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-06276

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether the NHS has targets for the time taken between initial appointment and full transitioning for people who wish to gender transition and, if so, what these are.

There are no specific targets from initial referral to treatment for gender transition. This is because patients accessing these services are likely to undertake psychological therapy and significant counselling as part of their treatment. The amount of therapy or counselling required will be based on the needs of each patient. We expect boards to ensure that patients accessing gender reassignment services are seen as quickly as possible.

Question reference: S5W-06275

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether the NHS has a "one-size fits all" approach to patients wishing to gender transition or whether care packages are tailored to individual needs.

Question reference: S5W-06220

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its assessment is of the availability of maternity care, in light of reports of pregnant women being turned away by the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

The temporary divert in place for a few hours on 12 January 2017 at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital’s maternity unit was caused by an unusual combination of high levels of admissions and a number of women and babies developing complications. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde took the right steps to protect patient safety, ensuring the highest standards of care for women and babies in Glasgow.

This Government has already instructed a review of all maternity and neonatal services across the country which was published on 20 January 2017. This review, based on clinical and expert evidence, will make recommendations for a new model of maternity and neonatal care for delivery of the best and safest possible maternity and neonatal services, in the face of changing demographics and birth rates.

We expect NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to take full account of this review in planning their maternity and neonatal services.

Question reference: S5W-06221

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 25 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to tackle fuel poverty, in light of the Glasgow Centre for Population Health's recent study.

The “GoWell” research confirms our argument that rising fuel prices, beyond the Scottish Government’s control, can outweigh any potential gains we make by improving energy efficiency.

Whilst we welcome the news that almost 100,000 fewer households were in fuel poverty in 2015 compared to the previous year, we know there is much more work to be done. The Scottish Fuel Poverty Strategic Working Group and Rural Fuel Poverty Task Force published final reports on 24 October 2016. The reports collectively made over 100 recommendations and we will publish a formal response shortly. Both reports are the first step in the development of our new fuel poverty strategy, including a new fuel poverty target, which we will consult on later this year.

Question reference: S5O-00571

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it is tackling youth unemployment.

Question reference: S5W-05515

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to the reported increase in the number of planned operation cancellations by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde due to capacity or non-clinical reasons.

Published information by ISD Scotland shows that the number of patients whose operations were cancelled by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde due to capacity or non-clinical reasons was 113 for the month of November 2016. This compares with 111 in October 2016 and 115 in November 2015.

The Scottish Government continues to work to support health boards to manage their capacity planning to keep cancelled operations to a minimum. Decisions to cancel a patient's operation is never taken lightly, any postponed operations will be rescheduled at the earliest opportunity. The Scottish Government has also already announced a £200 million investment to create six new elective treatment centres which will carry out procedures like hip, knee and cataracts operations. These centres will allow people to be treated more quickly for planned surgery to help the NHS meet increasing demand from a growing elderly population and reduce the number of operations cancelled.

Question reference: S5W-05577

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 10 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of social rent households is fuel poor, and what action it is taking to reduce this level.

The Scottish House Condition Survey indicates that around 33% of households in the social housing sector were fuel poor in 2015. This equates to around 199,000 households and is around 47,000 fewer households than in 2014.

The Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing (EESSH) aims to improve the energy efficiency of the social housing stock in Scotland. Achievement of the EESSH 2020 milestone by social landlords, will help to reduce energy consumption and to tackle fuel poverty potentially saving social tenants an estimated average of around £210 per year on their energy bills. Social landlords are making good progress with the Scottish Housing Regulator reporting that 69% of social housing met the standard at April 2016. A review of EESSH will begin early next year to consider how best to maximise progress towards the current target and any further milestones.

We have also allocated nearly £4.3 million to 10 projects through the HEEPS: Loan scheme for Registered Social Landlords 2016-17 to help RSLs improve the energy efficiency of their housing stock.

Question reference: S5W-05496

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 22 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recent analysis by the Chartered Management Institute, which indicates that the gender-pay gap in Scotland for managerial positions is the highest in the UK, what action it will take to bring the gender-pay gap for these positions in line with that of the rest of the UK.

The official source for UK earnings estimates is the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) published by Office for National Statistics. The latest information for 2016 was published on 26 October 2016. The long-term trends in relation to the gender pay gap in Scotland are positive.

The most recent estimates of gender pay gap sourced from the ASHE data (based on full-time median hourly earnings excluding overtime) show that the gender pay gap in Scotland has decreased from 7.7% in 2015 to 6.2% in 2016. The gap in the UK stands at 9.4%. However, there is clearly still more to do, particularly for Managers, Directors and Senior Officials in Scotland where the gender pay gap, for full-time median hourly earnings excluding overtime stands at 19.8% (based on the ASHE).

We are working hard to address the complex drivers and causes of the pay gap. We continue to fund the 'Close the Gap' partnership to encourage and work with employers to enable actions to address the gender pay gap. Under the Programme for Government we have committed to almost double the level of free childcare for three and four year olds by 2020; we know that women are disproportionately likely to be in low paid jobs so we actively promote the living wage and currently have 690 employers signed up for accreditation with a target of 1,000 by Autumn 2017. We have brought more transparency to pay issues by lowering the threshold for public authorities in Scotland to publish their pay gap. We also support fair work practices, including flexible working, which can be crucial in helping women and men combine career development with family responsibilities. We have also established a Returner’s Project, initially in the Science sector, so that women can get help updating skills and knowledge and assistance in entering a traditionally male job and so employers can retain skilled staff after a career break.

Question reference: S5W-05395

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 21 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the findings of the recent survey by the National Centre for Social Research regarding how the Scottish electorate voted in the EU referendum.

Question reference: S5W-05514

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 20 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to reports that private rents in Scotland are increasing at a faster rate than in central London.

The latest monthly figures from the Office of National Statistics on the changes in prices of renting residential property from private landlords in Great Britain, published on 24 November 2016, show that private rents in Scotland fell by 0.2% in the year to October 2016, whilst rents in the Region of London increased by 2.6% across the same time period, available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/bulletins/indexofprivatehousingrentalprices/oct2016.

The Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016, passed by the Parliament earlier this year, will provide rent stability and predictability for tenants in the private rented sector as rents can only rise once in 12 months and tenants will be given 3 month notice of changes to enable them to budget accordingly. In addition, councils will have the power to apply to Ministers for a cap on rent increases in their area for up to 5 years where rent increases are causing undue hardship to tenants.