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-16689

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many GP posts are being covered by locums due to (a) a permanent vacancy and (b) long-term sick leave in practices in Fife.

This is a matter for NHS Fife. The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

The groundbreaking new GP contract for Scotland – jointly designed and agreed with the British Medical Association – will help ensure that GPs are able to spend more time with patients and less time on bureaucracy. It will help reduce doctors’ overall workload and make general practice an even more attractive career prospect by allowing GPs to focus on the patients who need them most.

Question reference: S5W-16687

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government which GP practices in Fife are experiencing recruitment difficulties.

This is a matter for NHS Fife. The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

We know that GP recruitment and retention is an issue for some areas of Scotland including NHS Fife. That’s why the groundbreaking new GP contract for Scotland – jointly designed and agreed with the British Medical Association – will help ensure that GPs are able to spend more time with patients and less time on bureaucracy. It will help reduce doctors’ overall workload and make general practice an even more attractive career prospect by allowing GPs to focus on the patients who need them most.

We have recently announced the commitment to increasing the number of GPs by at least 800 over ten years to ensure a sustainable service that meets increasing demand on our services. Our strategy to recruit and retain our existing GPs is set out in part 3 of the national health and social care workforce plan which was published this month.

Question reference: S5W-16690

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many GPs have been employed by practices in Fife in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S5W-16692

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 4 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions (a) it and (b) Creative Scotland has had with the film sector in the last year regarding the promotion of locations and film infrastructure available in Scotland, including the potential studio in the Pentlands.

Scottish Government has welcomed and will continue to welcome private sector proposals for film studio infrastructure in Scotland as part of its support for the screen sector. We continue to work with our partners Scottish Enterprise and Creative Scotland to assist those seeking to invest in Scotland’s film and television infrastructure in any appropriate way.

Representatives of Scottish Government, Creative Scotland and Scottish Enterprise, who form the Film Studio Delivery Group, met with representatives of PSL Land Ltd. and Pentland Studios on 17 May. The purpose of the meeting was to advance understanding of the Pentland project and of public sector support, and a presentation about the Pentland project was delivered. Both sides agreed to follow up on that meeting and discuss these matters further.

Creative Scotland is the public body which supports Scotland’s screen, arts and creative industries on behalf of the Scottish Government, along the ‘arms-length’ principle. The Screen Commission within Creative Scotland works directly with production companies and studios to promote locations in Scotland and support them in a variety of ways to bring productions to shoot in or base themselves in Scotland. Creative Scotland also attends events internationally to promote Scottish locations and facilities. I have made Creative Scotland aware of your question and you may contact them directly for an answer on discussions they have had about the promotion of film infrastructure or locations over the last year.

Additionally, I hosted a dinner with Creative Scotland, also attended by Scottish Government officials, on 20 April, with major US production executives who were on a familiarisation tour of Scotland, as part of a British Film Commission tour of the UK.

Question reference: S5W-16845

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 31 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5O-02098 by Jeane Freeman on 16 May 2018 (Official Report, c. 14), what regulations the UK Government has laid to ensure that the carers allowance supplement is not counted as income for the purposes of housing benefit or universal credit calculations.

The Scottish Government is advised that the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions intends to lay an order in the UK Parliament in advance of initial payments of Carer’s Allowance Supplement being made. This will ensure Carer’s Allowance Supplement is disregarded as income in reserved income-related benefits, including Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance (income-based), State Pension Credit, Employment and Support Allowance (income-related) and Housing Benefit.

Carer’s Allowance Supplement will already be disregarded in Universal Credit under current rules.

Question reference: S5W-16683

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 31 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions (a) it and (b) Creative Scotland has had with the developers of the film studio in the Pentlands regarding future film work and how the Scottish Government and Creative Scotland will support the film sector and its infrastructure.

a) Representatives of Scottish Government, Creative Scotland and Scottish Enterprise who form the Film Studio Delivery Group, met with representatives of PSL Land Ltd. and Pentland Studios on 17 May. The purpose of the meeting was to advance understanding of the Pentland project and of public sector support and a presentation about the Pentland project was delivered. The Scottish Government is committed to helping the film and television industry seize new opportunities. This is why we have committed an additional £10 million for screen development, production and growth this year.

b) The information requested on behalf of Creative Scotland is not held centrally and is a matter for Creative Scotland to address directly. I have made Creative Scotland aware of your question and you may contact them directly for a response.

Question reference: S5W-16685

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 29 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many discretionary applications for blue badges have been refused by each local authority in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S5W-16684

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 29 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many blue badges have been issued by each local authority in each of the last five years, broken down by automatic and discretionary entitlement.

Question reference: S5W-16686

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 29 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many appeals against unsuccessful applications for blue badges have been lodged with each local authority in each of the last five years, and how many of these appeals were (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful, also given as a percentage.

There is no appeal mechanism against unsuccessful applications for blue badges, except in rare cases where a badge is refused on grounds of fraud. No such cases have been handled in the last five years.

Instead, where applicants are concerned there may have been maladministration, they may use the local authority complaints procedure. Information about the number of such cases is not held centrally.

Where applicants disagree with the merits of an eligibility decision, they may request an internal review. An internal review is carried out by someone in a local authority not connected with the original decision.

The information we have on the number of internal reviews is currently being collated and I will write to the member as soon as the information is available and a copy will be placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 59769).

Question reference: S5O-02122

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 May 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the Fife economy.