Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6W-33150

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 21 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of Foundation Year 2 doctors who applied for NHS specialty training in each of last 10 years was offered a place.

Question reference: S6W-33092

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 21 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to transition its vehicle fleet to low-emission or zero-emission vehicles.

Question reference: S6W-33003

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 21 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to address any (a) outdated professional views on myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and (b) issues around capacity to train staff about ME/CFS, as identified in the report, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) services in Scotland: health board survey - updated analysis, published in November 2024.

The Health and Social Care Standards set out the expectation that care should be provided by health and social care professionals based on the most relevant evidence, guidance and best practice, as is appropriate to their profession and patient group. In July 2022 we wrote to health boards and GPs to raise awareness of the NICE guidelines and highlight key changes in practice, and these remain the most current national guidelines on the management of ME/CFS.

It is not appropriate for the Scottish Government to comment on the clinical opinion of health professionals.

We expect Health Boards to ensure their staff are appropriately trained and developed for their roles, as per the Staff Governance Standard. The standard complements the training expectations set out in individual professional and regulatory requirements.

We have funded Action for ME and partners to disseminate an online Continuous Professional Development training module on ME/CFS for health and social care professionals. Evaluation data suggests it is significantly improving participants’ ability to diagnose and manage ME/CFS. Recent activity around the module has included a focus on increasing uptake among clinicians.

Question reference: S6W-33005

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 21 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many paediatricians (a) have been trained to date and (b) are currently being trained on how to diagnose, and manage children and young people with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) in line with the latest NICE guideline.

Question reference: S6W-33579

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 21 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-33199 by Mairi Gougeon on 15 January 2025, what data Forestry and Land Scotland collects on the final destination of venison sold to its commercial partners.

Question reference: S6W-33097

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 21 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many vehicles that it owns are based in (a) Aberdeen and (b) the North East Scotland region.

Question reference: S6W-33197

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 21 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much non-domestic rates income has been forgone in (a) 2022-23, (b) 2023-24 and (c) 2024-25 where Small Business Bonus Scheme rates relief has been claimed for self-catering units, broken down by (i) 100%, (ii) 25% and (iii) 0% (where they were not eligible due to having a number of properties with a combined rateable value of £35,000) of income forgone, also broken down by (A) assessor and (B) local authority.

The following tables present the estimated value of Small Business Bonus Scheme (SBBS) relief awarded to self-catering units as at 1 June 2024, broken down in Table 1 by assessor, and in Table 2 by local authority, for properties (unit owners cannot be reliably identified from the information held) receiving 100% SBBS, 25% SBBS, other proportions of SBBS and no SBBS relief. These tables include all self-catering properties in receipt of SBBS relief.

It is not possible to provide how much non-domestic rates income has been forgone for the financial year 2023-2024. This is due to data issues within the 2023 Billing System snapshot. Equivalent figures for 2022-2023 can be found in the response to question S6W-12629. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

The Scottish Government cannot reliably estimate the cumulative rateable value of each ratepayer’s non-domestic properties and can therefore not state the number of self-catering units that do not quality for SBBS due to having a combined rateable value in excess of £35,000. From 1 April 2023, SBBS relief includes a taper from 100% for properties with a rateable value up to and including £12,000, to 25% where the rateable value is £15,000, and to 0% where the rateable value is £20,000 or higher.

Eligibility for SBBS is set out in legislation and it is for local authorities to administer it in accordance with that legislation.

Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand. Figures relating to fewer than five units, or less than £500 value, are suppressed for data protection purposes, and are marked as "[low]". Zero values are actual zero. Where no SBBS relief is awarded, the NDR income forfeited is zero. The data sources for both tables are the Scottish Assessors’ Valuation Roll as at 1 June 2024, and local authority reliefs information as at 1 June 2024. Final outturn data for 2024-2025 may vary.

Table 1: Estimated value of SBBS relief awarded to self-catering properties as at 1 June 2024, by assessor and SBBS percentage (£)

Assessor area	100% SBBS	25% SBBS	Other SBBS awards
Ayrshire	938,000	28,000	22,000
Central	694,000	22,000	15,000
Dumfries & Galloway	1,283,000	26,000	16,000
Dunbartonshire and Argyll and Bute	2,213,000	72,000	23,000
Fife	902,000	15,000	9,000
Glasgow	108,000	6,000	10,000
Grampian	1,477,000	35,000	47,000
Highland & Western Isles	6,590,000	148,000	105,000
Lanarkshire	147,000	4,000	[low]
Lothian	2,918,000	153,000	325,000
Orkney & Shetland	571,000	7,000	[low]
Renfrewshire	83,000	1,000	[low]
Scottish Borders	863,000	22,000	11,000
Tayside	1,503,000	30,000	29,000
Scotland	20,291,000	571,000	614,000

Question reference: S6W-33225

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 21 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-32129 by Shona Robison on 8 January 2025, whether it will confirm whether it records, in an easily accessible format, the (a) amount of public money spent on court cases that it is a party to, as opposed to general government legal costs, and (b) number of court cases that it has been a party to, and, if so, how the public can access any such information.

A) The Scottish Government does not record the information you have requested in an easily accessible format. The costs for each case are recorded in the individual case files or across multiple sources of information. As set out in the answer to question S6W-31821 on 9 December 2024 the costs to provide this information could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost. The requester asked for information spanning 18 years.

B) The Scottish Government does not record the information you have requested in an easily accessible format. To retrieve this information, it could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Question reference: S6T-02290

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will update the Parliament on the supply and availability of the flu vaccine.

Question reference: S6F-03735

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 January 2025

To ask the First Minister, in light of the inauguration of Donald Trump as US President, and the reported prospect of import tariffs, what sectors of Scottish business it anticipates may be most affected.

Location	Number of vehicles
Aberdeen	20
Buckie	1
Elgin	2
Fraserburgh	2
Inverurie	6
Peterhead	2