of pro-active activities in recently activated areas, such as post-code mail shots and direct engagement through community councils.

The DSSB website provides extensive information about the current programme along with a helpful enquiry form, enabling the public to contact the project teams directly with specific queries.

Question reference: S5W-21849

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 February 2019
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 14 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much investment has been made by BT through Gainshare as part of the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme, broken down by Parliamentary region.

To date, as a result of better than expected take-up of broadband services by customers with 48.6% in rest of Scotland and 53% in the HIW area, £17.83 million has been brought forward through Gainshare by BT, across the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme Of this, £15.6 million has been invested in the 'Rest of Scotland' contract and a further £2.23 million in the Highlands and Islands contract. This has resulted in further deployment in every local authority area across the country. We are not able to break this amount down by Parliamentary region.

Question reference: S5W-21928

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 14 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what support it offers to home owners facing what they consider excessive charges for repairs being carried out by (a) registered social landlords and (b) factors.

Home owners are responsible for the cost of work to repair their own homes and for their share of common works in tenements, which may include a share of costs for work determined by a majority of other owners. Local authorities have broad discretionary powers to provide assistance to home owners who have difficulty in paying for repairs, subject to local resources and priorities. Where an owner is unable or unwilling to pay for their share of common works the local authority has discretionary power to pay the missing share, make a charge against the property, and recover it in instalments. A registered social landlord can pay, and recover, a missing share, if they own property in a tenement. The Scottish Government is also currently piloting an equity loan scheme in eight local authority areas, which can be used to help home owners fund repairs.

Question reference: S5W-21929

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 14 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what appeal mechanisms are available to home owners when facing charges for repairs by (a) registered social landlords and (b) factors that they consider excessive.

General information on making a complaint to a registered social landlord can be found at: .

Registered social landlords (including subsidiaries) who operate as a property factor are also regulated by the Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011. The Act requires all property factors to be registered and then to comply with a code of conduct (the Code) which sets out minimum standards of practice in the delivery of services to homeowners. It is a requirement of the Code for a property factor to provide a homeowner with a copy of its complaints handling procedure.

A homeowner should inform their property factor in writing of the reason why they consider their property factor to have failed to comply with the Code and/or failed to carry out its duties. If the property factor refuses or unreasonably delays in attempting to resolve the complaint, then the Act provides a route of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland Housing and Property Chamber which, among other things, enables owners to have their concerns about their property factor adjudicated by an independent judicial body. The First-tier Tribunal have the power to issue a legally binding property factor enforcement order if it finds in the homeowner’s favour.