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: S5O-02626

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 November 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement the Cabinet Secretary for Government Business and Constitutional Relations has undertaken with port authorities regarding the implications of Brexit.

Question reference: S5W-18855

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 27 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to protect the printing industry.

In relation to the Print Industry, Scottish Government has two Frameworks in place. The new Scottish Government Publishing, Print, Design and Associated Services will utilise an extensive supply chain across Scotland, including Printers, to help deliver its services. This currently includes 114 SMEs, 89 of which are Scottish companies. We have also recently issued a Prior Information Notice for our Print and Associated Services Framework relet. This is currently a multi-supplier Framework, of which 10 of the 12 Suppliers are Scottish Printing SMEs. We expect to issue an Invitation To Tender in Autumn 2018, with an anticipated award early 2019.

To support the skills needs within the Print Industry, Proskills has developed a Modern Apprenticeship at two different levels to help companies develop their workforce and contribute to business and economic growth.

The Scottish Government through its enterprise agencies also continue to support industry by offering a broad range of services to help businesses in Scotland develop and grow. This includes support towards innovation and services to help businesses maintain competitive capability and productivity.

Question reference: S5F-02649

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 September 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 September 2018

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to help improve recycling rates and the quality of recycling.

Question reference: S5W-17322

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 8 August 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-09647 by Shona Robison on 30 June 2017, when it will complete its work on the recommendations made by the Scottish Cosmetic Interventions Expert Group in its report on the regulation of independent healthcare at Phase 2, and when it will implement these.

Evidence to suggest that treatments that cause harm are being provided by non-medical professionals is so far anecdotal. The Scottish Cosmetic Interventions Expert Group (SCIEG) is continuing to work with a health researcher and has met with concerned medical professionals who have agreed to provide information on where these services are being offered.

It is only when this scoping work has been completed that the Scottish Government will be able to give a view on the most appropriate and effective means to take forward The Scottish Cosmetic Interventions Expert Group’s phase 2 recommendations.

Question reference: S5W-17654

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 July 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 27 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many schools have been (a) built and (b) refurbished in each local authority area in each year since 2007.

Prior to 2009-10 local authorities were not asked to specify whether a school was built or refurbished and information for 2007-08 and 2008-09 is outlined in table 1. In 2009-10 this information was collected for the first time, however, not all schools were categorised as being built or refurbished and information for 2009-10 is therefore presented in a separate table, table 2. Table 3 and 4 outline the number of schools that were built and substantially refurbished in each local authority between 2010-11 and 2016-17, respectively.

Table 1: Number of schools which have been built or substantially refurbished 1 in the financial years 2007-08 & 2008-09 by local authority
	Built or substantially refurbished 2
	2007-08	2008-09
Aberdeen City	0	1
Aberdeenshire	4	1
Angus	7	4
Argyll & Bute	9	1
Clackmannanshire	1	2
Dumfries & Galloway	0	4
Dundee City	0	6
East Ayrshire	3	6
East Dunbartonshire	0	1
East Lothian	0	5
East Renfrewshire	0	0
Edinburgh, City of	4	6
Eilean Siar	0	0
Falkirk	0	5
Fife	6	0
Glasgow City	2	9
Highland	4	6
Inverclyde	1	3
Midlothian	8	0
Moray	0	0
North Ayrshire	7	1
North Lanarkshire	9	5
Orkney Islands	0	1
Perth & Kinross	0	2
Renfrewshire	5	5
Scottish Borders	2	3
Shetland Islands	0	0
South Ayrshire	1	8
South Lanarkshire	14	12
Stirling	6	7
West Dunbartonshire	0	0
West Lothian	0	2
Total	93	106
1. Only builds or refurbishments with a cost of £500,000 or more for primary and ‎ £1 million or more for secondary and special schools are included
2. Information specifying whether a school was built or refurbished is not available until 2009-10

Table 2: Number of schools which have been built or substantially refurbished 1 in the financial year 2009-10 by local authority
	Built	Substantially refurbished	Not specified 2
Aberdeen City	6	0	0
Aberdeenshire	0	0	0
Angus	2	0	0
Argyll & Bute	0	0	0
Clackmannanshire	1	0	0
Dumfries & Galloway	10	1	0
Dundee City	2	0	0
East Ayrshire	0	0	0
East Dunbartonshire	6	1	0
East Lothian	0	1	0
East Renfrewshire	0	1	0
Edinburgh, City of	6	0	1
Eilean Siar	0	0	0
Falkirk	2	2	0
Fife	0	2	0
Glasgow City	4	2	1
Highland	1	6	1
Inverclyde	2	0	0
Midlothian	3	0	0
Moray	0	0	0
North Ayrshire	0	0	0
North Lanarkshire	0	0	0
Orkney Islands	0	1	0
Perth & Kinross	6	2	1
Renfrewshire	0	3	0
Scottish Borders	2	1	0
Shetland Islands	0	0	0
South Ayrshire	0	0	0
South Lanarkshire	9	4	0
Stirling	0	1	0
West Dunbartonshire	1	0	2
West Lothian	2	3	1
Total	65	31	7
1. Only builds or refurbishments with a cost of £500,000 or more for primary and ‎ £1 million or more for secondary and special schools are included
2. The data collected did not distinguish whether it was a new build or a refurbishment

Table 3: Number of schools which have been built 1 in the financial years 2010-11 to 2016-17 by local authority
	Built
	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17
Aberdeen City	2	1	0	0	0	1	2
Aberdeenshire	0	0	0	0	1	3	0
Angus	1	0	0	0	0	1	3
Argyll & Bute	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Clackmannanshire	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Dumfries & Galloway	3	0	1	1	1	0	0
Dundee City	1	1	1	2	0	0	2
East Ayrshire	0	0	5	1	0	0	0
East Dunbartonshire	0	0	0	0	0	1	2
East Lothian	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
East Renfrewshire	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
Edinburgh, City of	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
Eilean Siar	0	3	4	0	0	0	0
Falkirk	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Fife	0	1	1	1	1	0	3
Glasgow City	2	2	2	0	1	0	3
Highland	0	0	3	0	0	5	2
Inverclyde	0	2	0	3	0	0	1
Midlothian	0	0	1	1	0	0	2
Moray	0	1	1	0	0	0	0
North Ayrshire	0	0	1	0	1	0	2
North Lanarkshire	0	5	4	0	0	1	1
Orkney Islands	0	0	1	1	0	0	1
Perth & Kinross	2	1	0	0	1	2	1
Renfrewshire	0	0	1	0	1	0	0
Scottish Borders	0	0	1	1	0	0	1
Shetland Islands	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
South Ayrshire	1	0	0	1	0	0	2
South Lanarkshire	14	11	11	16	14	4	5
Stirling	0	0	1	0	0	0	2
West Dunbartonshire	3	2	0	1	0	0	3
West Lothian	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
Total	31	33	39	31	22	19	39
1. Only builds with a cost of £500,000 or more for primary and £1 million or more for secondary and special schools are included

Table 4: Number of schools which have been substantially refurbished 1 in the financial years 2010-11 to 2016-17 by local authority
	Substantially refurbished
	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17
Aberdeen City	1	0	0	1	0	0	1
Aberdeenshire	1	0	0	0	4	3	2
Angus	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Argyll & Bute	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Clackmannanshire	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dumfries & Galloway	2	0	3	5	1	2	1
Dundee City	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
East Ayrshire	0	0	3	0	1	0	0
East Dunbartonshire	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
East Lothian	2	0	0	2	0	1	2
East Renfrewshire	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Edinburgh, City of	0	0	0	6	4	8	6
Eilean Siar	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Falkirk	0	0	1	0	0	2	1
Fife	5	1	2	1	0	1	4
Glasgow City	1	1	0	2	43	0	27
Highland	0	0	1	2	2	0	3
Inverclyde	0	1	3	2	0	2	1
Midlothian	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Moray	0	0	0	0	1	1	4
North Ayrshire	3	2	0	2	0	1	0
North Lanarkshire	0	0	4	0	0	1	1
Orkney Islands	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Perth & Kinross	0	0	1	3	1	0	1
Renfrewshire	0	1	2	0	0	0	0
Scottish Borders	2	1	0	0	0	0	0
Shetland Islands	0	0	0	1	0	0	2
South Ayrshire	1	1	0	3	2	0	0
South Lanarkshire	1	0	1	0	0	1	2
Stirling	1	1	0	1	0	0
West Dunbartonshire	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
West Lothian	3	3	0	0	0	0	2
Total	24	13	21	32	59	25	61
1. Only refurbishments with a cost of £500,000 or more for primary and £1 million or more for secondary and special schools are included

Question reference: S5W-17536

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 July 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it provides to exam boards regarding whether national entitlement cards are an acceptable form of photographic identification when sitting exams.

The Scottish Government does not provide guidance to Scottish examination boards on what photographic identification is required when sitting exams. This is an operational matter for those organisations.

The National Entitlement Card is Scotland's National Smartcard. It makes it easier for citizens to access various public services and facilities, discounts and is an accredited proof-of-age card. However, please note that it is not a form of photographic identification.

Question reference: S5W-17546

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many staff in each NHS board have outstanding employment issues relating to Agenda for Change contracts.

Question reference: S5W-17547

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many staff in each NHS board have challenged their new contract status as a consequence of the introduction of Agenda for Change, broken down by whether the challenges were (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful.

Question reference: S5W-17545

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many staff in each NHS board are employed under contracts pre-dating Agenda for Change.

Question reference: S5W-17572

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 17 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to increase the number of people undertaking training in mental health first aid in workplaces.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of good health, both physical and mental, in the workplace.

Employers have a duty of care towards their employees and should take appropriate steps to ensure that mental health and wellbeing is protected and promoted.

Our 10-year Mental Health Strategy aims to improve uptake of, and access to, a range of services aimed at improving mental health in the workplace.

We fund the Healthy Working Lives programme in NHS Health Scotland (£1.6 million in 2017-18) to provide advice and support to employers on the measures they can take. This support includes a free and confidential adviceline, and free training courses to help equip employers with the skills and knowledge they require.

Training programmes include Surviving the Pressures of the Workplace on work-related stress, Work Positive: Managing Organisational Stress which is based on HSE Stress Management Standards, and Mentally Healthy Workplaces which provides training for managers and supervisors.

It is at the discretion of individual employers as to whether they wish to access the Scottish Mental Health First Aid training for their employees.