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-07570

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 14 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the findings in the NHS Information Services Division report, Child Health 27-30 Month Review Statistics Scotland 2015/16, which suggest that children from the most deprived areas were more than twice as likely to have at least one developmental concern, what (a) action it is taking to improve young children’s early development and to close the early development gap, (b) support it is providing to assist young children’s early speech and language development and (c) progress it is making against the Early Years Collaborative Stretch Aim to ensure that 85% of all children in each community planning partnership have reached all of the expected developmental milestones at the time of the 27-30 month child health review.

To improve young children's early development, in October 2015 the Scottish Government published a Universal Health Visiting Pathway which is being rolled out across Scotland. The programme consists of contacts with health visitors comprising 11 home visits to all families to support families and to identify and address any developmental concerns. The Scottish Government has also introduced the Family Nurse Partnership for young first time mothers and their children which is having a positive effect on cognitive, social and emotional development.

The Scottish Government is also expanding investment in early learning and childcare entitlement. We know that attending high quality early learning and childcare helps to improve language development in the pre-school years. Around a quarter of 2 year olds, those who will benefit the most, are eligible for this entitlement, which includes those who are Looked After (including those in kinship care), those whose parents are in receipt of out of work benefits and those whose families meet the eligibility criteria for free school-meals. This should ensure that children who need it the most are given extra support with their early development.

We will almost double the funded entitlement to 1140 hours by 2020, in order to further support improved outcomes for children in the early years. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that by 2018 nurseries in the most deprived areas will benefit from an additional graduate – either a teacher with early years expertise or a graduate practitioner with the BA Childhood Practice award.

Speech and language therapy services across Scotland are working to the 5 Ambitions of the National transformational plan Ready to Act and are developing early intervention learning opportunities for the early years work force and collaborating with practitioners in early years to ensure increased speech, language and communication capacity and confidence.

Progress is being made through a number of local Children and Young People Improvement Collaborative programmes which are specifically focussed on early development. Learning from these projects is shared collaboratively across the programme through local and national learning events.

Question reference: S5O-00772

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to encourage more women to regularly participate in sport.

Question reference: S5W-07025

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 2 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, what steps it will take to (a) implement the family-centred neonatal care units and (b) ensure that neonatal services meet the standards for quality of care set out in the report, The Best Start: A Five-Year Forward Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Care in Scotland.

In my statement to Parliament on 21 February 2017 I outlined the next steps in implementation of the recommendations in The Best Start report. I announced the priorities for implementation, including the recommendations on family centred care and the new model of neonatal care. The implementation group will produce an action plan for delivery of the recommendations in partnership with the NHS and service users. We will also ensure that proper monitoring and reporting on the progress of implementation is undertaken.

Question reference: S5W-07331

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it initially committed toward the development of the Royal Hospital for Children in Edinburgh and how much it expects to spend; what the total capital spend was initially expected to be and how much it expects this spend to be, and how much the hospital will cost over its lifetime.

It was announced as part of the Scottish Government’s budget for 2011-12 that the re-provision of Royal Hospital for Sick Children and Department of Clinical Neurosciences would be delivered using the Non-Profit Distributing (NPD) Model. The NPD programme was developed as an alternative to the traditional Private Finance Initiative (PFI) model in Scotland. Under this model, NHS Lothian will pay an annual unitary charge for 25 years rather than an upfront capital payment.

The total capital investment in the Royal Hospital for Children in Edinburgh is expected to be £230 million and that forecast remains accurate. The expected unitary payments of the whole project over the 25 year contract period, which includes lifecycle and maintenance costs, is forecast to be £437.5 million. Further details are published and updated here:

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Government/Finance/18232/12308

Question reference: S5O-00717

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 1 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what plans are in place to maintain specialist railway policing expertise within Police Scotland.

The Scottish Government's Railway Policing (Scotland) Bill was published on 8th December, with the objective of paving the way for the integration of the British Transport Police in Scotland into Police Scotland.

Police Scotland has confirmed to the Scottish Parliament that its intention would be to maintain a specialist railway policing function within the broader Police Scotland structure. This will retain the skills, knowledge and experience that BTP officers and staff have built and embed railway policing within the wider local, specialist and national resources of Police Scotland.

Question reference: S5O-00695

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 23 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support children with additional support needs when they leave school.

Under the Additional Support for Learning Act, education authorities have duties to work with relevant agencies to plan for the post-school transitions of young people with additional support needs.

The Scottish Government has provided statutory guidance on these duties as part of the code of practice on additional support for learning and has reported to Parliament on the implementation of the Act including on transitions.

86.2% of pupils with additional support needs have a positive destination, this has been an improving picture over time. (85.4% in 2012-13, 82.3% in 2011-2012)

Question reference: S5F-00754

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 January 2017

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government considers that appropriate resources are in place to support teachers of children with additional support needs.

Question reference: S5O-00553

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how physical education is helping to narrow the attainment gap.

Question reference: S5O-00512

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 December 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to implement the recommendations of the ENABLE Scotland report, #IncludED in the Main?!.

Question reference: S5O-00477

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 14 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how it assesses Scotland’s economic performance in comparison with other countries.

The Scottish Government uses the National Performance Framework and Scotland Performs to help monitor and assess Scotland’s overall economic performance.

These contain indicators that assess Scotland’s performance across a number of dimensions of economic performance. They also include several indicators that compare Scotland against our international competitors.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving Scotland’s economic performance in comparison to our international counterparts. Scotland’s Economic Strategy sets out our framework for doing so, based on the twin objectives of boosting competitiveness whilst tackling inequality.