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-15157

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 17 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 13 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the response to the members' business debate on motion S6M-06148 (Sewage and Scotland's Waters) by the Minister for Environment and Land Reform on 26 October 2022 (Official Report, c. 124), how many of the (a) 40 waste water treatment works and (b) 26 priority storm overflows, which the Minister stated would be improved over the next six years, have since undergone improvement works.

Scottish Water publishes an annual update to its Urban Waters Route Map and the most recent update from December 2022 is available on its website at https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/-/media/ScottishWater/Document-Hub/Key-Publications/Urban-Water-Improvements/141222IUW22AnnualUpdateV22.pdf

In its December 2022 update, Scottish Water confirmed that 54 projects have been initiated to develop solutions and support delivery of all high priority discharges by 2027. Following discussions with SEPA, some initially identified needs have been removed/downgraded. Scottish Water intends to target investment towards a revised list of 104 high priority CSO discharges (detailed on its website at https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/-/media/ScottishWater/Document-Hub/Key-Publications/Urban-Water-Improvements/110522HighPriorityUIDs.pdf ); this includes 24 storm overflows which have been assessed as potentially impacting water quality. Scottish Water has also initiated projects and is scrutinising options to enable improvement works to be delivered at 39 identified waste water treatment works.

Scottish Water’s capital investment projects involve a significant period of development work, including identifying options, determining costs and completing all land, planning and permitting activities in advance of delivering any scheme on site. The projects identified in the routemap will develop over the next two years, in line with Scottish Water’s capital investment process, to the point where clear timescales for improvements can be agreed. It is anticipated that the majority of improvements will be in place closer to the 2027 target timeframe, but Scottish Water will review all opportunities to deliver improvements in the shortest possible timeframe, where possible. Scottish Water will continue to provide annual updates on its website to outline progress being made in delivering commitments under its Improving Urban Waters Route Map.

Question reference: S6W-15158

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 17 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 13 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the approximately 1,000 network and treatment works combined sewer overflows (CSOs) which, according to Scottish Water's Improving Urban Waters route map, are "discharging to the highest priority waters (including all designated shellfish and bathing waters)", have had monitoring installed on them, and whether it will provide a list of these CSOs.

As referenced in the answer to S6W-15157 on 13 March 2023, in its annual update to its routemap, Scottish Water confirmed that priority locations have been identified for the 1,000 spill monitors, with installation programmed over 2023 and 2024. Over the past year, Scottish Water has invested significant time in developing a prioritisation approach for monitoring locations, based on amenity levels and predicted spill frequencies, and agreed this with SEPA. This has been published on Scottish Water’s website at https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/-/media/ScottishWater/Document-Hub/Key-Publications/Urban-Water-Improvements/EDMmethodology.pdf . Scottish Water has also made considerable effort to review the marketplace to determine the most appropriate monitors to deliver maximum value for customers. A priority list of locations will soon be available on Scottish Water’s website and Scottish Water has committed to providing an annual update on its website to outline progress being made in delivering commitments under its Improving Urban Waters Route Map.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-14708

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding how many referrals have been made to Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland’s Long COVID Support Service in each month since it was established.

Question reference: S6W-14995

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to raise awareness of thrombosis and the risks to people of the condition.

The Scottish Government regularly reviews its plans for public awareness campaigns and raising awareness of conditions such as thrombosis. We do not intend to run a public awareness campaign for deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, venous thromboembolism, and thrombosis at this time.

NHSinform.scot provides clear and accessible information on thrombosis related conditions, including, symptoms, causes, diagnosis, and prevention.

Question reference: S6W-15239

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what is being done to tackle misogyny in schools, and what plans there are to improve education on misogyny in schools.

Question reference: S6W-15213

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 2 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the reported chronic understaffing in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

Question reference: S6W-15214

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 2 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that every firefighter has adequate breathing apparatus training.

Question reference: S6W-15212

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 2 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether there are any plans to remove high reach appliances from any fire stations.

Question reference: S6F-01855

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 March 2023

To ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet.

Question reference: S6W-14612

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to allow NHS Scotland patients to access their medical records online.

Scottish Government and COSLA will shortly set out a Data Strategy for Health and Social Care, which will articulate the first set of principles and deliverables needed to improve the access and use of data.

One of the core ambitions of the Data Strategy is to: empower the people of Scotland by giving individuals clear and easy access to, and the ability to manage and contribute to, their own health and social care data where it is safe and appropriate to do so. To achieve this, we will confirm data sources and data sets that are safe to be consistently shared. For individuals, data access will be enabled through the implementation of the Digital Front Door.

The Digital Front Door will be an iterative development and there will be a phased approach to implementation. As set out in our Digital Health and Care Delivery Plan . we expect the first version of the Digital Front Door being available for release in autumn/winter 2023 and this will be accompanied by an implementation plan.