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: S4W-23550

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 19 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how much it cost to (a) set up and (b) run the first meeting of the Scottish Rural Parliament, and what its annual operating costs will be.

Question reference: S4W-23654

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government when it will receive recommendations from NHS chief executives regarding the future funding of hyperbaric services.

The Scottish Government received recommendations on hyperbaric medicine services in Scotland in October 2014.

Scottish Ministers have agreed the recommendations, which will see the nationally designated service extended to include independent hyperbaric chambers in Scotland, including Orkney. This will ensure the continued provision of a safe and sustainable hyperbaric service for those who need it.

The new arrangements are expected to be in place by April 2015.

Question reference: S4W-23655

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will take a decision on the future funding of hyperbaric services in time for any changes to take effect in 2015-16.

Question reference: S4W-23377

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 8 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on what percentage of (a) further and (b) higher education students has (i) autistic spectrum disorder, (ii) Asperger syndrome, (iii) attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, (iv) social or emotional behavioural difficulties and (v) learning difficulties.

(a) The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) produces statistics for further education students in colleges. The latest detailed data on students in further education is for the academic year 2012-13.

Table 1 shows the number and percentage of further education enrolments at Scottish colleges split by disability type.

Table 1: Enrolments in further education (FE) in Scottish colleges by disability type: 2012-13

	Number of FE enrolments	Percentage of all FE enrolments
Blind/partially sighted	660	0.3%
Deaf/have a hearing impairment	1,415	0.6%
Wheelchair user/have mobility difficulties	1,260	0.5%
Personal care support	230	0.1%
Mental health difficulties	3,515	1.4%
Unseen disability, e.g. diabetes, epilepsy, asthma	5,960	2.4%
Multiple disabilities	3,040	1.2%
Dyslexia	10,415	4.2%
A disability, impairment or medical condition not listed above (1)	6,845	2.7%
Total FE enrolments with disability	33,345	13.3%

Total FE enrolments

249,795

Source: SFC

Notes:

(1) For colleges, students with an autistic spectrum disorder are included in the category ‘a disability, impairment or medical condition not listed above’ as they are not reported separately.

Enrolment numbers are rounded to the nearest five.

Some further education courses have a duration of less than one academic year, therefore students can enrol more than once per year. The number of FE enrolments will be higher than the number of students. Enrolments have been provided in this table to ensure comparability with the higher education (HE) enrolment numbers provided below.

(b) The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) produces statistics for higher education students in higher education institutions (HEIs). The SFC produces statistics for higher education students in colleges. The latest data on students in higher education is for the academic year 2012-13.

Table 2 shows the number and percentage of higher education enrolments split by disability type.

Table 2: Enrolments in higher education in Scottish HEIs and colleges by disability type: 2012-13

	Number of HE enrolments	Percentage of all HE enrolments
Blind or a serious visual impairment uncorrected by glasses	465	0.2%
Deaf or a serious hearing impairment	735	0.3%
A physical impairment or mobility issues, such as difficulty using arms or using a wheelchair or crutches	885	0.3%
Personal care support	5	0.0%
A mental health condition, such as depression, schizophrenia or anxiety disorder	2,890	1.0%
A long standing illness or health condition such as cancer, HIV, diabetes, chronic heart disease, or epilepsy	3,455	1.2%
Two or more impairments and/or disabling medical conditions	2,530	0.9%
A social/communication impairment such as Asperger syndrome/other autistic spectrum disorder (1)	455	0.2%
A specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia, dyspraxia or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder	10,240	3.7%
A disability, impairment or medical condition not listed above (1)	3,055	1.1%
Total HE enrolments with disability	24,715	8.9%
Total HE enrolments	278,765

Source: HESA and SFC.

Notes:

(1) For colleges, students with an autistic spectrum disorder are included in the category ‘a disability, impairment or medical condition not listed above’ as they are not reported separately.

Student numbers are rounded to the nearest five.

HE students enrol once in each year of their course. The number of HE enrolments is therefore broadly comparable to the number of HE students for each academic year.

Question reference: S4W-23375

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 8 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government which local authorities offer junior individual savings accounts to looked-after children, and what information it has on the take-up rate.

28 of the 32 local authorities in Scotland have signed up to the UK junior individual savings accounts scheme for looked-after children. The four who have not are East Ayrshire, East Renfrewshire, North Lanarkshire and Stirling. The Scottish Government understands that discussions are ongoing about signing up to the scheme. There is no deadline for registration.

Local authorities and The Share Foundation (the body contracted by the UK Government to administer the scheme until the end of March 2015) have the latest information on take-up rate.

The Scottish Government considers the scheme as a core function of a local authority’s corporate parenting responsibilities as set out in the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, and would expect them to comply for the interests of looked-after children within their care to get maximum benefits from this.

Question reference: S4W-23374

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 3 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many times hyperbaric chambers have been used in emergencies in each year since 2009, broken down by NHS board.

The information requested is provided in the following tables:

	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2009-13
	Total	Total	Total	Total	Total	Total	Total
From outwith UK	5	11	3	4	3	0	26
From rest of UK	24	16	25	14	18	10	97
Ayrshire and Arran	0	1	0	0	1	0	2
Borders	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	0	2	0	2	0	2	4
Fife	2	0	0	0	0	2	2
Forth Valley	1	0	1	0	3	0	5
Grampian	2	3	1	2	4	3	12
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	3	4	0	3	3	4	13
Highland	3	1	3	1	0	5	8
Lothian	4	3	0	0	4	2	11
Lanarkshire	1	1	1	0	1	1	4
Orkney	1	1	2	2	1	0	7
Tayside	2	0	0	0	5	0	7
Shetland	0	0	0	0	1	0	1
Western Isles	0	4	0	0	1	0	5
Unknown	0	0	0	1	4	0	5
Total	48	47	36	29	49	29	209

2009-13

Aberdeen	Millport	Oban	Orkney
2	0	4	20
23	4	15	55
1	1	0	0
0	0	0	0
0	3	1	0
1	1	0	0
4	0	1	0
6	2	1	3
2	4	6	1
3	0	5	0
6	0	3	2
3	1	0	0
2	0	0	5
4	0	1	2
1	0	0	0
0	0	4	1
0	1	0	4
58	17	41	93

Source: National Services Division

Question reference: S4W-23365

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 21 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the renewable energy sources installed in the buildings in its estate and the dates of installation.

The Scottish Government currently has two sites with renewable energy sources: Saughton House, Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh (Solar Hot Water) installed 2011 and Tweedbank, Cotgreen Road, Galashiels (Solar Hot Water) installed 2012

There are three renewable projects in the pipeline for 2015:

Longman House, 28 Longman Road, Inverness (Solar PV) 2015 subject to planning,

Faskally, Pitlochry, Perthshire (Biomass Boiler) 2015 subject to planning and

Thainstone Court, Inverurie (Biomass Boiler) 2015 subject to planning.

Question reference: S4W-23364

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 21 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the buildings in its estate by energy performance certificate rating.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-04170 on 7 December 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The Scottish Government is committed to improving the environmental performance of its estate and this is reflected in its success in achieving the Carbon Trust Standard award during 2012. Recertification is underway and we hope to achieve the Carbon Trust Level 2 Standard in January 2015.

Question reference: S4O-03743

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 November 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects to reach agreement with Orkney Islands Council on the replacement of the islands' internal ferry fleet.

Question reference: S4W-23081

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 07 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 18 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether any students awarded support under its pilot scheme for study in Europe for 2014-15 have ceased their involvement with the scheme.