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: S5O-03625

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 September 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it takes to ensure that its policies and legislation protect and promote the rights and wellbeing of children and young people.

Question reference: S5O-03570

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 September 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the impact will be on mixed-age couples in Scotland of the UK Government's decision to exempt them from claiming Pension Credit.

Question reference: S5W-25133

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 18 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of drinks producers using PET over 100% recyclable glass if differentiated producer fees are introduced with the deposit return scheme and it costs producers more to use glass.

The Government is clear that packaging design choices are a matter for producers and there are a number of factors which influence their decisions. The costs associated with different materials already vary and any deposit return scheme (DRS) producer fee will only be one element of the total costs of using any given material.

Ministers have taken an approach which seeks to avoid the preferred scheme design favouring any particular material. We remain committed to continuing our engagement with all sectors, including the glass industry, regarding our plans for DRS.

Question reference: S5W-25129

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 18 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what evidence it drew on when making the decision to include glass in the deposit return scheme.

Question reference: S5W-25130

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 18 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the risk of drinks producers switching from 100% recyclable glass to PET when the deposit return scheme comes into force.

Question reference: S5O-03503

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 September 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how the justice secretary’s priorities in the Equally Safe strategy will be supported by its Programme for Government.

Question reference: S5O-03491

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many arrests were made for offences relating to kerb crawling between 2016 and 2019.

Question reference: S5W-24269

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 July 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 2 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle plastic pollution and its prevention, including microplastics in Scottish waterways.

The Scottish Government has a number of projects designed to tackle plastic pollution in Scotland’s waterways. We are committed to tackling Scotland’s throw-away culture and to matching the pace envisioned by the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive. We are already leading by example, and were the first country in the UK to announce our ambitious design for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme. Our Expert Panel is considering measures to tackle difficult to recycle items, such as single use beverage cups. We have committed to increase the single use carrier bag charge to 10p and to legislating against plastic cotton buds. We are also part of a UK-wide consultation on reform of packaging producer responsibility arrangements.

Work is underway to reduce plastic pollution from drainage. We are currently working with the plastics industry and other relevant parties including SEPA to expand on the industry’s Operation Clean to provide a transparent, supply-chain approach to ensure pellet loss is minimised in the future. We also support Scottish Water’s efforts to reduce plastic pollution from combined sewer overflows, reducing the amount of sewage related debris reaching our waterways.

Question reference: S5F-03455

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 June 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 June 2019

To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government is marking Refugee Week.

Question reference: S5O-03418

Asked by: Ruth Maguire, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 June 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it will evaluate the delivery of the alcohol and drug treatment strategy, Rights, Respect and Recovery.