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-04728

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 October 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy last discussed funding for public services with Dundee City Council.

Question reference: S4F-03016

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 October 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 October 2015

To ask the First Minister whether a reduction in the number of training places for nurses and midwives has contributed to the rise in agency nursing costs as highlighted by Audit Scotland.

Question reference: S4O-04652

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 September 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether the V&A project in Dundee will be audited by Audit Scotland.

Question reference: S4O-04621

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 September 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to alleviate the problems in recruiting GPs across the country.

Question reference: S4O-04522

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 August 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recommendation by the Commission for Developing Scotland's Young Workforce, how many secondary schools in Dundee are paired with an employer.

Question reference: S4W-26908

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 July 2015
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 25 August 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what criteria it uses for physical education to meet the two hours requirement in schools.

<>The Scottish Government's commitment on physical education (PE) is that all schools will provide at least two hours of PE in primary schools and at least two periods of PE in secondary schools, for pupils in S1-S4. In order to meet this commitment schools must deliver PE during curriculum time, it must either be taught or led by a General Teaching Council for Scotland registered teacher, and must support the experiences and outcomes as defined in Curriculum for Excellence. If PE is only available as an optional subject and only some pupils are taking this option then it cannot be counted as providing PE to all pupils.

Question reference: S4W-26909

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 July 2015
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 25 August 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many hours of teacher training are spent on physical education.

Question reference: S4W-26837

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 July 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 21 August 2015

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many times and (b) what disciplinary sanctions have been taken against care homes by the Scottish Social Services Council since 2007.

The Care Inspectorate (Scottish Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland) has a range of powers under the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 which allow them to take enforcement action against a care service. The Care Commission, prior to the introduction of the Care Inspectorate in 2011, also had enforcement powers deriving from earlier legislation.

Enforcement action is rare and generally in response to very serious matters which cannot or have not been addressed through other regulatory approaches. Where the quality of care is not sufficiently good, they regularly make requirements and recommendations. These are commonly made at an inspection or if a complaint is upheld.

No applications were made to the Sheriff Court either by the Care Commission from 2007 onwards or by the Care Inspectorate from 1 April 2011 to present, seeking cancellation of the registration of any form of care home service.

The Care Inspectorate can provide further information on the range of improvement and enforcement actions that they have undertaken and by the Care Commission prior to the introduction of the Care Inspectorate in 2011, over the period 2007-14.

Question reference: S4W-26907

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 July 2015
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 August 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what methodology it uses to analyse data from across the country on what constitutes physical education for the two hours requirement in schools.

Data on physical education is collected on an annual basis from all publically funded schools through the Healthy Living Survey (formerly school meals survey). The latest Healthy Living Survey was undertaken in February 2015 and the results were published on 17 June 2015 as part of the Summary statistics for attainment, leaver destinations and healthy living release:

http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2015/06/2579

Whether a school is meeting the target level of PE provision of two hours per week in primary school or 100 minutes per week in secondary school is determined by whether it meets the following criteria:

Physical education must be during curriculum time and either taught or led by a General Teaching Council for Scotland registered class or PE specialist teacher.

It includes certificated and non-certificated PE. It includes, for example, dance, but does not include walking to school, drama, etc.

If PE is only available as an optional subject and only some pupils are taking this option (i.e. if PE is only undertaken/available as a certificated subject) then this should not be counted as providing PE to all pupils.

Local authorities are provided with guidance when completing the Healthy Living Survey and this includes more detailed information on how schools answer in special cases.

Local authorities which return data indicating that schools are not meeting the target are asked to provide reasons why.

Question reference: S4W-26840

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 July 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fiona McLeod on 12 August 2015

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many times and (b) what disciplinary sanctions have been taken against care home workers by the Scottish Social Services Council since 2007.