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-11850

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 31 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on trialling a so-called one-sheriff system across civil and criminal proceedings with regard to domestic abuse, and what its position is on whether such a system could lead to survivors being spared unnecessary trauma.

Part 1 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, as amended, requires that courts should have regard to domestic abuse when considering civil court orders relating to parental responsibilities and rights. The Scottish Government is reviewing part 1 of the 1995 Act and preparing a Family Justice Modernisation Strategy and will carry out a public consultation on this next year.

This consultation will cover issues in relation to domestic abuse, including, for example, options to prevent direct cross-examination of victims of domestic abuse by their alleged abusers in child contact cases before the civil courts. We will engage with the courts and others on issues arising from the consultation responses.

Question reference: S5W-11546

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 12 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many Police Scotland posts of chief inspector or above are (a) unfilled and (b) filled on an "acting" basis.

Question reference: S5W-11467

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 2 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether a new IT system will be required to deliver its new welfare system in 2020 and, if so, what the procurement process will be; what timescale it has set, and how much it will cost.

New IT systems will be required to deliver the new social security powers in Scotland. We are taking account of Audit Scotland’s recommendations in their ‘Principles for a Digital Future’ report that implementation should not be ‘big-bang’ but must be broken down into manageable stages. Our phased approach to the design of the technology we need mirrors our phased approach to the devolution of social security; this means that different elements of digital/IT systems will go live at different times. For benefits within the first wave - Best Start Grant and Funeral Expense Assistance - we expect to appoint a supplier shortly who will support our agile development of the technology required. Future procurement activity will follow on from work underway just now to design the other benefits. We estimate a high level cumulative IT implementation cost of £190 million over a period of four years.

Question reference: S5W-11465

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 2 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that Dundee and the surrounding areas benefit from the V&A Museum of Design.

The Scottish Government is the major funder of the V&A Museum of Design Dundee along with the Heritage Lottery Fund, Dundee City Council, the private sector and Creative Scotland by award of National Lottery funding.

Our investment in V&A Dundee is premised on the significant economic benefit that the Museum will bring to the city, the wider region and Scotland, alongside a range of other positive outcomes outlined in the business case. Plans for the Museum which are being developed by project partners, Dundee City Council, Scottish Enterprise, V&A London, Dundee University and Abertay University, will deliver these benefits.

There is a range of actions in place to maximise the opportunities arising from the significant investment that has been made in the new Museum and the wider Waterfront Regeneration project. For example Scottish Enterprise has been actively engaging and influencing businesses within Dundee and surrounding areas in applying a Destination Development approach, encouraging innovation, collaboration and capacity building.

Ahead of opening there are already encouraging signs of increased visitor numbers, inward investment and new business start-ups.

Question reference: S5W-11012

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 28 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what percentage of summary criminal cases were dealt with from caution and charge to verdict within the 26 week target in each month since April 2015, broken down by sheriff court.

Question reference: S5O-01318

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 September 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the NHS resource allocation formula.

Question reference: S5W-11306

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 27 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government by what date the 2016-17 Scottish Fire and Rescue Service annual report and accounts will be published.

Question reference: S5W-11135

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much the NHS has spent on legal and related costs defending litigation and threatened litigation in each year since 2007, also given as a percentage of each year’s NHS budget contribution from the Scottish Government, and what information it has on time lost by NHS employees dealing with such matters in the same period.

Question reference: S5W-10379

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 20 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many contractor-limited company oil and gas workers in the (a) North East Scotland parliamentary region and (b) rest of the country have had their contract for services terminated in each year since 2014.

The Scottish Government does not have access to data on the number of contractor limited company oil and gas workers who have had their contract terminated in each year since 2014. The Scottish Government holds information on the number of registered businesses and estimates of number of self-employed workers, but these data sets are derived from databases generated by the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The Scottish Government holds data from the Annual Population Survey, which is published by ONS, which provides estimates of overall numbers in employment in Scotland who report themselves as being self-employed. However estimates from this source are limited to the total number of the self-employed in Scotland and are published each month by ONS in ‘Regional labour market statistics in the UK’ in ‘Table HI11-3 Full-time, part-time and temporary workers’. https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/headlinelabourforcesurveyindicatorsforscotlandhi11

It is not possible to obtain estimates for self-employed workers specifically working in the Oil and Gas industry in the North East of Scotland, or Oil and Gas industry in Scotland as a whole, from this source and this data source does not present information on numbers having had their contracts terminated.

Question reference: S5O-01274

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 20 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of the tourism sector in the north east.

The latest data shows that, since 2008, the number of registered businesses, employment and the Gross Value Added associated with the Sustainable Tourism sector has increased in the North East region.

Registered businesses grew by four per cent from in 2008 to 2016. Employment grew by 11 per cent and the Gross Value Added in current prices has grown from £348 million in 2008 to £578 million in 2015.