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-27425

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 11 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has undertaken of projected demand for wind turbine decommissioning, and whether it has any evidence that turbine blades are wearing out more quickly than anticipated.

The operations and maintenance of wind farms is a matter for the operator therefore the Scottish Government does not hold any information on projected demand for wind turbine decommissioning.

To date, only one wind farm in Scotland has been decommissioned and subsequently repowered.The original 3 turbine development, called Spurness, in northern Orkney was decommissioned and replaced with 5 newer models in 2012, known as ‘repowering’. The site now provides power to 12,000 homes a year, and provides operational jobs to the local community. More information can be found on the SSE website:

https://sse.com/whatwedo/ourprojectsandassets/renewables/Spurness .

The UK Government have also published a database, which details the progress of renewable electricity and storage projects from inception through to planning, construction, operation and decommissioning. Please use the following link to access this database:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment
_data/file/839368/Public-Database-September-2019.xlsx .

Question reference: S5W-27424

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 11 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many wind turbine blades are expected to be decommissioned in the next 10 years, and what plans there are for their recycling or disposal.

The Scottish Government do not hold information on the number of wind turbines blades which are expected to be decommissioned in the next 10 years.

At present, up to 85% of wind turbine parts can be recycled and the Scottish Government strongly encourage the reuse, recycling and recovery of resources. Scotland already benefits from initiatives such as 'Renewable Parts', a recycling and repair centre which opened in Lochgilphead in 2018, and aims to significantly reduce the level of waste from decommissioning onshore wind farms by refurbishing parts for resale.

Additionally, the Scottish Government are aware of ongoing research and development, being undertaken by various institutions, on this issue and are fully supportive of this work and its alignment with our zero waste policies.

Question reference: S5W-27426

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 11 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the renewables industry about wind turbine decommissioning.

The operations and maintenance of wind farms is a matter for the operator. The Scottish Government regularly engages with wind farm operators and encourages the sector to reuse, recycle and recover resources wherever possible.

However the Scottish Government are aware of ongoing research and development, being undertaken by various institutions, on recycling and reuse of wind turbines. We are fully supportive of this work and its alignment with our zero waste policies.

Question reference: S5W-27423

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 11 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many wind turbines have been decommissioned since 2010, and how the parts were recycled or disposed of.

The Scottish Government do not hold information on the number of wind turbines which have been decommissioned since 2010. Regarding disposal, I refer the member to answer to question S5W-27424 on 11 March 2020. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

Question reference: S5F-04037

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 March 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 March 2020

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to comments by Scottish Women's Aid that victims of domestic violence face being put on waiting lists of up to six months before they can access services.

Question reference: S5W-27530

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 9 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recommendation by the Royal College of Physicians that all patients should receive copies of letters about them that have been sent from consultants to their GP.

The Scottish Government supports clinicians writing directly to patients where they are able and willing to do so. The Chief Medical Officer’s annual report, ‘Practising Realistic Medicine’, shares examples of good practice to encourage others to consider adopting this approach.

Scotland’s Health Literacy Action Plan, ‘Making it Easier’, also sets out a range of actions to ensure that communication with people about their healthcare is done as clearly as possible. This enables people to be partners in their own healthcare and supports the drive to a culture of shared decision making.

A health literacy demonstrator project took place in NHS Tayside from 2015-2017. Based on its findings, work is ongoing across Tayside to simplify and improve written communication with patients by letter.

The Action Plan runs until 2025 and as part of its next phase we will look at spreading the findings from the Tayside demonstrator project across Scotland.

We are aware that many clinicians across Scotland are now writing directly to patients, supported by work around active clinical referral triage under The Modernising Patient Pathways Programme. We are exploring with our partners in NHS Scotland how this approach can be supported and spread more widely.

Question reference: S5W-27421

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 5 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Siemens regarding leading edge erosion on its 3.6 MW offshore turbine blade.

Question reference: S5O-04267

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 March 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported concerns regarding morale at the Glasgow School of Art.

Question reference: S5W-27415

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 3 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates the findings of the voluntary review into Glasgow homelessness services, which was agreed with Glasgow City Council in June 2019 in relation to its failure to provide temporary accommodation, will be published.

The voluntary review into Glasgow homelessness services is a partnership approach by Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council focused on improving practice around the failure to provide temporary accommodation to homeless households. The voluntary review is on - going and is aligning with the inquiry of the Scottish Housing Regulator into Glasgow's homelessness services. I have been clear with Glasgow City Council that he expects it to meet its statutory duties to provide those at risk of homelessness with appropriate housing and support.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with the Council to ensure that duties to provide accommodation to homeless households are met.

Any recommendations from this process will be for Glasgow City Council and it will be a matter for the Council to consider the publication of any findings.

Question reference: S5W-27378

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 2 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government in the last three years regarding reducing journey times to London on the West Coast Main Line.

The Working Group has identified options in Lancashire and between Abington and Glasgow that, in conjunction with HS2, could also increase capacity and achieve an air competitive Glasgow to London journey time of approximately 3¼ hours.

The Working Group is currently taking forward work to determine if there would be a strong business case for implementing these options, which will be presented to the Scottish Government and the UK Government in due course to inform their investment decisions.