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-09033

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 3 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on what should happen to rental deposits held in secure schemes that are unclaimed after the cessation of the let.

Question reference: S5W-08526

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 18 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will include a question in its next Household Survey questionnaire, which asks whether someone would consider downsizing to a home designed to meet their needs as they become older.

The Scottish Household Survey (SHS) team is currently assessing all the bids received for the SHS 2018 and 2019 questionnaires. This includes a bid for a question on the willingness for older people to downsize their home. The SHS steering group will consider the SHS questionnaire at their next meeting in June at which final decisions on content will be made. The Scottish Government will publish a report in July which details the outcomes of the review and which questions will be included in SHS 2018 and 2019.

Question reference: S5O-00855

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 30 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the report to the UK Government, Each Home Counts.

The Scottish Government has long held the view that the UK Government should look to strengthen their consumer protection frameworks and industry standards in the energy efficiency market and therefore we welcomed the review when first announced.

Now that it is published we will carefully consider the review’s recommendations as part of the development of Scotland Energy Efficiency Programme (SEEP). We are currently consulting on programme and policy options for SEEP until 30 May 2017. As part of this consultation we are asking how best the programme can build consumer confidence, ensure quality delivery and how it can integrate with the findings of the Each Home Counts review.

Question reference: S5F-01073

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 March 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 March 2017

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to reports that, in 2015, around one-in-five referrals to child and adolescent mental health services were rejected and, over the last three years, approximately 17,000 children and young people have been affected.

Question reference: S5O-00820

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the comments by the divisional commander of British Transport Police in Scotland that its proposed merger with Police Scotland risks reducing the effectiveness of railway policing.

Question reference: S5W-07225

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 2 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many B&Bs in each local authority have been used as emergency accommodation for homeless people in the last year.

Question reference: S5W-07224

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 2 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many families are in temporary accommodation in each local authority as a result of homelessness.

The Scottish Government collect data on the number of households with dependent children and pregnant women in temporary accommodation, this is published on a bi-annual basis. The most recent published data is from 30 September 2016.

Households with dependent children and pregnant women in temporary accommodation as at 30 September 2016.

Scotland	3,174
Aberdeen City	64
Aberdeenshire	127
Angus	6
Argyll & Bute	32
Clackmannanshire	12
Dumfries & Galloway	37
Dundee City	59
East Ayrshire	16
East Dunbartonshire	68
East Lothian	148
East Renfrewshire	16
Edinburgh	315
Eilean Siar	12
Falkirk	48
Fife	191
Glasgow City	765
Highland	141
Inverclyde	6
Midlothian	190
Moray	45
North Ayrshire	31
North Lanarkshire	152
Orkney	7
Perth & Kinross	30
Renfrewshire	22
Scottish Borders	20
Shetland	29
South Ayrshire	40
South Lanarkshire	296
Stirling	38
West Dunbartonshire	42
West Lothian	169

Source: HL2 dataset as at 25-11-16

Question reference: S5O-00739

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 March 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that children receive quality early learning and childcare.

Question reference: S5W-07226

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 1 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what policy recommendations its Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group has made in the last year.

The Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group, attended by the Minister for Local Government and Housing, agrees an annual workplan.

Its current priorities include addressing the future role of temporary accommodation for homeless households and establishing joint working between health and housing services to improve outcomes for those with more complex needs.

In the past year, it has made policy recommendations on how best to address these priorities and other areas, such as the continued development of housing options approaches to prevent homelessness.

Question reference: S5O-00668

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 9 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making in achieving its target for 10% of journeys to be taken by bike.

The proportion of everyday journeys made by bike has risen since 2011 but there is still a long way to go in achieving our vision. The vision is important as it focusses minds and that is why we have reaffirmed it in our 3rd Cycling Action Plan for Scotland, published in January.

That's also why our Programme for Government commits us to maintain recent, record levels of funding for active travel for the rest of this Parliamentary term. This funding commitment is unique; and we look forward to working with local authorities and third sector organisations both to secure continued match-funding and to make further progress towards our vision.