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: S6O-03219

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to address any barriers to women’s participation in the creative workforce.

Question reference: S6W-25863

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 13 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government which projects that have received funding from the Coalfields Regeneration Trust the Minister for Local Government Empowerment and Planning has visited since his appointment.

Question reference: S6W-25860

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 13 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the value of the work of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust.

The Scottish Government’s Regeneration programmes work together to support resilient and sustainable communities, with communities directly involved in decisions on the future of their places. The Scottish Government values Coalfields Regeneration Trust’s (CRT’s) contribution to that approach. Since 1999, the Scottish Government has provided over £28 million in funding to CRT to invest in improving outcomes for coalfield communities.

In 2023/24 funding is being delivered within the context of the most challenging budget settlement since devolution. The Scottish Government is having to make difficult decisions while ensuring it does what is best for communities with the limited resources it has. This is impacting programmes across Government including the Empowering Communities Programme through which CRT is funded and which has been subject to a reduction in budget from 2022-23.

In addition to the dedicated funding for coalfield communities delivered through CRT, the Scottish Government also invests in wider regeneration programmes such as the Investing in Communities Fund and Regeneration Capital Grant Fund. These target our most disadvantaged and fragile communities and continue to support projects in our former coalfield communities.

Question reference: S6W-25861

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 13 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the Minister for Local Government Empowerment and Planning last met representatives from the Coalfields Regeneration Trust.

Question reference: S6W-25862

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 13 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the Minister for Local Government Empowerment and Planning will next meet representatives from the Coalfields Regeneration Trust.

Question reference: S6W-25880

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 13 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what impact its Budget will have on funding for NHS Education for Scotland.

As set out in answer S6W-25192 on 20 February 2024, the 2024-25 Scottish Budget will provide an uplift of over half a billion, bringing the budget for NHS Boards to over £14.2 billion, of which NES will receive £550.2 million. Health boards are responsible for ensuring best use of available resources to support delivery of services and strategic objectives.

NES plays a critical role in supporting the education, training and wider development of the NHS Scotland workforce, and in particular the medical workforce where target training numbers have already been confirmed for 2024-25. As part of this, the Board is actively contributing to a number of wider policy developments as set out in Programme for Government, the NHS Recovery Plan and the National workforce Strategy. The Scottish Government remains committed to delivering the National Workforce Strategy and achieving the overall vision for “A sustainable, skilled workforce with attractive career choices and fair work where all are respected and valued for the work they do”.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

Question reference: S6W-25852

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 12 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the mapping of existing breakfast provision within primary and special schools will be completed as stated by spring 2024, and on what date it anticipates that it will publish the findings.

The Scottish Government has been working with AssistFM and the Improvement Service to map breakfast provision across Scotland, the findings will be used internally to inform the policy development on national breakfast provision. The first phase of the mapping work is now complete. The second phase of the work will take place across April-May 2024 and will survey all primary and special schools in their approach to the provision of breakfast.

Question reference: S6W-25469

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 11 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made in opening up the school estate to ensure that local groups can access this resource as a community space.

Question reference: S6W-25820

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 11 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of swimming lesson provision in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools.

Schools in Scotland have the flexibility to decide on the content of their physical education lessons. The Scottish Government does not specifically evaluate the extent to which swimming lessons form a part of those decisions.

We know that some local authorities offer swimming lessons as part of their physical education classes. In other cases, schools may take into account a range of factors, including the time that is required to travel to a swimming pool, in deciding against offering swimming lessons as part of PE.

However, the Scottish Government has been working with Scottish Swimming, Education Scotland and other stakeholders to develop interventions and approaches to provide opportunities for children to become confident, competent and safer swimmers.

Question reference: S6W-25854

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 11 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what work it is doing to improve the uptake and successful return of bowel screening kits.

A report recently published by Public Health Scotland on 5 May confirmed that uptake for bowel screening continues to exceed the Healthcare Improvement Scotland standard of 60%. The Scottish Government is aware that continued work is required to improve uptake, and to make the process as straightforward as possible for individuals to complete.

Education and accessible information is one strand of this work. Both the online NHS Inform bowel screening content and the leaflets issued with bowel screening kits have been revised to respond to user feedback on clarity and accessibility. In addition, both the Scottish Government and the NHS will use Bowel Cancer Awareness Month in April to further raise awareness of the importance of bowel screening.

Increasing uptake requires supporting education efforts with a relentless focus on reducing inequalities. The Equity in Screening Strategy was published last year, with a vision for equitable access across the full screening pathway, including in the bowel screening programme. This, in combination with a new Equity in Screening Network, will help NHS Boards to find effective ways to address inequalities in uptake, and increase participation in the bowel screening programme.

Since 2017, the Scottish Government has provided £1 million funding annually to address screening inequalities. Part of this fund has been distributed to NHS Boards, allowing them to support initiatives catering to their specific populations. The remainder of the screening inequalities fund was used for national initiatives, such as the development of the Screening Intelligence Platform (ScIP). This will provide an efficient, single point of access to linkable data from all of the National Screening Programmes, including bowel screening. This will therefore help to inform and support the work of public sector bodies to increase participation in bowel screening.