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-04679

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 29 November 2021
Current Status: Holding Answer by Humza Yousaf on 13 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered the request made by osteopaths to be categorised as Allied Health Professions (AHP), in line with the categorisation afforded to the profession in other parts of the UK.

Question reference: S6W-04678

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 9 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider routinely publishing all the data and statistics that it produces with a breakdown by parliamentary constituency, in addition to local authority or NHS board, in order that all elected members representing those constituencies can be fully informed about data trends within the communities they represent, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

The Scottish Government aims to publish data at local and regional levels including parliamentary constituencies wherever it is possible and appropriate to do so. A large amount of data is already published at the level of parliamentary constituencies by the Scottish Government via its Official Statistics open data platform statistics.gov.scot .

In some cases however it may not be possible or appropriate to publish data at this level. In some cases data may not be collected at a level that allows for aggregation at parliamentary constituency level, it may not be possible due to issues of confidentiality, or due to concerns around the robustness of estimates produced for some areas. The collection and publication of statistics should also be proportionate to the requirements of the users of statistics, including the level at which decisions are made or services are delivered.

Such decisions about the appropriate level of geography at which to collect and publish data are made on a case by case basis and are done so based on user engagement activity and in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics . This approach is also consistent with the Government Statistical Service Geography Policy and the upcoming Government Statistical Service Subnational Data Strategy.

Question reference: S6O-00486

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what improvements to transport infrastructure are planned for the Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley constituency.

Future transport investment by the Scottish Government, will be set out in the second Strategic Transport Projects Review.

In February, we published of the Case for Change report for Ayrshire and Arran, which included transport options being appraised as part of the Review. Under consideration are options for active travel; bus priority; getting more freight onto rail; improving the safety and resilience of the transport network and the decarbonisation of the transport system.

We intend to publish the STPR2 recommendations in the new year, however, until then I am not able to share further details.

Question reference: S6W-04338

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 30 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has plans to include COVID-19 booster status on a person's vaccination record.

Question reference: S6W-04291

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-03587 by Humza Yousaf on 8 November 2021, whether hyperbaric treatment is currently being considered by the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) as a possible treatment, and when a decision will be taken on whether it will be made available to patients.

The UK wide clinical guideline on managing the long-term effects of COVID-19 has been developed collaboratively by the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN), the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP).

The evidence reviews on interventions for long COVID were carried out by NICE. At present there is no evidence on hyperbaric oxygen therapy within the guideline.

NICE’s surveillance methods have indicated there is no new evidence which meets the research protocol for interventions on long COVID. However NICE will continue to carry out surveillance on all guideline questions, including the question on interventions, and the results of this surveillance will inform future updates to the living guideline.

There have been long COVID research calls by the National Institute for Health Research and UK Research and Innovation asking for projects investigating possible therapies for long COVID and a number of studies of this type have been funded.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatment has not formed part of any application to either of these calls. Other ongoing calls are open and available for long COVID research applications and if a project on hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatment for long COVID was received, it would be considered.

Question reference: S6O-00421

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what consideration has been given to providing parliamentary services outwith usual hours.

Question reference: S6W-03587

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 8 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of some reported evidence of the beneficial effects of hyperbaric treatments, whether it will consider offering these treatments to people diagnosed with long COVID.

We continue to closely monitor all emerging evidence on new treatments related to the long-term effects of COVID-19 (long Covid) and their clinical effectiveness.

The current Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) clinical guideline , developed in collaboration with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), provides evidence based information for clinicians on the identification and management of people affected by long-term effects of COVID-19.

The clinical guideline which is being actively reviewed and updated in line with the evidence base on the treatment of long COVID as it continues to develop.

Question reference: S6O-00351

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how the enterprise agencies support economic growth in Ayrshire.

Question reference: S6O-00329

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how it supports the climate tech industry.

Question reference: S6O-00288

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how it can support Scottish food and drink producers, in light of reports of empty supermarket shelves.