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: S6W-25431

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what contingencies it has put in place to ensure that NHS Lanarkshire has sufficient capital funding for the completion of the replacement for University Hospital Monklands.

Question reference: S6W-25429

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that there will be no further delay to the replacement for University Hospital Monklands.

The UK Government did not inflation-proof its capital budget which has resulted in nearly a 10% real-terms cut in the Scottish Government’s capital funding over the medium-term between 2023-24 and 2027-28.

The result of this cut is that new health capital projects have currently been paused. Our emphasis for the immediate future will be on addressing backlog maintenance and essential equipment replacement. However we are in active discussions with NHS Lanarkshire on the impact of this budget settlement on the proposal to replace University Hospital Monklands.

Question reference: S6W-25433

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the inpatient bed capacity of the Monklands Replacement Project was, as submitted in the outline business case.

Question reference: S6W-25434

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what lessons have been learned from the COVID-19 pandemic in relation to hospital size and design, and how any such findings have impacted on the consideration of the Monklands Replacement Project.

The OBC from NHS Lanarkshire considered in great detail the impact of the pandemic within their design. The new facility has considered best use of space and layout alongside ventilation to ensure consideration has been given to any future pandemic so that areas like Critical Care and Operating Theatre suites can accommodate reconfiguration to continue to provide services to high-risk infected patients. NHS Lanarkshire continues to embrace digital technology, brought on as a requirement in the pandemic, to reduce unnecessary patient attendances.

Question reference: S6O-03151

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to next meet with the sole director of the GFG Alliance.

Question reference: S6W-25428

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 27 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many inpatient beds are planned for the replacement for University Hospital Monklands, broken down by speciality.

The OBC indicates a total of 472 total beds. In addition to 92 assessment and observation beds the breakdown is as follows:

Future Modelled Bed Provision

No.

ITU (Level 3 & Surg/Med Level 2)

- Includes Medical HDU beds

- Includes Renal HDU beds

Bed provision within specialty care (excluding assessment and observation beds):

Future Modelled Bed Provision	No.
Infectious Diseases	21
Haematology	20
Renal	17
General Medicine	97
Frailty/Geriatric Rehabilitation	60
Respiratory (within General)
Cardiology	23
Stroke (within General)
General Surgery	50
Urology	24
ENT/OMFS	20
Surge Beds	8
Orthopaedic	20
Total	360

Question reference: S6O-03087

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 February 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plan to diversify land ownership in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-24790

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 January 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 2 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what proportion of all train delay minutes were attributed to rail infrastructure problems, in the period of April to December 2023, broken down by (i) drainage issues, (ii) track faults, including broken rails, (iii) overhead line failures and (iv) signalling failures.

Network Rail has an overall responsibility of the Scottish rail network infrastructure and Office of Rail and Road (ORR) holds Network Rail to account for the delivery of its obligations.

ORR publishes its quarterly and periodic (4-weekly) statistics on punctuality, reliability and causes of delay for passenger trains operating on the mainline network in Great Britain on its website: Passenger rail performance | ORR Data Portal .

Question reference: S6O-03072

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to encourage a modal shift to public transport.

Question reference: S6W-24326

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 January 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 31 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the savings that ScotRail passengers will make from the extension of the trial of the all-day, off-peak fare to June 2024.

The purpose of the ScotRail Peak Fares is broader, to find out whether such a measure helps move people from car to rail use, but also to help passengers facing cost of living pressures. We know that price and simplicity is crucial for people when choosing how to travel.

Many passengers will enjoy significantly reduced fares, with fares that are available all day, every day, which will hopefully encourage more people to reduce their car use and to use more public transport instead, in line with our Programme for Government commitment to encourage a shift towards sustainable transport.