Questions and answers

Question reference: S5O-04131

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the introduction of transdermal alcohol monitoring tags.

Question reference: S5W-27014

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 3 February 2020

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.

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 for Scotland.

The Scottish Government has passed £11.6 million of Barnett consequentials for research onto Scottish universities in 2018-19. Any further funding will be considered in the context of other budget priorities.

Question reference: S5W-27015

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 3 February 2020

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.

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 of increasing investment in R&D to 2.4% of GDP.

In terms of business R&D funding, we have made available an additional £15m per year between financial years 2018/19 and 2020/21. In addition, the Scottish Government has organised cross-sectoral engagements with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to highlight our science, research and innovation landscape and activities. These have informed the on-going development of the BEIS UK roadmap.

Question reference: S5O-04103

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when the Agriculture and Climate Change Strategic Group will next meet.

Question reference: S5O-04078

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 January 2020

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.

Question reference: S5O-04034

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 January 2020

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

Question reference: S5O-03989

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 January 2020

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

Question reference: S5O-03844

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 November 2019

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.

Question reference: S5W-26071

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 11 November 2019

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.

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 following meetings and workshops involving SA OOH group members:

14 engagement meetings with the action groups since January 2019 - this includes two communications sub groups which a member of the action group has joined
5 workshops - 1 as background preparation for the addendum workshops, 2 addendum workshops, 1 Equality Impact Assessment Workshop on the proposal, 1 communication sub group development session
3 Facilitated Participation Request meetings led by NHS Fife, and one private meeting between NHS Fife and the group
2 delegations at the Integrated Joint Board (IJB)

In addition, last week members of the SA OOH group met with the IJB Chair, Director of the HSCP, members of the IJB, the HSCP Associate Medical Director, and Associate Director of Nursing to discuss the changes to Urgent Care and communication and engagement with the SA OOH Group.

Moving forward, members of the SA OOH group will continue to meet with the HSCP Associate Medical Director, Associate Director of Nursing, Divisional General Manager, Service Manager and Change Manager on a regular basis to discuss and understand how the service changes within Urgent Care are embedding.

Question reference: S5O-03723

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 November 2019

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

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