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-31436

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 August 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 14 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when clear Type IIR masks will be available for use in health and social care settings.

Currently there are no commercially available transparent masks that are approved for use in medical settings in Scotland. The Scottish Government recognise the potential role of transparent masks in clinical settings and has been working to explore options for transparent masks and face coverings.

On 5 August the UK Government announced the procurement of 250,000 transparent face masks from the company ClearMask for use in health and social care. These masks will be trialled in England in specific circumstances and feedback will be sought from users before any decisions about future procurement are made. NHS National Services Scotland will be carrying out a clinical evaluation of the ClearMask through the relevant channels in due course to determine if these masks are suitable for use in health and social care.

Scottish Enterprise recently awarded £50,000 of funding from their Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund (PERF) to an Edinburgh-based company to expand its production of face coverings to include coverings with transparent panes, which facilitate lip-reading. This company is being supported by the National Manufacturing Institute for Scotland (NMIS) to upgrade these face coverings to type IIR masks which are suitable for use in clinical settings. The company are currently working towards submitting the masks for the relevant testing that will allow for the certification of the masks for use in clinical environments.

Question reference: S5O-04567

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

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage domestic tourism.

Question reference: S5W-30981

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance analysis of the advocacy scheme for disabled people accessing social security.

Question reference: S5O-04523

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 August 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the required social distancing measures in schools.

Question reference: S5W-30982

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 18 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what consultation it undertook before launching the advocacy service for disabled people accessing social security.

Question reference: S5O-04475

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 August 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its creation of a nitrogen balance sheet.

Question reference: S5W-30184

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 10 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether resomation (water cremation) can be an environmentally-sustainable end-of-life option, and what analysis it has made of the scientific research carried out by Middlesex University, which informed the decision by Yorkshire Water to approve the practice.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has not assessed the environmental credentials of the process as Resomation Ltd wish to discharge the effluent by-product to public sewers. This is a matter for Scottish Water and I refer the member to the answer to S5W-30183 on 10 July 2020.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Question reference: S5W-30183

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 10 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason Scottish Water does not allow resomation (water cremation).

Scottish Water is not opposed to the introduction into Scotland of alternatives to burial and cremation, including the services offered by Resomation Ltd. However, it has significant concerns about the effluent by-product from this process being discharged into public sewers. Scottish Water has engaged directly with Resomation Ltd over many years to explain its key concerns and has also encouraged them to give consideration to other alternative more sustainable ways of disposing of the liquid residue element from their process, rather than relying on a discharge to the public sewer.

Question reference: S5W-30200

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 7 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to use its powers under the Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016 to permit the use of additional environmentally-sustainable end-of-life options.

Our legislative framework is flexible. Whilst the Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016 specifically provides for the regulation of burial and cremation, it also allows us to regulate alternative methods of body disposal.

We will consider what regulations are required for alternatives to burial and cremation, when those practices become established, and in line with our wider implementation timeframe.

Question reference: S5W-30248

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 6 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what the employment rate for disabled people has been in each of the last five years.

In Scotland, as in the wider UK, the employment rate of disabled people has consistently been much lower than that of non-disabled people. However, it has shown steady growth since 2014, increasing by 7.5 percentage points (p.p.) between 2014 and 2019 from 41.5% to 49.0%.

Table 1 shows the employment rate of disabled people in Scotland from 2014 – 2019. Data for January – December 2020 will be released in 2021.

Table 1: Employment Rate (%, 16-64) of Disabled People, Scotland, 2014-2019
2014	41.5
2015	41.9
2016	42.8
2017	45.3
2018	45.6
2019	49.0
Source: ONS, Annual Population Survey, Jan-Dec data

The long-term impacts of COVID-19 on the labour market are not yet known, but we will monitor any changes in disabled people’s employment rate, and ensure the economic response considers the needs of those already facing barriers in the labour market.