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: S6F-01849

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 March 2023

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-01855

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 March 2023

To ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet.

Question reference: S6W-14596

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the current average waiting time for elective surgery in NHS Lanarkshire is, broken down by procedure.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

Statistics relating to the waits patients experience for inpatient or day case treatment at specialty level are published up to 30 September 2022 and can be found using the following link:

https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/17040/ipdc_nov22.xlsx

The statistics published in the tables above include the median wait on tab ‘2.1 Table’ and not an average. The median is used because an average (mean) can be skewed incorrectly by a small number of very long waits that are recorded in error in the national data.

Question reference: S6W-14592

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many people were awaiting elective surgery in NHS Lanarkshire in each month since May 2021, broken down by procedure.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

Public Health Scotland is not currently able to report accurately on waiting times to this level of detail. More detailed information on the procedure(s) that are planned or undertaken for a patient will be held locally by NHS Boards. We would therefore advise contacting NHS Boards to obtain this data.

Statistics relating to the waits patients experience for inpatient or day case treatment at specialty level are published up to 30 th September 2022 and can be found using the following link:

https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/17040/ipdc_nov22.xlsx

Question reference: S6W-14534

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether the two vessels which CMAL has ordered from the Cemre Marin Endustri yard to serve on the Uig to Lochmaddy and Uig to Tarbert ferry routes could have operated from ferry terminals at (a) Uig, (b) Lochmaddy and (c) Tarbert without the reconstruction and dredging operations being carried out at each terminal to allow their use by Hull 802.

Question reference: S6W-14545

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what communications it has had with local authorities on the Community Bus Fund.

Question reference: S6W-14554

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 27 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what impact Low Emission Zones have had on air quality in Scotland’s cities, in light of reported figures published by Friends of the Earth Scotland.

I welcome these positive achievements on air quality, which show that our actions to tackle air pollution are delivering for the people of Scotland.

The modelling undertaken by each of the cities shows that the Scottish LEZs are capable of delivering significant improvements in air quality. LEZ enforcement will begin in June 2023 in Glasgow, it is therefore too early to say with any certainty what the impact of Low Emission Zones has been.

The four cities introducing LEZs are required to report on air quality annually, and specifically on the performance of the LEZs one year after enforcement starts. I look forward to reviewing these reports when available.

Question reference: S6W-14591

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the forecast capacity requirements for elective treatment in NHS Lanarkshire are for the next 10 years, broken down by procedure, and how these requirements will be met in each case.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish government or PHS.

Operational planning and decision making with regards to capacity is the responsibility of individual NHS Boards.

The Scottish Government is working closely with Boards to maximise capacity and efficiency for planned care. NHSScotland’s Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD), launched in 2021, plays a central role in working with health boards to ensure that they are able to continually identify new ways to increase capacity, and to respond to demand through service innovation and redesign. As well as creating additional capacity, the aim is to develop new pathways of care that are more efficient, enhance delivery of services in community settings, and reduce the variation and waiting times for planned care by adopting minimum standards to deliver higher volume activity.

Question reference: S6W-14594

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many people, who had elective surgery in NHS Lanarkshire in 2022, were treated (a) by NHS Lanarkshire (b) by another health board and (c) in a private hospital, broken down by procedure.

Question reference: S6W-14356

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 27 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) commissioners and (b) ombudsmen for which it is responsible there are; how (i) much funding and (ii) many staff each has in 2022-23, and in which year each was established.

There are 7 commissioners and ombudsmen. The following table with commissioners and ombudsmen contains year of establishment, funding and staff numbers.

In the case of Commissioners and Ombudsmen they are classed as Parliamentary Bodies and as such, are accountable directly to the Scottish Parliament with the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body conducting a sponsorship function.

Public Body	Year of establishment	Funding 2022-23	Staff numbers Q3 2022
Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life	2013	£0	11
Scottish Biometrics Commissioner	2021	£400,000	3
Scotland's Commissioner For Children and Young People	2004	£0	15
Scottish Human Rights Commission	2008	£65,000	12
Scottish Information Commissioner	2005	£0	20
Scottish Public Services Ombudsman	2002	£0	84
Standards Commission for Scotland	2000	£0	4