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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 623 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-00442

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 18 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that there are no discrepancies in pay between nurses and other healthcare workers who administer COVID-19 vaccinations.

We have worked to ensure that nobody is placed at detriment as a result of their participation in the programme as a vaccinator.

Our desire to protect as much of Scotland’s population as quickly as possible has necessitated the deployment of all available resources, and the rate of progress we have seen would not have been possible without the mobilisation at pace of a large, capable and diverse workforce. We are grateful for the contribution nurses have made alongside other Healthcare Professionals.

It is our expectation that reliance on the temporary measures currently in place will reduce as Health Boards continue with efforts to recruit a sustainable vaccinator workforce.

Question reference: S6W-00576

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 17 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been recorded on the palliative care register in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board area.

This information is not collected centrally on a national palliative care register, however, under the Primary Medical Services (Directed Enhanced Services) (Scotland) Directions 2018, Health Boards should each have a local Palliative Care Scheme in place to ensure that patients within their areas who reach the last days of their life receive appropriate high quality care. Health Boards are responsible for contracting with GP practices in their areas to assess patients appropriately.

Question reference: S6O-00040

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the arts and cultural sector in Glasgow, in light of the continued impact of COVID-19 restrictions.

Question reference: S6W-00113

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what action it is taking to support homeowners who are facing difficulties in selling their properties due to building cladding.

Homeowners whose flats have external cladding are being offered a safety assessment, costs of the ‘Single Building Assessment’ announced on 19 March will be met by the Scottish Government. The whole building approach, will release affected buyers and sellers from difficulties in accessing mortgages without them having to pay for the current External Wall System (EWS1) Report on their individual property.
‎

The phased approach to the introduction of SBA, started on 31 March with an invitation to affected homeowners to submit data about their buildings and ‘expression of interest’ in participating in a pilot exercise in June.

Where problems are identified with the cladding system in place this will help to identify the scale of funding needed to take necessary remedial work. Where problems are not identified, this will assist with the property sale process.

Question reference: S5W-35981

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 22 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the cleaning sector during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the start of the pandemic, our support for business totals more than £3 billion, more than a third of total COVID-19 funding. We recognise that businesses which have been able to remain open, such as those in the cleaning sector, have also been affected by restrictions. This is why we increased our support through the discretionary fund to £120 million enabling local authorities to support businesses in their area which had not yet received any financial support based on local economic needs.

Question reference: S5W-36139

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 19 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many homes have been (a) built and (b) refurbished through the Rural Housing Fund.

There have been 80 homes completed through the Rural and Islands Housing Funds. Of these 54 have been built and 13 refurbished through the Rural Housing Fund. Eight homes have been built and five refurbished through the Islands Housing Fund. A further 85 homes are currently under construction of which 25 are on islands.

A total of £17,900,505 has been allocated from the Rural and Islands Housing Funds, which includes the full £5 million of the Islands Housing Fund.

The Scottish Government announced on 11 November 2020 that these demand-led funds would continue beyond March 2021 as a continuing scheme with up to £30 million being made available as part of our future Affordable Housing Supply Programme.

Question reference: S5W-36142

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 19 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many homes have been (a) built and (b) refurbished through the Islands Housing Fund.

Question reference: S5W-36143

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 19 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £5 million Islands Housing Fund has been allocated.

Question reference: S5W-36140

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 19 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £25 million Rural Housing Fund has been allocated.

Question reference: S5W-35987

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 18 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many people are on council housing waiting lists, broken down by local authority area.

Scottish Government annual statistics on the number of applicants on local authority or common housing register lists as at end of March 2019 are published at

https://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-
scotland-2019-key-trends-summary/ , with detailed local authority level Excel tables available at https://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-
management-of-local-authority-housing/ .

More recent figures as at March 2020 are not yet available due to a delay in the publication of annual housing statistics for 2020 due to the impacts of COVID-19 on data provision and staff resourcing.

The annual statistics figures are sourced from local authority data returns that provide information on the number of applicants on local authority or common housing register lists, although this excludes stock transfer authorities. Some applicants will be on more than one waiting list, and therefore the total figures presented will include an unidentifiable level of multiple counting of applicants.

Separate survey based estimates of the proportions of households on housing lists are published as part of the Scottish Government Scottish Household Survey outputs, with local authority level figures available in Table 3.18a at https://scotland.shinyapps.io/sg-scottish-household
-survey-data-explorer/ . Note that the Scottish Household Survey figures are based on the proportion of households reporting to be on any type of housing list, not just council lists. The figures presented will be subject to sampling variation, especially at a local authority level, however the results are not subject to any double counting issues. In addition, the Scottish Household Survey provides estimates of the proportions of households who are actively seeking to move into social rented housing through choice based letting systems and who are not formally on housing lists.