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-03484

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it gave to people who have COVID-19 antibodies as a result of having had the virus, when it was developing its COVID-19 vaccine certification policy.

Question reference: S6W-04144

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 16 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the reported increase in ATMs moving from Free to Use (FTU) to Pay to Use (PTU) should be reversed, and what action can be taken to encourage businesses to operate Free To Use ATMs, particularly in rural areas, given the reported disproportionate impact on them by branch closures, and lack of footfall during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Any reported increase in Pay to Use ATM’s away from Free to Use ATM’s is a matter of great concern as it undoubtedly adds to the uncertainty faced by communities and businesses on their ability to access cash and other banking facilities.

The Scottish Government has delivered a number of reliefs for ATM sites. This includes ensuring that sites in rural areas are exempt from business rates where the building is only used for the ATM and, more widely, that there is up to 100% rates relief through the Small Business Bonus Scheme. Also, local councils have wide-ranging powers to create rates reliefs to reflect local needs under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015.

The regulation of financial services is reserved to the UK Government and as such Scottish Ministers are unable to intervene directly in the commercial decisions made by financial services companies. The Scottish Government stands ready to work constructively with the UK Government, banks and other stakeholders to ensure that customers, communities and businesses have access to the banking facilities they need. The Scottish Government will continue to urge banks and ATM providers to listen to, and address, the very real concerns customers have on their ability to access cash and banking services when engaging with the Financial Services industry.

Question reference: S6F-00472

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 November 2021

To ask the First Minister what assessment the Scottish Government has made of the impact of reduced face-to-face advocacy services on vulnerable people, such as victims of domestic abuse.

Question reference: S6W-03485

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it gave to people who are unable to receive their scheduled COVID-19 vaccine dose as a result of testing positive for the virus, when it was developing its COVID-19 vaccine certification policy.

As at 23 October 87% of the adult population (i.e. 18 years +), and 85% of 16 year + age group are now fully vaccinated and these numbers increases on a daily basis.

Certification was not introduced until after the date all the adult population had the opportunity to be fully vaccinated. Furthermore we provided a month’s notice of our intention to introduce certification and a further 2 weeks before the scheme became enforceable. This allowed time for people who were not fully vaccinated to be vaccinated. We recognise that a small number of people would not have completed their full vaccination course when the certification scheme came into effect as a result of testing positive for the virus. We would encourage them to complete their vaccination course as soon as possible.

Question reference: S6W-03755

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ash Regan on 10 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many British potential victims of human trafficking have been recovered in Scotland in each of the last three years.

Since 2019, data relating to the National Referral Mechanism has been released by the Home Office Single Competent Authority. Information is published quarterly and in an end of year summary.

Data relating to 2018 was released by the National Crime Agency and can be found at:

https://nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/who-we-are/publications/282-national-referral-mechanism-statistics-end-of-year-summary-2018/file .

Data relating to 2019, 2020 and 2021 can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-referral-mechanism-statistics

Question reference: S6W-03753

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ash Regan on 10 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what external evaluation is carried out of the victim care services that it funds for victims of human trafficking.

The Scottish Government grant funds the Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance (TARA) and Migrant Help to provide support and assistance to adult victims of human trafficking and exploitation; and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Psychological Trauma Service to meet their psychological support needs.

Grant funding is also provided to the Scottish Guardianship Service for specialised support for unaccompanied asylum seeking children who are victims, or at risk, of human trafficking.

Grant agreements include a range of conditions requiring compliance in order to support victim care. These are reported against quarterly and regular monitoring meetings are held with officials.

Support providers conduct assessments with clients as they exit services and TARA has recently developed an externally facilitated survivor advisory group to provide open and transparent feedback as part of this process.

Question reference: S6W-03758

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ash Regan on 10 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the timetable is for compliance with the legislation in the refreshed Human Trafficking and Exploitation Strategy.

Question reference: S6W-03756

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ash Regan on 10 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to increase the identification of UK nationals being trafficked in Scotland.

We have identified a low representation of UK nationals in referrals from Scotland to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) when compared to the rest of the UK in our annual trafficking and exploitation progress reports, although there was an increase in 2020.

The NRM toolkit for First Responders launched earlier this year aims to improve the formal identification of victims in Scotland and is clear that anyone can be a victim of human trafficking and exploitation, including UK nationals. We are establishing a working group to consider the quality and availability of training and awareness raising resources, which will also consider whether additional resources are needed on the issues relating to UK nationals.

Question reference: S6W-03754

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ash Regan on 10 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how potential victims of human trafficking in Scotland are identified.

Potential victims of human trafficking can present or be recovered in a wide range of situations. First Responder organisations such as Police Scotland, Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, Border Force, local authorities, the Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance (TARA) and Migrant Help can identify and refer potential victims to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM). The NRM is the UK-wide system for identifying victims of trafficking and is operated by the Single Competent Authority (SCA) within the Home Office. Adults must provide informed consent to enter this process.

In June 2021, the Home Office launched a series of 12 month pilots to test devolving the responsibility to make NRM decisions for child victims of trafficking from the Home Office to local authorities. Glasgow City Council is one of ten pilot sites and the pilot has been underpinned by Scotland-specific guidance . The pilot will be subject to an evaluation by the Home Office which the Scottish Government will consider for any future policy development.

A range of training and awareness raising resources have been developed to increase the likelihood of victims being identified. In March this year, we launched a NRM toolkit for First Responders which aims to improve the formal identification of victims and we are establishing a working group to ensure the ongoing consideration of the quality and availability of training and awareness raising resources.

The Scottish Government’s National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021 provides practitioners with information on identifying and responding to concerns about children or young people who have experienced or are at risk of experiencing abuse or neglect, including child victims of human trafficking and exploitation.

Question reference: S6W-03760

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ash Regan on 10 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many 24-hour safehouse beds with specialist care it is currently funding for potential victims of human trafficking, and, on average, for how many days people stay in such accommodation.

Migrant Help and the Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance (TARA) were awarded a combined £1,484,606 for the current financial year to support adult victims of human trafficking and exploitation across Scotland. Support can include accommodation, assistance with day to day living, medical advice and treatment, language translation and interpretation, counselling, legal advice, help accessing other services and, if the victim wishes, repatriation.

Both Migrant Help and TARA maintain crisis accommodation which is available to potential victims of trafficking and exploitation.

Support provider	Number of beds*	Average number of nights in crisis accommodation
Migrant Help	25	65
TARA	6	27

*Both providers have flexibility within their grant agreements to increase capacity should demand require.

Support and protection for child victims in Scotland is provided through child protection processes and the Getting It Right for Every Child approach to improving outcomes for children and young people.