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-04979

Asked by: Alison Harris, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 January 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with third sector and community organisations providing out-of-school care services.

Question reference: S5O-04938

Asked by: Alison Harris, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 January 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many house parties police have called on to disperse since the current COVID-19 lockdown was imposed.

Question reference: S5O-04573

Asked by: Alison Harris, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the repair work being carried out on the Glasgow-Edinburgh via Falkirk rail line.

Question reference: S5O-04525

Asked by: Alison Harris, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 August 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making in meeting its commitment to carry out weekly COVID-19 tests on all care home workers.

Question reference: S5O-04370

Asked by: Alison Harris, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 May 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to continue volunteer contact with older people who have been identified and supported during the COVID-19 outbreak beyond the current lockdown.

Question reference: S5O-04296

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5W-27236

Asked by: Alison Harris, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 2 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what timetable it has set to bring forward legislation to automatically entitle four-year-olds who are born between August and December to funded early learning and childcare in line with statutory provision for three- and four-year-olds when their parents use their legal right to defer entry to P1, as agreed by the Parliament on 2 October 2019.

The legislation will require an affirmative Scottish Statutory instrument under the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014. The Scottish Government intends to bring forward legislation to this effect before the end of this parliamentary session in Spring 2021.

As I set out in my response to the motion of 2 October 2019, we are taking forward this change to early learning and childcare provision in partnership with education authorities, who hold the statutory duty to ensure provision of funded early learning and childcare.

Until the new legislation comes into force, local authorities will continue to have discretion over funding for August to December-born children who choose to defer primary one entry. As is the case now, Getting It Right For Every Child should underpin each decision, with local authorities working in partnership with families and professionals to make decisions in the best interests of every child.

Question reference: S5O-04198

Asked by: Alison Harris, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out of the impact on housing and other local government services of the recent poor weather, and what additional assistance it has offered to councils to respond to this.

Question reference: S5W-27186

Asked by: Alison Harris, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 26 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason there was a reduction of 1,007 in estimated FTE additional local authority staff required by April 2021 for the expansion to 1,140 hours of funded childcare between the June 2019 and December 2019 delivery progress reports.

Original early learning and childcare workforce expansion figures, as reported in June 2019, were based on forecasts local authorities first prepared in March 2018. Local authorities have been continually revising their expansion plans and forecasts since then, learning from early examples of phased in expanded entitlement across local communities. Following the June 2019 Delivery Progress Report, Local Authorities have had an opportunity to formally revise their forecasts of FTE additional staff, in August 2019. The latest estimates captured in the Improvement Service data provided directly from local authorities in September 2019 (published in December 2019) indicate a reduction in overall anticipated staffing required. The main reasons cited for this are that local authorities are now planning to make greater use of nurseries in the private and third sectors, and further developing their operating and service models to maximise use of existing as well as new capacity.

Question reference: S5O-04184

Asked by: Alison Harris, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how it measures the outcomes of city and regional growth deals.