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-26112

Asked by: Evelyn Tweed, MSP for Stirling, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 26 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve road safety on (a) the A84 and (b) other roads around Stirling, in light of reports of three deaths in a week due to road traffic accidents in the area.

Firstly the Scottish Government’s sympathies are with the family and friends of those affected by these tragic accidents. The Scottish Government is clear that one life lost on our roads is one too many. However, as police investigations into these accidents are on-going it would be inappropriate for me to comment further at this time.

The A84, the route on which one of these tragic accidents occurred, is part of the Scottish Trunk Road Network between Kildean Roundabout at Stirling and the A85 junction at Lochearnhead. Other public roads in the Stirling area are the responsibility of the local authority. Therefore it is for the relevant roads authority responsible for the route to consider appropriate measures which will safeguard road users and residents, and to determine the priority that should be given to any road safety measures.

The Scottish Government remains committed to reducing casualties on Scotland’s roads, this is why in 2023-24 £9.5m was dedicated to a Road Safety Improvement Fund which has supported local authorities to reduce casualties and risks on their roads through the implementation of Safe System measures. Stirling Council was allocated a total of £245,689.

Each year Transport Scotland, through its Operating Companies, undertakes a review of collisions on the trunk road network to identify cluster sites, or routes with recorded collisions that may be worthwhile of further investigation. The screening process, together with a detailed understanding of collision trends around the network, results in a prioritised programme of sites that will be investigated further. This evidence led approach ensures that resources can be targeted at locations where the greatest potential for casualty reduction is available. This approach has been successful in reducing casualties across Scotland’s trunk road network.

In regards to the A84 trunk road, Transport Scotland is implementing a 40mph speed limit reduction from Kildean to north of the Auction Mart roundabout and investigating active travel improvements in this area. In addition, an investigation into potential road safety and active travel improvements around Kincardine-in-Menteith Primary School is also underway. This is complemented by signing improvements at Kilmahog and consideration of both a new 20mph speed limit at Strathyre and an extension to the 20mph speed limit at Callander.

Transport Scotland will continue to monitor road safety on the A84 and progress investigations and improvements as appropriate.

Question reference: S6W-26105

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 26 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the response by the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy to the question on a competitive shipbuilding financing guarantee programme during the ministerial statement on Ferguson Marine on 5 March 2024, whether it will provide a substantive response regarding whether it will introduce a competitive shipbuilding financing guarantee programme in Scotland, similar to that of the Turkish national investment bank, Türk Eximbank.

The UK Government introduced the Shipbuilding Credit Guarantee Scheme in July 2023.

The scheme provides a partial guarantee to a lender making a loan to a ship-buyer or operator, so that new vessels, or refits, retrofits or repairs of existing vessels can be procured from UK shipyards.

It can provide partial guarantees covering up to 80% of the risk to lenders for a maximum repayment period of up to 12 years.

The scheme is in its infancy, and it would be prudent to evaluate its impact in time before considering any potential alternative schemes in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-26149

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 26 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is on track to achieve its aim of ending new cases of HIV by 2030.

As outlined in the Scottish HIV Transmission Elimination Proposal, published on 1 December 2022, our aim is to achieve ‘zero people contracting HIV within Scotland by 2030’. To do so, one of the key interim targets is to achieve 100 or fewer first ever diagnoses per year by the end of 2025.

The most recently published HIV data for Scotland (to 31 December 2022), released by Public Health Scotland on 26 September 2023, indicate that, since 2017, the annual number of first ever diagnoses recorded in Scotland has more than halved, decreasing from 226 in 2017 to 108 in 2022. Of note, 55 of 108 (51%) first ever diagnoses recorded in 2022 were thought likely to have been acquired within Scotland.

In addition, the data indicate a small proportion (11%) of first ever HIV diagnoses were recently acquired (i.e. within the previous three to four months). This is the lowest number and proportion for over five years and is, in part, the result of the Scottish Government’s world-leading approach to making HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis available on the NHS in 2017.

Question reference: S6W-26137

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 26 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the remaining funding from the £10 million Long COVID Support Fund will be allocated in 2024-25, and when any such funding will be allocated.

As set out in my answer to question S6W-25994 on 18 March 2024, we remain committed to delivering the £10 million long COVID Support Fund in full. The 2024-25 budget published on 19 December 2023 outlines our plans to make £3 million from the long COVID Support Fund available over 2024-25.

We will process NHS Boards’ first tranche of their total 2024-25 allocations from the fund early in the financial year. The second tranche will be made later in the financial year following progress reporting.

We anticipate that the remainder of the funding will be allocated over the financial year 2025-26.

Question reference: S6T-01903

Asked by: Audrey Nicoll, MSP for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s report on how women born in the 1950s were affected by increases to the state pension age, and given that women are more likely to live in poverty than men, what assessment it has made of the potential impact that changes to the state pension age have had on the poverty rate among women in Scotland.

Question reference: S6T-01893

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that Scotland has become the "worst country in Europe" for unqualified beauticians injecting customers with cosmetic treatments.

Question reference: S6T-01899

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what action it is taking to tackle child poverty.

Question reference: S6F-02974

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 March 2024

To ask the First Minister whether he will provide an update on what action the Scottish Government is taking to deliver the New Deal for Tenants.

Question reference: S6F-02995

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 March 2024

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government is doing to expedite the restoration of the Glasgow School of Art, in light of it being nearly a decade since the first fire.

Question reference: S6F-02979

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 March 2024

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government plans to take following the publication of the University of Stirling study highlighting the reported risk of crumb rubber infill on artificial pitches.