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-04699

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 25 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what support it offers to encourage qualified nurses to practice midwifery, and what courses are available.

The Scottish Government's Nursing and Midwifery Student Intake Planning Group is considering options to increase access to conversion programmes for registered nurses. As part of its deliberations it will be considering whether the 18 month conversion programme previously run in Scotland should be reinstated, along with consideration of which Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) could provide that training given the desire to increase access for nurses based in the Highlands and Islands. The group is also considering the level at which registered nurses should be paid whilst undertaking conversion courses.

Additionally, we are encouraging those who trained or worked in NHS Scotland to return and work in the health service through our Return to Practice programme. A key focus of the programme is to bring experienced staff directly back into the workforce, so NHS Education for Scotland, the HEIs and NHS Board nursing leads that provide the practice placement experiences are looking at innovative ways to link returnees directly to employment.

Question reference: S5O-00363

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 17 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the Edinburgh City Region Deal.

The Scottish Government is fully committed to the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal and we have been working closely with the city region partners for the past year to understand their ambitions and how their proposals can significantly improve the region’s prosperity and fairness.

Our work with Edinburgh builds on the substantial commitments that we have already made to deals for Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness and we are committed to working with all our cities, including Stirling, Perth, and Dundee.

I call upon the UK Government to make an explicit commitment to working with us to deliver ambitious City Deals for Stirling and for the Tay Cities in next week’s Autumn Statement.

Question reference: S5W-04278

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 16 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its response to Lord Gill's recommendations in the Scottish Civil Courts Review for a multi-party action procedure.

Question reference: S5W-04448

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 15 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will outline the average Housing Association Grant (HAG) subsidy levels approved for housing association new development tender approval activity in Edinburgh and Glasgow over the last five years, broken down by type of tenure.

The following table sets out the average grant subsidy levels approved for housing association developments in Edinburgh and Glasgow over the last five years, broken down by tenure. The line for Mid-Market Rent covers all ‘other rented’ schemes. These units will have been provided by a range of suppliers including Registered Social landlords subsidiaries.

Grant per Unit
	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16

Glasgow
HA Rent	£44,934	£53,369	£63,651	£66,221	£63,031
HA Low Cost Home Ownership	£30,107	£63,163	£45,400	£0	£0
Other Rent (Mid-Market Rent)	£19,419	£27,036	£38,281	£33,713	£49,367

Edinburgh
HA Rent	£41,986	£44,931	£55,526	£59,066	£59,063
HA Low Cost Home Ownership	£26,714	£0	£30,000	£29,558	£47,174
Other Rent (Mid-Market Rent)	£28,870	£31,708	£31,820	£33,070	£39,882

Question reference: S5W-04449

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 11 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to consult on proposals to expand the provisions in the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 to include housing associations.

Question reference: S5O-00330

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 10 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to mark the 70th anniversary of the Edinburgh festivals.

Enhancement of the Expo Fund for the Edinburgh Festivals is a Scottish Government manifesto commitment. The Scottish Draft Budget 2017-18 will be published on 15 December. Decisions on specific budget allocations will not be available before that date.

The Scottish Government and the Edinburgh International Festival are presenting an event in Scotland House, Brussels on Wednesday
23 November 2016 to celebrate the 70^th anniversary of the EIF in 2017. There will be an exhibition on the photographic history of 70 years of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Director of the EIF, Fergus Linehan, will give a talk on Entrances and Exits - what next for Europe's Festivals?

Question reference: S5W-04507

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 November 2016
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Michael Matheson on 4 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take as a result of the responses to two recent consultations on Stop and Search.

Analysis of the responses to two recent consultations on Stop and Search has been published today at http://www.gov.scot/Publications/Recent. One consultation was on a draft Code of Practice and the other was on police powers to search children for alcohol. On the Code of Practice, Scottish Government officials are working with the independent Stop and Search Advisory Group to revise the Code to respond to issues raised in the consultation in preparation for laying before Parliament by 12 January 2017 as required by the Criminal Justice Act. On police powers to search children for alcohol, the Scottish Government does not believe there is sufficient evidence to support creating such a power at this time. However, the situation will be re-assessed after the Code has been in force for 12 months (with an interim assessment after 6 months), during which time a range of further evidence will be gathered.

Question reference: S5O-00261

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 October 2016
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it plans to establish a permanent trade representation in Berlin.

Question reference: S5O-00225

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 5 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the availability of pre-exposure prophylaxis.

Truvada, the medicine used for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis, or 'PrEP', has been granted a marketing authorisation by the European Commission for its use in the European Union. The next step is for the manufacturer Gilead Sciences International, to make a submission to the Scottish Medicines Consortium on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of Truvada for the purposes of PrEP. SMC will then consider whether the medicine can be accepted for use by the NHS in Scotland.

The Scottish Government's Chief Pharmaceutical Officer wrote to the manufacturer on 15 September 2016 asking them to make a submission quickly, and at a fair price, so that the SMC who can then consider it for routine use in NHS Scotland.

We are now waiting for Gilead to make this application, and I would encourage them do so quickly

Question reference: S5O-00200

Asked by: Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 28 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what investment it is making, and plans to make, in school infrastructure in Edinburgh Northern and Leith.

The Scottish Government is currently providing significant investment of £62.5 million to the City of Edinburgh Council through the Government's Schools for the Future programme. The City Council is the third largest beneficiary from the programme, to replace three secondary schools and one primary. These projects were identified by the City of Edinburgh Council as its priority schools for investment.

The Government committed in our manifesto, that no child should have to learn in a school that is in poor or bad condition. Therefore during this Parliament, we will bring forward new proposals to build upon the success of our school building programme which rebuilt or refurbished 607 schools – almost a quarter of the school estate – between 2007 and 2015.