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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 1153 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S5O-01546

Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve the diagnosis and treatment of thyroid disorders.

Question reference: S5W-12487

Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) peak and (b) off-peak train services that were due to call at Coatbridge Sunnyside in each of the last six months were cancelled, broken down by reason; how many cancellations were announced at the station, and how many of the services subsequently passed through without stopping.

Question reference: S5W-12509

Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by James Wolffe QC on 21 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of all cases in which the Lord Advocate has used discretionary powers under Section 6 of the Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths etc. (Scotland) Act 2016 to launch fatal accident investigations in cases where people who were ordinarily resident in Scotland died while abroad.

The Inquiries into Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths etc. (Scotland) Act 2016 (the 2016 Act) commenced on 15 June 2017. In accordance with Section 6 of the 2016 Act the Lord Advocate has the power to direct that a discretionary Fatal Accident Inquiry be held into a death of a person ordinarily resident in Scotland who has died outwith the UK after that date.

To date the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) has received no reports of deaths outwith the UK to investigate in terms of Section 6 of the 2016 Act.

The power referred to above is subject to important limitations. In particular, the Lord Advocate may not order such an Inquiry unless he is satisfied that the circumstances have not been sufficiently established in the course of the investigation conducted in the jurisdiction where the death occurred, and where he consider that there is a real prospect of establishing those circumstances in an Inquiry in Scotland. The Act accordingly presupposes, at least in the ordinary course of things, that the relevant foreign authorities should, in the first instance, be allowed to conduct their inquiries. Information about those inquiries would ordinarily be sought by Police Scotland through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and relevant information passed on to the Crown.

Question reference: S5W-12486

Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) peak and (b) off-peak train services have skipped calling at Coatbridge Sunnyside in each of the last six months, broken down by reason.

Over the last six periods (that is, Period 3-Period 8 inclusive) the percentage of trains which have skip-stopped at Coatbridge Sunnyside is 1 percent.

The Scottish Government does not hold detailed information as to how many peak and off-peak train services have skipped calling at Coatbridge Sunnyside in each of the last six months, and broken down by reason.

A train that runs skip-stop results in a part-cancellation; therefore, ScotRail provide Transport Scotland with the information at Sector level and these are monitored against the specified benchmarks contained in the Franchise Agreement.

Question reference: S5W-12068

Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 9 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what the increase in fares will be for passengers on the Gourock-Dunoon ferry service from 1 January 2018.

Question reference: S5W-12069

Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 7 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much additional annual revenue will arise from the 2.9% fare increase in passenger ferry services in (a) passenger (b) vehicle and (c) road freight ferry services on the Clyde and Hebrides network from 1 January 2018.

Question reference: S5W-12067

Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 7 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what the increase on fares will be for (a) passengers, (b) cars and (c) road freight will be on each route on the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service network from 1 January 2018.

There will be no increase to (a) passengers, (b) cars and (c) road freight fares on 1 January 2018 on any of theClyde and Hebrides Ferry Services routes.

However a 2.9% increase will be applied to all Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services fares at the start of the Summer 2018 timetables, which will commence on 30 March 2018.

CalMac have now published Summer 2018 timetables and fares in line with the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services contract

Question reference: S5W-12066

Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 7 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much additional annual revenue will arise from the 2.9% fare increase in passenger ferry services on the Gourock-Dunoon route from 1 January 2018.

Question reference: S5W-12041

Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 6 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in (a) North Lanarkshire and (b) the rest of the country in each of the last five years have left their homes because of domestic abuse, and how many were placed in temporary accommodation by voluntary organisations.

The Scottish Government collects and publishes information on the number of applicants recorded by local authorities who have approached them for homelessness assistance where the reason given was 'Dispute within the household: violent or abusive'. The following table provides the number of such applications over the last 5 years in (a) North Lanarkshire and (b) Scotland.

The number of homelessness applications where the reason given was 'Dispute within the household: violent or abusive'

Financial year of application

	2012-2013	2013-2014	2014-2015	2015-2016	2016-2017
North Lanarkshire	267	242	210	222	216
Scotland	4,393	4,267	4,384	4,156	4,136

Source: HL1 dataset at 23 May 2017

These figures include those who have approached their local authority for help and will not include all cases where domestic abuse has led someone to leave their home.

Information on the number of people placed in temporary accommodation who have left their home due to domestic abuse is not currently available. The Scottish Government collect aggregate figures on the number of households in temporary accommodation at the end of each quarter through the HL2 data return; this information is not placement level, therefore, it is not possible to report reasons for homelessness within specific temporary accommodation types.

Question reference: S5W-12040

Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 6 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) pregnant women and (b) families with dependent children in (i) North Lanarkshire and (ii) the rest of the country live in temporary accommodation.

The number of households with a pregnant member or dependent children in Temporary Accommodation in (a) North Lanarkshire and (b) the rest of the country is published in Table 18 of Homelessness in Scotland Statistics at the following link: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/RefTables.

The published figures show that as at 31^st March 2017 there were 10,873 households in temporary accommodation across Scotland, and of these households 3,250 had dependent children or a pregnant woman. There were 570 households in temporary accommodation in North Lanarkshire, and of these households 166 contained dependent children or a pregnant woman.

The Scottish Government collects information on the number of households with a pregnant member or dependent children in Temporary Accommodation from local authorities through the HL2 return, which provides temporary accommodation information on a snapshot basis at the end of each quarter. The category of households in Temporary Accommodation that contain a pregnant woman or dependent children cannot be split into the two component parts.