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-00181

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 8 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports of people receiving letters saying they have not attended their COVID-19 vaccine appointment after receiving their first dose, and whether it can confirm that (a) medical records will not be affected and (b) people will still be invited for their second dose of the vaccine.

I’m sure you can appreciate the vaccination program has been delivered at a pace and scale we have never experienced before and as such this is one of the largest and most complicated logistical exercises ever undertaken in peacetime. Over 3,267,290 people have received the first dose and 2,075,231 people have received the second dose of the Covid vaccination in the period 8 December to 7:30 am Tuesday 01 June. This is over 71% of our eligible population for the first dose and 45% for second doses.

With any operation of such scale, it is regrettable the administrative errors have occurred.

In a small number of cases across different health boards, some people have received letters incorrectly saying that they had not attended their first vaccination appointment, when they had.

If someone has received one of these letters, and they have had their 1st dose vaccination – they should phone the national phone line on 0800 030 8013 – to help us make sure your central record is up to date and ensure your 2nd appointment is provided for you. We apologise for the inconvenience or confusion that this has caused.

Question reference: S6W-00142

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 8 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether incremental increases to the Scottish Child Payment over the current parliamentary session will be sufficient to support families, and by what date the payment will have doubled from its current value.

Question reference: S6W-00241

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 8 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on by what date all frontline care staff will have received the £500 bonus announced on November 30, 2020.

We are fully committed to paying the payments to eligible social care workers as quickly as possible. Local authorities have confirmed that the majority of payments were made to local authority employed social care workers by the end of April with the remainder of payments being made in May. All Local Authorities have confirmed that payments to third and independent social care providers have been completed. Our administration partner, Scotland Excel, are working to confirm with social care providers that payments have been made to staff.

We are currently working with key delivery partners to agree a payment process to make payments to Personal Assistants as quickly as possible.

Question reference: S6W-00143

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 8 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it anticipates that Disability Assistance will commence by early 2022, and whether it will update the Parliament on any reasons for a delay to its implementation in the event there is one.

As the Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People set out to Parliament in the previous term, we will introduce the first Scottish Disability Assistance this year. As set out in regulations, we will commence new applications for Child Disability Payment from 26 July 2021 in Dundee City, Perth and Kinross, and the Western Isles. This will be followed by a full national roll-out for new applications from 22 November 2021.

New applications for Adult Disability Payment will follow, with a pilot in spring 2022 and full national roll-out in summer 2022. Child Winter Heating Assistance, the first of our disability benefits, was introduced 2020. We will continue to keep Parliament updated on our plans.

Question reference: S6W-00215

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 8 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that NHS estates can reduce the viral load of COVID-19 in the ambient air of poorly ventilated spaces, and what plans it has to undertake widescale deployment of professional high-efficiency particulate air purifiers to reduce the risk of infection.

Scottish Healthcare Technical Memorandum (SHTM) 03-01 provides information relating to legal requirements, design implications, maintenance and operation of general and specialised ventilation in all types of healthcare premises. This has been supplemented with specific UK-wide guidance on ventilation and COVID-19, particularly for aerosol generating procedures. Patients should not be treated in poorly ventilated areas. There are currently no plans to implement the use of high-efficiency particulate air purifiers across the NHS estate.

Question reference: S6W-00146

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 8 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the private voluntary independent nursery sector in light of ongoing recruitment issues such as the closure of ABC Nursery in Ecclefechan after 30 years.

The Scottish Government has taken a range of actions to support the private voluntary independent nursery sector throughout the 1140 hours early learning and childcare expansion programme, including to support the recruitment of highly qualified childcare staff.

Across all college, university and apprenticeship training routes a total of 13,828 individual training programmes have been undertaken since 2016. That includes:

An additional 3,650 places on HNC level courses and 1,334 degree level courses;
2,050 Foundation Apprenticeship starts since 2016; and
6,764 Modern Apprenticeship starts since 2016.

We have also invested around £11 million since 2017-18 to increase the volume of practitioners undertaking the BA Childhood Practice manager qualification.

Since 2017, the Scottish Government has delivered a national recruitment campaign to attract new recruits into all parts of the childcare sector, including the private and third sectors. We have provided funding to enable private and third sector childcare providers to advertise posts for free on the Myjobscotland site, alongside local authority vacancies.

The payment of sustainable rates to providers in the private and third sector for the delivery of funded early learning and childcare is a key aspect of Funding Follows the Child. To enable this the current multi-year funding package agreed between the Scottish Government and COSLA, which covers the period until the end of the 2021-22 financial year, ensures that these providers receive sustainable rates that are set at a level which enables all childcare workers delivering the funded entitlement to be paid at least the real Living Wage.

In addition, in the past year the Scottish Government has made more than £22 million of dedicated financial support available to private and third sector day care of children services in response to the pandemic.

To ensure we understand the current challenges the sector is experiencing, we will closely analyse the findings on workforce from a Financial Sustainability Health Check survey currently in progress, and engage with the sectoral representative bodies to explore further action which can be taken to grow and maintain a diverse and high quality workforce which meets the needs of children and families.

Question reference: S6F-00095

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 07 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 June 2021

To ask the First Minister, in light of the growth in short-term teaching contracts, how many of the 3,500 teaching and classroom assistant posts that the Scottish Government has committed to creating will be given permanent contracts.

Question reference: S6F-00091

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 07 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 June 2021

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to address the reported backlog of NHS dental appointments for children and young people.

Question reference: S6F-00084

Asked by: Gillian Mackay, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 June 2021

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government is doing to improve trans and LGBT+ healthcare.

Question reference: S6F-00078

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 June 2021

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to reports that, to meet the SQA quality assurance processes, local authorities are validating teachers’ estimated grades using a school’s prior attainment data.