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

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 727 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S5F-03429

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 June 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 June 2019

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government is doing to make people aware of scams, in light of reports that nearly half of people in Scotland have been targeted at least once in the last year.

Question reference: S5W-23558

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many qualified teachers of children and young people with vision impairment there are, broken down by local authority.

Statistics on the number of teachers with main subject of visual impairment are published in the teacher census supplementary data (split by primary, secondary, special and centrally employed) and are available on the Scottish Government website:

https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/teachcenssuppdata/teasup2018

Tables 2.8, 3.9, 4.8 and 5.2.

These statistics exclude teachers at grant aided special schools as data on subject taught is not collected from teachers at these schools.

Question reference: S5W-23080

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 29 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many people convicted of murder or culpable homicide have been released from The State Hospital following a successful appeal to the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-23077

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 29 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many people convicted of murder or culpable homicide continue in a state institution once a successful appeal to the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland results in them leaving The State Hospital.

Question reference: S5W-23078

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 29 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what assistance is provided to families giving victim statements to the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland.

I have asked Dr J Morrow, President of the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:

The Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland (“the Tribunal”) does not provide direct assistance to families giving victims statements.

The Tribunal does however, provide detailed information about the Tribunal’s processes. Additionally, at the time of writing, to seek representations the Tribunal provides a telephone number and email address which can be contacted to seek clarification on the process.

In addition, the Scottish Government provides signposting to Victim Support Scotland in their Victim Notification Scheme information booklets and all their correspondence.

Question reference: S5W-23079

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 29 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what checks are carried out before informing a victim or the family of a victim regarding an upcoming appearance before the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland to ensure that they are mentally prepared for the process.

I have asked Dr J Morrow, President of the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:

The Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland (“the Tribunal”) does not carry out checks prior to informing individuals of an upcoming tribunal hearing. To give evidence to the tribunal hearing the individual has to have either approached the Tribunal directly or to have joined the Victim Notification Scheme operated by the Scottish Government and asked to make representations before certain decisions are taken by the Tribunal.

The Tribunal does however, provide detailed information about the Tribunal’s processes. Additionally at the time of writing to inform an individual of an upcoming hearing the Tribunal provides a telephone number and email address which can be contacted to seek clarification on the process.

Question reference: S5F-03317

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 May 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 May 2019

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government considers that drug policy should be devolved or amended.

Question reference: S5W-22804

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 2 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will expand the remit of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry to ensure that it can investigate allegations of abuse of children placed in the care of other family members.

The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry’s remit was set in 2015 following an extensive public consultation and engagement with survivors of in care child abuse and other interested parties. The issue of the scope of the Inquiry in relation to non-residential settings has been raised previously. In a statement to Parliament on 17 November 2016 I set out my reasoning that a wider remit to include abuse in other settings would take many more years to conclude. We need to ensure that the Inquiry remains manageable in order to deliver its findings in a reasonable timescale. A full transcript of my statement can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/report.aspx?r=10630&mode=pdf .

Question reference: S5W-22803

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 2 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry team regarding extending the remit of the inquiry to include allegations of abuse of children who were placed in the care of other family members.

Prior to my statement in Parliament on 17 November 2016, which included reference to the scope of the Inquiry in relation to non-residential settings (answer to S5W-22804 on 2 May 2019 refers), I consulted with Lady Smith, Chair of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, as I am required to do under the terms of the Inquiries Act 2005. I have had no discussions with the Inquiry about its remit since then.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

Question reference: S5W-22802

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 2 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to investigate allegations of abuse of children who were placed in the care of other family members.

Protecting children and young people from all forms of abuse is a priority for the Scottish Government as set out in current national policy and legislation.

Under the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 and the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 social work services and the police have a legal responsibility to investigate any child protection concerns. The Scottish Government has published the National Child Protection Guidance (2014) which sets out the national framework within which agencies and practitioners at local level – individually and jointly – can understand and agree processes for working together to support, promote and safeguard the wellbeing of all children, regardless of their care setting.