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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 44183 questions Show Answers

Order by |

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.

Question reference: S6W-08297

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 29 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-07060 by Shona Robison on 17 March 2022, what the key stages are of assessment, and how many properties are at each stage of assessment.

Single Building Assessment applicants are supported through the process to complete the application form and commission professional services ahead of receiving the final survey report. 15 pilot blocks are within the Application Phase. 10 pilot blocks are within the Delivery Phase. One additional block is existing within the new approach where we direct commission those professional services on behalf of a building.

Question reference: S6W-08301

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 measures are being taken to ensure that visitors to parks and other areas for outdoor recreation are aware of the risk of Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases.

Question reference: S6W-08296

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 29 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many quotes single building assessment participants are required to obtain and submit to the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S6W-08249

Asked by: Bob Doris, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the current average length of waiting time is for patients to receive (a) cataract, (b) knee and (c) hip surgery, broken down by NHS board.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) uses the national waiting times warehouse to collect electronic patient records covering the waits that patients experience waiting for treatment as an inpatient or day case under the Treatment Time Guarantee. This data source can be used routinely to identify the specialty of treatment. However, although the records are designed to collect coded information on the procedure that is planned for the patient, this information is often either incomplete, lacking in essential detail and/or its accuracy cannot be assured. In addition, for patients who have completed their wait, the procedure(s) that was planned may not always reflect that actually performed after they were admitted for treatment. The latter is not captured through the warehouse. Consequently, PHS is not currently able to report accurately on waiting times to this level of detail. More detailed information on the procedure(s) that is planned or undertaken for a patient will be held locally by NHS Boards.

Statistics relating to the waits patients experience for inpatient or day case treatment at specialty level are published up to 31 December 2021 and can be found using the link below:

https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/11657/ipdc_feb22.xlsx .

Question reference: S6W-08260

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 12 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-05015 by Màiri McAllan on 7 January 2022, what assessment it has made of the average cost per farm of upgrading slurry storage.