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-18349

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, and what was discussed.

Question reference: S6W-18341

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with the Faculty of Occupational Medicine and what was discussed.

Question reference: S6W-18328

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on any plans to (a) implement the scheme for funding for alternative dispute resolution and (b) establish a pilot of mandatory meetings on alternatives to court under the Children (Scotland) Act 2020.

Sections 23(7) and 24(4) of the Children (Scotland) Act 2020 place a duty on the Scottish Ministers to lay six-monthly reports before Parliament setting out why the duties to (a) implement the scheme for funding for alternative dispute resolution and (b) establish a pilot of mandatory meetings on alternatives to court are not yet fulfilled, and stating when implementation is expected.

To date the Scottish Ministers have laid four such reports before Parliament and these have been published on the Scottish Government website. The latest report is available here:

Children (Scotland) Act 2020 - section 23(1) and section 24(1): fourth report on the Scottish Ministers' duties - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Question reference: S6W-18366

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the recommendations in the report of the Short-life Food Security and Supply Taskforce, published on 23 June 2022, have been implemented to date, and how many staff will be employed in the new dedicated Food Security Unit announced on 18 May 2023.

The Short-Life Food Security and Supply Taskforce set out a number of short and long-term recommendations in its report and all of the immediate actions are either complete or substantially complete, including the establishment of a Food Security Unit, with other actions becoming legacy activity for it.

As the Food Security Unit becomes more established, the number of staff involved directly will vary depending on business needs. The Food Security Unit will work collaboratively with the wide range of teams across the Scottish Government that work on aspects of food security.

Question reference: S6W-18347

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, and what was discussed.

Question reference: S6W-18350

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, and what was discussed.

Question reference: S6W-18389

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported change to residency eligibility criteria for free student tuition support in Scotland, whether people from Hong Kong with a British National (Overseas) visa will be eligible for free tuition fees in higher education, if they have three years of residency in Scotland.

I am pleased to confirm that from Academic Year 2023-24 all students who meet the following criteria will be eligible for home fees status and student financial support in Further Education and Higher Education:

Ordinarily resident in the UK for three years prior to the relevant date;
Ordinarily resident in Scotland on the relevant date; and
Granted a form of leave to enter or remain in the UK, where that leave has not expired.

As the British National (Overseas) visa would be considered a form of leave to enter or remain in the UK, a student holding this visa would be eligible for support in the event that they satisfy the remaining criteria.

Question reference: S6W-18185

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to address the reported 84% increase in the number of Scottish applicants refused a place at Scottish universities since 2006.

The 84% quoted by the journalist is not correct. UCAS data is not comparable back to 2006 due to changes in the main UCAS cycle including the introduction of Nursing in 2010 and Teacher Training in 2015. As such, comparisons are only appropriate between 2015 and 2022.

For comparable data, between 2015 and 2022, there has been an 8% increase in Scottish domiciled applicants accepted to Scottish providers. The number of unplaced applicants over the same time period has decreased from 17,155 to 13,930, a 19% decrease.

There could be multiple reasons for applicants not securing a place. They might have accepted a place at a provider in the rest of the UK, or a Higher Education course at a Scottish College or decided to pursue a Graduate or Modern Apprenticeship, neither of which go through UCAS.

Question reference: S6W-18227

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that at least 11 sites that have specially protected status, including Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Ramsar sites and Special Protection Areas, received an intake of sewage overflow in 2022-23, what discussions it has had with Scottish Water on this matter, and what steps are being taken to prevent sewage from entering and damaging protected areas.

Question reference: S6W-18127

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) red squirrels were killed and (b) red squirrel dreys were disturbed during the breeding season as a result of commercial forestry operations, in each year since derogated licensing provisions were granted by NatureScot to Forestry and Land Scotland.

There are no records of adult squirrels being killed by forest operations on Scotland's national forests and land.

The estimated number of squirrels disturbed during the breeding season by forest operations on Scotland's national forests and land is as follows:

Year	Estimated No. of Squirrels Disturbed	As a % of the Total Squirrel Population Within LMP's
FY 17-18	280	2.34%
FY 18-19	278	2.41%
2020	690	2.79%
2021	472	2.18%
2022	303	2.94%

Note I: From April 2020 onwards, reporting was done on a calendar-year basis.

Note II: Squirrel numbers are calculated by multiplying published average squirrel densities per tree species by the respective areas of each tree species.

Note III: LMP is an acronym for Land Managemt Plan.

Parliament dissolved ahead of election

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