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-02497

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 20 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether its forthcoming digital strategy will seek to (a) reduce the number of government domain names and (b) develop a one-stop hub for business interaction with all arms of government.

We are currently engaging with partners to refresh the digital strategy. I can confirm that we remain committed to building on mygov.scot as the single, but not exclusive, point of access to public information and services for citizens and businesses in Scotland. This will enable us to further reduce the number of domain names being used by Scottish Government. Mygov.scot has already enabled us to offer a coordinated information service for businesses, replacing both the Scottish Business Portal and the Finance Hub. I would anticipate that the process of consolidation will accelerate as we continue to improve the online information and services available to businesses across Scotland.

Question reference: S5F-00275

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 19 September 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 September 2016

To ask the First Minister when she will next meet Alzheimer Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-02575

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 14 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the announcement by the UK Government that the Autumn Statement will be published on 23 November 2016, on what date it will publish the draft 2017-18 Scottish Budget.

Question reference: S5F-00226

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 September 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 September 2016

To ask the First Minister when she will next meet the Scottish Association for Mental Health.

Question reference: S5F-00177

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 05 September 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 September 2016

To ask the First Minister when she will next meet the new Prime Minister.

Question reference: S5W-01776

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 30 August 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether, in light of the commitment in the 2016 SNP manifesto to consider the availability of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), it is planning a national roll-out of PrEP.

Question reference: S5W-01777

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 August 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that a decision on making pre-exposure prophylaxis available on the NHS should be a public health priority.

Question reference: S5W-01696

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 July 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 17 August 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when the (a) First Minister, (b) Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Constitution and (c) other Cabinet members last had discussions with the Governor of the Bank of England and what matters were raised.

Question reference: S5W-01693

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 July 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 17 August 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the process will be for the selection of the new commissioner of the Scottish Fiscal Commission and by what date the appointment will be announced.

The Scottish Government has appointed Professor Charles Nolan as a member of the non-statutory Scottish Fiscal Commission for the period 1 July 2016 to 30 March 2017.

I proposed the appointment of Professor Nolan in a letter to the Finance Committee on 28 June 2016. The Finance Committee considered the appointment at its meeting on 29 June 2016, at which I gave evidence.

I had previously written to the Committee on 22 June 2016, notifying the Committee of my intention to make a fixed term interim appointment to the Scottish Fiscal Commission following the resignation of Professor Andrew Hughes Hallett and to commence the process of appointing two new members to the statutory Commission with effect from 1 April 2017. Appointments to the statutory Commission will be made in accordance with the Scottish Fiscal Commission Act 2016, which provides that appointments will be made by Ministers, regulated by the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland, and subject to the approval of the Scottish Parliament.

Question reference: S5W-01694

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 July 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 17 August 2016

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason its report, Provisional Outturn 2015-16 and Budget Estimates 2016-17, records (a) an underspend in the financial transactions budget and (b) a £128 million overspend in the health line.

Financial transactions, through rules set by HM Treasury, are ring-fenced for loans and equity investment outside the public sector. The nature of the programmes and projects mean that such expenditure within this area is generally demand led, for example within housing development and regeneration schemes, and as such is sensitive to a number of planning and delivery variables through the year. The reported 2015-16 provisional underspend is being carried forward into 2016-17 in full.

The apparent overspend within the Health budget does not relate to general health spending in Scotland, rather this situation has arisen as a consequence of ministers recognising the financial impact of classifying a number of non-profit distributing projects to the public sector. This matter required the recognition of the capital value of health projects during their construction period, rather than the associated revenue funding over the contractual period during which cash payments will actually be made. Despite these issues, the Scottish Government has been clear that these projects would progress as planned and sufficient budgetary cover was managed during 2015-16 within overall portfolio programmes to deal with the impact of the decision. There are no changes to the overall cash costs of the projects.