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 MSPs 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-06250

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 24 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish its response to its consultation on the ban on tail docking, which closed on 3 May 2016.

The Scottish Government's intention to change legislation to permit the shortening of the tails of Spaniel and Hunt Point Retriever puppies where a vet believes they are likely to be used as a working dog and risk serious tail injury in later life was announced on 4 October 2016.

On the same day the independent analysis of the responses to the consultation was published on the Scottish Government website at https://consult.scotland.gov.uk/animal-welfare/proposal-to-permit-tail-docking/ The consultation documents and published responses can both be accessed from that web page.

Question reference: S5W-06014

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 13 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-13851 by Michael Russell on 16 April 2013, whether the Schedule to the Education (Lower Primary Class Sizes) (Scotland) Regulations 1999 has been updated and, if not, whether it is under review.

Question reference: S5W-06015

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 13 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether, with the exception of children with additional support needs, there is any discretion to permit a local authority, other than changing existing class composition, to allow a child in a rural community to be placed in the local community school when class numbers, including composite classes, have been exceeded.

Question reference: S5W-05156

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Liam McArthur on 9 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, in light of all exhibition spaces being booked out and it not being until April 2017 that applications can be made for the September-December 2017 period, whether it will consider opening an additional space in the Garden Lobby for exhibition purposes.

The Scottish Parliament Corporate Body can confirm that, apart from the existing spaces, there are no other suitable spaces or resources available to support an additional Member-sponsored exhibition space.

Member-sponsored exhibitions are very popular. When the Member-sponsored exhibition programme is full a number of organisations have elected to hold a Member-sponsored event instead; using this opportunity organisations are able to exhibit their displays and at the same time network with Members. If the Member thinks this is something that would be of interest for the organisers the Events and Exhibitions Team would be more than happy to explore options.

Question reference: S5W-05157

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Liam McArthur on 9 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body when it decided to reduce the number of exhibition spaces to three, and for what reason.

Question reference: S5F-00631

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 December 2016

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government can take in light of Age Scotland’s campaign to tackle loneliness during the festive season.

Question reference: S5W-04651

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when it will introduce legislation to make it an offence to park on pavements.

The Scottish Government remains committed to bringing forward a Transport Bill which will include provisions to enforce responsible parking in Scotland. To ensure that any legislation is fit for purpose and will command public confidence and support, we agreed to undertake a full review and stakeholder consultation.

To assist in the development of our review and stakeholder consultation paper, we created a Stakeholder Working Group, which includes representatives from a range of organisations, including disability groups, active travel and motoring organisations. The purpose of the Group is to understand the main issues, challenges and opportunities affecting the implementation and enforcement of responsible parking. The first meeting of the group took place on Wednesday, 24 August and since then, officials have been in discussion with the Group on shaping the consultation paper, which we are seeking to publish in December 2016. Once the consultation is complete and the responses are analysed it is our general intention to legislate in the current Parliamentary session.

Question reference: S5W-04603

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 21 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to expediting the roll-out of superfast broadband to residents in areas with a commercial presence but whose individual premises are considered not commercially viable for delivery due to being too far from cabinets, and whether such residents can expect interim support prior to the implementation of the new Open Market Review.

The Scottish Government is committed to extending superfast broadband access to all premises in Scotland that will not be served commercially. The Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme is currently delivering investment to improve coverage in non-commercial areas. In parallel, we continue to encourage suppliers to invest more commercially in order to push coverage further.

The forthcoming Open Market Review is a consultation with broadband suppliers to determine their commercial investment plans over the next 3 years. This is a key state aid requirement ahead of any large-scale public investment programme in broadband. This will help Scottish Government determine a new intervention area, ahead of new procurement activity to begin next year.

Question reference: S5W-03913

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 9 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-09882 by Michael Matheson on 23 October 2012, whether it will provide an update on the figures showing annual deaths from silicosis and related diseases, setting out what those related diseases are.

The information requested is given in the following table. For the purpose of producing statistics on causes of death, deaths registered in Scotland are classified using the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD-10), and normally counted on the basis of the underlying cause of the death.

The table gives the numbers of deaths for which the ICD-10 code for the underlying cause of the death was one of the specified codes:

(a) silicosis - code "J62" for "pneumoconiosis due to dust containing silica" and code "J65" for "pneumoconiosis associated with tuberculosis", in cases where "silicosis" was mentioned in the text of the cause of death given in the death certificate;

(b) related diseases - all other deaths coded "J60" to "J65". These cover other forms of pneumoconiosis, such as aluminosis, asbestosis, anthracosilicosis and anthracosis.

Deaths registered in Scotland for which the underlying cause of death was silicosis or related diseases, 2012 to 2015

Year of registration of death

Underlying cause of death	2012	2013	2014	2015
Silicosis¹	2	2	0	4
Related diseases²	23	20	18	24

of which:

J60 Coalworker's pneumoconiosis

J61 Pneumoconiosis due to asbestos and other mineral fibres

J64 Unspecified pneumoconiosis

Total silicosis and related diseases

1 - ICD-10 code J62, plus any deaths coded J65 for which "silicosis" was mentioned in the text of the cause of death given in the death certificate.

2 - ICD-10 codes J60, J61, J63 and J64, plus deaths coded J65 for which "silicosis" was not mentioned in the cause of death. As it happens, in the period covered by the table, there were no deaths coded (a) J63 pneumoconiosis due to other inorganic dusts or (b) J65 pneumoconiosis associated with tuberculosis, without "silicosis" being mentioned in the cause of death.

Question reference: S5W-03572

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of NHS patients who require a complex optical prescription lens is entitled to funding towards the cost of their prescription.