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: S5O-01303

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 27 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the Northern Alliance educational initiative.

I welcome the commitment of authorities and individuals in the Northern Alliance, and I met with Alliance representatives on the 25th of January this year, to hear more about their positive work to improve the education experiences of children and young people in their area.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken a formal assessment of the Northern Alliance. Rather, we have committed to working with the Alliance and other inter-authority education partnerships in Scotland, as we take forward the detailed development of Regional Improvement Collaboratives in partnership with local government.

Question reference: S5W-11041

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 18 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to (a) police or penalise owners of non-electric vehicles parked in public charging bays for electric vehicles and (b) increase the number of charging bays to encourage the use of electric vehicles.

The responsibility for managing parking in public charging bays is a matter for the charging bay host, usually the local authority. Currently 18 out of the 32 Local authorities now enforce the Decriminalised Parking Enforcement (DPE) regime, which allows them to issue Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) to motorists. Police Scotland continue to undertake targeted enforcement where there are specific local issues and a local authority has requested support. Where parking is dangerous or causes significant obstruction, Police Scotland will task police officers to resolve the issue using the appropriate enforcement activity, including parking tickets, other direct measures or prosecution reports. Future improvements will be sought by taking findings from the recent ‘Improved parking in Scotland’ consultation which asked for views on the best approach for managing parking and incorporating them into provisions for the new Government Transport Bill.

The National Framework of Local Incentives for Electric Vehicles, developed in conjunction with local authorities and other key stakeholders, explores the introduction of local measures to encourage people to switch to EVs, and parking is one of the four key policy areas addressed. As part of the Transport Scotland grant funding conditions, hosts are advised that all ChargePlace Scotland electric vehicle charge points must have clear markings on charging bays to indicate that they are for the sole use of electric vehicles.

As detailed in last week’s Programme for Government announcement, in order to lead the way on electric vehicles, we plan to expand our electric charging infrastructure between now and 2022, whether in rural, urban or domestic settings. We will set out detailed plans over the coming months.

Question reference: S5W-11000

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 14 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many fully-trained teaching staff there are in nurseries in each local authority.

The Scottish Government collects data on the number of General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) registered teachers that are working in centres providing funded ELC, in its annual ELC census. This data is published in mid-December as part of the release of the Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland National Statistics publication. The most up to date data are published in Table 8 in the Excel file on the Scottish Government’s website here:

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Children/Pubs-Pre-SchoolEducation/ELCAdditionalTables2016

New data on the number of teachers working in centres providing funded ELC in 2017 will be collected during the ELC census week (18 and 22 September). This data will be published on 12 December 2017, again as part of the Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland National Statistics publication.

Question reference: S5O-01267

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 September 2017
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what efforts it is making to support the winter tourism industry.

Question reference: S5O-01238

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 September 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what changes it plans to the next BT contract for 100% access to superfast broadband by 2021.

Question reference: S5W-10851

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2017
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 6 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-09491 by Kevin Stewart on 7 June 2017, what information it has regarding how many complaints about unauthorised waste and recycling sites have been (a) raised and (b) investigated by Aberdeenshire Council in each of the last 10 years; how many of these (i) were upheld and (ii) remain unresolved; what the average time taken was to resolve a complaint, and how many resulted in (A) retrospective planning applications and (B) fines, broken down by the average size of fine.

Question reference: S5W-10701

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 29 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what NHS (a) guidelines and (b) targets there are regarding treating (i) children and young people and (ii) adults who have eating disorders

Clinicians and other health and social care professionals will take account of all relevant evidence based guidance as appropriate. This will include guidelines published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence such as guideline NG69 Eating disorders: recognition and treatment. Guidance on the treatment of eating disorders in Scotland includes:

NHS Quality Improvement Scotland Recommendations for Management and treatment of Eating Disorders in Scotland (2006) (http://www.healthcareimprovementscotland.org/previous_resources/best_practice_statement/eating_disorders_in_scotland.aspx)

NHS Quality Improvement Scotland Eating Disorders in Scotland A Patient’s Guide (2007)

(http://www.healthcareimprovementscotland.org/previous_resources/best_practice_statement/eating_disorders_-_guide.aspx)

Royal College of Psychiatrists Management of Really Sick Patients with Anorexia Nervosa – for Young People (2012)

(http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/usefulresources/publications/collegereports/cr/cr168.aspx)

Royal College of Psychiatrists Management of Really Sick Patients with Anorexia Nervosa – for Adults (2^nd Edition 2014)

(http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/pdf/CR189_a.pdf)

In respect of targets, there are no specific targets for the treatment of people with an eating disorder.

Currently within Scotland data is published on a quarterly basis on the number of patients receiving treatment against the waiting time standard of 18 weeks referral to treatment for psychological therapies; and the number of children and young people receiving treatment against the waiting times standard of 18 weeks referral to treatment for specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). This standard covers treatment across the range of mental health services and the quarterly data reports are published online at: http://www.isdscotland.org/Publications/ .

A wider review that has been undertaken across health services to look at how targets and indicators for health and social care align with the Government’s strategy for the future of the NHS and social care services and support the best use of public resources. Sir Harry Burns is the independent Chair of a National Review of Targets and Indicators for Health and Social Care, and we expect to see Sir Harry’s report published around the end of August.

Question reference: S5W-10700

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that the three-day course at Moray College in life skills for people with learning difficulties is to end.

Question reference: S5W-10529

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 16 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5O-01184 by Angela Constance on 28 June 2017, what steps are being taken to (a) identify and (b) establish suitable Gypsy/Traveller sites to assist this group to integrate into communities and wider society.

Local authorities have a statutory duty to produce a Local Housing Strategy that sets out their strategy, priorities and plans for delivering housing and related services. Strategies should include plans for meeting any Gypsy/Traveller housing needs in an authority’s area. Where necessary, authorities should provide Gypsy/Traveller sites in line with their strategies.

The Scottish Government recognises the contribution that Scotland’s Gypsy/Traveller communities have made to our national life. It will publish a strategic programme of work in Autumn 2017, which will describe all the relevant policies across the Scottish Government that help to secure improved outcomes for Gypsy/Travellers.

Question reference: S5W-10511

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 15 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many road traffic accidents involving cyclists have been recorded in each of the last five years; how many of the cyclists involved were wearing a (a) helmet, (b) high-visibility jacket and (c) both at the time of the incivent, and what its position is introducing legislation regarding wearing such safety equipment.

We do not hold information on whether pedal cyclists involved in injury road accidents were wearing high-visibility jackets. However, since 2013 Transport Scotland has collected information on whether injured cyclists were wearing helmets or not. Figures for 2016 are provisional and final figures will be released in October 2017.

The following table shows the number of accidents where pedal cyclists were involved over the last five years:

Injury road accidents involving pedal cyclists


Year	Number
2012	927
2013	910
2014	913
2015	816
2016¹	802

1. Provisional

Of the pedal cyclists who were injured in those accidents, the following table shows the number of casualties who were wearing or not wearing a cycle helmet:

Pedal cyclists injured in road accidents, whether wearing a helmet


	2013	2014	2015	2016¹
Yes	381	473	422	387
No	233	200	179	178
Not known	271	221	196	224
Total	885	894	797	789

1. Provisional

Safety for all road users is of paramount importance to the Scottish Government. However, we have said for many years now that the wearing of helmets and high visibility clothing is up to the individual, as it is in other parts of the United Kingdom, and we have no plans to legislate for these changes. We do, however, promote the use of correctly fitted helmets, encourage cyclists to be as visible as possible to all other road users, especially in the hours of darkness or in bad light, and of course, the use of reflectors and lights on bikes are already in legislation and therefore it is against the law to ride a bike without lights and reflectors at night time.