Jamie Greene

11 Feb 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried of the reasons for the reported increase in the percentage of people diagnosed with HIV who no longer engaged with HIV clinical services.

Answer · Jenni Minto: The latest data on people living with HIV in Scotland and not attending for HIV treatment and care can be found in Public Health Scotland’s HIV in Scotland surveillance report, which is available at: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/hiv-in…

6 Feb 2025 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with SEPA regarding how it will address any environmental concerns that arise from new waste incineration sites that have already received approval.

15 Jan 2025 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government, as part of the cross-government co-ordination on islands, including island connectivity, what discussions the rural affairs secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding the impact on islanders of the relocation of the Arran ferry service from Ardrossan to Troon.

7 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported figures stating that more than £4 million has been spent dealing with infestations of rats, mice, maggots and cockroaches in hospitals and medical facilities, including more than £2 million by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

Answer · Neil Gray: Spending money on pest control is a necessary part of maintaining any estate, especially one as large as the NHS which is almost the size of the city of Stirling at 1,572 hectares in size.It would also be useful to note that the figure quoted, £4 millio…

7 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported statistics from the Office for National Statistics stating that 20% of firms in Scotland have had more difficulty recruiting workers, compared with other parts of the UK.

Answer · Tom Arthur: The Scottish Government recognises challenges faced by businesses and particular circumstances faced in Scotland, and that is why the Scottish Government stands ready to support the UK Government to design an immigration system that addresses the requirements…

7 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to tackle serious violent crime, in light of reported figures stating that serious violent crime has almost doubled in a decade to more than 1,000 incidents per month.

Answer · Siobhian Brown: Any level of violence is a concern but it is not correct to say that serious violent crime has almost doubled in a decade. The number of serious assaults and attempted murders recorded by the police has increased by 9% since 2014-15. However, levels have fall…

7 Jan 2025 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to increase access to NHS dentistry, in light of reported figures from Public Health Scotland stating that 1.8 million adults have not seen a dentist since 2022.

Answer · Jenni Minto: Public Health Scotland statistics published in November 2024 show that NHS dental services are performing well at a national level, with almost 4 million courses of treatment delivered to patients between November 2023 and September 2024.  There are many…

7 Jan 2025 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to comments made by the Auditor General for Scotland that the “future of the Ferguson Marine Port Glasgow shipyard remains uncertain".  

18 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what steps it is taking to increase school attendance, in light of its published figures that show a reduction in school attendance rates between 2020-21 and 2022-23.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The 2023-24 Official Statistics on attendance and absence show a slight increase in attendance and reduction in persistent absence. It is acknowledged that the rate of attendance has decreased prior to this as a result of the impact of Covid-19.The overall at…

18 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what steps it is taking to encourage increased use of public transport, in light of recently reported disruption, delays and staff shortages on the ScotRail network.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Any cancellations, delays or disruptions are disappointing and we recognise the impact that this has on rail users. However cancellations represent a small percentage of the overall number of ScotRail services. ScotRail’s performance is consistently hig…

18 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve community flood defences, in light of reports that fewer than half of projects scheduled to be built by 2021 have been completed.

Answer · Gillian Martin: Local authorities are responsible for the developing and delivering flood protection schemes, supported by Scottish Government funding. The 2015-2021 Flood Risk Management Strategies published by SEPA prioritised 42 flood protection schemes. These schemes req…

18 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with ScotRail regarding improving the service's Sunday timetable, in light of reports of disruption during the festive period.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Whilst staff working on rest days and overtime is a measure adopted by all GB train operating companies, ScotRail has been recruiting more staff to minimise this reliance. ScotRail is currently recruiting 160 Drivers each year, one of the highest numbers acro…

12 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the remit is of the review of the penalties system that is being undertaken as part of the Future Fisheries Strategy body of work, as set out in its paper,The Allocation of Scottish Additional Quota from 2024 Outcome of Consultation Document; who is carrying out the review; which st…

Answer · Mairi Gougeon: In our consultation document: Allocation of Scottish Additional Quota from 2024, the Scottish Government set out a wish to explore whether a vessel’s history of compliance with regulatory requirements relating to fishing could be utilised as a criterion…

10 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support Police Scotland and small local businesses in tackling retail crime over the Christmas season.

Answer · Angela Constance: We have seen a significant rise in recorded shoplifting throughout the UK according to our own figures and those released by the Office for National Statistics for England and Wales and Scotland, part of which is being driven by organised criminal groups.The …

10 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to tackle loneliness over the Christmas season.

Answer · Kaukab Stewart: The Scottish Government acknowledges that loneliness is a public health issue that can be keenly felt during the Christmas season but impacts people all year round. To support the delivery of our Social Isolation and Loneliness Delivery Plan, we implemented t…

10 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects the lifting of the two-child benefit cap to come into force.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The 2025-26 budget commits to spending £3 million to develop the systems needed to deliver mitigation of the two-child cap, which could lift an estimated 15,000 children out of poverty in Scotland.The detailed work of building the system and developing …

10 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress towards securing the redevelopment of Ardrossan Harbour.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Discussions continue between the main funding partners in relation to financial packages and legal agreements as part of the business case and cost review exercise. Officials are progressing these matters as quickly and robustly as possible and will look to p…

5 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it will seek to reduce the number of homeless veterans, and what its position is on whether is making adequate and timely progress on this.

Answer · Paul McLennan: The number of homeless veterans in Scotland remains low and homeless veterans are a relatively small proportion (2%) of homeless households. Official statistics shows us that veterans are no more likely to be homeless than the rest of the population and that …

5 Dec 2024 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what discussions it has had with the City of Edinburgh Council regarding whether a pedestrian crossing might be appropriate outside the Canongate entrance to improve the safety of the public, MSPs and staff who cross at this location.

Answer · Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB): There is a pedestriancrossing directly outside the Parliament’s public access to facilitate safetravel.  The SPCB has not been asked to consider whether a secondpedestrian crossing would be appropriate.  The current informationprovided by the …

5 Dec 2024 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what its position is on the flag flying policy indoors and outdoors on the parliamentary estate with respect to how and by whom decisions are made on (a) which are flown, (b) for how long they should be flown and (c) what grounds the appropriateness of the presence of a…

Answer · Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB): The SPCB has a policy covering the flying of flags on the flagpoles outside Holyrood - Flag-flying | Scottish Parliament Website.  The policy sets out which flags are flown and how exceptional requests can be made to the SPCB for approval.  During …

3 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its response to freedom of information request FOI/202400436576, which shows that it was notified of 16 cyber attacks on public bodies in 2024, whether it will provide an update on what steps it is taking to improve its cyber resilience.

Answer · Angela Constance: Good cyber resilience is essential for delivering secure digital public services. Staying ahead of cyber criminals is an ongoing battle; as technologies evolve, so do their tactics. Public sector organisations are responsible for their own cyber resilience an…

3 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to increase the number of nurses employed by the NHS, in light of the reported finding by the Royal College of Nursing that the number of nurses is currently stagnating, having grown by 0.1% in the last six months.

Answer · Neil Gray: The Scottish Government continues to strive towards developing a sustainable healthcare workforce in NHS Scotland. This is why we have established a Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce (NMT), which works collaboratively with a range of stakeholders including the …

3 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that Transport Scotland provided Sustrans, an active travel organisation based in Bristol, a grant of £97.9 million in 2024.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: We have allocated over £66 million of funding to Sustrans this financial year. This includes funding and support to Local Authorities and others to deliver infrastructure to help people walk, wheel or cycle, as well as support to upgrade and expand the …

3 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects the MV Glen Sannox to enter service, in light of reports that the vessel requires repairs to its anchor system.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The MV Glen Sannox is expected to commence service in mid-January 2025.

3 Dec 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is providing any assistance to Ferguson Marine to find a permanent chief executive officer (CEO), in light of evidence given by the interim CEO of the shipyard to the Scottish Parliament's Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee on 26 November 2024.

Answer · Kate Forbes: The appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer is a matter for the Ferguson Marine Board. The Board are in the process of recruiting a permanent CEO, and the interim Chief Executive has agreed to continue in his role until Easter while the process continues.

2 Dec 2024 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what plans it has to improve the resilience, accessibility and usability of the Parliament's IT systems, including its website, Wi-Fi and internal portals.

Answer · Claire Baker (on behalf of the SPCB): Improving the resilience of the Parliament’s IT systems is an ongoing endeavour. This includes a regular maintenance schedule of software updates on network hardware and end user devices. Hardware refreshes balance the risk of old components failing aga…

20 Nov 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of its correspondence with Peel Ports regarding the potential introduction of a conservancy charge for small leisure vessels on the Clyde estuary.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Statutory Harbour Authorities have a power under section 26 of the Harbours Act 1964 to levy charges on vessels, passengers or goods moving within their jurisdiction. Whilst an Authority does not require to consult with the Scottish Government on such matters…

19 Nov 2024 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported comments from the director of the human rights charity, Making Rights Real, that "the long arm of the government often stretches to silence organisations that receive funding from the state".

19 Nov 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to introduce temporary additional capacity to the west coast ferry network, in light of the retirement of the MV Hebridean Isles.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Government has no plans to introduce temporary additional capacity on the west coast ferry network in light of the decommissioning of the MV Hebridean Isles. The planned removal of the vessel from service was factored in to the winter deployment …

19 Nov 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding the Post Office's reported announcement that it plans to close 115 local post offices across the UK, including nine branches in Scotland.

Answer · Ivan McKee: Post offices are a lifeline to local communities throughout Scotland.The Scottish Government is therefore disappointed that Post Office Ltd is considering closing its directly funded branches as part of a strategic review. We understand there are a range of o…