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: S6W-11053

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 7 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10195 by Jenny Gilruth on 7 September 2022, whether it will publish copies of any notes or minutes from the meetings that took place on 20 April and 10 October 2017.

Question reference: S6W-10231

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 22 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many Afghan refugees are currently in (a) permanent and (b) temporary accommodation in Scotland, broken down by local authority.

Under current constitutional arrangements in the United Kingdom immigration, including the Afghan resettlement schemes, are reserved to the UK Government and handled by the Home Office.

The UK Government has published statistics on the number of people who have arrived in the UK under the Afghan resettlement schemes since 2021. This does not currently include a breakdown of Afghan refugees in temporary and permanent accommodation by local authority, however, the Home Office have committed to providing more detailed data in their quarterly immigration statistics going forward. Afghan Resettlement Programme: operational data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The latest published data (25 August) shows that across the UK 9,667 people are in temporary accommodation and 7,385 people are in settled accommodation. This does not include people who have made their own accommodation arrangements.

Question reference: S6O-01394

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met Sanjeev Gupta.

Question reference: S6W-10824

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 02 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ash Regan on 21 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what powers it has to ensure that owners of aggressive dogs maintain control of their pets in public places.

The power to deal with the owners of aggressive dogs rests with local authorities and Police Scotland. The two main pieces of legislation in relation to dog control are the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 (“the 1991 Act”) and the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010 (“the 2010 Act”).

The 1991 Act makes it a criminal offence for anyone in charge of a dog to allow it to be ‘dangerously out of control’. A dog is regarded as being dangerously out of control if there are grounds for reasonable apprehension that it will injure a person or assistance dog, whether or not it actually does so. For any given incident it is for Police Scotland to determine whether a crime has been committed.

The 1991 Act also gives power to any constable or authorised local authority officer (i.e. dog warden) to seize any dog they believe to be prohibited and/or a dog which appears to them to be dangerously out of control when it is in a public place.

The 2010 Act provides for a civil regime in respect of dog owners who allow their dogs to be ‘out of control’. The 2010 Act introduced the Dog Control Notice (DCN) regime. Local authority dog wardens are able to issue a DCN on dog owners. The DCN is a civil notice which can contain a number of conditions, such as requiring a dog to be kept on a lead when in public, muzzling the dog when in public, and undertaking training to modify/control the dog’s behaviour. A breach of a DCN is a criminal offence.

Scottish Government Guidance on the 2010 Act, published in December 2020, is available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/updated-guidance-control-dogs-scotland-act-2010/

Local authorities can also consider byelaw making powers to address a specific problem. For example, if there is an area where dogs are often a nuisance, the matter can be raised for consideration by the council who have powers to make appropriate bye-laws, i.e. to keep dogs on leads in particular areas.

Question reference: S6F-01353

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 September 2022

To ask the First Minister when the Scottish Government will announce the outcome of its review into the pausing of the Super Sponsor scheme for Ukrainian refugees coming to Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-10512

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that infants can register with an NHS dentist.

Question reference: S6W-10232

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether any additional funding has been provided to local authorities since 2021 to help them support Afghan refugees and, if this is the case, how much funding has been (a) provided and (b) spent to date.

Under current constitutional arrangements in the United Kingdom immigration, including the Afghan resettlement schemes, is fully reserved to the UK Government and is dealt with by the Home Office.

Funding to local authorities to help them support Afghan refugees is provided by the UK Government, and instructions for this funding are published online: Afghan relocation and assistance: funding instruction - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Question reference: S6W-10457

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 22 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many beds it currently has procured for temporary accommodation for each mode of accommodation, including cruise ship and hotel.

Question reference: S6W-10454

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 22 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government which agencies it consulted with regarding the welfare of residents on the cruise ship being used to house Ukrainian refugees in Leith prior to its opening.

The welfare of all displaced Ukrainians staying across the country is the Scottish Government’s absolute priority. Before the first guests boarded the M/S Victoria, a full Joint Assurance Review was undertaken with City of Edinburgh Council and other stakeholders, covering issues like safeguarding and security. The Scottish Refugee Council and the Ukrainian Consul General were both consulted as part of preparations for displaced people to live aboard the ship. Local health partners were also closely involved in preparations for opening the ship as temporary accommodation. Additionally, in partnership with the City of Edinburgh Council, we engaged with key stakeholders, community groups and third sector partners, including Public Health Scotland, Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations' Council, Volunteer Edinburgh, Scottish Chambers of Commerce, and Capital City Partnership.

Question reference: S6W-10460

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 22 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 20 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S6W-10087 and S6W-10089 by Maree Todd on 16 August 2022, whether it will provide the dates of when the meetings that discussed these issues took place.

I have a weekly portfolio meeting, usually held on a Monday, with officials and clinical advisers, including the Chief Medical Officer, during which any updates regarding the monkeypox outbreak in Scotland have been, and will continue to be, discussed.

As outlined in the answer to S6W-10089, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care attends regular meetings with his counterparts in the UK and other Devolved Administrations to ensure that the Scottish Government is represented in relation to public health incidents which require a coordinated 4 Nations response. The last meeting of the UK Health Ministers Forum was on 16 June 2022. The UK Health Ministers Forum has now been replaced by an Inter-Ministerial Group meeting which is expected to meet for the first time in mid-October.