John Wilson

30 Oct 2014 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to (a) adults and (b) children with Asperger syndrome.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The Scottish Government launched the Scottish Strategy for Autism (which includes Asperger syndrome) in November 2011 and announced an investment of £13.4 million over four years to improve autism services, and access to those services for people across the w…

30 Oct 2014 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to help diagnose Asperger syndrome.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The Scottish Government launched the Scottish Strategy for Autism (which includes Asperger syndrome) in November 2011 and announced an investment of £13.4 million over four years to improve autism services, and access to those services. It is the responsibil…

30 Oct 2014 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many child psychiatric beds there are, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The following table shows the three regional adolescent in-patient units operating across Scotland based in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee, and the number of beds available in each unit. Unit No of beds Area served (NHS Board) Royal Edinburgh Hospit…

28 Oct 2014 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many cases have been time-barred from proceeding to court in the last five years.

Answer · Lesley Thomson: The number of cases in which Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) have taken no action because the case was time barred at the time of receipt by COPFS from the relevant specialist reporting agency or the police is as follows: 2009-10 305 201…

28 Oct 2014 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many cases the Scottish Court Service has discontinued in the last five years.

Answer · Lesley Thomson: From the information held by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service it is not possible, without manual checking of files incurring disproportionate costs, to find out how many criminal court cases have been discontinued as a result of a judicial decis…

28 Oct 2014 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what public engagement processes it undertakes to provide feedback to communities when cases are not pursued by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

Answer · Lesley Thomson: The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) is committed to providing victims and witnesses with the information they need and when they need it about the decisions taken in individual cases. This information is provided pro-actively in certain cat…

28 Oct 2014 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what criteria the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service uses when deciding whether to pursue cases presented by the police.

Answer · Lesley Thomson: In any case reported the prosecutor must firstly be satisfied that there is sufficient admissible evidence available to justify proceedings. If so the prosecutor must consider what action is in the public interest. The full criteria applied by prosecutors wh…

28 Oct 2014 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many cases the police have presented to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in the last five years.

Answer · Lesley Thomson: In addition to standard prosecution reports received from the Police, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) receives standard prosecution reports from specialist reporting agencies such as the Department of Work and Pensions and Her Majesties…

28 Oct 2014 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with train operating companies regarding timetables.

Answer · Keith Brown: Transport Scotland has recently met with train operators as part of the regular meeting schedules to discuss timetables. Those discussions have included both the December 2014 and May 2015 timetable changes.

22 Oct 2014 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress local authorities have made in settling equal pay claims.

2 Oct 2014 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it gave to each valuation joint board to ensure that the procedures for the voter registration process in the run-up to the referendum were followed correctly.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The costs of electoral registration in Scotland are normally met through local authority budgets. For the purposes of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, the Scottish Government agreed to reimburse electoral registration officers for any additional co…

2 Oct 2014 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will make resources available to people facing demands for historic (a) community charge and (b) council tax arrears.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government believes the electoral registers should not be used to collect debts from the defunct community charge – something which is even more important given the unprecedentedly high levels of democratic engagement seen recently. The Scottish…

2 Oct 2014 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with local authorities regarding the recovery of historic (a) community charge and (b) council tax arrears and whether they have indicated that they will pursue these.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government is engaged in ongoing discussions with representatives of COSLA and local authorities on the implementation of the commitment to end recovery of Community Charge debts. Further detail on the legislation which will fulfil this commitmen…

2 Oct 2014 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much money it has allocated to tackling child sexual exploitation in each of the last five years, and what priority it gives the issue.

Answer · Michael Russell: Child sexual exploitation is an abhorrent crime and can have a devastating impact on its victims and their families. We have implemented a range of work with our partners to ensure we remain vigilant to abuse and are able to offer support to survivors. This …

2 Oct 2014 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what conclusions Scotland's enforcement and social service agencies can draw from the findings of the report, Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham (1997–2013).

Answer · Michael Russell: Clearly all of us working to keep children safe in Scotland are considering what lessons are to be learned from Professor Jay’s report into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham, to ensure child protection measures are as robust and responsive as they can be…

20 Aug 2014 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to allocate further support through its emergency food aid grant fund.

Answer · Margaret Burgess: We have no current plans for future rounds of funding – decisions will be taken in the context of next year’s budget.

20 Aug 2014 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications for support through its emergency food aid grant fund have been (a) made and (b) approved.

Answer · Margaret Burgess: 91 applications were made, of which 26 projects were approved for funding.

20 Aug 2014 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government which foodbanks in the Central Scotland region have received support from its emergency food aid grant fund, broken down by (a) amount received and (b) criteria that were met.

Answer · Margaret Burgess: The following projects are located in the Central Scotland region and have been allocated the funding indicated: Lanarkshire Community Food and Health Partnership £33,539 Calderbank Parish Church £10,000 Falkirk Foodbank £10,000 All applications for…

18 Aug 2014 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the final report by the Commission on Strengthening Local Democracy.

13 Jun 2014 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what it considers the impact is of the findings of the Review of the Strategic Development Plans in Scotland for regional transport partnerships.

Answer · Derek Mackay: The report of the Review of Strategic Planning was published in April 2014. It included three findings that the research team identified as specifically relevant to Regional Transport Partnerships (RTPs). Officials have met with representatives of the RTPS to…

13 Jun 2014 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on the application of the National Standards for Community Engagement.

Answer · Derek Mackay: The National Standards for Community Engagement launched in 2005, are a practical tool to help improve the experience of all participants involved in community engagement. They help towards achieving the highest quality of process and results. The standards …

13 Jun 2014 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the use of the National Standards for Community Engagement in the planning system.

Answer · Derek Mackay: In applying the National Standards for Community Engagement to the planning system, Planning Advice Note 3/2010: Community Engagement recognises that the National Standards, as linked to the VOiCE (Visioning Outcomes in Community Engagement) toolkit are parti…

13 Jun 2014 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the findings of the Review of the Strategic Development Plans in Scotland and whether it considers that there is a need for more targeted engagement with the wider community and the use of representative forums.

Answer · Derek Mackay: The Report of the Review of Strategic Planning was published in April 2014. The Scottish Government has published its response to the review on its planning web page. The Scottish Government considers there is a need for effective engagement in planning at al…

11 Jun 2014 · SPCB Oral Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how many incidents there have been in the Parliament complex since 2012 that have led to police action.

5 Jun 2014 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to eradicate racial abuse in schools.

Answer · Alasdair Allan: All children and young people should be able to learn in schools free from discrimination to enable them to make the most of their learning. We want every child and young person in Scotland to grow up free from bullying and we want them to develop mutually re…

4 Jun 2014 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what measures are being taken to improve early identification and diagnosis of children with asthma.

7 May 2014 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many cataract operations the NHS performs each year.

30 Apr 2014 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the Cabinet Secretary for Commonwealth Games, Sports, Equalities and Pensioners' Rights has had regarding the provision of late night or overnight commuter rail services during the Commonwealth Games.

16 Apr 2014 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met the chief executive of Scottish Enterprise.

19 Mar 2014 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the referral time targets are from GP to community psychiatric unit and which NHS boards (a) have met these targets in each of the last three years and (b) are meeting these targets.

Answer · Alex Neil: There is no specific referral time target to community psychiatric units. If a patient is referred for a psychological therapy, the HEAT target to deliver 18 weeks referral to treatment for psychological therapies from December 2014 applies. If a patient is …