Liz Smith

21 Jan 2020 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported comments by Transport Scotland officials that the volume of traffic on the Queensferry Crossing is beyond what the bridge was designed for.

20 Jan 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to help meet the UK-wide target of 2.4% of GDP being invested in research and development.

Answer · Ivan McKee: Over the last year of available data, Scotland’s GERD as a share of GDP has increased 0.1 percentage points, which is five times the growth of the UK as a whole which is 0.02 percentage points. If this trend continues, Scotland will exceed the UK 2027 target …

20 Jan 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will pass on Barnett consequentials to research in Scotland arising from increased UK Government investment in research and innovation in England.

Answer · Kate Forbes: The Scottish Government does not in general ring-fence Barnett consequentials for specific purposes which arise from UK Government spending decisions. Instead Scottish Ministers allocate all funding received from the UK Government in line with our priorities …

14 Jan 2020 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to Historic Environment Scotland’s decision to delist Auchterarder Castle from scheduled monument protection.

6 Jan 2020 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the problems farmers encounter with the inclusion of FAME in red diesel.

20 Nov 2019 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Fife and Lothian councils since January 2019 regarding traffic flows on the Queensferry Crossing.

30 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with NHS Fife and Fife Health and Social Care regarding the reason that the St Andrews out-of-hours group was not involved in the re-design of the out-of-hours service.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: I have received assurances from Fife Health and Social Care Partnership (the HSCP) that the St Andrews Out of Hours (SA OOH) group has had every opportunity to participate in discussions around the redesign of the out of hours service. The HSCP held the follo…

28 Oct 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the latest applicants to the Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Fund.

17 Sep 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £1.2 billion of recent Barnett consequential funding will be allocated to education.

9 Sep 2019 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government within what timescale it plans to deliver a single national computer network for Police Scotland.

Answer · Ash Denham: The delivery of police ICT projects, is a matter for the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) and the Chief Constable. Police Scotland is investing £3.9m in a national computer network to improve service and efficiency across Scotland. This will deliver increased…

2 Sep 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to ensure the impartiality of its planned citizens’ assembly.

26 Aug 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Broad General Education (BGE) benchmarking tool, including the school level information dashboard, is (a) fully operational and (b) available to all local authorities and schools.

Answer · John Swinney: The Broad General Education (BGE) benchmarking tool is fully operational and available to all teachers who have a registered account on Glow: https://glowconnect.org.uk/ . It is also available to other staff on request. The School Information Dashboards are…

22 Aug 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when the new careers strategy will be published.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The new careers strategy is being developed collaboratively by the Scottish Government and representation from across the careers sector. A steering group was established consisting of representation from Skills Development Scotland, Universities Scotland, Co…

20 Aug 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many Attainment Advisors have been deployed in each local authority in each of the last three years.

Answer · John Swinney: All 32 Local Authorities have had an Attainment Advisor working either full-time or part-time with their designated local authority. For the three year period 2016-17, 2017-18 & 2018-19 13 Local Authorities had access to a full-time Attainment Advisor and th…

9 Aug 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many examination markers who were appointed for the 2019 diet of SQA qualifications left their posts before the end of the marking period.

Answer · John Swinney: The recruitment of markers is an operational matter for the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA). I have asked Fiona Robertson, Chief Executive of SQA, to write to you.

30 Apr 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the impact will be on benefit recipients of the expansion to 1,140 hours of funded childcare.

23 Apr 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government which NHS boards offer robotic assisted prostatectomy as a method of surgery for prostate cancer.

23 Apr 2019 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what measures the Scottish Government will put in place to reverse the reported decline in subject choice in secondary schools.

16 Apr 2019 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with sportscotland with regard to the development of women’s football.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: The Scottish Government has regular discussions with sport scotland on a wide range of issues – including the development of women and girls' football. We recently discussed the delivery of the bursary scheme which ensured all members of the Scotland women’s…

26 Mar 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to possible exemptions from a deposit return scheme.

21 Mar 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been paid to NHS consultants for Waiting List Initiative work in each of the last five years, also broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government, as expenditure reported by Health Boards to the Scottish Government is not provided at this level of detail. The member may wish to consider contacting individual Health Boards to obt…

21 Mar 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many NHS patients have been treated in private hospitals in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The total number of NHS patients that have been treated in private (independent) hospitals in each of the last five financial years and reported to ISD is presented in the table below. The Scottish Government is absolutely committed to a publicly-owned, and o…

18 Mar 2019 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister, in light of the parliamentary reports by both MSPs and MPs, what the Scottish Government's response is to growing concerns about the effects of social media on the mental health of young people across Scotland.

12 Mar 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is has made in meeting its target of making 15% of new homes accessible to disabled people.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: Scottish Government does not set national targets for accessible housing as specific requirements are best identified and met locally. Local authorities as strategic housing authority have the responsibility for assessing housing requirements in their area & …

12 Mar 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of the 50,000 houses that it has committed to building by 2021 will be accessible to disabled people.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: The Scottish Government does not set national targets for accessible housing as specific requirements are best identified and met locally. Local authorities as the strategic housing authority have the responsibility for assessing housing requirements in their…

11 Mar 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made with its proposed consultation on support for part-time and disabled students and carers, and by what date the consultation findings will be published.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: The Scottish Government has been engaging extensively with stakeholders to inform work on this highly complex area with a view to supporting future policy considerations. However, due to the current requirement to focus resource on student support issues rela…

25 Feb 2019 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what engagement the Scottish Government plans with the SQA to prevent possible strike action during the forthcoming summer exams.

5 Feb 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Attainment Scotland Fund is budgeted to continue beyond 2020-21 and, if so, for how long.

Answer · John Swinney: The £750 million Attainment Scotland Fund is committed over the course of this parliament. This Government has been clear in its commitment to closing the poverty related attainment gap and we have no plans to stop investment in the Attainment Scotland Fund t…

17 Jan 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will work with local authorities to produce statistics on the number of pupils who attend (a) primary, (b) secondary and (c) special schools in a different local authority to the one in which they live, which was previously produced as part of the discontinued publication, Pla…

Answer · John Swinney: Statistics on the number of pupils who attend a school in a different local authority to the one in which they live are available in the annually published Pupil Census, Supplementary Data : https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/dsp…

12 Dec 2018 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it will cost to implement the new social security powers that are set out in the Scotland Act 2016.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Scottish Government expects implementation costs for the new Social Security powers to be in line with the £308 million for the four year programme from 2017-18 to 2020-21, as set out in the Financial Memorandum that accompanied the Social Security (Scotl…