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-30411

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 31 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what support is available for the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow, in light of the reported announcement that it will close between December 2024 and March 2025.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with the culture sector to do everything within our powers and resources to help those most affected by current economic challenges.

Creative Scotland (CS), the public body that supports the arts, screen and creative industries in Scotland, continues to have regular discussions with Glasgow Life and the Centre for Contemporary Arts Board members and staff. CS have offered them flexibility in the use of existing regular funding they receive, together with support for external expertise to inform their future operating model when they reopen.

Question reference: S6W-30474

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 31 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had regarding ordering a new vessel to serve the Sound of Harris ferry route, particularly during peak periods, in light of the reported demands on the current service, which is restricted by tides and daylight hours.

The updated Vessels and Ports Plan was published on 1 February 2024 as part of the Islands Connectivity Plan. This includes a plan to replace the current Sound of Harris vessel.

CMAL has commenced work on phase two of the Small Vessel Replacement Programme which includes a replacement vessel to serve the Sound of Harris route. Design work from phase one will be expanded upon with lessons learned applied to phase two. CMAL will shortly launch a procurement process to appoint a naval architect consultant to develop the concept design.

Question reference: S6W-30451

Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 31 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much it estimates that it will receive in receipts from the UK Apprenticeship Levy in (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26.

Question reference: S6W-30659

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 October 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 31 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government by what means and metrics it assesses its own performance in delivering primary care services.

Scottish Ministers are responsible for securing the provision of general medical, general dental and general ophthalmic services, and of pharmaceutical services.

Health Boards have a duty to provide those services in accordance with regulations.

Each set of regulations makes its own requirements of the contractors providing various primary care services. General Medical Services contractors, for example, must respond to undifferentiated presentations; patients who are ill or believe themselves to be ill and require diagnosis. This is necessarily a matter of judgement and the regulations do not set targets or particular goals for GP practices. By comparison, routine dental and ophthalmic examinations take place at intervals set by the Scottish Government in accordance with clinical best practice guidelines.

Question reference: S6W-30361

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 31 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assumptions it made on public sector pay when setting the 2024-25 Budget.

The Scottish Government places the upmost importance on planning accordingly to balance its budget. We originally assumed 3% per cent for pay awards at the time of the Budget, and a 2% +1% phased multi-year approach was confirmed as part of our 2024-25 Pay Policy.

The 3% was based on a range of judgements including affordability and on known funding at the time under the previous UK Government. The UK Government’s Autumn Statement was the worst-case scenario for Scotland and caused further uncertainty about future funding for public services from UK Government.

Stabilising economic conditions were also taken into account with inflation forecast to reduce to 2%. To those who believe we should set out our pay metrics earlier, it is worth remembering the UK Government does not set out its pay policy for the public sector and does not share the workings of the Pay Review bodies with us.

Question reference: S6W-30732

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 31 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many secondary schools are currently running the Equally Safe programme.

Our Equally Safe strategy for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls (VAWG) emphasises the importance of challenging the underpinning attitudes which enable such violence to take place.

Our Equally Safe at School (ESAS) project, developed by Rape Crisis Scotland and Zero Tolerance, applies a whole school approach to inequality and gender-based violence in schools. Rape Crisis Scotland have reported that currently 116 schools are registered with an ESAS account.

The Scottish Government also funds and supports other education-based programmes and initiatives aimed at tackling violence against women and girls and the attitudes which perpetuate it such as Mentors in Violence peer education programme, the preventing and responding to gender based violence: a whole school framework, Gender Equality Taskforce in Education and Learning and Rape Crisis Scotland’s national sexual violence programme for secondary schools.

Question reference: S6W-30733

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 31 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress of the research that it commissioned on the experience of Gypsy/Travellers in Scotland during the so-called Tinker Experiment, which was originally due to be completed in September 2024.

Question reference: S6W-30693

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 October 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 31 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that the wait time for urgent neurology referrals at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow is now 50 weeks.

We know that some people are waiting too long for treatment, and we remain determined to provide the necessary support to drive improvements in waiting times. Across NHS Scotland, patients who require urgent care continue to be prioritised across services.

NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde have confirmed the average waiting time for an urgent neurology new outpatient appointment at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) is currently 20 weeks, however there are a small number of patients whose waiting time will be markedly longer than average due to an upgrade of their status from routine to urgent.

The Board have recruited additional consultants to the service which will deliver additional capacity at the QEUH site for general Neurology waits. They have also implemented Patient Focused Booking (PFB) into Neurology services to ensure optimum use of outpatient capacity and additional headache slots are being supported by GPs with special interest (GPSI), helping to free-up the consultant team to focus on general neurology longest waits.

More widely, NHS Scotland’s Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) has developed a strong clinically-led Specialty Delivery Groups (SDG) for Neurology which promotes multidisciplinary team working, and supports local adoption of service improvement programmes. The Neurology SDG has strong links with the National Advisory Committee for Neurological Conditions and includes third sector representation. The group has made considerable progress implementing Active Clinical Referral Triage (ACRT) pathways and Discharge Patient Initiated Review (PIR), helping to free-up capacity across NHS Scotland and support sustainable solutions for the future.

Question reference: S6W-30656

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 31 October 2024

To ask the Scottish Government which rate reliefs could potentially be in the scope of any decision to make eligibility for business rates reliefs conditional on payment of the real Living Wage, as set out in its Fair Work Action Plan, and how may relief recipients might be affected.

Question reference: S6O-03904

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to local authorities to help secure the future of community libraries.