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-23599

Asked by: Adam Tomkins, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 13 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made with the review of Scottish-specific public sector equality duties; which third sector organisations representing equality groups are involved, and what the timescale for the review is.

It is expected that the formal review of the effectiveness of the operation of the Public Sector Equality Duty in Scotland, including the Scottish-specific duties, will commence after summer 2019. The review will take into account stakeholders’ views and a range of evidence, such as the research into the effectiveness of the Public Sector Equality Duty in Scotland published by EHRC in September 2018 and Is Scotland Fairer? from October 2018 and the EHRC Strategic Plan 2019-2022.

Preliminary discussions on the review have already begun with third sector organisations representing equality groups. This included a multi-stakeholder event with representation from both the statutory and third sectors, including key equality stakeholders, to gather views on how the regulations are operating in practice and what, if any, changes should be made to help them operate better. This range of stakeholders will continue to be included as the review progresses over the coming year.

Question reference: S5O-03372

Asked by: Adam Tomkins, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 June 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when the justice secretary last met the Scottish Recovery Consortium to discuss the provision of addiction recovery services across the prison estate.

Question reference: S5O-03339

Asked by: Adam Tomkins, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 May 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on Glasgow's progress in meeting the policy outcomes in its Climate Change Plan.

Question reference: S5O-03263

Asked by: Adam Tomkins, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the costs will be of establishing a citizens' assembly.

Question reference: S5W-22438

Asked by: Adam Tomkins, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 2 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it supports the regeneration of vacant and derelict land, and how much it has allocated to each local authority in each of the last five years to deal with this.

We support regeneration of vacant derelict land through the Vacant & Derelict Land Fund, which has been allocated to five eligible local authorities in each of the previous five years as follows:

	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19
Dundee	£1.576m
Fife		£1.316m	£0.915m	£1.515m	£1.486m
Glasgow	£4.053m	£3.947m	£2.575m	£3.114m	£2.952m
Highland	£1.351m	£1.534m
North Ayrshire			£1.427m	£1.752m	£1.709m
North Lanarkshire	£2.297m	£2.236m	£1.982m	£2.375m	£2.396m
South Lanarkshire	£1.711m	£1.666m	£0.936m	£1.082m	£0.901m

Question reference: S5W-22437

Asked by: Adam Tomkins, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 26 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government by what date Public Health Scotland will be (a) established and (b) operational.

Question reference: S5W-22434

Asked by: Adam Tomkins, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 24 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when the Ministerial Task Force on Health Inequalities last met.

Question reference: S5W-22439

Asked by: Adam Tomkins, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 24 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Ministerial Task Force on Health Inequalities report, Equally Well, continues to inform its approach to closing the health gap, and what assessment it has made of the impact of the report.

Question reference: S5W-22436

Asked by: Adam Tomkins, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 24 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the social determinants of health.

The third Scottish Government Ministerial Task Force on Health Inequalities met between 2012 and 2013. Its final meeting was on the 13th of June 2013.

The Equally Well review 2013 report was the conclusion of the second review by the Ministerial Task Force on Health Inequalities. It offered us a strong foundation on which to build policy and action across national and local government and its partners. This continues to develop, drawing on new and emerging evidence from within Scotland and beyond, and meeting new challenges such as the impacts on health and wellbeing of austerity and the UK Government’s welfare benefits reforms.

Health and equalities lie at the core of everything we do as a Government and we are committed to addressing all underlying causes that drive health inequalities. Our bold package of measures to help tackle key issues such as smoking, obesity, inactivity, and alcohol misuse will support people to live longer healthier lives.

We are also tackling the wider causes of health inequalities through measures such as investing in affordable housing, providing free school meals and continuing commitments like free prescriptions and free personal care.

We have invested more than £125 million in 2018-19 to mitigate the worst impacts of welfare reforms and to protect those on low incomes. Our investment has increased by £20 million on our spend in the previous year.

In addition, tackling mental health stigma and improving the quality of care is a priority for the Scottish Government. Our vision is of a Scotland where people can get the right help at the right time, expect recovery, and fully enjoy their rights – free from stigma and discrimination. This covers not only mental health services, but also improving wider public mental health and wellbeing.

Our ten year Mental Health Strategy sets out a wide range of actions which we are progressing, with 39 out of 40 actions now complete or underway.

We’ve also recently announced improved support for perinatal and infant mental health, supported by £50 million investment in services over the next 4 years.

Question reference: S5W-22442

Asked by: Adam Tomkins, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 23 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how minimum unit pricing for alcohol has affected demand for street Valium among homeless people.

The five year evaluation programme for minimum unit pricing is being led by NHS Health Scotland and involves a portfolio of studies. One of the studies assesses the impact of minimum unit pricing on those drinking at harmful levels and includes considering substitution with other substances. The anticipated publication dates for this harmful drinking study are mid-2020 (short term impacts) and mid-2021. Further information on this study is available on the evaluation website at http://www.healthscotland.scot/media/2295/evaluation-of-the-impact-of-mup-in-scotland-on-those-drinking-at-a-harmful-level.pdf .

In addition, a separately funded study is exploring the impact of minimum unit pricing on homeless people and service providers. The anticipated publication date for this study is late 2020. Details of this study will be added to the evaluation website shortly: http://www.healthscotland.scot/health-topics/alcohol/evaluation-of-minimum-unit-pricing-mup .