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: S5W-13888

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 26 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to revise its Guidance on Health Assessment for Looked After Children and Young People in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-13885

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 25 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many children were looked after by local authorities in each of the last five years, also broken down by their residential status.

Data on numbers of looked after children are published annually by the Scottish Government as part of the Children's Social Work Statistics Scotland publication.

Table 3.3 (in the additional tables of the publication) includes figures for each category of accommodation within each local authority from 2012 to 2016 (the most recent figure). These are found at the following link: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Children/PubChildrenSocialWork

Question reference: S5O-01696

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how schools identify and support children with mental health problems.

Question reference: S5O-01656

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 December 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the publication of its new strategy for engagement with China.

Question reference: S5O-01535

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 29 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to engage with sports governing bodies, local authorities and sports clubs to promote greater LGBTI inclusivity.

The Active Scotland Outcomes Framework sets out our ambitions for a more active Scotland, and is underpinned by a commitment to equality and should be no barriers at all to participating and enjoying sport.

As a Government, we work with partners including sportscotland, LEAP Sports, Stonewall, the Equality Network and the Scottish FA, among others – with the aim of removing barriers that may stop LBGT individuals participating in sport, as well as helping educate sport providers to be as open and accessible as they can be.

In April 2017, I announced an additional £2 million of investment in sports governing bodies. These extra funds being distributed by sportscotland are to help meet the Scottish Government’s priorities on reducing inequalities in sports participation, including greater engagement with LGBT communities.

SGBs are taking forward specific work, building on the LGBT Sports Charter to encourage LGBTI people to participate, with much of this initiated or enhanced as a result of the additional investment from sportscotland.

For example, Scottish Athletics have been working together with LGBTI groups to establish a non-binary category in events. As a result of this, Scottish Athletics held the Pride Run with a third gender/non-binary category in June 2017 with more planned in the future.

Question reference: S5O-01474

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 November 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the implementation of the Gypsy/Traveller Strategy and Action Plan.

Question reference: S5W-11741

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 31 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that a parent from England or Wales suspected of child abduction could not be prosecuted if it was established that they departed from Scotland; what information it has regarding whether any such departures have been recorded at Scotland's (a) airports and (b) ports in each year since 2007, and what discussions it has had with UK Government regarding this matter.

Depending on the circumstances of the case, someone suspected of child abduction could be charged with an offence under section 6 of the Child Abduction Act 1984 or the common law offences of Abduction or Plagium.

Information regarding departures from airports and ports is a matter for the UK Border Force. Scottish Government and Home Office officials both attend meetings of the Child Abduction Co-ordination Group.

Question reference: S5W-11742

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 31 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many cases of international parental child abduction have been reported in each year since 2007.

These data are not held centrally. The Scottish Government does published annual statistics on abduction recorded by the police as part of the Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin (the statistics for 2016-17 are available here: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2017/09/3075), however we do not hold this data for specific victim ages, perpetrator or the location to which they were abducted.

The figures in the following table are based on the cases handled by the Central Authority for Scotland (part of the Justice Directorate of the Scottish Government) under the Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 ‘on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction’, including cases involving EU Member States dealt with under Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003 ‘concerning jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and the matters of parental responsibility’. ‘Incoming’ cases are those involving children in Scotland while ‘Outgoing’ cases involve children outwith Scotland. The table below breaks these data down per calendar year.

Parental Child Abduction cases handled by the Central Authority for Scotland under the Hague Convention of 1980 and Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003

Year	Incoming	Outgoing
2007	6	2
2008	7	10
2009	10	12
2010	12	10
2011	15	9
2012	6	16
2013	26	16
2014	17	13
2015	25	16
2016	13	20

Source: Central Authority for Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-11859

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 25 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government which registered social landlords lease accommodation to SERCO, broken down by the number of properties leased by each.

Question reference: S5W-11156

Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 26 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what support services are available in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools for young carers.

The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 (as amended) places duties on education authorities and other agencies to provide support to children and young people who have an additional support need which is causing a barrier to their learning. Education authorities must identify, plan and make provision for the support to be provided, and review that support to ensure it is appropriate. This would include support for young carers.

Local authorities, health boards, and Integration Authorities support a variety of local carer centres and young carer projects. A number of localities have established young carer workers in schools to develop links and provide young carer awareness training for staff. Some local authority and health board areas also fund localised Young Carers Authorisation Card schemes, to ensure a young person's caring situation is recognised in health and education settings.

The First Minister announced a new package of support for young carers on
20 September 2017, to be rolled out during this Parliament. This package comprises of a Young Carer Grant for young adults with significant caring responsibilities who do not currently qualify for Carer’s Allowance; free concessionary bus travel to recipients of the Young Carer Grant, following piloting; and a bespoke carers element to the Young Scot Card, providing non-cash benefits for young carers aged 11-18.