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: S5F-01825

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 December 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 December 2017

To ask the First Minister what discussions the Scottish Government has had with Police Scotland regarding tackling domestic abuse over the festive period.

Question reference: S5W-13125

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 7 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Midlothian Council regarding mitigating the impact of the local authority's projected budget shortfall on its (a) education services, (b) support for homeless people, (c) spending on (i) overall and (ii) winter road maintenance, (d) spending on street lighting, (e) sport, community and leisure facilities, (f) library services, (g) general waste and recycling collection services, (h) garden waste collections, (i) litter collections, (j) grass cutting services, (k) support for voluntary and statutory organisations and (l) other services.

I met with the Midlothian Leader, Councillor Derek Milligan, the Chief Executive and the Head of Finance on 2 November. Grace Chalmers the Joint Secretary of Unison Midlothian was also in attendance. We discussed a range of issues relating to Midlothian Council's future Financial Strategy. I will reflect upon the issues raised in that meeting, the meetings I have had with other councils and the on-going discussions I am having with COSLA in reaching final decisions on the local government finance settlement to be confirmed in my Budget statement to Parliament on 14 December.

Question reference: S5W-12872

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 5 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on tightening the regulations concerning the purchase and ownership of Samurai swords and other similar weapons.

There is already a strong regulatory regime in place. For example, the sale of such items is regulated by the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 and the Knife Dealers (Licence Conditions) Order 2009 and it is illegal to sell such items to a person under the age of 18. Failure to comply with the licensing scheme is also a criminal offence with penalties up to 2 years in custody and up to an unlimited fine.

The licensing scheme has been in force since 2010 and aims to ensure that those who sell non domestic knives, swords etc. do so responsibly. The licensing scheme places requirements on those who sell these items, including the seeking of identification and proof of age from customers, record keeping and not having a window display. In addition to the standard requirements of the licensing regime, there are extra requirements in respect of the sale of swords including retailers taking all reasonable steps to establish and confirm the intended use of the sword. We expect local licensing authorities and Police Scotland to ensure that the requirements of the licensing scheme are fully complied with.

Question reference: S5W-12811

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 4 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the observation by ISD Scotland in the report, Infant Feeding Statistics Scotland, that (a) 56% of mothers aged 40 or over were breastfeeding at the 6-8 week review, compared with 12% of under 20s and (b) "breastfeeding rates in Scotland are low compared to those in other countries".

The Scottish Government continues to be committed to supporting breastfeeding. Breastfeeding rates are generally lower in more deprived areas and amongst younger mothers. However, we have seen a continuing increase in both exclusive and any breastfeeding in younger mothers over the past two years.

Although breastfeeding rates in Scotland are low compared to those of other countries, we are seeing encouraging signs of improvement. Across Scotland, 41% of babies born in 2016-17 were being breastfed at their 6-8 week review, of which 30% were being exclusively breastfed. This represents the highest percentage of babies being exclusively breastfed at 6-8 weeks in the time series (since 2001-02).

Question reference: S5W-12974

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-12808 by John Swinney on 23 November 2017, how the £88 million funding is to be spent.

As part of the 2017-18 Local Government Settlement all local authorities are required to maintain pupil teacher ratios in line with the data published in the Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland 2016 and to secure places for all probationer teachers who require one under the Teacher Induction Scheme. This is supported by the £88million funding package which comprises £51million to maintain teacher numbers and £37million to support the Teacher Induction Scheme.

Question reference: S5W-12973

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-12808 by John Swinney on 23 November 2017, what specific support has been provided to universities in developing new innovative routes into teaching and with whom it consulted in the development of this.

The Scottish Government is supporting 11 new routes into teaching at a cost of over £3 million in 2017-18 to cover programme development, marketing and student fees. These new routes are designed to encourage people from a range of backgrounds to consider teaching as a profession. By the end of January 2018, it is expected that around 280 students will be studying on one of the new routes.

The Scottish Government worked with the Scottish Council of Deans of Education (SCDE) and the General Teaching Council for Scotland in the development of these new routes. The SCDE represent all universities in Scotland offering initial teacher education. They have wide and varied experience in teacher education and are highly respected in this discipline. We also consulted the Strategic Board for Teacher Education that includes the Association of Deputes and Headteachers in Scotland, the Educational Institute of Scotland and School Leaders Scotland among other key stakeholders.

Question reference: S5W-12809

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to promote salmon and sea trout fishing on the River Tweed in light of recent figures, which suggest that catches are at their lowest since 1984.

The Scottish Government is funding a two year programme of support for angling clubs across Scotland, providing assistance to those that need help to promote fishing and in particular catch and release as a sustainable fishing method. This programme is being delivered by FishPal, an organisation recognised for their expertise in marketing fisheries. The FishPal website includes specific FishTweed pages where anglers are able, amongst other things, to get up to date information on the river and individual beats, and book fishing online. These pages can be found at the following link.

http://www.fishpal.com/Scotland/Tweed/?dom=Tweed

Question reference: S5W-12895

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 November 2017
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 29 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) primary and (b) secondary school teacher vacancies there have been in (i) the Scottish Borders, (ii) East Lothian and (iii) Midlothian local authority area in each of the last 10 years.

Data from the annual teacher and educational psychologist vacancy survey shows teacher vacancies for the years 2008 to 2010. This survey was discontinued in 2010.

Teacher Vacancies 2008-10

Primary

Secondary

	Feb 2008	Feb 2009	Feb 2010	Feb 2008	Feb 2009	Feb 2010
East Lothian	1	0	2	3	0	0
Midlothian	2	0	3	3	1	1
Scottish Borders	8	1	2	6	0	0

Information collected to support the annual teacher workforce planning exercise shows teacher vacancies for 2016 and 2017. These data should not be compared with that shown above for 2008 to 2010 because they were collected at a different time of year.

Permanent Teacher Vacancies, 2016-17

Primary

Secondary

	Sep 2016	Sep 2017	Sep 2016	Sep 2017
East Lothian	15	7	14	11
Midlothian	4	3	2	9
Scottish Borders	3	1	2	1

Question reference: S5W-12967

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 28 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will implement recommendation 2 of the Report of the Barclay Review of non-domestic rates to carry out three-yearly revaluations from 2022, with valuations based on market conditions on a date one year prior and, if so, what the timescale for this will be.

Question reference: S5W-12968

Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 28 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will implement recommendation 4 of the Report of the Barclay Review of non-domestic rates to provide a new relief for day nurseries to support childcare provision and, if so, what the timescale for this will be.