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-00755

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 February 2022

To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government is working with local authorities to reduce air pollution.

Question reference: S6F-00752

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 31 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 February 2022

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government will give a commitment to keep ferry services in public ownership.

Question reference: S6F-00742

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 February 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-00743

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 31 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 February 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-05715

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 31 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle incidents of hare coursing across the Mid Scotland and Fife region.

Operation Wingspan, a Police Scotland led partnership operation which ran from October 2020 – October 2021, was a year-long commitment to raising awareness of wildlife crime priorities, including hare coursing. Police Scotland also contributed to Operation Galileo in 2021, a UK wide hare coursing operation.

In the summer and autumn months of 2021, Police Scotland wildlife crime operations focused on hare coursing and poaching. This included a social media campaign, work with key stakeholders and awareness raising with local police stations.

Police Scotland is providing relevant training to 60 existing police officers which will enable them to undertake Wildlife Crime Officer duties on a part-time basis, ancillary to their core role.

A number of actions were taken in the Mid Scotland and Fife region including information on hare coursing being distributed to the farming community encouraging members to report incidents of hare coursing and advising them how to note key evidence in a safe manner. Wildlife crime officers and roads policing officers also conducted intelligence-led stops of vehicles and proactive patrols of hare coursing hot spots.

Question reference: S6W-05381

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out of public transport use of under-22s, and whether it plans to extend the free bus travel scheme for under-22s to subway and tram networks.

Transport Scotland has committed to an evaluation of the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme following the first full year of operation. The evaluation will assess the short and medium outcomes and the long term impact of the scheme by comparing conditions at different stages.

Baseline data collection of public transport usage is now underway, including an online survey with children, young people and parents. This will assess travel behaviour attitudes and perceptions of travel prior to the scheme starting on 31 January 2022.

We currently have no plans to extend the statutory scheme beyond the existing bus travel provisions.

Question reference: S6W-05548

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether all over-65-year-olds routinely have their heart checked with a stethoscope.

Question reference: S6W-05551

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce the waiting time for an echocardiogram to six weeks, in light of European standards reportedly stating that asymptomatic patients must be referred for an echocardiogram within this timescale.

The Heart Disease Action Plan recognises the need to ensure timely and equitable access to diagnostics, including echocardiography.

As set out within the plan, we are working to address key workforce issues relating to cardiac physiology. Cardiac Physiologists are healthcare professionals who are vital to the delivery of many aspects of cardiac care, including the provision of echocardiography.

Furthermore, we have also recently provided funding for the delivery of a pilot project to improve access to echocardiography. The learning from this will support us in understanding how best to further support improvement across Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-05512

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) service levels and (b) types of train sets ScotRail is required to run between Aberdeen and the central belt under the current franchise agreement, and whether this will change following it coming under direct state control from March 2022.

Service levels and the rolling stock used have been designed to match changing demand during the pandemic period, while at the same time considering efficiency of resourcing and overall affordability, for which Abellio ScotRail is responsible. Decisions on service levels are then considered at Scotland’s Railway Task Force which has met throughout the pandemic.

We expect ScotRail, from 1 April 2022, to continue to operate service levels and train capacity adjusted to reflect and encourage growing levels of demand as wider Covid restrictions are eased.

Question reference: S6W-05438

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that NHS England is repurposing hotels as temporary care facilities in order to relieve pressure on hospital beds and social care, whether it plans to implement similar measures in Scotland.

This is an option that the Scottish Government has considered in the past, but it was agreed that hotels were not suitable places to provide health and social care. For a facility to operate as a care home in Scotland, it must be registered with the Care Inspectorate. When registering a service, the Care Inspectorate will consider if the premises in which the proposed service will be provided is fit to be used for the intended purpose. In the case of using hotel rooms as care homes, it is likely the case that such premises would not be suitable to meet people's needs in a person centred way. We recently issued £40m for interim care to make use of spare capacity in settings that are able to provide care in this way

We also aim to create additional capacity in the community by scaling up the provision of Hospital at Home services and £500,000 has been specifically invested to support the creation of a Covid remote monitoring pathway which will support people to stay safe at home through the provision of remote monitoring kits and dedicated support teams.