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-02756

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 28 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many public sector social care staff there are, and what information it has regarding social care staff in the voluntary and private sectors.

The Scottish Social Services Council is responsible for the publication of official statistics on social services workforce data. Their recently published Scottish Social Services Workforce Data Report 2015 reports that the workforce has increased to 203,200, an increase of 1.8% on the previous year. 31% of workers are employed in the public sector, 28% in the voluntary sector and 42% in the private sector (note that due to rounding, the percentages sum to more than 100%).

The full report can be accessed at http://data.sssc.uk.com

Question reference: S5W-02606

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 28 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many times planning permission has been given for the drilling of boreholes solely for the purpose of core sampling for shale and coal bed methane (a) prior to and (b) since the moratorium on fracking for shale gas.

Question reference: S5W-02759

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 28 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to end the use of zero- and minimal-hours contracts for public sector social care staff; how it monitors and ensures that all travel time is paid; what its position it is on staff having to purchase their own uniforms or equipment, and what support it can provide to social care staff in the voluntary and private sectors regarding these matters.

Scottish Government condemn the inappropriate use of zero hour contracts.

The Scottish Government expects all employers to adopt fair working practices. The Fair Work Framework states that zero hours contracts can be a barrier to providing employees an appropriate level of security. We believe that the operational flexibility offered to employers by zero hours contracts can be gained by offering flexible guaranteed hours contracts that meet the needs of the employer without burdening workers with uncertainty of income.

The Scottish Government has taken action in a number of ways to discourage the inappropriate use of Zero Hours Contracts and address fair work practices through the measures in the statutory guidance and by encouraging fair work more generally through promotion of the Scottish Business Pledge.

Question reference: S5W-02757

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 28 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the median (a) annual wage and (b) hourly pay rate is for public sector social care staff, and what information it has regarding social care staff in the private sector.

Question reference: S5W-02754

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 28 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many GPs have undergone palliative care training and to what level.

All GPs are expected to demonstrate through both work based learning and self-directed learning, the knowledge and skills in end of life care to satisfy the core competencies of a GP.

The requirements and content of the GP training curricula is a matter for the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and is approved by the General Medical Council as regulator of the medical profession.

All Healthcare professionals including GP’s at all levels are expected to assess and address their learning needs to deliver the high quality services required by patients in primary and secondary care and also third party settings; this includes end of life/palliative considerations.

Question reference: S5W-02616

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 27 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to raise the £600 exemption threshold set out in the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Question reference: S5W-02613

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 27 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many requests it has received each year under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 that have been subject to an appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner, broken down by how many times the commissioner ruled in favour of (a) it and (b) the applicant.

Question reference: S5W-02617

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 27 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to extend the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 to include all (a) private and (b) public contractors that have been contracted by public bodies.

Question reference: S5W-02612

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 27 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many requests it has received each year under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 have been subject to a review.

Question reference: S5W-02609

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 27 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many requests under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 have been received each year by (a) it and (b) all public authorities, also broken down by how many were answered within 20 days.

Information about the number of requests made to the Scottish Government, and how many were answered within 20 working days, is available from the FOI Annual Reports which are published on our website at: http://www.gov.scot/About/Information/FOI/Reporting.

Similar information about requests made to other public authorities is published on the Scottish Information Commissioner’s website at: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/ScottishPublicAuthorities/StatisticsCollection.aspx