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-09922

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 24 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its policy is on addressing gender pay gaps that may exist within contractors that are used by public bodies, including the Scottish Police Authority.

Contractors are expected to comply with social, environmental and labour laws and obligations including the Equality Act 2010. Statutory Guidance on the selection of tenderers and award of contracts, ‘Addressing Fair Work Practices, including the Living Wage, in Procurement’, published by the Scottish Government in October 2015 is clear that we expect contractors who deliver public contracts to adopt policies which demonstrate their compliance with relevant employment, equality and health and safety law, human rights standards and adherence to relevant collective agreements. We further expect contractors to have policies which describe how they adopt fair work practices for all workers engaged on delivering the public contract.

In addition, the Scottish Government’s template terms and conditions for contracts contains a clause which states that the contractor “must not unlawfully discriminate against any person within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010 in its activities relating to the Contract or any other contract with the Purchaser.”

Question reference: S5W-09887

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2017
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 10 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it had with union representatives at Doosan Babcock regarding engaging or re-engaging former employees at the manufacturing centre being established at Westway in Renfrew.

Question reference: S5W-09844

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 4 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to engaging or re-engaging employees of Doosan Babcock at the manufacturing centre at the former Doosan Babcock factory at Westway, Renfrew.

The creation of the Lightweight Manufacturing Centre responds to a valuable market opportunity for the development and manufacture of lightweight components and is expected to support significant economic and employment opportunities at the local, regional and national level. The Centre, located within the Doosan Babcock site at Westway, Renfrew, will be operated by the University of Strathclyde’s Advanced Forming Research Centre.

The Scottish Government’s Partnership Action for Continuing Employment team was engaged with both Doosan Babcock and union officials to support employees affected by the recent redundancies at the company’s Renfrew site.

Question reference: S5W-09842

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 4 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the £8.9 million being invested at the manufacturing centre at the former Doosan Babcock factory at Westway, Renfrew; which organisations will benefit from the investment; how much they will receive, and what they will use the support for.

The £8.9m being invested in the Lightweight Manufacturing Centre over the period 2017-20 consists of £3.9m from the Scottish Government, £3.4m from Scottish Enterprise and £1.6m from the University of Strathclyde. This will support the University’s Advanced Forming Research Centre to establish, manage and run the Centre for the benefit of Scottish companies in sectors such as aerospace, automotive, oil and gas and renewables to develop lightweight products and components.

Question reference: S5W-09840

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 4 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many direct full-time equivalent jobs will be created at the manufacturing centre at the former Doosan Babcock factory at Westway, Renfrew, following the £8.9 million investment.

Question reference: S5W-09841

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 29 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) financial and (b) other support it has offered to Doosan Babcock in each year since 2015 to support the continuation of its manufacturing and other operations at its site at Westway, Renfrew; on what dates this was offered, and what the company's response was.

Doosan Babcock is account managed by Scottish Enterprise.

Since 2015 Scottish Enterprise has been actively working with Doosan Babcock to explore sector and market opportunities, through the provision of market research and sector insights.

Scottish Enterprise has also provided the following financial assistance to Doosan Babcock for projects that support the development of the Renfrew site since 2015:

£260k in support of an Open Innovation project with the R & D team (Programme initiated: October 2015, the project is ongoing).

£97,214 Training Aid for the Fuel Cell Division (Grant Award: April 2016, the project is ongoing).

Doosan Babcock have accepted the awards and are currently delivering the resulting projects.

Question reference: S5O-01152

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 21 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when the temporary removal of orthopaedic services at Monklands General Hospital will come to an end, and when trauma and elective services will be restored.

It is incorrect to suggest that all orthopaedic services have been removed from Monklands Hospital. Around 85% of all orthopaedic patient contacts are outpatients and these have continued to be seen at Monklands Hospital.

NHS Lanarkshire’s interim model on trauma and orthopaedics, in place since last November, was about building necessary service resilience; not about removing services. It was put in place to ensure clinical safety and the quality of care, and the Board was supported in this position by the Academy of Royal Colleges and Faculties in Scotland. Since the interim model was introduced the length of time trauma patients spend in hospital has reduced.

NHS Lanarkshire’s longer term plan for orthopaedics, as informed by the views of the Academy, is to move to two local sites of clinical excellence, comprising a single trauma site and a single elective site. This is consistent with the national strategy of developing major trauma networks, and has been the subject of public consultation as part of NHS Lanarkshire’s approved health care strategy 'Achieving Excellence'.

Wishaw Hospital will be the trauma site in Lanarkshire and an options appraisal will be undertaken to identify whether Hairmyres or Monklands Hospital should be the elective orthopaedic centre of excellence. The Board are confident such plans will enable them to develop a complementary network of centres of excellence across the key three hospital sites, with core A&E Departments remaining on each.

Question reference: S5W-09584

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 14 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many responses to freedom of information requests it has made after the 20-working day deadline in each of the last five calendar years.

Question reference: S5W-09585

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 14 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many appeals to the Scottish Information Commissioner there has been in each of the last five calendar years regarding its treatment of freedom of information requests.

Question reference: S5O-01119

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 June 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with Police Scotland regarding its estates strategy.