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-08911

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it calculates the average water charge in (a) Scotland and (b) England that it uses for comparative purposes.

Question reference: S6W-08909

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what accounting provision Scottish Water has made for bad debt in each of the last 10 financial years.

This information is provided in Scottish Water’s Annual Report and Accounts which is published on Scottish Water’s website and laid before Parliament each year. The accounting provision Scottish Water has made for household bad debt in each of previous 10 financial years is set out in the following table.

Year Ending	£'000
March 21	26,000
March 20	17,000
March 19	18,300
March 18	17,000
March 17	16,000
March 16	12,800
March 15	19,803
March 14	26,046
March 13	27,900
March 12	24,000

Question reference: S6W-09008

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason £97 million has been removed from the Scottish Water budget in 2022-23, and then £98 million in each of the next four years, in the Resource Spending Review.

The Scottish Government Budget for 2022-23 sets out that during this financial year, the Scottish Government intends to lend £170m per annum in capital funding and to receive some £105m income per annum which is the interest on loans issued to Scottish Water. Across the 2021-27 period Ministers have committed to lend Scottish Water up to £1.03bn. Lending in future years will be agreed in future Budget Acts.

The quoted figure of -£97m is the resource budget for the Water Industry portfolio. This reflects some £105m income of interest payments by Scottish Water less amounts of spend on Hydro Nation and Private Water activities. The breakdown of spend is included within table 9.16 of the Budget.

Scottish Water is financed through revenue raised from customer charges and loans issued by the Scottish Government. The spending review has simply confirmed the intention to lend £170m per annum to Scottish Water and hence it has no impact on customers’ bills.

Question reference: S6W-09009

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether the removal of £489 million from the Scottish Water budget in the Resource Spending Review will have any impact on water charges for customers.

Question reference: S6W-08908

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what Scottish Water’s end-of-year cash balance has been at the end of each of the last 10 financial years, broken down by funds attributable to (a) the Scottish Water Group and (b) Scottish Water itself.

This information is provided in Scottish Water’s Annual Report and Accounts which is published on Scottish Water’s website and laid before Parliament each year. The information is copied in the following table.

2020-21

£m

2019-20

£m

2018-19

£m

2017-18

£m

2016-17

£m

2015-16

£m

2014-15

£m

2013-14

£m

2012-13

£m

2011-12

£m

Cash - Scottish Water Group

570.4

531.6

434.8

406.4

429.6

539.3

491.4

416.6

415.6

355.2

Cash - Scottish Water

428.7

391.4

310.9

270.6

235.2

368.6

345.5

270.3

245.5

241

Question reference: S6W-08910

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding has been transferred by Scottish Water to Business Stream with no requirement for repayment in each of the last three financial years.

Question reference: S6F-01228

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 June 2022

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government is doing to tackle the reported growing use of locum staff in the NHS.

Question reference: S6W-08443

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-07924 by Humza Yousaf on 27 April 2022, whether its active engagement with partners, including local government, has included any meetings with COSLA, and, if so, when any such meetings took place.

Question reference: S6W-08611

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 7 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-07714 by Maree Todd on 25 April 2022, when the final project reports referenced in the answer will be published on the Chief Scientist Office website.

Following an independent expert review process, 9 projects were funded through the CSO's Long-term effects of COVID-19 call Long Covid Call – Chief Scientist Office (scot.nhs.uk)

CSO funded research project start dates are confirmed through submission by the corresponding host institution of a completed start certificate ( Form7-Start-Certificate.docx (live.com) )

The following table shows the confirmed start dates and derived end dates for the 9 projects funded through the Long-term effects of COVID-19 call

Project	Start Certificate	End Date
COV-LTE-20-04	01-03-21	28-02-23
COV-LTE-20-06	01-02-21	31-01-23
COV-LTE-20-08	01-04-21	31-03-23
COV-LTE-20-10	01-02-21	31-01-23
COV-LTE-20-15	01-03-21	28-02-23
COV-LTE-20-26	01-04-21	31-03-23
COV-LTE-20-28	01-02-21	31-01-23
COV-LTE-20-29	01-05-21	30-04-23
COV-LTE-20-32	01-05-21	28-02-23

Final reports will be published on the CSO website upon completion of the projects.

Project final reports are the result of a collaborative effort between the individual project teams and members of the CSO Public Engagement Group who work together to ensure the reports are written in accessible language. There is therefore an inevitable short delay between the project end date and the publication of the final report on the CSO website.

Question reference: S6W-08564

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 6 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action has been taken to ensure that teachers and other professionals in statutory services who work with children, including those whose hearing was tested by NHS Lothian Paediatric Audiology Service between 2009 and 2018, are aware of the reported failings of the service, and that the opportunity exists for the children they work with to have a retest if there are concerns about their hearing.

The British Academy of Audiology (BAA) reports have been widely distributed amongst professionals, including all GP practices in NHS Lothian, ENT surgeons, community child health doctors, and speech and language therapists. NHS Lothian has had extensive communication with a range of partners including teaching staff and the Director of Education. As part of this process, those working with children who had any concerns about a child's hearing were encouraged to contact the Audiology department directly or to refer the child through the normal route.

The frequently asked questions, which was developed, has also been shared with specialised teams in education in the four local authority areas across NHS Lothian. My officials are also engaging with local authority heads of service for deaf education and NHS Lothian to address any additional concerns regarding support and education planning for families.

So far, 124 families have been contacted directly by NHS Lothian and offered a retest; 39 children have now had their retest with a further 11 with an appointment to date. From the 39 retested, 10 children have been found to have a new hearing impairment.

Officials continue to work closely with NHS Lothian regarding paediatric audiology, including communications. As highlighted, information has been widely circulated amongst professional staff groups working directly with children and their families, with clear mechanisms for children to be referred to the audiology department where there are concerns about their hearing. NHS Lothian established a telephone line in December last year and this continues to be operational to make it easy for families to make direct contact with the Board about any audiology concerns, the board is also working closely with the National Deaf Children Society.