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

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Question reference: S6O-02367

Asked by: Stephanie Callaghan, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 June 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what funding has been allocated in the Scottish Budget 2023-24 to tackle child poverty.

Question reference: S6W-18362

Asked by: Stephanie Callaghan, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many Adult Disability Payment Change of Circumstances forms have been submitted in each month since January 2023, and, of these, what the (a) longest, (b) average and (c) median processing time was for these unscheduled reviews of Adult Disability Payment.

Social Security Scotland does not currently produce information relating to Change of Circumstances but we do routinely publish information about Adult Disability Payment, including processing times of new applications.

These statistics were most recently published in March 2023, covering up to end January 2023, and are available at:

Social Security Scotland - Social Security Scotland statistics: publications

The next publication, covering up to end April 2023, will be published on 13 June.

Social Security Scotland is committed to giving clients timely decisions, while allowing sufficient time to ensure the necessary information is in place to get decisions right the first time. Clients can advise us of a change of circumstance for a number of reasons, and if the change is relevant to their entitlement, a review would be carried out. Every case is individual and processing times will vary.

Question reference: S6O-02304

Asked by: Stephanie Callaghan, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide an update on any recent engagement with health and social care ministers from the other UK administrations regarding a coordinated approach to dentistry.

Question reference: S6O-02253

Asked by: Stephanie Callaghan, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the implementation of the volunteering action plan.

Question reference: S6W-16946

Asked by: Stephanie Callaghan, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 4 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the appointment of a new Minister for Drugs and Alcohol Policy, whether it will provide an update on what plans it has to tackle the number of drug deaths in Lanarkshire, in light of reports that the area had the second-highest number of drug deaths in Scotland during the last quarter of 2022.

The Scottish Government remains committed to delivering work across Government, Parliament and beyond, to reduce drug-related deaths throughout Scotland, including Lanarkshire, and our National Mission will help achieve that. The National Mission has reviewed and learned from best practice at home and internationally and concluded that a public health approach to drugs is the most effective way forward.

A key part of that National Mission is the delivery of our Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) standards and in Lanarkshire there is an Oversight and Implementation Group which has been established to oversee the implementation of these Standards. The group meet monthly and has Pan-Lanarkshire representation, including lived experience and family representatives.

They have submitted implementation plans to the Scottish Government, are reporting monthly on their progress, and are working with the Public Health Scotland led MIST (MAT Implementation Support Team) who are supporting areas to implement the standards.

NHS Lanarkshire is one of the highest performing Board areas in Scotland with regards to low waiting times. They continue to meet and exceed the waiting times target that 90% of people referred for help with problematic drug or alcohol use will wait no longer than three weeks for specialist treatment that supports their recovery.

There is a pan-Lanarkshire response to near-fatal overdoses in place via the Scottish Ambulance Service, and they have commissioned third sector outreach organisations to further support those with problem substance use and they have also implemented peer support initiatives. In addition to this work to support people still in active addiction, they also have a strong local recovery communities network.

Question reference: S6O-02213

Asked by: Stephanie Callaghan, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it last engaged with Social Security Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-02169

Asked by: Stephanie Callaghan, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its interim goals of reaching 50% of disabled people in employment by 2023 and 60% in employment by 2030.

Question reference: S6F-02048

Asked by: Stephanie Callaghan, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 April 2023

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to Alcohol Focus Scotland’s emergency call to urgently take action to prevent further deaths and reduce harm from alcohol.

Question reference: S6O-02136

Asked by: Stephanie Callaghan, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how the Scottish Connections Framework will help to address any demographic challenges.

Question reference: S6O-02108

Asked by: Stephanie Callaghan, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the NHS Lanarkshire Annual Report of the Director of Public Health for 2021-22, which was published this March.