Annie Wells

3 Apr 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent Scottish Funding Council statistics showing that, in 2015-16, 8% of the Scotland-based entrants at the universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews universities came from the 20% most-deprived areas, and how it will support more pupils fr…

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Scottish Government welcomes the increase (to 16.1% 2015-16) in the proportion of entrants to higher education from the 20% most deprived areas. However, the variation in performance on access between colleges and universities, and across universities, is…

29 Mar 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-06943 by Humza Yousaf on 22 February 2017, how the public can be confident of continuing progress of the Queen Street Station redevelopment, in light of reports that Network Rail has stated that the timetable for the project has been pushed back ind…

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The redevelopment of Queen Street Station continues to make progress with the introduction of 7-car electric services from December 2017 and 8-car electric services with improved journey times from December 2018 on schedule. Further progress was made on 31 M…

29 Mar 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5F-00477 by Nicola Sturgeon on 17 November 2016 (Official Report, c. 23), what steps it has taken to tackle the specific issue of online racist bullying.

Answer · John Swinney: Bullying of any form is entirely unacceptable and we need to be vigilant in challenging any racist and abusive behaviour in our schools. We want all children and young people to learn tolerance, respect, equality and good citizenship to address and prevent pr…

29 Mar 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response to the report in the Evening Times on 29 March 2017 highlighting concerns regarding cleanliness at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Answer · Shona Robison: Patients and the public deserve to have complete confidence in the cleanliness of Scottish hospitals and the quality of NHS services. That is why we have introduced these inspections as one of a range of measures to tackle healthcare associated infections. I …

28 Mar 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to tackle rising HIV rates in Glasgow, in light of reported figures that show the number of cases rising from approximately 10 per year to 88 in the last two years, which has been attributed to the sharing of needles between intravenous drug users and an increased use of the…

23 Mar 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent National Day Nurseries Association survey, which suggests that, due to reduced funding and rising business costs, half of the nurseries that responded were unlikely or unsure they would be able to offer additional free childcare hours, as proposed by th…

Answer · Mark McDonald: As I announced to Parliament on 23 March, our vision for the expansion of the Early Learning and Childcare entitlement to 1140 hours will be underpinned by a new service model which prioritises and safeguards quality provision while offering parents a greater…

22 Mar 2017 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde meets its A&E waiting times target.

21 Mar 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to alleviate loneliness among older people.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Addressing social isolation and loneliness is key to improving wellbeing and supporting people of all ages to participate in their community. That is why we created a £500,000 Social Isolation and Loneliness Fund (2016-17) to support 36 community-based projec…

20 Mar 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to IDS Scotland statistics showing that patient targets for chronic pain service waiting times at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde are not being met.

Answer · Aileen Campbell: We continue to support NHS boards to ensure patients have access to the care they need via, for example, the work of the Ministerial Steering Group and the planned National Advisory Committee on Chronic Pain. National Advisory remit will include guiding the i…

20 Mar 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its statistics showing that there was a 5% reduction over the last year, what it is doing to support the building of private housing.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: The Scottish Government provides help to support the private building industry in a number of ways, including direct support through Infrastructure funding, the ongoing Planning review, as well as support for demand through the Help to Buy (Scotland) Affordab…

16 Mar 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support people being released from prison into housing.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: The Scottish Government is committed to supporting prisoners to secure appropriate housing on release and to addressing homelessness amongst prisoners and their families. All those assessed as unintentionally homeless by local authorities, including prisoners…

14 Mar 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to tackle the use of synthetic drugs.

Answer · Aileen Campbell: Drug taking amongst the general population in Scotland is falling and the number of young people taking drugs remains low, but we remain determined to tackle the damaging impact of all problem drug use, and to make recovery a reality, through our national dru…

13 Mar 2017 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to tackle gun crime.

7 Mar 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of (a) claims that a culture of denial exists regarding the extent of problems caused by sectarianism and (b) recommendations that a review of hate crime legislation should consider how sectarianism and sectarian incidents could be integrated into a more gener…

Answer · Annabelle Ewing: As part of his independent ‘Review of the Implementation of the Recommendations of the Advisory Group on Tackling Sectarianism in Scotland’, Dr Duncan Morrow, former Chair of the Advisory Group, gathered evidence from a wide range of sources across Scottish s…

7 Mar 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to figures that suggest that there was a 40% increase in the number of unsolved sex crimes between 2013 and 2016.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The Scottish Government note that there has been an increase in the number of unsolved sexual crimes between 2013 and 2016. This increase is, in part, a consequence of the increased number of sexual crimes reported to Police Scotland over this period. Polic…

7 Mar 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to encourage healthier lifestyles for young people not in education, employment or training in light of the recent University of Glasgow study, which suggests that they are at greater risk of developing cancer-related conditions.

Answer · Aileen Campbell: The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that healthier lifestyles are adopted by people from all age groups including young people through a wide range of actions. We know that young people not in education, employment or training are particularly vu…

7 Mar 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to encourage more (a) school leavers and (b) college students into apprenticeships, in light of the recent survey by Prudential that suggests that half of school leavers in Scotland say they know little about apprenticeships on offer.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The Scottish Government's Youth Employment Strategy, Developing the Young Workforce, sought from the outset to expand the Modern Apprenticeship offer to create more opportunities and to better align the Modern Apprenticeship programme with key sectors and are…

1 Mar 2017 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government how personal and social education in schools can help to tackle mental health issues affecting LGBTI pupils.

Answer · John Swinney: Personal and Social Education (PSE) is a taught subject which covers aspects of planning for choices and changes; substance misuse; relationships, sexual health and parenthood; in addition to aspects of physical activity, sport and health. Together, these to…

21 Feb 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to deal with sexual harassment in public sector workplaces in light of a report by Zero Tolerance suggesting that two-thirds of the women surveyed had experienced or witnessed sexual harassment or innuendo.

Answer · Angela Constance: The Scottish Government realises the importance of tackling all forms of sexual harassment as set out in Equally Safe, Scotland's strategy to prevent and eradicate violence against women and girls. We are currently investing £11.8 million in 2016-2017 to supp…

21 Feb 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to figures suggesting that 999 call-out response times in Glasgow have become 30% slower since two casualty units were closed in the city.

Answer · Shona Robison: Despite attending an increasing number of incidents, the Scottish Ambulance Service is saving the lives of more patients than ever before. Emergency response times are monitored on an on-going basis and are affected throughout the year by a number of factors…

7 Feb 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on Glasgow Queen Street station redevelopment plans and the impact of this on retail redevelopment plans at the Buchanan Galleries.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The redevelopment of Queen Street station continues to make progress, some advanced works are already underway and Transport Scotland authorised a further package of enabling works in December 2016 which should commence March 2017. The remaining works packag…

7 Feb 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle drug-related driving offences in light of statistics published in the Forensic Science International journal, which indicate that drug-driving kills as many motorists as drink-driving in Scotland.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The Scottish Government prioritised lowering the drink-driving limit in 2014 as evidence showed such a policy could help save lives. Scotland has long standing legislation used by Police Scotland, prosecutors and our courts that makes it an offence to drive w…

6 Feb 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on promoting a policy among local authorities of additional housing points for victims of domestic abuse.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: The Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 requires local authorities to give reasonable preference, or priority, to applicants for social housing who are living under unsatisfactory housing conditions, or who are homeless or threatened with homelessness. The Scottish G…

6 Feb 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that there has been a 50% increase in the number of violent assaults carried out by school pupils in the last 12 months, and that Glasgow has the highest number of violent incidents.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government takes the issue of violence in schools very seriously and any attack on a teacher is one too many. The Scottish Government is committed to working with our partners to continue to improve relationships and behaviour in schools. We rec…

6 Feb 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports on the findings of a PISA worldwide education survey, which state that 45% of head teachers in Scotland fear pupils are being held back by a lack of resources, and a third say there are not enough support staff and materials.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government is taking a number of actions to help recruit and retain teachers. We are spending £88 million this year to make sure every school has access to the right number of teachers, we are opening up new and innovative routes into teaching, w…

30 Jan 2017 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it measures economic performance.

24 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the redevelopment of Queen Street Station.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The redevelopment of Queen Street station continues to make progress, advance works are already underway and Transport Scotland authorised a further package of enabling works in December 2016. Further works will be reliant on powers afforded by the TAWS orde…

17 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the NHS has targets for the time taken between initial appointment and full transitioning for people who wish to gender transition and, if so, what these are.

Answer · Shona Robison: There are no specific targets from initial referral to treatment for gender transition. This is because patients accessing these services are likely to undertake psychological therapy and significant counselling as part of their treatment. The amount of thera…

17 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the NHS has a "one-size fits all" approach to patients wishing to gender transition or whether care packages are tailored to individual needs.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government issued a Gender Reassignment Protocol to NHSScotland in July 2012. Under this protocol we expect clinicians to take full account of the needs of each individual patient. A copy of this can be obtained at the following link: http://www.…

16 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to tackle fuel poverty, in light of the Glasgow Centre for Population Health's recent study.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: The “GoWell” research confirms our argument that rising fuel prices, beyond the Scottish Government’s control, can outweigh any potential gains we make by improving energy efficiency. Whilst we welcome the news that almost 100,000 fewer households were in fu…