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-02941

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 22 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many community centres there have been in each local authority area in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S6W-02916

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 22 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-19003 by Jeane Freeman on 11 October 2018, by what date it will publish the national falls and fracture prevention strategy.

The consultation on the draft National Falls and Fractures Strategy closed on 30 September 2019. Analysis of the responses highlighted a disparate range of views, expectations and desired outcomes from a strategy including feedback that a separate strategy may not be the best mechanism to achieve improvement in this area.

The review of the strategy was subsequently delayed due to the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic. Taking into account the changed landscape, officials are currently considering the comments received, including how and where they align with the shared ambitions for our new health and social care strategy for older people.

Question reference: S6W-02745

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 22 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the Programme for Government for 2021-22, whether it can provide details regarding the Just Transition Commission's (a) chair, (b) membership and (c) remit in the new parliamentary session.

We announced the launch of the new Just Transition Commission and confirmed Professor Jim Skea as returning Chair on 15 September. Further announcements on the wider membership will be made in due course.

Our response to the previous Just Transition Commission’s report was published alongside Programme for Government and set out our ambitious agenda to achieve a fairer, greener future for all. We are determined to get this right for the people of Scotland, bringing all affected communities with us while learning from unjust transitions in our recent history.

The previous Commission called on the Scottish Government to pursue an orderly, managed transition through the creation of Just Transition Plans for high-emitting industries. In our response, we set out our approach to just transition planning across the Scottish economy and I want the new Commission to play a crucial role in this.

Our new Commission will be delivery focused. It will support (and scrutinise) the production and delivery of Scottish Government-led transition plans.

Specifically, the Commission will be tasked with:

Providing scrutiny and advice on the ongoing development of Scotland’s Just Transition Plans, including the application of the planning framework, as they are developed;
Advising on the most suitable approaches to monitoring and evaluation;
Supporting the Scottish Government’s ambition to be a leader in the international community and to take decisions informed by international best practice;
Meaningful engagement with those most likely to be impacted by the transition; hearing from a broad range of representative voices to help shape just transition planning in Scotland;
Publishing an annual report to reflect on Scotland’s progress.

Question reference: S6W-03203

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-00764

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government by what date secure COVID-19 vaccination status documents will be ready for use by people travelling from Scotland to Norway.

Question reference: S6W-02856

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to reported calls for a national strategy to meet the needs of people who self-harm.

The Scottish Government is actively working with partners and people with lived experience to develop Scotland’s approach to self-harm; this is a commitment in the Mental Health Transition and Recovery plan.

In developing our approach we are considering how best to deliver our objective to ensure compassionate, trauma informed responses to people in distress who self-harm, whilst also reducing stigma.

Our initial work on self-harm included commissioning Samaritans Scotland to undertake research, which resulted in the publication of ‘Hidden too long: uncovering self-harm in Scotland’ ( https://media.samaritans.org/documents/HiddenTooLong_uncoveringself-harminScotland.pdf ). In line with that research, we have continued to engage with partners and people with lived experience to better understand the prevalence and nature of self-harm. Through the Mental Health Recovery and Renewal fund, work is being commissioned to pilot self-harm support services, develop a website to support people who self-harm and design a programme of learning for professionals. Crucially, this research, engagement and evaluation from pilots will inform our policy approach.

Question reference: S6W-02805

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many overseas offices it has, broken down by location; what the annual running cost is for each office, including (a) accommodation and (b) staffing costs, and how many staff each office employs.

The following table details staff headcount including the current annual budget allocation for the Scottish Government’s overseas offices, including salary costings, upkeep, day-today running and hospitality costs.

OFFICE	BUDGET FOR (2021-22)	STAFF HEADCOUNT
Beijing, China	550,000	4
Berlin, Germany	555,000	3
Brussels, Belgium	2,310,000	17
Dublin, Ireland	596,000	3
London, England	2,197,000	14
Ottawa, Canada	570,000	4
Paris, France	556,000	3
Washington DC, United States	805,000	4

Question reference: S6W-02869

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government which paedologists or specialists in children's behaviour it consulted in advance of its LGBT inclusivity guidance being provided to schools.

A list of organisations which provided advice or information as part of the development of the guidance is contained within ‘ Supporting transgender young people in schools: guidance for Scottish schools’ . They include:

Association of Directors of Education Scotland
Children in Scotland
Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA)
Education Scotland
Engender
LGBT Youth Scotland
National Parent Forum of Scotland
Rape Crisis Scotland
Sportscotland
Stonewall Scotland
Scottish Transgender Alliance

Question reference: S6W-02838

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle nuisance calls.

The regulation of nuisance calls and texts is reserved to the UK Government, the Scottish Government is committed to doing all it can to tackle this issue – and the scams that can underpin them – using our devolved powers.

Many of the proposed actions from the Nuisance Call Commission 2017 have been progressed and delivered. However, we recognise that further work needs to be done. That is why on 19 March 2021 we published Scotland’s Scams Prevention, Awareness & Enforcement Strategy 2021-24.

The strategy introduces a new framework for tackling scams, with an emphasis on: disrupting scams at source; building capacity, skills and resilience amongst individuals to avoid the risk that scams pose; streamlining the reporting and advice landscape so that people can access the right support at the right time to meet their needs; and improving coordination and intelligence sharing between frontline advice providers, enforcement bodies and wider advocacy organisations.

A key part of this work is supporting technological innovation. Since 2017, we have been providing funding to Trading Standards Scotland for the purchase and roll out of domestic call blocker devices to the homes of individuals in some of the most vulnerable circumstances in Scotland. A recent report on the effectiveness of these call blockers by Trading Standards Scotland indicated that the devices have blocked 779,633 calls and an estimated 1,265 scams have been prevented.

A new Strategic Partnership was established on 12 August to oversee delivery of the strategy, including development of a robust monitoring framework to assess impacts over time. A progress update report will be produced by the end of 2022-23.

Question reference: S6W-02831

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what level of funding it estimates it will commit to its Carbon Neutral Islands project.