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-01736

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 22 August 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether ministers took advice on the potential for their plans to break data protection laws and, if so, whether it will be made public.

The information sharing provisions in the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 do not break the Data Protection Act 1998. The Supreme Court judgment released on the 28 July 2016, ruled that the information-sharing provisions of the 2014 Act are incompatible with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights and that changes are needed to make those provisions compatible with Article 8. It is standard practice for the Scottish Government not to state whether legal advice has been sought or received or to reveal the content of that advice.

Question reference: S5W-01735

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 22 August 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it took legal advice regarding the information sharing proposals in the named person legislation and, if so, who gave the advice and when it was received.

Question reference: S5W-01810

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 22 August 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what feedback from the Information Commissioner’s Office in relation to sections 26 and 27 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill the Minister for Children and Young People was referring to in evidence to the Education and Culture Committee on 7 January 2014 (Official Report, c. 3247).

On 16 December 2013, Ken Macdonald, Assistant Commissioner (Scotland & Northern Ireland) at the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), wrote to the Education and Culture Committee, setting out the ICOs feedback on the proposed Scottish Government amendments to the information sharing sections of the Children and Young People Bill. The Scottish Government’s amendments on information sharing were discussed at the Education and Culture Committee on the 7 January 2014, where the Minister referred to the ICO feedback of 16 December 2013.

Question reference: S5W-01480

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 July 2016
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 18 August 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review the self-certification system used to approve school building works and ensure that all school buildings are compliant with the relevant building standards.

The Building (Self-Certification of Structural Design) (Scotland) Regulations 1992 which permitted the self-certification of the structural design of buildings under building regulations were revoked with the introduction of the Building (Scotland) Act 2003.

There are no current plans to change the system of building standards certification under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003, which includes certification of the design of building structures.

Question reference: S5W-01590

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 July 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 August 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many sniffer dogs have been in active service for police services across Scotland since 2007.

Question reference: S5W-01589

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 July 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 August 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many police officers have been fully trained in the handling of sniffer dogs since 2007.

Question reference: S5W-01481

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 July 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 1 August 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with local authorities to ensure that required school building inspection standards are met.

The Government has regular discussions with local authorities on a range of matters relating to their school estate. However, the responsibility for issues relating to health and safety and the structural condition of schools, along with all their other buildings, rests with local authorities. National Guidance is provided to assist local authorities in assessing the condition of their school buildings.

Question reference: S5W-01479

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 July 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 1 August 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review the remit of Education Scotland to include, in school inspections, the quality condition of school buildings.

The responsibility for assessing the state of school buildings lies with local authorities. Any robust quality assurance and scrutiny needs to come from examination by technical specialists in building standards and health and safety. Education Scotland is not staffed, and nor was HMIE in the past, with specialists with the skills to give that sort of assurance either through direct inspection or through examining any technical documents schools might provide.

Question reference: S5W-01438

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 July 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 28 July 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with Education Scotland regarding the frequency of inspections in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools.

The frequency of both primary and secondary school inspection will form part of the Government publication Standards and Evaluation Framework in June 2017 as signalled within Delivering Excellence and Equity in Scottish Education: A Delivery Plan for Scotland.

It is anticipated that the frequency of school inspection will increase over coming years as signalled by Dr Bill Maxwell, Chief Executive of Education Scotland, in his article within the Herald newspaper on 21 January 2016.

Question reference: S5W-01358

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 July 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 27 July 2016

To ask the Scottish Government which legal responsibilities that lie only with local authorities it is proposing to offer schools.

Driving up attainment levels is this government's priority and we will seek out and listen to all new ideas and innovative approaches to deliver results in education for all young people. I launched Delivering Excellence and Equity in Scottish Education - A Delivery Plan for Scotland on 28 June 2016 which sets out clear milestones for our next steps to towards closing the attainment gap. It can be viewed at: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2016/06/3853

The delivery plan includes a commitment to launch a governance review of the education system in September 2016 which will involve widespread engagement and consultation across the education sector and beyond. The findings of the review will inform our consideration of where the legal responsibilities for the delivery of education lie.