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-19803

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much money was allocated to the Pain Management Task Force and the associated Short Life Working Groups in the 2023-23 financial year, and how much has been allocated for 2023-24 financial year.

No funding has been specifically allocated to the Pain Management Task Force and associated Short Life Working Groups for either the 2022-23 financial year or the 2023-24 financial year.

The Pain Management Task Force is comprised of Scottish Government employees and external members, including NHS employees who are on Service Level Agreements (SLA) to develop and deliver work outlined in the Framework for Pain Management Service Delivery - Implementation Plan.

There has only been one active Short Life Working Group (SLWG) so far and there were no separate costs to Scottish Government for this.

Question reference: S6W-19861

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many employers have used the Healthy Working Lives digital platform since its launch in 2022.

The Scottish Government recognises improving population health as a key priority and invests in a range of initiatives to support people with health conditions to sustain or return to work, including Healthy Working Lives (HWL). HWL is a programme delivered by Public Health Scotland (PHS) and statistics on the online platform is a matter for PHS. The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S6W-19804

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much money was allocated, in total, to establish the Pain Management Panel, including a breakdown of how much was spent on (a) marketing research, (b) social media recruitment methods and (c) final reports, also broken down by financial year.

Question reference: S6W-19822

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to prevent counselling courses provided by Fife College being withdrawn due to proposed cuts to its teaching budget, in light of the college being the only centre providing these courses in east Scotland.

Colleges are responsible for their own operational decisions, including course provision, and must adapt and respond to the current economic constraints flexibly.

The Scottish Government, despite the unprecedented fiscal challenge, has maintained college and university resource budgets at last year’s levels and I understand that Fife College will continue to offer counselling courses in Academic Year 2023-24.

Question reference: S6W-19821

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the publication of its Mental Health Strategy, whether it will provide an update on when it plans to publish a student mental health plan.

Question reference: S6W-19857

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-19056 by Fiona Hyslop on 29 June 2023, for what reason, in Strathclyde Partnership for Transport's (SPT) application for an accessibility standards exemption for the new Glasgow Subway trains, under the Rail Vehicle Accessibility (Applications for Exemption Orders) Regulations 2010, published on 6 February 2023, it reportedly states that "The first new trains are scheduled to enter passenger service January 2023 to March 2023", in light of its answer stating that "Introductory dates for the new trains into passenger service have not been set by SPT nor has SPT previously set out proposed introductory dates in reporting", and what the revised schedule is for the new trains to enter passenger service.

Introduction of the new trains into passenger service is a matter for Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) given SPT is responsible for both the Glasgow Subway modernisation programme and the operation of the Glasgow subway and is not the responsibility of the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government understands that SPT did make an application, as part of the regulatory process, for an exemption from the Department for Transport (DfT) under the Rail Vehicle Accessibility (Applications for Exemption Orders) Regulations 2010 for the headroom in the new trains which incorrectly stated the first new trains would enter passenger service January 2023 to March 2023. SPT has advised that this incorrect statement was clarified and rectified with the DfT at the time.

Testing of the new trains and development of the safety case is ongoing and the trains will not be handed over to SPT until the fault free run testing is complete, with introduction of the fleet expected to be autumn 2023 as set out in SPT’s Partnership Report on Subway Modernisation - progress update for its 23 June 2023 meeting .

Question reference: S6W-19860

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on the Healthy Working Lives online platform in each financial year since its creation.

The Scottish Government recognises improving population health as a key priority and invests in a range of initiatives to support people with health conditions to sustain or return to work, including Healthy Working Lives (HWL). HWL is a programme delivered by Public Health Scotland (PHS) and the detail of the spend on the online platform is a matter for PHS. The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S6W-19913

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-19295 by Maree Todd on 5 July 2023, whether the entire allocation for the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund was spent in the financial year 2022-23, and, if not, how much was left over.

A grant of £15 million for the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults was distributed to Third Sector Interfaces across Scotland in August 2022, to support local, grassroots community organisation. £14,975,678.28 had been distributed by the end of March 2023. Third Sector Interfaces reported a total underspend of £24,321.72 for that year.

A grant of £1,136,695 was provided to support administration costs and the capacity building efforts of Third Sector Interfaces in 2022-2023. Third sector interfaces reported a total underspend on the administration grant of £4,948.63.

Question reference: S6W-19911

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will waive the normal three-year residency requirement for home status, for people from Hong Kong who have been granted leave on the British National (Overseas) visa, to access publicly-funded student support, including free tuition, loans, bursaries and grants by the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS).

From academic year 2023-24, the Scottish Government have updated the residency criteria for home fees status and student financial support in Further Education and Higher Education. This update means we can now consider applications for tuition fees, bursaries and/or loans from students with all forms of leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom providing they meet the other eligibility tests set out in Regulations. This extension of support has seen more groups of students become eligible, including those students granted leave on the British National (Overseas) visa route.

The Scottish Government does not have any immediate plans to waive the requirement for 3 years ordinary residence in the UK for this group.

Question reference: S6W-19802

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the names of the members of the Pain Management Task Force and the relevant subsidiary Short Life Working Groups are not published, and whether it will consider (a) reviewing this decision and (b) making the membership list publicly available.

The Scottish Government is working to make information around the development and delivery of chronic pain more publicly available and we are currently reviewing the information on the Scottish Government website. We will be updating the chronic pain webpage in summer 2023 to provide information, including membership of the Pain Management Task Force and relevant working groups, on how we are developing and delivering the Pain management - service delivery framework: implementation plan - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .