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-22685

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 20 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of Islamophobia Awareness Month 2023, what action it is taking to support Police Scotland in recognising and tackling Islamophobic abuse (a) in person and (b) online.

Islamophobia Awareness Month (IAM) shines a light on the continuing presence of Islamophobia in our society, and the impact that anti-Muslim hatred can have.

The Scottish Government is taking action to implement our new Hate Crime Strategy for tackling all forms of hate crime, including Islamophobic hate crime. The strategy was developed in partnership with a range of organisations who have expertise in tackling hatred and prejudice, including Police Scotland who are members of our Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group.

Our Hate Crime Strategy Delivery Plan, published 20 November, outlines our priorities for tackling hate crime until 2026. The delivery plan sets out our action in relation to the strategy’s commitments, including support for victims and reporting, improving data and evidence on hate crime and developing effective approaches to prevention. It will also support implementation of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021.

Whilst regulation of internet services is reserved to the UK Government, we will consider the impacts of online hate crime, recognising the need to continuously improve and adapt to align with changes online. We want to ensure people – including children and young people – know how to keep safe online, including on social media.

We will continue to engage with the UK Government as they implement the Online Safety Act.

Question reference: S6W-22280

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 14 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what funding is allocated to craft and making opportunities in schools to ensure that every child and young person has the opportunity to engage with 10 hours of these activities as part of their learning.

Core funding to support the delivery of school-age education, including the technologies curriculum (which includes craft and making), is provided via the block grant to local authorities. In addition, the Scottish Government supports the removal of core curriculum charges for all primary and secondary pupils. The Government has committed £8 million to this policy in this financial year, helping to ensure that families do not have to meet the costs of resources and materials for practical lessons, including for all art materials.

Curriculum for Excellence provides a broad framework within which schools can deliver teaching and learning which best meets the needs of their pupils, and therefore there are no plans to specify time allocations on craft making. The Government recognises the significance of learning craft skills as part of the wider technologies curriculum, with “craft, design, engineering and graphics” referenced as one of six key “organisers” in the technologies Experience and Outcomes.

Question reference: S6W-22558

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 14 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that Social Security Scotland is collecting supporting information before making a decision about a claimant's application, in order to take the onus off the claimant.

Social Security Scotland uses supporting information to assist in the decision making process for Adult Disability Payment and Child Disability Payment. It assists case managers in considering how people are impacted by their conditions or disabilities to inform decisions about the support they are entitled to. Social Security Scotland are committed to ensuring people applying for disability assistance are helped to provide supporting information, which can include obtaining it on their behalf. Ensuring time is taken to collect the information required to get decisions right first time is a fundamental part of delivering a social security system that treats people with dignity, fairness and respect.

Question reference: S6W-22241

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 13 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the (a) launch date for and (b) scope of the independent review of Adult Disability Payment.

The process of recruiting a Chair for the independent review is underway and an advert is currently live.

The following matters are within the scope of the review:

the activities and descriptors that determine entitlement to Adult Disability Payment, including how these apply to disabled people with fluctuating conditions
people’s experiences of applying for, receiving or challenging a decision about Adult Disability Payment or undergoing a review (including unsuccessful applicants)
consultations process and Adult Disability Payment-specific guidance for practitioners and decision-making guidance to ensure a rights-based model of social security is being applied
considering initial priorities capable of early action that do not require changes to the application, decision-making or service delivery, where those changes offer value, are deliverable and useful regardless of any longer-term changes.

Question reference: S6W-22242

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what specific forms of consultation will be used during the independent review of Adult Disability Payment.

Question reference: S6O-02734

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to help schools to support children who wish to pursue a career in the culture and arts sector.

Question reference: S6W-22462

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 8 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the effectiveness of Auditory Verbal therapy in improving outcomes for deaf children whose families want them to learn spoken language.

NHS Health Boards and local authorities are responsible for the provision of, and funding for, services for deaf children. This includes the provision of specific therapeutic approaches.

The Scottish Government funds the Scottish Sensory Centre and CALL Scotland to provide advice and training to school staff on support, including the use of assistive technology, for children and young people with specific communication and sensory needs.

Question reference: S6W-22463

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 8 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that there are specialist practitioners, including (a) Auditory Verbal therapists, (b) BSL teachers and (c) teachers of the deaf, to enable more deaf children to have an equal start at school and the same opportunities in life as their hearing peers.

The teaching standards set by the General Teaching Council for Scotland require teachers to be able to identify and respond appropriately to pupils with difficulties in or barriers to learning. Initial Teacher Educations supports student teachers to be able to support the child in question themselves or to seek specialised information and specialised support if necessary. Scottish Ministers have recently outlined in our Programme for Government 2023-24 our commitment to work with teachers to provide additional professional learning opportunities while seeking to build on the Additional Support for Learning Action Plan.

In 2022-23, the Scottish Government provided over £500,000 to voluntary sector organisations to support children and young people with additional support needs, including sensory loss. This includes funding to the Scottish Sensory Centre to support the training of school staff to provide effective support to Deaf children and young people.

Question reference: S6T-01624

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking following Reform Scotland’s recent report, NHS 2048: Future-proofing Scotland’s Health and Social Care, which found that 11 NHS boards have seen waiting times for hip operations at least double from the point of decision since 2019.

Question reference: S6O-02681

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the rural affairs secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding the development of rural skills to help deliver its commitments in relation to peatland restoration in the Programme for Government 2023-24.