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 270 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S5W-35336

Asked by: Joan McAlpine, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 1 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Climate Challenge Fund will be extended to 2021-22 and, if so, what pans it has for it that year.

46 projects across Scotland will continue to be funded through the Scottish Government's Climate Challenge Fund in 2021-22 for the second year of their two-year projects.

Following a review of the Climate Challenge Fund in 2019, and as set out in the Programme for Government 2020-21, we shall provide further support for community climate action through the development of new networks of regional hubs and Climate Action Towns, to promote collaboration and empower communities to drive forward activity contributing towards our just transition to a net zero nation.

Question reference: S5T-02654

Asked by: Joan McAlpine, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 February 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to figures published by the Scottish Learning Disabilities Observatory, which state that people with a learning disability are three times more likely to die of COVID-19 and twice as likely to experience serious disease.

Question reference: S5W-34942

Asked by: Joan McAlpine, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 February 2021
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Clare Haughey on 4 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what data is available on the impact of COVID-19 on people in Scotland with a learning disability.

The Scottish Learning Disabilities Observatory have analysed mortality rates from COVID-19 for the population with learning disabilities compared with a 5% sample of the general population in Scotland. A high level summary of early results has been published today on the Observatory website along with an accessible easy-read summary.

https://www.sldo.ac.uk/our-research/life-expectancy-and-mortality/

A full paper is being drafted for publication in a scientific journal following peer review.

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with SLDO while we consider implications of this research.

Question reference: S5O-04998

Asked by: Joan McAlpine, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 February 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what measures in its Budget will provide support for town centres.

Question reference: S5W-34594

Asked by: Joan McAlpine, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 26 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether frontline health care staff in each NHS board area who work in private practices will receive their COVID-19 vaccination at the same time as NHS health care workers.

Question reference: S5W-33755

Asked by: Joan McAlpine, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 14 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether the £500 bonus scheme for NHS and social care workers is being extended to those who live in Scotland but are employed by NHS trusts in northern England.

Our one off thank you payment recognises the extraordinary service provided by NHS Scotland and Scotland’s social care staff in this toughest of years.

Responsibility for the pay and reward of staff who work for NHS Trusts in England does not lie with the Scottish Government. It is for the UK Government to determine if they wish to provide a similar thank you payment to staff who work in NHS England.

Question reference: S5W-33756

Asked by: Joan McAlpine, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 16 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether the £500 bonus scheme for NHS and social care workers will apply to people who are employed on zero-hours contracts.

Question reference: S5W-33340

Asked by: Joan McAlpine, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 2 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on extending householder responsibility to ensure that waste is disposed of legally.

Householders already have a legal duty of care to only pass their waste onto registered waste carriers. The duty of care requires occupiers of domestic property to take all reasonable measures available to them in the circumstances to ensure that they only transfer household waste produced on that property to an authorised person. This reduces the chance of waste ending up in the hands of those who would illegally fly-tip it.

This duty of care has been highlighted in recent communications campaigns from Scottish Government, SEPA and Zero Waste Scotland.

The National Litter Strategy, which includes measures on flytipping, is coming to the end of its five year lifespan and we are considering how best to take forward a review of policy in this area.

Question reference: S5W-33341

Asked by: Joan McAlpine, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 2 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is consider introducing further punitive action that can be taken against illegal waste carriers.

It is already an offence to carry waste without being appropriately authorised. This year, SEPA took forward a campaign targeting waste carriers who were advertising themselves on social media and a number of investigations resulting from this campaign are ongoing.

The National Litter Strategy, which includes measures on flytipping, is coming to the end of its five year lifespan and we are considering how best to take forward a review of policy in this area.

Question reference: S5W-33338

Asked by: Joan McAlpine, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what assistance it provides to (a) local authorities to assist land managers in cleaning up and disposing flytipped waste and (b) SEPA and the Police to investigate and convict flytippers.

Cleaning up litter and flytipping costs public bodies £53m a year, this is money that could be better spent on other services. For private landowners, ideally, we would be able to identify the individuals responsible for flytipping and make them pay for clearing it up. Where that is not possible, it is the landowner who is currently responsible. At this time particularly, we would encourage relevant public authorities to investigate flytipping on public and private land and to offer assistance where possible.

The Government is keen to ensure that local partnerships are in place, such as local groups of the Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime, to tackle flytipping as it arises and to consider what more can be done to prevent flytipping. The Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime, last year published its “Rural Crime Strategy 2019-2022”, which includes commitments to tackling flytipping. The partnership involves Police Scotland, Zero Waste Scotland, NFU Scotland, Scottish Land & Estates and Forestry and Land Scotland among others. There are a number of local partnerships now in place that deliver a collaborate approach to tacking flytipping.

There is a currently work underway by SEPA to check the credentials of businesses that offer waste uplifts. Through media/social media SEPA also regularly highlights the risks associated with using unregistered carriers and its link to flytipping; and emphasises householders’ duty of care to ensure that collection providers are legitimate. SEPA is using a range of tactical actions to obtain evidence to support appropriate enforcement action.