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-12948

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 8 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its commitment, when it will establish a bespoke national learning disability child and adolescent mental health inpatient unit.

The Scottish Government was pleased to publish on 10 November, the comprehensive Inpatient Needs Assessment Report which sets out the need for a specialist inpatient service for those with learning disability and/or autism and mental health conditions. We are happy to accept, in principle, the report’s main recommendation that a national LD CAMHS inpatient unit for Scotland should be established, subject to initial feasibility and planning processes. This is a significant step forward in ensuring that children and young people with learning disabilities are able to access appropriate highly specialist inpatient support in Scotland.

The learning disability and autism inpatient unit is currently in the early planning stages and being taken forward by NHS NSS. A Short Life Working Group (SLWG) has been established to: understand current expenditure, benchmark against NHS England and develop a service specification and criteria for a new service. The SLWG will then report back to the National Planning Forum with a proposal in March 2018.

Question reference: S5W-12924

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 6 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the code of practice to accompany the Children and Young People (Information Sharing) (Scotland) Bill.

Allowing for the nature of work that will be involved, the Scottish Government anticipates that development of a Code of practice would take until September 2018 at the earliest. In addition, time will need to be allowed for finalisation of the Data Protection Bill currently going through the Westminster Parliament, and for all bodies to digest the new GDPR that will commence in May 2018. This timeframe also considers Parliamentary recess in July 2018.

Question reference: S5W-12938

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 6 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government which experts on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are employed by Education Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-12941

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what research on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in education settings (a) is being carried out and (b) has been completed.

The Scottish Government has committed to commissioning independent research into the experiences of children, young people, parents, school staff (including support staff), education authorities and their partners in relation to additional support for learning. The findings of the independent research will be used to inform the final version of the guidance on the presumption of mainstreaming, future policy development and reporting on additional support for learning. Where there are research findings which relate to ADHD, these will be taken into account.

Question reference: S5W-12939

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) policy is for schools.

The Scottish Government want all children and young, including those with ADHD, to get the support that they need to reach their full learning potential.

Education authorities and other agencies have duties under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) Act 2004 (as amended) to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of their pupils. Education authorities can ask other agencies (including social work services, health boards and skills development Scotland) for help in carrying out their duties under the Act.

Children and young people's needs are met through planning for their learning and support, usually through an individualised educational programme which sets out targets for learning and the support to be provided. For children and young people who have complex or multiple needs which require significant support from education and another agency or agencies a co-ordinated support plan may be required. The purpose of the CSP is to support co-ordinated planning to meet pupils' needs. The plan lasts for up to a year.

Question reference: S5W-12940

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance is given to schools regarding attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The Education (Additional Support for Learning) Act 2004 (as amended) places duties on education authorities to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of their pupils, including those with ADHD.

The Supporting Children's Learning Code of Practice explains the duties on education authorities and other agencies to support children and young people's learning, including those with ADHD. The Code has recently been revised and is currently before Parliament. It is expected it will be published by the end of 2017.

In addition, Education Scotland is rolling out Scotland’s Mental Health First Aid Training for Children and Young People to local authorities. This is to train staff within secondary schools communities, increasing their confidence in approaching pupils who they think might be struggling with a mental health problem.

Question reference: S5W-12667

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when the next Scottish Crime and Justice Survey will be published, and whether it will include data on retail crime.

The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) is a large-scale social survey which asks Scottish adults about their experiences and perceptions of crime. While the SCJS does not capture crimes specifically against retailers, or businesses, it does capture crimes against individuals while at work. A module of additional questions was added to collect information on physical and verbal abuse at work, in 2008-09 and again in 2016-17 and 2017-18.

As announced on the Scottish Government forthcoming statistics publications page (http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/ForthcomingPubs), the next SCJS results, for 2016-17, are scheduled to published in February 2018. Any change from the scheduled date will be advised in advance on the Forthcoming Statistics publications web page.

Question reference: S5W-12241

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 27 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 10 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government which (a) projects and (b) organisations have received support from its Sporting Equality Fund

each year, broken down by the amount awarded.

Question reference: S5W-12243

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 27 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 10 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding the Sporting Equality Fund has (a) received (b) spent each year.

Question reference: S5W-12240

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 27 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 10 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Sporting Equality Fund will receive funding for the remainder of the parliamentary session.