Parliamentary questions
Jamie Greene
1,978 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
19 Nov 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to its role on the steering group that maintains the Port Marine Safety Code, how it can improve the safety and wellbeing of maritime workers, in light of the Marine Accident Investigation Branch's report into the deaths of two tugboat sailors on the Clyde in February 2023, …
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Shipping safety is a matter reserved to the UK Government. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency is responsible for establishing maritime safety protocol and legislation, including in response to specific incidents, working in partnership with the Marine Acciden…
18 Nov 2024 · First Minister's Question
To ask the First Minister, in light of reported figures that over 2,000 people were killed or seriously injured on Scotland's roads last year, what the Scottish Government’s position is on whether 2024 could see the highest number of road accidents and fatalities on record.
14 Nov 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what (a) cost and (b) viability analysis it has made into installing liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities at Troon harbour.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: During the period where Troon will temporarily be used to support the Arran service, LNG bunkering will be carried out by HGV tankers directly to the vessel. It is to be noted that an LNG facility is included as a permanent solution as part of the Ardrossan H…
13 Nov 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what work it has funded in each year since 2016 in communities to tackle sectarianism, broken down by (a) local authority and (b) project.
Answer · Siobhian Brown: Since 2016, we have invested funding of over £4.8 million in work to tackle sectarianism as we believe that the direct involvement of communities is central to delivering positive outcomes which make our communities safer. This funding supports the deli…
13 Nov 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many additional support for learning teachers there have been in each year since 2016, broken down by local authority.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Statistics on additional support needs teachers, split by local authority, back to 2010 are available on the Scottish Government website in Table 6.7 of the teacher census supplementary statistics: https://www.gov.scot/publications/teacher-census-supplem…
13 Nov 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government which drug rehabilitation programmes it provides funding for, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Jenni Minto: In general, the Scottish Government provides funding to all Health and Social Care Partnerships to commission and fund Residential Rehabilitation (RR) placements on the advice of their Alcohol and Drug Partnership. To support local commissioning, the Scottish…
13 Nov 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses have been accredited as Living Wage employers in each year since 2016, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Tom Arthur: The accreditation scheme is owned and managed by the Living Wage Foundation, with Poverty Alliance responsible for it's delivery in Scotland. Therefore Scottish Government is not the data owner or gatherer, below is the number of accredited employers since th…
12 Nov 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) local authority and (b) housing association homes have been built since 2016, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Paul McLennan: The Scottish Government publish official statistics on housebuilding on a quarterly basis. The statistics requested can be found in the following link.https://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-for-scotland-new-house-building/
12 Nov 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the number of emergency bed days that have been allocated to patients as a result of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in each year since 2021, also broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Neil Gray: Table 1 shows the total number of bed days for patients with a diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who had a non-elective admission and were discharged between 2021-22 and 2023-24, broken down by health board of treatment. Table 1: Numbe…
12 Nov 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government of how many deaths was pulmonary fibrosis cited as the cause, in each year since 2016, also broken down by NHS board area.
Answer · Neil Gray: Table 1: Deaths registered in Scotland in which the underlying cause of death was 'other interstitial pulmonary diseases with fibrosis’ by NHS Board area, 2016-2023 NHS Board area201620172018201…
12 Nov 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) homicides, (b) culpable homicides, (c) attempted homicides, (d) inmate-on-inmate assaults and (e) inmate-on-prison officer assaults have been recorded in each prison in each year since 2016.
Answer · Angela Constance: I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:1.In the period 2016-17 – 2023-24 there was 1 death in custody which has been classified as a Homicide.2.In the period 2016-17 - 2…
12 Nov 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what further action it can take to support individuals with learning disabilities into work.
Answer · Tom Arthur: No One Left Behind, our shared approach with Local Government to delivering devolved employability services, has a key role to play in meeting our commitment to halving the Disability Employment Gap by 2038. Whilst we have seen positive progress to date in th…
12 Nov 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the Ardrossan-Brodick ferry route is still viable, in light of reports of further delays to the MV Caledonian Isles return to service.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The route is viable and is currently being served by MV Isle of Arran. The Scottish Government remains committed to ensuring the Arran ferry service is fit for the future, and to find a solution at Ardrossan that can be delivered in a cost effective way refle…
12 Nov 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will consider to protect social housing tenants from disproportionate energy price increases arising from a reported lack of regulation for district heating systems.
Answer · Alasdair Allan: The Scottish Government is committed to delivering clean heat and improved energy efficiency whilst ensuring foremost that tenants are not negatively impacted by the costs of this clean heat transition.Regulation of consumer protection remains a reserved matt…
12 Nov 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that more than a quarter of a million calls to the NHS24 service in Scotland were not picked up in 2023.
Answer · Neil Gray: NHS 24 is committed to providing safe and effective care to our patients across Scotland 365 days of the year. During times of peak demand staff work hard to answer as many calls as quickly and safely as possible.Calls to the 111 service can be unanswered for…
12 Nov 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that some charities fear having Scottish Government funding reduced if they publicly criticise decisions taken by ministers.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Third Sector organisations play a key role in civil society and we welcome any insight and challenge they bring to public policy. The Scottish Government appreciates discussion around public policy and view it as an essential part of the democratic process.To…
5 Nov 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to introducing tougher sentences against those who attack emergency workers.
Answer · Angela Constance: There are a range of criminal laws available to deal with individuals who attack emergency workers.Anyone who is guilty of assaulting an emergency worker can receive up to life imprisonment under the common law of assault. Anyone who is guilty of threatening …
5 Nov 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to a recent report from Public Health Scotland, which shows that there are currently more than 5,000 people in Scotland waiting for a social care assessment.
Answer · Maree Todd: The Scottish Government recognises the value of social care support to all who require additional support in living independently at home or in the community.Under the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 local authorities and Health and Social Care Partnerships h…
5 Nov 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the planned construction of National Treatment Centres (NTC), in light of the Barnett consequential funding arising from the UK Budget.
Answer · Neil Gray: The capital funding position remains challenging and infrastructure projects remain under review. The Scottish Government is assessing the full implications of the UK Autumn Budget and also await the outcome of the UK Government’s Spending Review in 202…
30 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its progress towards its target of eliminating new HIV transmissions in Scotland by 2030.
Answer · Jenni Minto: Public Health Scotland (PHS) will provide updates on HIV statistics as part of the HIV in Scotland annual surveillance report. The latest report was published in September 2024 and the next release will be in Autumn 2025.The HIV Transmission Elimination Deliv…
30 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people in Scotland have contracted HIV in each year since 2016.
Answer · Jenni Minto: It is not possible to determine how many people contracted HIV in any given year as people may not be tested or diagnosed for a number of years after they contract HIV.Public Health Scotland (PHS) publishes an annual HIV in Scotland surveillance report which …
30 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided to each NHS board in each year since 2018 to support the implementation of the sexual health and blood borne virus action plan.
Answer · Jenni Minto: The Scottish Government provides core funding annually to Health Boards for sexual health and blood borne virus (BBV) services. From 2018-19 to 2023-24, Health Boards received funding through the annual Outcomes Framework allocation to cover a range of outcom…
30 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government which community radio stations it has asked to run public information adverts in each of the last five years, broken down by the amount received by each community radio station from the Scottish Government.
Answer · Shona Robison: Below is a list of the community radio stations that the Scottish Government has run public information advertisements on over the last five years, alongside the total annual spend for each year. Spend per individual community station is classed as commercial…
29 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many university training places for teaching information and communications technology (ICT) subjects there have been in each of the last 10 years, also broken down by the number of places that were unfilled.
Answer · Graeme Dey: Information on university students is collected and published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). Using this data between academic years 2018-19 and 2022-23, the last year of available data, there has been an increase of over 30% in enrolments i…
29 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many university students have graduated in information and communications technology (ICT) courses in each of the last 10 years.
Answer · Graeme Dey: Information on university student qualifiers is collected and published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).It should be noted that prior to 2018-19 academic year, data was collected using a different subject classification. As such, figures prio…
29 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-30808 by Neil Gray on 29 October 2024, and in light of this information having previously been held, as indicated in the answer to question S4W-30590 by Shona Robison on 23 March 2016, (a) when and (b) for what reason it stopped …
Answer · Neil Gray: The answers to questions S4W-30590 on 23 March 2016 and S5W-24194 on 30 July 2019 provided information on formal practice list closures which the Scottish Government gathered from NHS boards for the purpose of answering those parliamentary questions. NHS boar…
29 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that the number of core staff that it employs has risen by 80% over the past decade.
Answer · Shona Robison: The most recent workforce publication shows that in June 2014 the workforce comprised of 5,101 FTE directly employed staff, and 1,249 contingent workers.For June 2024 showed the core Scottish Government workforce comprised of 8,911 FTE directly employed staff…
29 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support communities that have seen large-scale job losses since the COVID-19 pandemic, in light of reports that Inverclyde has lost an estimated 1,200 jobs in the past 18 months.
Answer · Tom Arthur: The Scottish Government works closely with its agencies and partners to explore all viable options to avoid closures and retain jobs in the region. However, despite our best efforts to seek alternative outcomes, this is not always possible to achieve.The peop…
29 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on whether it plans to proceed with its National Care Service plans.
Answer · Maree Todd: The Scottish Government is committed to the plans for a National Care Service, and Scottish Ministers are continuing work on progressing this as quickly and effectively as possible.
29 Oct 2024 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when it expects to make a decision on whether the Small Vessel Replacement Programme contract will be awarded to Ferguson Marine shipyard.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) is progressing the Small Vessel Replacement Programme Phase One vessels procurement and has confirmed that six shipyards have been invited to tender for the contract.Scottish Government Ministers have no role in the p…