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: S4O-03150

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to increase the number of automated external defibrillators in public places.

Question reference: S4W-20148

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 21 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that the virulent porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDV) does not infect the country’s pig population.

The Scottish Government has legislation in place to regulate the importation of animals and animal products and prevent the introduction into Scotland of animal pathogens, including the new variant of the virulent porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDV). To the Scottish Government’s knowledge, the new PEDV has not been found to date anywhere in the European Union.

The Scottish Government monitors the international situation, has surveillance in place to detect the pathogen if it enters the country and has funded veterinary organisations to raise awareness of the condition among Scottish pig producers and veterinarians and promote measures to reduce the risk of infection.

Question reference: S4W-20149

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 21 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it is giving to (a) animal feed manufacturers, (b) animal nutritionists and (c) vets regarding the identification and isolation of feed products on farms labelled as containing spray-dried porcine plasma.

The Scottish Government published the Guidance Note on feed controls in the Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies Regulations in June 2013.

The note includes a section with guidance on the handling of blood products, including spray-dried porcine plasma, and can be obtained from the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA), who produced the document on behalf of the Scottish Government. They are also publically available in AHVLA’s website.

Additional specific information for business handling blood products, including dried porcine plasma, is available from AHVLA’s website.

Question reference: S4W-20002

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 18 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) financial and (b) administrative staff support it gives to the Judicial Complaints Reviewer.

The Scottish Government pays the Judicial Complaints Reviewer a daily fee together with office and travel expenses. Funding has also been provided for larger expenditure such as the cost of setting up a website and costs of obtaining independent legal advice. The Judicial Complaints Reviewer does not have any direct administrative staff support. However, she is able to obtain support from the Scottish Government, for example to print copies of her annual report and up-load documents onto her website.

Question reference: S4W-19478

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 26 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what feedback it has received from NHS Forth Valley on the implementation of a frailty unit to improve safety and patient experience for frail older people.

The Frailty Service in NHS Forth Valley commenced in November 2013. Although it is still early days NHS Forth Valley has reported that the service has had a positive impact, with 80% of patients using it avoiding admission, those patients who were admitted to the Inpatient Frailty Unit experienced a shorter length of stay than would otherwise have been expected. Feedback from patients, family and GPs has also been positive.

The Frailty Unit was established to improve outcomes for frail elderly patients by reducing avoidable hospitalisation and supporting patients to be cared for in their own home / communities. In the first few weeks the numbers of patients using the service was low, however, numbers are now increasing as elements of the service become more established.

NHS Forth Valley intends to build on these positive results, increasing community use of the service and testing telehealth tools to give improved access to specialist opinion in the community. The board also intends working with the Scottish Ambulance Service to provide access to timely transportation when patients or family do not have transportation.

Question reference: S4W-19510

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 25 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what plans the organising committee has to include Gaelic in the 2014 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony.

Glasgow 2014 is committed to the meaningful incorporation of Gaelic language and culture within the opening ceremony. While it is too early to share specific detail, they are working with well-respected and internationally recognised talents to deliver a series of key moments that will complement the strong Gaelic strand within the Culture 2014 programme. Gaelic music and voices will be heard at multiple points throughout the opening ceremony and will be broadcast to a global TV audience of more than one billion people.

Question reference: S4W-19509

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 25 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what plans the organising committee has to include Gaelic as part of the cultural aspect of the Commonwealth Games.

Question reference: S4O-02903

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Falkirk Council regarding the implementation of national guidance on political literacy.

Question reference: S4W-19643

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2014
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Richard Lochhead on 7 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has for a public consultation on the allocation of Scotland's fish quotas.

The Scottish Government announced on 28 January 2014 our intention to consult on the future allocation of Scottish fish quotas. Fishermen from across Scotland have raised concerns with the Scottish Government about the current system of allocating fish quotas, which was introduced by the then UK Government in 1999. Many fishermen have complained that the present system has encouraged trading of quota and its concentration in fewer hands, resulting in increased quota leasing costs for active fishermen. The high cost of accessing quota has also made it difficult for new fishermen to get started in the industry.

The Government plans to write to individual fishermen and to fishing industry representatives to ask for views about how the allocation current system can be improved to better support active fishermen and fishing communities. Taking into account views received, the Government then plans to publish a consultation paper, which will include proposals for change.

The Government also announced a temporary halt to transfers of fish quota allocation units off of Scottish fishing licences to fishing licences in the rest of the UK. The temporary halt is in place now to prevent speculative transfers of allocation units out of Scotland, during the consultation, so that there is the same amount of quota held in Scotland before and after the consultation. This is being done within the terms of a 2012 Concordat on Fisheries Management, agreed by the four UK countries.

Question reference: S4W-19251

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 5 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what the impact will be on the Scottish fishing industry of the dismantling of import tariffs and the end of the previous minimum price and withdrawal system under the common organisation of the markets reform.

There has been no change to current import tariff arrangements which are covered by Council Regulation No. 1220/2012 which deals with trade related measures to guarantee the supply of certain fishery products to EU processors from 2013 to 2015.

The new Common Market Organisation (CMO) regulation (No. 1379/2013) came into effect on 1 January 2014. Among other things, it abolishes altogether the system of minimum prices and the payment to fishermen for fish withdrawn from the market. The Scottish Government did not support abolition under the proposed timescale, preferring to maintain the previous arrangements for at least another three years but this position was not supported by the UK or other Member States. It is, however, too early to judge what impact these new arrangements will have on the Scottish fishing industry.

The new CMO provides instead for a system of ‘storage aid’ whereby, if a member’s fish product fails to sell at a trigger price set by its fish Producer Organisation (PO) at the start of each year, it may be temporarily removed from the market and stored for reintroduction at a later date. POs may receive financial support to cover the cost of storage. This new funding will be provided as part of the new European Maritime and Fisheries Fund. We are currently consulting Scottish fish Producers’ Organisations and other interests about the use of “storage aid”. This arrangement will be phased out by 2019.