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-09421

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 31 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether the recently announced plans to update regulations for the licensing of dog, cat and rabbit breeding and dealing will cover the sale and breeding of exotic pets.

Question reference: S5W-09422

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 31 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether there will be a public consultation on the recently announced plans to update regulations for the licensing of dog, cat and rabbit breeding and dealing.

Question reference: S5W-09202

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 19 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the report in The Press and Journal on 11 May 2017 that "thousands of pounds worth of building tools" have been stolen from the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR) construction site, and whether it plans to introduce additional security measures.

Question reference: S5O-00979

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how it reached its estimate of £150 million annual running costs for the new social security agency.

Question reference: S5W-08813

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 8 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether there is an independent monitor of safety on the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR) project.

Health and safety is embedded into each site operatives core function, from the day that they start work on site. The Health & Safety Team from Aberdeen Roads Limited (ARL), the project contractor, monitors work and undertakes regular audits and inspections. The Scottish Governments technical advisor works in partnership with the ARL site team, to monitor compliance with their health and safety policies and to identify improvements where possible.

In order to ensure continued focus on health and safety, unannounced site inspections are also carried out by the project’s senior leadership team, as well as Directors of the various companies involved.

This approach is consistent with the industry standard for major infrastructure projects of this nature and scale.

Question reference: S5W-08814

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 8 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what constitutes a lost time incident (LTI) on the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR) project; what the procedure is for notification of an LTI; how many LTIs have been reported throughout the duration of the project; what the aggregate delay to the project is as a result of LTIs; whether penalties are applied to the contractor for LTIs caused and, if so, what happens to the proceeds acquired as a result of these penalties.

Any injury is regrettable and in order to avoid a reoccurrence, Transport Scotland ensures that Aberdeen Roads Limited (ARL), the project contractor, reports, records and fully investigates all work related health and safety incidents, or potential incidents, however minor. Lessons learned are subsequently shared to ensure continuous improvements.

A Lost Time Incident (LTI) is an incident which causes injury resulting in a member of the workforce being away from work for one day or more (not counting the day on which the accident occurs).

Senior management are informed of a LTI as soon as practicable by the site team, and receive a brief written flash report within 24-hours. This is followed up with a full report following an internal investigation.

From project commencement to 19 April 2017, there have been 28 LTI’s on site. ARL confirmed there has been no aggregate delay to the project as a result of these LTI’s.

There are no penalty clauses relating to LTIs as our focus is on learning from incidents to avoid future occurrences.

Question reference: S5W-08815

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 8 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) initial and (b) current projected total cost is of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR) project.

Question reference: S5W-08686

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 25 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the report in The Press and Journal on 3 April 2017 that 115 workers on the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR) project have been injured; what additional (a) costs and (b) delays to the project have arisen as a result of these injuries; what discussions it has had with union representatives about this, and what action Transport Scotland has taken to (i) investigate the reasons for the rate of injury and (ii) ensure that robust health and safety procedures are introduced.

The Scottish Government takes Health and Safety issues very seriously which is reflected in the obligations placed upon Aberdeen Roads Limited (ARL), the project contractor.

ARL holds regular safety stand-downs, both planned and ad-hoc, in order to ensure safe working on site. ARL recognises and engages with onsite union representatives on a regular basis. Union trained and appointed workforce safety representatives routinely attend safety meetings, and several have also been trained as safety coaches in the project's behavioural safety programme. This reinforces and supports a culture in which the right behaviours are expected.

Any injury is regrettable and in order to avoid any reoccurrence, Transport Scotland ensures that ARL reports, records and fully investigates all work related health and safety incidents, or potential incidents, however minor. Lessons learned are subsequently shared to ensure continuous improvements.

Of the 115 injuries that have occurred from project commencement to 16 March 2017, 27 were “Lost Time” Injuries, and 88 were “non-Lost Time “ injuries.

While each incident has a localised cost and delay associated, this has not been quantified by ARL. Instead their focus is on ensuring that the potential for a future incident is eliminated at source. ARL has confirmed that these incidents have had no impact upon overall project delivery.

Transport Scotland will continue to work closely with ARL to ensure that this project is delivered safely and that all the necessary steps are being taken to protect and monitor workforce safety at each stage of project delivery.

Question reference: S5W-08368

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 13 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether Konrad Rekas has ever (a) (i) attended and (ii) been invited to any of its events and (b) had meetings with (A) ministers and (B) representatives of the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S5W-08128

Asked by: Ross Thomson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 13 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what the waiting time is from the point of referral to an appointment at the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary cataract clinic; what the average time was in each of the last four years, and how many people have been waiting (a) three to six and (b) over six months.

The specific information requested is not available centrally. Information is provided at speciality level only. The following tables provide information on waiting times for first outpatient consultation at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

NUMBER OF PATIENTS SEEN AND THE MEDIAN WAITING TIME (DAYS) FOR FINANCIAL YEARS 2012-13 - 2015-16

2012-13

2013-14

2014-15

2015-16

Number Seen	Median Wait	Number Seen	Median Wait	Number Seen	Median Wait	Number Seen	Median Wait
7,425	25	8,507	38	8,997	28	9,231	37

TOTAL NUMBER WAITING, NUMBER WAITING OVER 12 WEEKS AND NUMBER WAITING OVER 26 WEEKS FOR FINANCIAL YEARS 2012-13 AND 2013-14

2012-13

2013-14

Number Waiting	Waiting over 12 weeks	Waiting over 26 weeks	Number Waiting	Waiting over 12 weeks	Waiting over 26 weeks
1,264	2	1	989	4	1

TOTAL NUMBER WAITING, NUMBER WAITING OVER 12 WEEKS AND NUMBER WAITING OVER 26 WEEKS

FOR FINANCIAL YEARS 2014/15 AND 2015/16

2014-15

2015-16

Numbers Waiting	Waiting Over 12 Weeks	Waiting over 26 weeks	Number waiting	Waiting Over 12 weeks	Waiting Over 26 weeks
1,261	64	1	1,558	213	3

Source: ISD Waiting Times Warehouse

To support improvement the Scottish Government has provided £1.3 million specifically to NHS Grampian to reduce long waits for a first outpatient consultation between January and March 2017. You will also be aware that on 29 November the Scottish Government announced a plan to deliver a major shift in the way outpatient care is delivered, giving patients faster and more local access to care, has been published The Modern Outpatient: A Collaborative Approach 2017-2020 sets out a new strategy for responding to rising demand and aims to free up 400,000 hospital outpatient appointments by 2020. The strategy proposes that some patients, particularly those who are waiting for a routine check-up or test results, would be seen closer to home by a team of community healthcare professionals with close links to hospital departments. The NHS will also make better use of e-consultations and action will be taken to reduce the number of unnecessary referrals.