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-19653

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 29 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 7 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether the use of electric shock collars is permitted under any circumstances, following the introduction of its new Guidance on Dog Training Aids.

Question reference: S5W-19654

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 29 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 7 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether its new Guidance on Dog Training Aids will have the same effect as a full legal ban.

The use of electronic training aids is not prohibited; however the Guidance makes it clear that causing unnecessary suffering through their inappropriate use may be, depending upon the circumstances of the case, an offence under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 if the user knew (or ought to have known) that the action would cause unnecessary suffering. A separate offence may be committed, depending upon the circumstances of the case, if a person does not take such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to ensure that the needs of the animal for which the person is responsible are met to the extent required by good practice. These needs of the animal include its requirement to be protected from suffering and injury, its need for suitable environment and its need to exhibit normal behaviour patterns. The Guidance may also be considered relevant by the courts in any prosecution of either of these two offences relating to inappropriate training methods, but the relevance of the Guidance will depend on the facts and circumstances of a particular case.

Question reference: S5O-02532

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government when it will respond to the proposals from the five cross-border local authorities regarding a Borderlands growth deal.

Question reference: S5W-19440

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 31 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the ScotRail franchise performance benchmarks are, broken down by sector.

Question reference: S5W-19355

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 30 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S5W-19074 and S5W-19073 by Michael Matheson on 10 October 2018, whether it will provide the information requested and clarify its position on whether it is content with the use of internal targets, rather than franchise targets, by ScotRail in its monthly public performance monitoring update.

Question reference: S5W-19164

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-18914 by Michael Matheson on 2 October 2018, whether all of the trains will have controlled emission tanks fitted before they are used.

Abellio ScotRail (ASR) are currently examining whether installing Controlled Emission Tanks (CET) prior to the full refurbishment of ‘Classic’ High Speed Trains (HST) is possible and they are also looking at temporary measures to mitigate the impact of operation without CET installed. Transport Scotland continues to press ASR on a resolution and that ASR continue to address any concerns that the travelling public and trades unions have around the use of ‘Classic’ HST units without CET installed.

Question reference: S5O-02480

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 October 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the development of better housing in Dumfries town centre.

Question reference: S5W-18832

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 11 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions regarding the reshaping of stroke services in Scotland it has had with NHS England.

The Scottish Government has not had any formal discussions with NHS England regarding reshaping stroke services.

The Scottish Government continues to implement our Stroke Improvement Plan (2014) as key to informing and driving improvement across stroke care.

We recognise the benefits of thrombectomy which can significantly improve outcomes and quality of life for some people who have had an ischaemic stroke by reducing the level of disability. That is why the Directors of Planning Thrombectomy Advisory Group are producing a national planning framework for the provision of thrombectomy for Scotland. It is intended that this will be completed by early 2019. It will be the basis for moving forward on implementation and spread of thrombectomy provision in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-19067

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will list each of the changes that have been made to the (a) breach benchmarks and (b) committed obligation on transparent reporting set out in the ScotRail franchise since April 2015; what the reason was for each change; when the changes were made; who was made aware of these, and what action was taken to place details of each in the public domain.

All of the Performance Levels set out in the Franchise Agreement remain unchanged. The effect of the waiver granted means that the Scottish Government has agreed not to enforce compliance with the contractual Improvement Plan Performance Level and Breach Performance Level for the duration of the waiver period, on the condition that performance does not fall more than 1% below the Improvement Plan Performance Level and Breach Performance Level set out in the contract.

The letter approving a temporary waive to the performance benchmarks is published on the Transport Scotland website. Link: https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/43194/franchise-derogation-ppm-benchmark-levels-20-sept-2018-public-register-abellio-scotrail.pdf

Question reference: S5W-19074

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government when Transport Scotland became aware that ScotRail was using internal rather than franchise targets in its monthly publications, and what action it took in response to this.