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-08252

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to provide patient support packages to people on waiting lists for orthopaedic surgery.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all people living in Scotland with long-term conditions, including those waiting for orthopaedic surgery, are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put the person at the centre of their care. Information, including self-help, is available on NHS inform, and individual Health Boards are offering helpful advice to patients on topics such as weight loss, exercise and financial support.

Additionally, the Scottish Government will continue to engage with organisations such as Versus Arthritis regarding how best to jointly support patients living with orthopaedic conditions. This will be an ongoing process requiring essential collaboration with patients, carers, and service providers, including the third sector and clinicians.

Question reference: S6W-08270

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what support is being offered to people who are experiencing long-term side effects from the COVID-19 vaccine.

Question reference: S6W-08208

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether the decision to put in place a recruitment freeze in its health and social care directorate was made by the Chief Executive of NHS Scotland and Director-General Health and Social Care.

The Chief Executive of NHS Scotland and Director-General Health and Social Care put in place a temporary pause on filling vacancies not currently advertised within Health and Social Care Directorates from 4 April 2022. Over the last two years, the Health and Social Care directorates have expanded to respond to the pandemic. The pause has been put in place for a short period to recognise the changing nature of the response now needed from the Portfolio. It allows time to consider the future size, shape and services that need to be delivered and how staff can be supported appropriately. The recruitment pause is designed to ensure that any planned activity is aligned to the organisation’s longer term workforce plan.

Question reference: S6W-08199

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many babies with disabilities have been born in Scotland to mothers who used sodium valproate during pregnancy in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S6W-08057

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in respect of the proposed Deposit Return Scheme, whether it has any plans to carry out another Gateway Review to consider the current economic uncertainty that is facing businesses.

Question reference: S6W-07976

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the reported statement that the number of delayed discharges is back to pre-pandemic levels, whether it will provide details of the figures on which this is based.

Weekly management information published as part of the Coronavirus (Covid-19): Trends in Daily Data publication ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-trends-in-daily-data/ ) shows that delays first exceeded pre-pandemic levels (1,640 delays in January 2020) on 19 January 2020, with 1,664 delays recorded. Delays remained above 1,640 for the next two weeks before reducing again to pre-pandemic levels between 9 February and 23 March.

The whole health and social care system is under severe pressure and staff continue to work tirelessly to provide safe care. However, we continue to see extreme pressures across the whole health and social care system, with more people coming through hospitals who need high levels of care and support to go home, alongside high levels of unmet need in the community.

To address this significant additional funding has been allocated to support social care, including £62m to enhance care at home capacity; £48m to increase the hourly rate of pay; £40m to provide interim care arrangements; and £20m to enhance multi-disciplinary teams. Funding is also being used to rapidly scale up Hospital at Home services, which aim to reduce acute admissions and support timely discharge.

Question reference: S6W-08056

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been prosecuted for elder abuse in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-07949

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what meetings its ministers or officials had with management representatives at Glasgow Prestwick Airport between December 2019 and March 2022 in relation to the nationalisation of Scotland’s railways, and whether any conclusions or lessons from these meetings will be published.

Prestwick Airport Station is owned by Prestwick Airport therefore it is not operated by ScotRail albeit passenger services do call there. Therefore, while Ministers and aviation officials routinely engage with representatives of Glasgow Prestwick Airport, discussions did not centre on ScotRail coming into public sector control at any point, including the period December 2019 and March 2022.

During this timeframe there was, however, appropriate consideration by Transport Scotland and ScotRail in the context of the transition from Abellio ScotRail to ScotRail Trains Ltd.

Question reference: S6W-08305

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 29 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of a study in the medical journal, Health Affairs, stating that, in the United States, there were 10% fewer COVID-19-related deaths in unionised, compared with non-unionised, care homes, whether there are similar comparative figures available for Scotland, and, if not, whether it will commit to compiling them.

Question reference: S6W-08302

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether suitable signage in parks and other outdoor recreational areas should be required to include information about the appropriate steps that a visitor can take to prevent tick bites, how to identify Lyme disease, and where to seek treatment.