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-25100

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 19 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much it will invest to upgrade facilities for child witnesses, and over what time period.

At the end of 2018, the Scottish Government committed over two million pounds of capital and associated revenue costs to enable the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service to provide new and upgraded state of the art evidence suites to allow children and vulnerable witnesses to give their evidence in criminal trials in a safe, sensitive and secure environment. It is anticipated that the new facilities in Glasgow will be operational from October 2019, in Inverness by March 2020 when the new Justice Centre is due to open, and the upgraded facilities in Edinburgh and Aberdeen by March 2020.

Question reference: S5O-03587

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 September 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to initiatives in the north east that aim to tackle climate change.

Question reference: S5W-24882

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 17 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when the new cancer unit at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary is scheduled to open.

The Project Team are currently reviewing the design specification, assessing logistical arrangements with their supply chain and confirming timelines for the project. That work continues and results are expected shortly.

The Scottish Government remain fully committed to the Baird Family Hospital and The ANCHOR Centre Project and looks forward to the submission of the Full Business Case to the NHS Capital Investment Group when that work is complete.

Question reference: S5W-25056

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has set up a restorative justice stakeholder group and, if so, what its terms of reference are.

Question reference: S5W-24915

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 12 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government to which projects it will allocate the remaining £500,000 of its £2 million fund to encourage people to come forward if they have been a victim of domestic or sexual abuse and to support those who do.

Programme for Government 2018 committed the Scottish Government to investing an additional £2 million over the next three years to ensure that support can be provided for victims and survivors of gender based violence. Of this £2 million, Rape Crisis Centres have been allocated additional £1.5 million over 2018-21 to improve access to support and ensure that these services plan for the future. The remainder of the funding will be allocated from the next financial year onwards, and further details will be made available about this in due course.

Question reference: S5W-24912

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 12 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what investment it has made in Scottish Fire and Rescue Service digital technology since September 2018.

The Scottish Government provides the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) with a Capital Budget of £32.5m. It is for the SFRS to decide how that money is spent. In 2018-19 SFRS reported spending £4.255m on IT and Digital and in 2019-20 SFRS has allocated £5.17m.

For 2019-20, the Scottish Government has increased the budget of SFRS by £5.5 million to invest in service transformation. This is in addition to increasing the spending capacity of the service by £15.5 million in 2018-19. We continue to press the UK Government for return of the £50 million paid in VAT since 2013.

Question reference: S5W-24922

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 12 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service cadet scheme will begin operation.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) Youth Volunteer Scheme (YVS) will become the first consolidated youth programme which will create opportunities to improve life chances and empower young people to work together for a safer Scotland.

Its main objective is to provide a safe environment in which young people can learn as individuals, develop positive relationships and actively support their community by volunteering and transferring key safety messages including first aid, fire safety, road safety, water safety and home safety.

The scheme will demonstrate various roles within the SFRS increasing capacity for further learning and employability whilst encouraging young people to make positive choices as they emerge into adulthood.

The YVS will engage with a range of young people which reflects the diversity of the local community. 10 schemes will be implemented across Scotland from November 2019 to April 2020.

Question reference: S5W-24920

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 12 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what further training and equipment the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has provided to firefighters since September 2018.

Operational decisions, including the provision of training are a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS).

Training is a critical part of a firefighters journey beginning with a 14 week intensive training course at one of the SFRS training Colleges and on completion continues annually for the length of their SFRS career.

34 stations across Scotland have received training to support the introduction of Rapid Response Unit's (RRU) within the SFRS.

Personnel at these stations were trained in the use of Ultra-High-Pressure Firefighting System (UHPFS) equipment and associated techniques, leading to improved community and firefighter safety through the introduction of these modern firefighting and rescue technologies. They were also trained in the use of E-draulic cutting equipment, enhancing station rescue capability and reducing environmental impact.

Since September 2018 SFRS have appointed 18 RDS/Volunteer Support Watch Managers from existing Retained Duty System (RDS) establishment. These personnel support 18 "clusters" areas across Scotland that include a total of 125 RDS/Volunteer stations. These Watch Managers have been trained to provide local support in relation to; Incident Command, enhancing crew and community safety and rural resilience. They also provide Community Safety activities (prevention) including home safety visits, partnership initiatives for "at risk groups" and diversionary initiatives to reduce anti-social behaviour.

This contributes to enhanced Community safety and firefighter safety.

Question reference: S5W-24916

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 12 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it still plans to launch a major national campaign to tackle sexual harassment and sexism.

Question reference: S5W-24921

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 12 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many publicly accessible electric vehicle charging points have been installed at fire stations since September 2018.

SFRS have just commenced a programme of installing charging points at ten strategically located sites across the country.

The Scottish Fire & Rescue Service (SFRS) intend to install two public charging points at each of five of its corporate sites in Cambuslang, Hamilton, Perth, Inverness and Dundee. This work has commenced and will be complete by February 2020.

The Dundee Asset Resource Centre was the first site in this programme and has just been fitted with six charging points, two of which are public. Newbridge has also been fitted with two public charging points.