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-33675

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 10 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of women’s experiences of disposal of pregnancy remains following a termination at home, particularly in cases of higher gestations.

Question reference: S5W-33670

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 10 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many women have accessed abortion services provided by (a) the NHS and (b) independent providers since the changes to procedures on 31 March 2020.

Question reference: S5W-33665

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 10 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many instances of complications or mental health concerns following an abortion were reported in 2019 where a woman took (a) only the second pill at home and (b) both pills at a clinic or hospital.

Question reference: S5W-33673

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 10 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how it is monitoring the prevalence of coercion to (a) continue and (b) terminate a pregnancy among women presenting at abortion services.

Question reference: S5W-33674

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 10 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how it is ensuring that the voices of women who may have experienced coercion either to continue or to terminate a pregnancy are being represented in its current consultation, Early medical abortion at home.

The Scottish Government is consulting on the future arrangements for early medical abortion at home to allow abortion providers and other health professionals, the general public and in particular women who have experience of abortion services the opportunity to comment and submit evidence. Scottish Government officials have asked NHS Boards to make women receiving abortion treatment aware of the consultation where appropriate so that they can respond to it if they wish.

Question reference: S5W-33669

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 10 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many women have received a "Pills by Post" abortion kit from British Pregnancy Advisory Service providers since the changes to abortion procedures on 31 March 2020.

Question reference: S5F-04653

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 December 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 December 2020

To ask the First Minister how many staff are employed to answer calls to book COVID-19 tests in Scotland.

Question reference: S5O-04829

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 December 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on whether it has met its climate change targets that were set during session 3 of the Parliament.

Question reference: S5F-04620

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 November 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 December 2020

To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government plans to mitigate the impact of any reduction in services due to the COVID-19 pandemic on the lives and mental wellbeing of disabled people.

Question reference: S5W-33397

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government by what date (a) Pension Age Disability and (b) Winter Heating Assistance payments will begin.

As set out in my statement to Parliament of 17 November 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a major impact on the Scottish Government’s delivery partners, including the Department for Work and Pensions, whose support we need to transfer the relevant social security benefits. This is an on-going and complex exercise.

Earlier this month, I discussed the delivery of all remaining devolved benefits with the UK Minister of State for Disabled People, Work and Health. Now that our respective officials have the capacity to do so, we reaffirmed our commitment to taking forward the necessary detailed planning work on the benefits, having prioritised reaching an agreement on child and adult disability payments over the past few months. I will make announcements regarding individual benefits in due course.