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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S5W-30655

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 5 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what advice and guidance regarding ensuring that workplaces are clear from Legionnaires' disease it is providing to businesses that are re-opening following the lockdown.

Question reference: S5W-30751

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 31 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what additional resources it has given to the Care Inspectorate, and when it will be able to restart inspections.

The Care Inspectorate Scottish Government grant in aid allocation for 2020-21 amounts to £23.742m. We have agreed a settlement for additional funding of £1.1m in 2020-21 to meet budget pressures relating to regrading of inspectors and a team manager review. Additional funding of £0.370m has been agreed to facilitate the role of Healthcare Improvement Scotland secondees in supporting the Care Inspectorate’s inspection programme during the Covid-19 emergency period.

The Care Inspectorate are inspecting services in line with public health advice in order to carry out their role safely and to limit the transmission of COVID-19. Unannounced on-site inspections are currently focused on adult care homes with an intelligence led, risk based and targeted approach. The inspection programme is regularly reviewed to take account of public health guidance and further inspections will commence when it is appropriate to do so.

Question reference: S5W-30378

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 17 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how it uses (a) the Best Start Grant, (b) the School Clothing Grant, (c) Child Payment and (d) other mechanisms to boost the incomes of families living in poverty.

Entitlement to financial support such as the Best Start Grant and School Clothing Grant provide a vital contribution to households with eligible children. We are also prioritising the delivery of the Scottish Child Payment for children under 6. Our aim is to now start taking applications for this by the end of 2020 with payments being made from 2021. This significant new benefit will provide £10 per week for each eligible child, providing vital support to low income families.

The Scottish Government’s Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan, ‘Every Child, Every Chance’, also sets out the wide range of actions which we are taking to increase household incomes and reduce essential costs. These include supporting parents to work and earn more with investment in employability services, including Fair Start Scotland and the Parental Employability Support Fund; providing advice to help maximise incomes through investment in the Money Talk Team service; and making housing more safe, warm and affordable for families by increasing our investment in the Affordable Housing Supply Programme and by setting statutory targets to reduce fuel poverty.

Question reference: S5W-29118

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 18 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 16 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review the policy of only allowing family members from the same household to carry out an end of life visit in situations where there is adequate PPE to protect all close relatives regardless of whether they live together.

Visiting guidance in health and social care settings recognises that visits to those nearing the end of life are deemed essential and as such we would expect those working in clinical settings to accommodate such visits where it is safe to do so. It is important to note that the guidance relating to visiting patients in end of life situations, both in hospitals and care homes does not restrict visits to family members from the same household. This provision has been in place since restricted visiting was introduced.

However, in light of the continued progress being made in suppressing the virus, we have recently relaxed the visiting restrictions previously in place across hospitals and care homes. New visiting guidance was released for care homes and hospitals on the 28th and 30th June respectively, which will allow visits in these care settings to resume safely and in a series of phases.

For convenience this guidance can be found here under the Health, Care and Social Work section.

Question reference: S5W-30379

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 13 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to encourage local authorities to support families who require free school meals by providing cash payments rather than arrangements such as vouchers or meals.

The Scottish Government has provided an additional £12.6 million in funding to continue the provision of food to families eligible for free school meals during the course of the school summer holidays.

We recognise that direct cash payments will work well for many families and we have written to local authorities suggesting they consider using cash payments as one of a range of options when deciding on methods for alternative provision to free school meals during the current summer holidays.

Whilst we know there are many advantages to issuing cash payments, such as giving recipients the flexibility to shop with their preferred retailer, it is also important that we continue to afford local authorities the flexibility they need to respond to the individual needs within their local communities and to ensure that no-one is left disadvantaged by a one size fits all approach.

Question reference: S5W-30236

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5W-30237

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5W-30235

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5W-30238

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5O-04438

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 June 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government who decides what categories of people are shielded from COVID-19 and what level of support they are entitled to.