Parliamentary questions
Pauline McNeill
2,364 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
10 Oct 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to increase the funding it provides for scientific research.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Scottish Government, through the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), has invested in excess of £4 billion in the higher education sector in the last four years. A further £1 billion is being invested in 2016-17, with core research funding maintained at a leve…
10 Oct 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it can take to encourage universities to end the use of fractional contracts.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The terms and conditions of employment of staff is a matter for individual universities as autonomous institutions. However, the Scottish Government would encourage every university to adhere to the principles of fair work, set out in the Fair Work Framework,…
10 Oct 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Scottish Centre for Population Health recently suggesting that payday lending as a public health concern, what measures it can take to provide alternatives to the practice.
Answer · Angela Constance: The Financial Conduct Authority introduced a price cap on what high-cost short-term credit lenders can charge on 2 January 2015. While recent evidence relating to these changes suggests a reduction in payday lending activity, the Scottish Government remains c…
10 Oct 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it encourages local authorities to end the use of zero-hour contracts.
Answer · Keith Brown: The Scottish Government promotes the benefits of Fair Work. While employment law remains reserved to the UK Government, the Scottish Government is doing everything it can to promote good working practices with the powers available to us. This includes publish…
10 Oct 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that the legal process does not discourage rape victims from reporting the crime.
Answer · Michael Matheson: The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that rape victims are able to access justice through our legal system. It is the case that crimes such as rape and domestic abuse are under-reported when compared to other types of crime and that an efficient, …
10 Oct 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what penalties can be imposed under the conditions of the ScotRail franchise for the cancellation of a train at (a) peak and (b) off-peak hours, and what service obligations must be followed, including the length of notice required.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: Under the Abellio franchise, ScotRail is required to maintain a very high level of service provision overall, including for delays, cancellations and other Key Performance Indicator (KPIs). If it does not succeed in maintaining the volume of service it is req…
7 Oct 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the potential impact on tourism, what plans it has to discuss with the UK Government regulating the use of online holiday home marketplaces, such as Airbnb.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Government wrote to the UK Government on 10 March 2016. This was to: (i) update the UK Government on the work by the Regulatory Review Group and; (ii) seek details of UK Government proposals to ensure that a consistent and proportionate regulat…
30 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its discussions with the UK Government regarding closing tax loopholes created by Scottish limited partnerships.
Answer · Michael Matheson: The Scottish Government recognises that the current governance arrangements around the registration and operation of Scottish Limited Partnerships allows for their inappropriate use by organisations intent on carrying out criminal activity or avoid tax. The C…
30 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many companies have signed up to the Scottish Business Pledge.
Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: The information requested is given in the table entitled Business Pledge – Statistical overview – August 2016, a copy of which has been placed in the Scottish Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib number 57653). This material is updated and published on a quarte…
30 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on extending the Scottish Housing Quality Standard to (a) the private rented sector and (b) tied housing.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: Different standards currently apply in different housing tenures and between social and private rented tenancies in Scotland. A stakeholder forum was set up in December 2014 to consider a single condition standard for all housing tenures (including social and…
30 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many of its planned 35,000 homes for the social rented sector will be built to wheelchair accessibility standards.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: The number of social rented homes built to wheelchair accessibility standard over the current target period will depend on the priorities of local authorities as identified in their Housing Need and Demand Assessments (HNDA), Local Housing Strategies (LHS) an…
30 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many, and which, local authorities have implemented rent caps in areas of their responsibility under the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-02269 on 12 September 2016. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusine…
30 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage the private sector to build more homes to alleviate housing shortages.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: In every year since 2007 we have maintained higher build rates than England and Wales and in 2015 had the highest all-sector build rate in the UK. Our assistance for the private sector has included £0.5 billion investment in Help To Buy (Scotland) to support…
30 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many houses have been (a) built and (b) upgraded using the Rural Housing Fund.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: The Rural Housing Fund was launched on 26 February 2016. To date, three organisations have had capital funding approved. None of these projects have completed so, at this stage, no houses have been built or upgraded using the fund.
30 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to increase the number of funded university places.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Scottish Government, through the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), has invested in excess of £4 billion in the higher education sector in the last four years, and will invest over £1 billion in 2016-17. This sustained investment since 2012-13 also means tha…
30 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to prevent excessive rents and excessive rises in rents in the private sector.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: The provisions in the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016 (the 2016 Act) will enable a tenant to refer a rent increase to a rent officer for adjudication if he or she considers that a proposed rent increase is unreasonable. A local authority can a…
30 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to mitigate the impact of the council tax freeze on budgets.
Answer · Derek Mackay: The Scottish Government has provided local government with an additional £70 million each year to fully mitigate the impact of the council tax freeze and fully fund it over the nine years it has been in place saving the average Band D household around £1,550 …
30 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it expects to retract the under-occupancy penalty, introduced through the Welfare Reform Act 2012, in Scotland.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: The Scottish Government is planning to remove the under-occupancy reduction through Universal Credit (UC), and as such implementation will be dependent on the roll-out of UC, which the UK Government expects to be completed by 2022. Officials are working with …
30 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many homes have been purchased using its Help to Buy (Scotland) schemes.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: The three year Help to Buy (Scotland) scheme which ended on 31 March 2016 assisted in the purchase of 8160 new build homes. The current Help to Buy (Scotland) Affordable New Build Scheme and Smaller Developers Scheme has to date assisted in the purchase of 86…
30 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how long its Help to Buy (Scotland) schemes are scheduled to run.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: The Help to Buy (Scotland) Affordable New Build and Smaller Developers Schemes are due to run until 31 March 2019.
29 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to improve the capacity of the NHS to deal with the psychological aspects of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government expects NHS boards to respond to the clinical and mental health needs of their population. To assist in providing effective, evidence-based treatments, the Scottish Government provides funding to NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to hos…
29 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on increasing the faecal protection testing that is required to differentiate between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
Answer · Shona Robison: We welcome the publication of ‘Scotland Leading the Way: a National Blueprint for IBD in Scotland’, published in 2016 by Crohn’s and Colitis UK with support from the Scottish Government, which recommends the use of faecal calprotectin testing (FCP) as an opti…
29 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on extending the remote outpatient care scheme for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that is in place at NHS Highland and NHS Tayside to the other NHS boards.
Answer · Shona Robison: The Remote Outpatient Care (ROC) scheme has been developed between NHS Highland and third sector organisations, and was trialled in NHS Highland and NHS Tayside areas. Best practice recommendations related to e-health tools are contained within ‘Scotland Lead…
29 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will conduct a large-scale study on the effectiveness of mindfulness cognitive behavioural therapy in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government does not itself conduct scientific research. However, the Chief Scientist Office (CSO) of the Scottish Government funds health research projects directly through a competitive process to assess applications generated by the research co…
28 Sep 2016 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to increase support for people with Crohn’s disease or colitis.
21 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on introducing legislation regarding the number of dog litters that non-registered owners can breed.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The possible need for further regulation on commercial and non-commercial dog breeding will be considered as part of an ongoing review of pet welfare. The Scottish Government has already held a number of meetings with stakeholders around that ongoing review; …
21 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it will announce its decision on whether to ban dog shock collars.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Scottish Ministers are currently considering all the evidence, including responses to the consultation on electronic training devices which closed earlier this year, and hope to announce a decision on the future of such devices in Scotland before the end of 2…
21 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made with its plan to require public authorities to publish details of their gender pay gap every two years.
21 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many families with (a) children and (b) a pregnant woman who are in B&B accommodation have been so for more than one week.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: The Scottish Government does not currently hold robust data on length of stay in temporary accommodation. A new data collection was introduced in April 2016 which will allow for this type of analysis in the future, following an appropriate development period.
21 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that secondary schools have sufficient resources to provide support for pupils with mental health issues.
Answer · John Swinney: The Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) Act (Scotland) 2007 places a number of duties on local education authorities including ensuring that schools are health promoting. This includes promoting physical, social, mental and emotional wellbeing by support…