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-20871

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 21 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Drinkaware campaign, Drink Free Days, and whether it will engage in the charity’s monitor insights, which examine drinking behaviours and attitudes.

The Scottish Government runs its own alcohol health campaigns, utilising partnerships with the third sector, NHS Health Scotland and Alcohol and Drug Partnerships to reach into local areas

Our new Alcohol Framework, published in November last year, sets out our commitment to a new national marketing campaign on the UK Chief Medical Officers’ lower-risk weekly drinking guideline maximum of 14 units. This is scheduled to run in Spring 2019 and aims to increase awareness of the guidelines and increase the proportion of those who can accurately relate 14 units to their drink of choice.

We welcome campaigns that support lower-risk drinking in accordance with the UK Chief Medical Officers' guidelines, and all rigorous insights into drinking behaviour, occasions and motivations.

Question reference: S5W-20741

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what provisions it has in place for the Motability scheme once PIP payments are devolved; whether the eligibility criteria for the scheme will remain the same, and which agency will manage it.

Question reference: S5O-02731

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the size is of the Scottish Reserve.

Question reference: S5W-20448

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 18 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to amend the Town and Country Planning (Tree Preservation Order and Trees in Conservation Areas (Scotland) Regulations 2010 to widen the definition of an "interested person" to include community councils and to require replacement planting of trees.

The Town and Country Planning (Tree Preservation Order and Trees in Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Regulations 2010 provide that any person may make a representation with respect to a Tree Preservation Order (TPO). Where a TPO is made, the planning authority must make available a copy of the TPO for public inspection and give notice in a newspaper circulating in the locality, including, where and how representations may be made as well as the date by which they are to be received. The planning authority must then consider any representations made before confirming a TPO, and give notice of their decision. There are no plans to amend the definition of interested person at this time.

Statutory provisions concerning the replacement of trees and woodlands are set out in the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997, as amended, which places a duty on the landowner to replace a tree which is removed in contravention of a TPO, subject to the requirements of the act. Further details on both the act and the 2010 regulations are available in Circular 2011/1 ‘Tree Preservation Orders’.

Question reference: S5W-20220

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 6 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many more people would be eligible for the Young Carer Grant if it was extended to include (a) more than one young carer per household and (b) 18- to 25-year-olds in full-time education.

Question reference: S5O-02680

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 December 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of recent figures reportedly showing that the number of doctors in training in Scotland is at a five-year low, how it plans to address GP recruitment issues.

Question reference: S5W-19439

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 2 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to break down the barriers of social stigma that prevent men from seeking support from professional services for victims of domestic abuse.

Question reference: S5W-19438

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 2 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had or plans to have with stakeholder groups on its approach to women who are perpetrators of domestic abuse.

Question reference: S5W-19435

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 2 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-19038 by Christina McKelvie on 15 October 2018, what proportion of its funding for tackling domestic abuse is allocated to services that support victims who identify as male.

The Scottish Government recognises that all victims and survivors of domestic abuse deserve access to support.

Funding for domestic abuse services includes support for services who work with male victims. Over 2017 to 2020, these include nearly £85,000 to run the Respect Helpline which signposts male survivors of domestic abuse to support services, over £3 million to ASSIST who, as part of their work, provide advocacy support to male survivors of domestic abuse in the Lothians and over £180,000 to Committed to Ending Abuse which supports all victims and survivors of domestic abuse in the Falkirk area, which includes those who identify as male.

Of funding for support services of domestic abuse, 17.9% goes to services who offer support to adult victims who identify as male. The remaining 82.1% goes to services supporting women and children.

Question reference: S5W-19436

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 2 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it measures the effectiveness of its approach to supporting victims of domestic abuse who identify as male.

The focus of Equally Safe as a strategy tackling violence against women and girls means that reports against the performance indicators on survivors record data on women and children, with the option to include data on men.

We will also be publishing the Year One report on progress against the Equally Safe delivery plan in November to mark the beginning of the 16 Days of Activism against gender based violence. The report will highlight specific pieces of work and will include a tracker showing progress against every action in the delivery plan.