Parliamentary questions
Neil Findlay
2,296 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
18 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to address the reported understaffing at Livingston fire station.
Answer · Ash Denham: The number of firefighters per head of population is higher in Scotland than other parts of the UK and decisions about the provision of resources is an operational matter for the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service. In 2019-20 the Scottish Government will increas…
18 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many times in the last year Livingston fire station has had to rely on engines from other stations to deal with incidents in its own area because of a lack of staffing.
Answer · Ash Denham: Decisions on the allocation of SFRS resources, including pumping appliances and staffing, are a matter for the service and its Board.
18 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason Livingston fire station reportedly does not have the capacity to provide 24/7 cover with two pumps.
Answer · Ash Denham: Decisions on the allocation of SFRS resources, including pumping appliances, are a matter for the service and its Board. There has never been a single occasion where SFRS has not responded with the required resources. SFRS has contingency plans in place to e…
18 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it can take to ensure that people made redundant from Kaiam receive all money owed to them.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The Scottish Government wants everyone made redundant by Kaiam to receive all monies owed to them. Responsibility for dealing with employee claims in insolvency is fully reserved to the UK Government and is dealt with by the Redundancy Payments Service, which…
18 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many firefighters there have been in each year since 2007.
Answer · Ash Denham: From 2009-10 The Scottish Government produced and published organisational workforce statistics for the previous 8 legacy Scottish Fire and Rescue Services, prior to this figures were collated at a local level and are not held centrally. The 2009-10 – 2013-1…
11 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what independent analysis has been undertaken of the budget allocated to nursery provision over the next three years to assess whether it is sufficient to implement the roll-out of 1,140 hours of funded childcare.
Answer · Maree Todd: A multi-year funding package to implement the 1140 of funded childcare was agreed with local authorities in spring 2018. This followed two years of engagement and negotiation between Scottish Government and local authorities and represents a shared understand…
11 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what help is available for nurseries wishing to become partner nurseries.
Answer · Maree Todd: ‘Partner nurseries’ are providers contracted by the local authority to deliver the funded entitlement to early learning and childcare to 3 and 4 year olds and eligible 2 year olds. They are also referred to as ‘funded providers’. The first point of contact f…
11 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action is being taken to address the reported loss of staff in private nurseries.
Answer · Maree Todd: Our Delivery Support Plan, published on 19 December, sets out how we will ensure providers, including childminders, are supported through the transition to 2020.Our funding agreement with COSLA supports the payment of sustainable rates to funded providers and…
11 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage people to choose nursery education as a career.
Answer · Maree Todd: The Scottish Government is taking a suite of actions to encourage people to choose Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) as a career. A major component of our strategy to increase the workforce to deliver the 1140 hours expansion from 2020 is our ongoing nation…
11 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding each local authority has available for nursery provision.
Answer · Maree Todd: The annual local government finance circulars provide details of the total revenue and capital funding allocations to each local authority and can be found at the attached link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/local-government-finance-circulars-index/ . …
11 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the average cost per child per hour is to each local authority for council-run nurseries, and what the per child per hour funding is in each local authority for private partner nurseries.
Answer · Maree Todd: Data collected from a sample of local authorities and published as part of the Financial Review in 2016 implied a unit cost estimate for provision of ELC in local authority settings of £5.45 per hour for three and four year olds and £7.74 per hour for two yea…
11 Mar 2019 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment the Scottish Prison Service carries out of prisoners when they are first convicted.
11 Mar 2019 · First Minister's Question
To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government has taken following the recent meeting between the health secretary and mesh survivors.
4 Mar 2019 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the justice secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding the impact of reductions to Scottish Legal Aid Board funding on child poverty.
4 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it takes of (a) cycling and (b) walking in its transport projections.
Answer · Michael Matheson: Scotland’s Transport Forecasts, published in October 2018, ( https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/43316/transport-forecasts-2018.pdf ) sets-out a number of future transport scenarios, which considers changes in population; economic growth; fuel cost and car…
1 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to open a railway station at Winchburgh; what finance is available for this, and when it would expect a station to be fully operational.
Answer · Michael Matheson: The proposed station at Winchburgh forms part of the Winchburgh Village Development, as approved by West Lothian Council, and the station design and construction costs are being fully funded by the developer. The date of completion of construction is a matte…
28 Feb 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it will remove fishing protection orders from fresh waters.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-21894 on 5 March 2019. 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/parliamentarybusiness/2…
28 Feb 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it will provide scientific evidence to support its continuation of fishing protection orders on fresh waters.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-21894 on 5 March 2019. 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/parliamentarybusiness/2…
28 Feb 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason fishing protection orders remain in place on fresh waters.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Fishery protection orders are made by Scottish Ministers on an application to them by one or more owners or occupiers of a relevant fishery. Orders may be made on such an application where Ministers are satisfied that the measures proposed would improve and i…
25 Feb 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the full revenue budget allocation to the Scottish Prison Service is for 2019-20, and how this compares with 2018-19.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Prison Service’s budget for 2018-19 and 2019-20 is set out in the following table: 18-19 (£m) 19-20 (£m) Fiscal resource 312.2 312.2 Non cash 33.0 34.0 Capital 16.2 47.5 Total 361.4 393.7
20 Feb 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government which universities offer degree courses in audiology, and what plans there are for other institutions to offer these.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: Glasgow Caledonian University offer an integrated BSc in Clinical Physiology made up of four specialities, including Audiology. This course is unique, developed to provide a high quality honours degree which can meet the needs of the profession and of the NHS…
20 Feb 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the average waiting time is to see an audiologist for a hearing aid fitting, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: This information is not centrally held. Data on Audiology service waits is included as part of the 18 weeks referral to treatment waiting time data which is published quarterly by ISD. The 18 weeks referral to treatment performance information is based on an…
20 Feb 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many degree-qualified audiologists delivering frontline services each NHS board has, also broken down by the number of (a) vacancies there are and (b) such specialists each board will require in each of the next 10 years.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: This information is not held centrally. ISD publish Healthcare Science workforce data at the Clinical Physiological Science level and audiology is a speciality within Clinical Physiological Science. ISD data at 30 September 2018 is set out below, they do not…
20 Feb 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that deaf and hearing impaired people who do not use BSL do not experience health inequalities when accessing NHS services by phone.
Answer · Clare Haughey: GP practices and NHS boards have several options at their disposal to allow and encourage people to access and participate as fully as possible in decisions relating to their health and wellbeing through improved communication, including the use of private ap…
20 Feb 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many calls have been made to each NHS board in each of the last three years by deaf and hearing-impaired people who do not use BSL, also broken down by how many used (a) Minicom, (b)Text Relay, (c) Next Generation Text Relay and (d) other similar systems.
Answer · Clare Haughey: The information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. I also refer the member to the answer to question S5W–21741 on 5 March 2019 . All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for …
20 Feb 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it carries out of the user experience reported by deaf and hearing impaired people who do not use BSL when accessing NHS services, including those who use systems such as Minicom, Next Generation and Text Relay, and how it assures the quality of the services provided.
Answer · Clare Haughey: Ensuring that the views of people who use healthcare services are heard and can influence the design and delivery of healthcare services is a priority for the Scottish Government. We have introduced a range of ways for people to tell us what they think about…
20 Feb 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that the system used to reduce the number of missed NHS appointments is accessible to deaf and hearing impaired people who do not use BSL.
Answer · Clare Haughey: Approaches to reduce the number of missed NHS appointments for deaf and hearing impaired people who do not use BSL would be set by local health boards and by each health provider. Most NHS Boards within their medical record services, will have methods for ide…
20 Feb 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that public and private services are equally accessible to deaf and hearing impaired people who do not use BSL.
Answer · Clare Haughey: The Equality Act 2010 is largely reserved to the UK Government. Scottish Ministers have supplemented the general duty by placing detailed requirements on Scottish public authorities through the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 (…
18 Feb 2019 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress being made in addressing the reported parking problems at St John's Hospital.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: As I set out in the chamber on 7 February, in response to Mr Findlay’s previous question on this matter, NHS Lothian has taken steps to manage the availability of spaces and to provide alternatives to on-site parking, along with alternative forms of transport…
18 Feb 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been detained in prison in each year since 1999, also broken down by how many were recorded as (a) being homeless and (b) having a reliance on drugs or alcohol prior to sentencing.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows: The Scottish Prison Service does not hold the information you request. Information on the average daily prison population and the max…