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-09482

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 8 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether the NHS and Scottish Government guidance for general practices, published on 7 September 2021, has been updated; for what reason some general practices are reportedly still operating a full triage system, and what steps it plans to take to increase the number of face-to-face GP appointments.

The current guidance for General Practice is Appendix 22 - Community Infection Prevention and Control COVID-19 Pandemic which was first published on 29th June.

The pandemic has been the biggest shock our NHS has ever faced. It has necessitated the imposition of Infection Prevention Control measures in order to contain its spread, particularly prior to the vaccination programme being fully rolled out. These measures, which have recently been deescalated, changed the way GPs see their patients. As Covid has not gone away yet some precautions remain in place.

The Scottish Government wants to see greater availability of face-to-face appointments and is working with the BMA and RCGP to ensure this happens as quickly as possible. We are clear that where clinically necessary face-to-face consultations will always be available to those who need them.

We must continue to move toward a position where choice is being offered routinely, and the Scottish Government welcomes the GMC’s proposed changes to the Good Medical Practice guidance placing a greater emphasis on shared decision-making between GPs and their patients.

Many GP practices did offer patients video or phone consultations as well as in-person face-to-face consultations before the pandemic changed the balance and we expect a number of patients will wish to continue afterwards with video or phone consultations rather than travel to their GP practice. Ultimately, what is most important is that appointments are agreed through shared decision making, balancing patient choice and clinical judgement.

Question reference: S6W-08893

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 30 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the travel cards issued to date as part of the Young Persons’ (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel Scheme have been used on more than 10 occasions since being issued, and, of those, what proportion have been used to take more than 10 journeys per week.

Since the launch of the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme around 390,000 National Entitlement Cards (NEC) have been issued to young people across Scotland. The scheme aims to embed sustainable travel behaviours, open social, education, employment and leisure opportunities and reduce household outgoings to aid young people and their families, particularly those living in poverty.

71% (approx. 277,000) of cards have been used at least once to access free bus travel. In comparison to 56% of older and disabled cardholders over the same period, more young cardholders are choosing to use free bus when they travel.
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62% (approx. 170,000) NECs have been used more than 10 times, and 16% (approx. 61,000) of NECs have been used to make smart journeys on more than ten occasions within at least one week.

149 NECs have been used by young people to make smart journeys on more than ten occasions every week since the scheme launched.

The figures have been produced using the data on number of journeys per National Entitlement Card and come from the secure ITSO messages (alerts from ticket machines when National Entitlement Cards are scanned) that come into Transport Scotland’s reimbursement system, which are used to pay operators.

Question reference: S6W-08895

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 23 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has carried out of the environmental impact of removing 700 ScotRail services.

I have not instructed ScotRail to undertake an environmental impact assessment on what is a temporary change. There is positive progress being made on pay negotiations with ASLEF in Scotland, and I am hopeful that additional services will be added in the near future.

I would note that any environmental modelling undertaken but UK government in relation to the UK-wide RMT strikes, has not to this point been shared with the Scottish Government, although I would welcome sight of any such reports.

Question reference: S6W-08894

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 23 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has carried out of the economic impact of removing 700 ScotRail services.

Question reference: S6W-08649

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 23 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many complaints from (a) passengers and (b) staff were received by ScotRail services between 1 and 30 April 2022, broken down by the reason for the complaint.

The number of passenger complaints received by ScotRail, through their official complaints process, is set out on the following table for the period 1 and 30 April 2022. The complaints may involve accidents that occurred before 1 April 2022.

The average recorded number of complaints per period for previous years is as follows:-

2019-2020 - 1,664 complaints

2018-2019 - 2,064 complaints

The figure of 1,144 complaints for April 2022 is lower than the above period averages.

ScotRail do not record staff complaints and therefore the information is not available.

Complaint Categories	Period 1 2022-23
Staff	272
Policy And Product	206
Train Service Performance	152
1st Class	85
Promotions	77
Capacity	62
Environment	57
Ticket Buying Facilities	44
Safety & Security	36
Station Facilities	29
Information Provision	28
Timetable	25
Customer Provisions	17
Assisted Travel	15
Cycles	13
Rail Replacement	11
Smartcard	10
Contact Centre	3
Double Debit	2
Total	1,144

Question reference: S6O-01294

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether the £33 billion estimate in its Heat in Buildings Strategy to decarbonise Scotland's buildings remains an accurate forecast amount.

Question reference: S6W-09053

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 21 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-08994 by Jenny Gilruth on 1 June 2022, which states, "This scheme forms part of a rolling programme that is expected to see electrification extended to Dundee and Aberdeen", when it anticipates electrification will reach (a) Dundee and (b) Aberdeen, and what the estimated cost is of electrification (i) to Dundee and (ii) between Dundee and Aberdeen.

Question reference: S6W-08854

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 21 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the A96 Corridor Review questionnaire includes questions seeking respondents' personal information such as ethnicity, sex and religious affiliation, which are numbered 106 to 114 in the PDF version, and how these questions will inform (a) the identification of existing problems and opportunities across the A96 corridor and (b) other matters within the questionnaire’s remit.

The answers to the questions on ethnic background, gender, religion and sexual orientation (alongside answers to other questions) are used to understand if the response received to the survey is representative of the population of the study area and Scotland as a whole. In addition, this information will assist the A96 Corridor Review in working towards reducing or removing barriers to equality and enhancing opportunities for certain communities and protected groups.

The information obtained from the survey, alongside other forms of engagement undertaken, is being used to inform the analysis of problems and opportunities and the identification of potential transport interventions. This is being progressed using the methodology set out in Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG). STAG [ https://www.transport.gov.scot/our-approach/industry-guidance/scottish-transport-analysis-guide-scot-tag ] is the Scottish Government’s formal option appraisal toolkit and is the methodology used to guide the development and assessment of transport projects in Scotland. It provides an evidence based and objective led framework for identifying transport problems in a study area and/or opportunities, allows objectives to be set to reflect the transport problems/opportunities and then options to be identified and appraised in a consistent manner with the potential to meet those objectives.

In terms of the assessment of options, STAG involves a multi-criteria appraisal approach. One specific workstream which will feed into this appraisal is a Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA). All responses to the survey will be used to inform the study, including the EQIA process.

Question reference: S6W-08870

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 21 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what support it will offer to ports not successful in the Green Freeports Programme to help them become supply chain and manufacturing bases for offshore renewables.

The Scottish Government will engage with all bidders for Green Freeport status, to examine relevant opportunities and build on the strategies they have set out.

As Co-Chair of the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC), I am leading on work to implement the five key recommendations in the Strategic Infrastructure Assessment (SIA) published in 2021, starting with the creation of a Scottish Offshore Wind Port Cluster.

On 11 May, we published the Offshore Wind Collaborative Framework Charter. 24 developers signed up to the Charter, which includes all active developers in Scotland and encompasses all 17 ScotWind projects.

The Charter builds on the 2021 SIA recommendations adopted by the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC), and is a clear way to support and enable developers’ collective supply chain commitments. The Charter will help forge effective partnerships to deliver on the potential that offshore wind presents in the coming years particularly those that present via our ports and harbours.

Question reference: S6W-08739

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 21 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when Transport Scotland will publish the post-completion noise monitoring reports for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route.

Although there is no legislative requirement to publish noise reports for major roads projects Transport Scotland has previously published these where appropriate to be helpful, transparent and open.

Following introduction of the Data Protection Act 2018, Transport Scotland has considered how the requirements of the Act apply to the information contained within these noise reports and whether their publication would still be possible.

It has concluded that to ensure it does not breach the Act, all personal data such as addresses would require to be removed prior to publication, making the remaining published information incapable of interpretation and informing the public and communities of anything meaningful.

However, in line with Data Protection Act 2018, property owners can request access to their own personal data contained within the noise survey reports by contacting Transport Scotland.