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-09256

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 1 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what meetings were held at Bute House on 14 May 2017 to discuss the college lecturers' dispute, and whether it will provide a breakdown of all of the attendees.

Question reference: S5W-09257

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 1 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what type of (a) PR and (b) advice (i) Charlotte Street Partners and (ii) Graylings provides to Colleges Scotland; how much is charged for the service, and what role the firm is playing in the college lecturers' dispute.

Question reference: S5O-01090

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it does not keep minutes of all meetings between stakeholders and ministers.

Question reference: S5W-09324

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that ScotRail services that call at unstaffed stations comply with the legal requirement to have a member of staff available to operate ramps.

Question reference: S5W-09325

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of how the ScotRail fleet complies with rail vehicle access regulations, and whether it will list the (a) number and (b) type of rolling stock that (i) complies and (ii) does not comply.

The entire ScotRail and Serco Caledonian Sleeper train fleets will comply with the Technical Specifications for Interoperability for Persons with Reduced Mobility (the TSI PRM) standards by 1 January 2020 as required by the Equality Act 2010.

Currently, 75% of the ScotRail fleet meets the rail vehicle accessibility standards (previously RVAR introduced in 1999 and superseded by the TSI PRM in 2008)and a programme of refurbishment is in place that will ensure 100% of the ScotRail fleet will comply as required. Details by train type are as follows:

Train Type	RVAR Compliant	TSI PRM Compliant
C156 (Diesel)	Yes	Under refurbishment to comply by 1 January 2020
C158 (Diesel)	Yes	Under refurbishment to comply by 1 January 2020
C170 (Diesel)	Yes	Yes
C314 (electric)	No	Trains off lease before 1 January 2020
C318 (electric)	Yes	Under refurbishment to comply by 1 January 2020
C320 (electric)	Yes	Yes
C334 (electric)	Yes	Yes
C380 (electric)	Yes	Yes
C385 (electric)	Yes	Yes (to be introduced in 2017)
High Speed trains (Diesel)	Yes	Yes (to be introduced in 2018)

The Serco Caledonian Sleeper fleet currently complies with the RVAR standards and the new fleet of trains to be introduced in 2018 will comply with the TSI PRM standards.

Question reference: S5W-09231

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether (a) it and (b) Police Scotland (i) participates and (ii) has participated in the European Cooperation Group on Undercover Activities and, if so, what this participation involved.

Question reference: S5W-09233

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether (a) it and (b) Police Scotland was involved in discussions regarding the cross-border activities of the former police officer, Mark Kennedy, in particular at the presentation at the European Cooperation Group on Undercover Activities in 2011.

Question reference: S5O-01021

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that contractors working on hub projects are paid on time.

Question reference: S5W-09132

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 11 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S5W-08517 and S5W-08880 by Derek Mackay on 19 April 2017 and 2 May 2017 respectively, for what reason it has not answered the question that was asked in both, which is what its position is on the veracity of the Government Expenditure and Revenue Figures (Scotland) (GERS) for (a) 2015-16 and (b) previous years, and whether it will now do so, and whether it considers that its responses to date are consistent with paragraph 1.2(d) of the Scottish Ministerial Code, which states that "Ministers should be as open as possible with the Parliament and the public, reflecting the aspirations set out in the Report of the Consultative Steering Group on the Scottish Parliament. They should refuse to provide information only in accordance with the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and other relevant statutes".

As set out in response to questions S5W-08517 and S5W-08880, GERS is a National Statistics publication. This assessment covers a number of areas including the quality of the statistics and their suitability to the needs of users. GERS sets out estimates of revenue raised in Scotland and spending for Scotland, under the current constitutional arrangements. The estimates in GERS are the best available, produced using methods agreed with users, which are set out clearly in the GERS publication and associated methodology documents.

Question reference: S5O-01000

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that the sub-contractors who work on Scottish Futures Trust projects are paid on time by the main contractor.