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: S5O-00670

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 February 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met the board of NFU Scotland and what issues were discussed.

Question reference: S5W-06576

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 3 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has not placed the findings of its 2015 staff survey in the public domain, and what its position is on this decision.

Question reference: S5W-06575

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 3 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what is position is on the findings of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s 2015 staff survey.

Question reference: S5W-05946

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 1 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government which Police Scotland divisions pay the NHS to provide medical services in custody centres.

Question reference: S5F-00847

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 February 2017

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the Auditor General’s comments regarding Police Scotland and that the “lack of progress that’s been made in demonstrating financial leadership is unacceptable for any public body.”

Question reference: S5W-05948

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 27 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many air (a) rifles and (b) weapons it estimates there are in Scotland and how many of these were licenced on 1 January 2017.

At the time of preparing Part 1 of the Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Bill, we estimated that there may be some 500,000 air weapons in circulation in Scotland. That figure was based on known sales and other factors over a long period and was agreed in discussions with the Scottish Firearms Consultative Panel of experts who advised the Government on the development of the legislation. The Panel included the police and members of the shooting lobby.

The new licensing regime applies to people, not individual guns. A certificate holder may use, possess, purchase or acquire any number of air weapons. No record is kept of the number of weapons held on each certificate.

Question reference: S5W-05949

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) average time and (b) longest time has been to process an application for an air weapon certificate that was received by the 31 October 2016 deadline.

Question reference: S5W-05947

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what level of service police custody centres receive from the NHS, and whether the level is the same for all centres.

In order to support the delivery of healthcare and forensic medical services to people in police care there is a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Police Scotland and NHS Boards. The MoU clearly sets out roles and responsibilities with regards to service delivery. Across Scotland, there are a range of service delivery models in place to provide healthcare in police custody. Regardless of the service model, individuals in police custody should receive the same level of access to healthcare services and the quality of service provided should be the same in each NHS Board.

Question reference: S5O-00593

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 25 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the comment by the RCN in a report from November 2016 that “core areas of service - such as nurse-led primary care, long-term conditions management and care for older people in prison or those with learning disabilities - are falling short in many areas".

The National Nurse Advisor of the National Prisoner Healthcare Network is liaising with the Scottish Executive Nurse Directors (SEND) to respond to, and address, the matters raised in the Royal College of Nursing Scotland report.

In addition, the National Prisoner Healthcare Network is supporting improvements in healthcare for all prisoners to reduce health inequalities, as well as reduce reoffending. This includes work on through care, substance misuse, health improvement, palliative care and care for prisoners with dementia.

The report has also been viewed by NHS board Prison board Operational Leads and they now aim to consider local responses to the matters identified.

Question reference: S5W-05991

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 24 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government which new psychoactive substances the Scottish Prison Service tests for when prisoners are subject to a drugs test.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) does not test for New Psychoactive Substances (NPS). There are significant challenges around the detection and identification of NPS compounds and the availability of up-to-date testing kits due to the variants of such substances constantly changing.

SPS has adopted a therapeutic approach, alongside professional case management and the utilisation of existing drug testing powers to manage this evolving issue.