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-04859

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 30 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it has used to encourage cycling in Glasgow.

The Scottish Government provides grant funding to Sustrans, Paths for All and Cycling Scotland to implement measures across all local authorities to encourage cycling.

Since 2014-15, Glasgow City Council has received £3.5 million from Sustrans for Community Links projects which fund extensions and improvements to shared use paths across the city. And in August I announced the winner of the first Community Links PLUS design competition which will see Glasgow receive an additional £3.25 million for a Community Links PLUS project called the South City Way – a fully segregated, on–road cycle path, that will provide a link from Queens Park along Victoria Road to the Merchant City.

Through the Smarter Choices, Smarter Places programme, managed by Paths for All, the Council has received just over £1 million over the last two years for various behaviour change projects which encourage people to use walking and cycling and public transport rather than private car for everyday journeys.

Funding from Cycling Scotland for Bikeability Scotland cycle training in schools across Glasgow has enabled 34% of primary schools to deliver on-road cycle training to P6 and P7 pupils. And the first ever Cycle Friendly Campus Award in Scotland was given to Glasgow Caledonian Cowcaddens Campus following a small grant from Cycling Scotland to enable the university to increase cycle parking, training, maintenance classes and personalised travel plans to encourage its students to cycle to and from its campuses.

Finally, since 2014-15 the Council has received £3.5 million through the Cycling, Walking and Safer Streets element of the local government settlement to deliver improvements to paths and road safety improvements across the city to further encourage more people to cycle.

Question reference: S5W-04860

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it takes to discourage food waste.

The Scottish Government recognises that reducing food waste is a moral, environmental and economic imperative. This is why we have introduced the Scottish Food Waste Reduction Target, to reduce Scotland's food waste by 33% by 2025, to focus attention on the issue across sectors. We will shortly commence a series of wide-ranging stakeholder workshops to discuss what measures should be taken to achieve this ambitious target and to assess which options will be the most effective. Zero Waste Scotland published figures last week that showed that, between 2009 and 2014, household food waste has reduced by 5.7%. Our action to reduce food waste has included:

Supporting the Love Food, Hate Waste campaign through Zero Waste Scotland, which helps householders get the most out of the food they buy.

Supporting the Courtauld Commitment, which is a UK-wide voluntary agreement between retailers, manufacturers and the hospitality sector to reduce the environmental impact of their activities, including through the reduction of food waste both in store and by helping their customers waste less.

Supporting Resource Efficient Scotland to work with Small and Medium Enterprises to help prevent food waste

Three Scottish Government marketing campaigns to encourage people not to 'feed their bin' and help reduce emissions.

Question reference: S5F-00477

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 November 2016

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to tackle cyber-bullying.

Question reference: S5W-03390

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 31 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the publication in 2014 of Autism Spectrum Disorders: Waiting for assessment - Executive Summary, what the current waiting times are for diagnosing children with autism spectrum conditions, and whether the targets set out in The Scottish Strategy for Autism are being met.

The Scottish Government is committed to meeting the needs of children with autism. We want all children and young people to be diagnosed early.

Whilst reducing waiting times is a priority, the Scottish Strategy for Autism does not set out targets for waiting times. An assessment of waiting times was undertaken and improvements were identified to support services to redesign pathways and process to reduce waits.

Information on waiting times is not held centrally. Information Services Division does not collect Autism Spectrum Disorders waiting times information. Information Services Division receives waiting times information from NHS boards for all referrals to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services but this is not broken down by condition.

We will continue to build on the work that the strategy has achieved in order to further support the needs of children with autism.

Question reference: S5W-03387

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 27 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to offset the reported lack of parking provision at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.

Provision of parking facilities at hospitals is the responsibility of Health Boards. Scottish Government officials are in on-going dialogue with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde on the issue of parking at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. They are closely monitoring recent improvements which have been introduced by the board who, following a review carried out by them following introduction of the improvements, have confirmed that there has been a substantial increase in parking spaces available on-site for staff (both permit and non-permit), patients and visitors.

Question reference: S5W-03386

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has in place to ensure that Police Scotland is equipped to ensure spectator safety at the Rangers v Celtic football match on 31 December 2016.

Question reference: S5O-00226

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on waiting times for people to begin treatment for cancer following an urgent referral.

The Scottish Government has two set standards for cancer treatment.

A 62-day standard from' urgent referral with suspicion of cancer', until first treatment. This includes referrals from the national cancer screening programmes and

A 31-day standard from decision to treat until first treatment for all new cancers regardless of route of referral

These standards have been set to encourage NHS boards, where clinically appropriate, to adopt efficient cancer pathways and reduce avoidable delays between appointments, a 95% target is applied to both standards.

Question reference: S5W-03106

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 4 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) affordable homes and (b) homes for social rent were demolished in the last parliamentary session in (i) the Glasgow City Council area and (ii) Scotland.

The Scottish Government does not hold specific information on the number of demolitions of (a) affordable homes and (b) homes for social rent.

Information on demolitions or closure of (a) Local Authority (b) Registered Social Landlord (RSL) and (c) private housing, is requested from Local Authorities on an annual basis. However, the information provided to Scottish Government is incomplete and subject to the caveats below. In addition, not all Local Authorities provide information split by RSL and private housing, so these categories are often combined.

The table below shows the information that the Scottish Government holds on the numbers of homes demolished or closed in the Glasgow City Council and Scotland areas across the years 2011-12 to 2015-16, based on the Housing Statistics for Scotland annual data collection from local authorities.

Total demolitions (total demolished, taken out of use or closed less those previously reported as closed), by financial year

Financial Year:	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16
Glasgow - all tenures	889 (1)	889 e	889 e	889 e	1,005 (2)
Glasgow - housing association dwellings	884 (1)	884 e	884 e	884 e	1,005
Glasgow - private dwellings	5 (1)	5 e	5 e	5 e	not available
Scotland - all tenures	2,925	3,719	2,055	2,108	1,932
Scotland - local authority dwellings	1,135	1,579	759	621	649
Scotland - other dwellings (housing association or private)	1,790	2,140	1,296	1,487	1,283

Source: Scottish Government Housing Statistics for Scotland

Notes:

e - estimated. Glasgow City Council were not able to submit any figures for the years 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15. Therefore for these years the previous figure for 2011-12 has been used as an estimate.

(1) The Glasgow figures for 2011-12 provided by Glasgow City Council relate to the total number of demolition applications. However this number may not reflect the number of subsequently completed demolitions.

(2) The Glasgow figure for 2015-16 has been provided by Glasgow Housing Association, therefore data for this year relates only to demolitions or closures by this social landlord and excludes any private dwellings.

Figures on demolitions or closures of local authority housing stock are generally accurate, but authorities differ in their ability to provide information on other tenures. For some councils this only includes housing association demolitions or closures, as those for privately owned housing is not available. We advise that these data should be considered as a minimum level of demolition or closure activity in Scotland.

The Scotland figures include estimates for other local authority areas.

Question reference: S5W-03105

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 30 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the 33,490 affordable houses delivered in the last parliamentary session were in the Glasgow City Council area.

Question reference: S5W-01926

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 22 August 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-01434 by Mark McDonald on 27 July 2016, within what timeframe the internet safety plan will be (a) completed and (b) implemented.