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-28487

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 2 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) total and (b) average debt of students from the 20% poorest backgrounds has been in each year since 2011-12, and what information it has regarding how this compares with students from (i) Wales and (ii) Northern Ireland.

The data requested are not held centrally. The Student Loans Company is responsible for publishing data on student loans, debt and repayment for Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The latest Student Loans Company figures show that, for students entering repayment in 2015, average student loan debt in Scotland is the lowest in the UK (Scotland £9,440; England £21,180; Wales £19,010; Northern Ireland £18,160).

Question reference: S4W-28620

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 30 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what the projected cost is of the delayed implementation of the new IT system for the NHS24 Future Programme.

Question reference: S4W-28564

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 26 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how the £10 million investment to develop club sport has been spent.

Question reference: S4W-28565

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 26 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in establishing new regional development officer posts as part of the £10 million investment to develop club sport.

Question reference: S4W-28329

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many people are waiting for a hearing aid, broken down by NHS board.

The number of patients on the waiting list for the fitting of hearing aids on 30 June 2015 by NHS board is provided in the following table:

NHS Board	Number of Patients Waiting
Ayrshire and Arran	945
Borders	246
Dumfries and Galloway	165
Fife	*
Forth Valley	95
Grampian	623
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	958
Highland	226
Lanarkshire	410
Lothian	749
Orkney	3
Shetland	15
Tayside	665
Western Isles	3
NHSScotland	5,103

Source: Information Services Division Scotland

*Hearing aid fitting is provided within one-stop clinics in NHS Fife – a one-stop clinic is where the patient see a consultant, undergoes a diagnostic test and the fitting of the hearing aid in one visit. It is therefore not possible to identify patients only waiting for the fitting of the hearing.

Question reference: S4W-28330

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what the average waiting time is to see a hearing specialist, broken down by NHS board.

The average waiting time to see a hearing specialist is not available centrally as audiology data is collected from an aggregate return and not based on individual patient records. Information is available against the 18 weeks referral to treatment standard – delivery of which is 90%. The following table provides performance by board for the month of June 2015.

The three boards with performance below the level of which the Scottish Government would expect have been experiencing some short-term staffing issues during the last year. To reduce these waits the boards are providing additional clinics as well as employing additional staff and where appropriate locum consultants to improve waits for their audiology service.

NHS Board	Performance (%)
Ayrshire and Arran	58.8
Borders	86.0
Dumfries and Galloway	90.2
Fife	100
Forth Valley	99.4
Grampian	78.6
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	99.9
Highland	95.4
Lanarkshire	97.3
Lothian	99.7
Orkney	100
Shetland	97.8
Tayside	96.4
Western Isles	*
NHSScotland	93.5

Source Information Services Division 18 weeks Referral to Treatment

* Data unavailable due to local changes in reporting methodology.

Question reference: S4F-03064

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 November 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 November 2015

To ask the First Minister what discussions the Scottish Government has had with NHS24 regarding the provision of winter resilience measures.

Question reference: S4O-04743

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to establish a small business conciliation service.

Question reference: S4W-28023

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 2 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government when it became aware that criminal charges had been brought against the Moray-based teacher and named person for pupils who was recently convicted for child sex offences.

Scottish Ministers were not informed in advance that criminal charges would be laid against the teacher concerned. However, the teacher's employer and the General Teaching Council for Scotland were informed and took appropriate actions to suspend the individual and apply a temporary restriction order. Now that the case has been concluded, it will be considered by the next Investigating Panel convened by the General Teaching Council for Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-27805

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 28 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government on what date in July 2015 the letter from Malcolm Pentland, Head of Major Events, on behalf of the Scottish Government was sent to DF Concerts outlining the powers under section 23 of the National Heritage (Scotland) Act 1985 as they affected the conditions of the £150,000 grant provided to T in the Park.

The letter from the Scottish Government offering DF Concerts and Events a one off grant of £150,000 to support the transition of the T in the Park event from Balado to Strathallan was sent on 2 July 2015. It was published by the Scottish Government on 28 September 2015 and can be viewed at

http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0048/00486201.pdf. A copy of the letter has also been placed in Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 57297).