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: S6F-02959

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 18 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 March 2024

To ask the First Minister what resources the Scottish Government will be providing to Police Scotland for the investigation of complaints made under the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021.

Question reference: S6F-02948

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 March 2024

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government will engage with NHS Scotland on ending the prescription of puberty suppressing hormones to children, following the recent announcement by NHS England.

Question reference: S6F-02952

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 18 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 March 2024

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

Question reference: S6F-02941

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 18 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 March 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-02940

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 March 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 March 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-26046

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 March 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 18 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with ScotRail regarding it scoring one out of five for the (a) "station staff" and (b) "station ticket offices" service schedule in each Service Quality Inspection Regime (SQUIRE) inspection since March 2023.

Question reference: S6W-26047

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 March 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 18 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what improvements it is seeking from ScotRail as a result of it scoring one out of five for the (a) "station staff" and (b) "station ticket offices" service schedule in each Service Quality Inspection Regime (SQUIRE) inspection since March 2023.

As noted in S6W-26045 on 18 March 2024, the SQUIRe regime is one of the toughest performance regimes in the UK. It is an operational matter for ScotRail to investigate and rectify areas where performance has not met the standards expected by the Scottish Government. By doing so the overall scoring for ScotRail should improve.

The scoring shows that the SQUIRe regime is operating as expected by highlighting areas where ScotRail is not performing as expected and where improvement is required.

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-26048

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 March 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 18 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the ScotRail framework agreement specifies that it should give "particular attention" to "identifying efficiencies in staffing levels" at railway stations.

The Framework Agreement between Scottish Ministers and Scottish Rail Holdings confirms under the Stations, Operational Plan section that “particular attention should be given to identifying efficiencies in staffing levels as well as focus on elements which will be monitored through SQUIRE”. This provides ScotRail with the ability to ensure that staff are deployed appropriately across the rail network to deliver a high performing service that passengers rightly expect.

Question reference: S6W-25816

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 18 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) deliberately hid documents related to its transgender prisoner policy, particularly in light of reports that officials discussed how to avoid having to publish operational guidance through Freedom of Information.

SPS has always been clear it is taking an open and transparent approach to the introduction of this policy which is evident in all they have put in the public domain. The SPS policy for the management of transgender people in custody was published on 5 December 2023, with operational guidance and an evidence paper published on 26 February. As these additional documents were intended for publication, they did not need to be released prior to that under freedom of information requests.

The SPS Chief Executive made this clear at the Criminal Justice Committee on 11 January, where she said: “Implementation will therefore commence from 26 February this year. In addition, at that time, we will publish our operational policy guidance, our gender diversity guidance and an evidence review document, which will all underpin the policy that was published last year”.

Question reference: S6W-25999

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 18 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether long COVID data from the Scottish Health Survey have been used in the development of its long COVID service design.

Data from the Scottish Health Survey did not inform the development of ‘Coronavirus (COVID-19): Scotland's Long Covid service’, published on 30 September 2021. This is because the results of the Scottish Health Survey 2021, which included questions on long COVID for the first time, were published on 8 November 2022.

Responsibility for service delivery rests locally with NHS Boards who configure services taking into account local circumstances and the reasonable needs of their patient populations.