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: S4W-30669

Asked by: Hanzala Malik, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 March 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 21 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how the reported rise in incidence of kidney cancer will be prioritised in its updated cancer strategy for Scotland.

One of the main ways we can reduce the incidence of cancer is by helping people reduce their risk of developing it in the first place.

Beating Cancer: Ambition and Action, which was launched by myself on 15 March 2016, sets out a broad range of actions including encouraging and supporting people to reduce their risk of cancer by living healthier lives.

Through the implementation of the strategy and the development of our public health initiatives, we will work to shift cultural attitudes towards cancer risk factors including smoking and poor diet – two known risk factors for kidney cancer.

This strategy is supported by a £100 million commitment over five years, which will have a positive impact on the future of all cancer services in Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-30668

Asked by: Hanzala Malik, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 March 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 21 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) organisations and (b) individuals have been and will be consulted in order to update the cancer strategy for Scotland.

Our cancer strategy, Beating Cancer: Ambition and Action, was launched by myself on 15 March 2016. In developing this strategy we engaged with a range of stakeholders including members of the Scottish Cancer Coalition and other third sector organisations as well as NHS staff.

We look forward to working with stakeholders, including patient groups, to implement the actions within the strategy.

Question reference: S4O-05659

Asked by: Hanzala Malik, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 March 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the Students' Association of the University of the West of Scotland's report, Establishing a Stronger Summer Safety Net: Promoting how we can raise retention in post 16 education.

Question reference: S4O-05632

Asked by: Hanzala Malik, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 March 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Europe and External Affairs will be attending any events in the Aye Write! festival in Glasgow.

Question reference: S4O-05536

Asked by: Hanzala Malik, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 February 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of how the reduction in the local government budget settlement could impact on the economy and inequality.

Question reference: S4O-05266

Asked by: Hanzala Malik, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 January 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how it will revise its winter resilience plans for transport services in light of the disruption to west coast main line services from storm damage.

Question reference: S4W-28640

Asked by: Hanzala Malik, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Marco Biagi on 4 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that the ethnicity of 25% of local government staff is recorded as unknown, whether it considers that local authorities are meeting their statutory obligation under the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 “to gather and use employee information” and what steps it is taking to encourage councils to collect more accurate data.

The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 require listed public authorities including local authorities to take steps to gather and use employee information.

Local authorities are directly responsible for equality issues within their remit, including compliance with legal requirements.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is independently responsible for the monitoring and compliance of the equality duties.

Scottish ministers have an additional duty to publish proposals for activity to enable the better performance of the public sector equality duty. Ministers will publish a progress update on improvement activity by the end of December 2015.

Question reference: S4O-04930

Asked by: Hanzala Malik, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 December 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether the savings arising from the renegotiation of the price for new hepatitis C medicines will be used to increase the number of people receiving treatment.

Question reference: S4O-04815

Asked by: Hanzala Malik, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 November 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to tackle racial discrimination and what is believed to be the underreporting of cases.

Question reference: S4W-27081

Asked by: Hanzala Malik, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 14 August 2015
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 2 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out of the first two-yearly progress reports by listed public bodies under the public sector equality duty in relation to the Scotland-specific duties and how it will use the results of any such analysis to tackle inequality.

Public authorities listed on the schedule to the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties)(Scotland) Regulations 2012 were required to publish equality outcomes and mainstreaming reports including employee information and gender pay gap information by 30 April 2013 with progress reports due by 30 April 2015. Monitoring and compliance of equality duties falls to the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The Commission are currently analysing the reports and aim to publish findings in September 2015. Findings will inform the next phase of the Scottish National Equality Improvement Project which supports the Scottish Ministers' Proposals published in December 2013 to tackle inequality and enable the better performance of the Public Sector Equality Duty. Scottish Ministers will publish a report on progress by 30 December 2015.