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-02702

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what support it offers to local authorities to help reduce the number of people on social housing waiting lists.

Question reference: S6W-22351

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 1 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill will be reintroduced to the Scottish Parliament at reconsideration stage.

I moved a motion for Scottish Parliament to reconsider the United Nations Convention on the Rights Of the Child (Incorporation)(Scotland) Bill on 14 September 2023, which was passed unanimously by Parliament. The amendments to the Bill were formally lodged with Parliament on 18 September and the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee is currently taking evidence on the amendments. It is for Parliament to set the date for the Reconsideration debate which it is hoped will be before the end of the year.

Question reference: S6W-22043

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to include dementia as a key priority area in the next Women’s Health Plan, in light of recent data from the National Records of Scotland showing that dementia is the leading cause of death for women in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-21759

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 27 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many antisocial behaviour orders have been issued to people by Police Scotland in relation to shoplifting in 2023 to date.

Police Scotland do not have the legal powers to directly issue antisocial behaviour orders. Local authorities and registered social landlords, in consultation with the police, can apply to the sheriff court for an order where there is evidence that a person (aged at least 12 years) has behaved in an antisocial manner and that an order is necessary for the protection of persons from further antisocial behaviour. There is also the power for a court to make an ASBO on conviction in the criminal court as part of a sentence.

Question reference: S6W-21412

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many people were employed on a secondment to the Scottish Government that was governed by a service level agreement in (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23.

Question reference: S6W-21407

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether service level agreements offer adequate employment protection for people on a secondment that is governed by one within the NHS and civil service.

Service Level Agreements (SLA) with other public bodies are a commonly used and effective way to procure specialist advisory services for a defined period. Underpinned in Scottish Procurement law by the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 Regulation 13, the SLA approach is used to deliver a specific service through an individuals’ existing specialist skills and experience and so are commonly used across Health and Social Care Directorates (HSCD) to bring in the specialist, clinical knowledge and experience to enhance our vital services.

An SLA is not, therefore, an employment arrangement as the individuals’ employment contract arrangements remain with their employer. In the case of those individuals brought into HSCD, the service level agreement is between the Scottish Government and the relevant NHS Scotland Board.

Question reference: S6W-21411

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been employed on a secondment to the Scottish Government that is governed by a service level agreement and subsequently returned to their substantive post in the last five years.

The Scottish Government holds only relevant information on Service Level Agreements, such as the names of the relevant individuals and organisations to which they belong, providing start and end dates for each Agreement. Whilst we cannot provide a complete picture of all Agreements that have been ended in the past 5 years, our records have indicated however, that from April 2022 to October 2023, 71 Service Level Agreements ended with each of the specialist advisors returning to their respective NHS Scotland health board.

Question reference: S6W-21409

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many people are currently on a secondment, to the Scottish Government from all NHS boards, that is governed by a service level agreement.

Question reference: S6W-21408

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many people are currently on a secondment, to the Scottish Government from NHS Ayrshire and Arran, that is governed by a service level agreement.

Question reference: S6W-21854

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 25 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding for mental health services has been allocated to prevention in each financial year since 2021-22.

Funding for mental health services is drawn from the overall funds allocated to NHS Scotland by the Scottish Government. The latest available data from the Public Health Scotland Scottish Health Service Costs shows that for 2021-22 total expenditure by NHS Scotland on mental health was £1.299 billion. The figures for 2022-2023 are yet to be published.

As part of the block funding provided to NHS Boards by the Scottish Government, NHS Boards make operational decisions on how to deploy spend, in a way which best meets local needs. The detail of this is not held by the Scottish Government.

Prevention and early intervention remain a priority for the Scottish Government.

We have placed a stronger focus on preventing mental health issues and tackling the underlying causes and inequalities through our recently published Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy. The provision of advice and support will continue to be an important part of our approach.

We continue to undertake a range of preventative and early intervention mental health work, key examples include:

We have invested a total of £51m since 2021 in our Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults, with approximately 3,300 grants made to local projects across Scotland in the first two years alone.
We have allocated a total of £45m since 2021-22 for local authorities to provide over 300 community mental health and wellbeing supports and services for children, young people and their families.
We published an ambitious Suicide Prevention Strategy and Action Plan with COSLA in 2022, with the vision of reducing suicide deaths and tackling the inequalities which contribute to suicide. The strategy is supported by record funding to double the annual suicide prevention budget to £2.8m by 2026 and we are well on track to achieving this target.
Since 2016, we have invested over £21m in our world-leading Distress Brief Intervention (DBI) programme, which offers timely, compassionate support to people in distress who come into contact with frontline services. Over 50,000 people have already been referred for DBI support. We are on track to have DBI available in all NHS Board areas by March 2024.

Financial Year	Total SLAs
2021-22	138
2022-23	200