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-22359

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-21543 by Jenni Minto on 3 October 2023, what was discussed in its meeting with the Gambling Commission regarding the UK Government White Paper on Gambling on 21 September.

The meeting on the 21 September was an introductory meeting with the Gambling Commission. It discussed the role of the Gambling Commission and the consultations that they were leading on as part of the White Paper.

The meeting also discussed the role of evidence and the developments by the Gambling Commission to improve the evidence base across the UK. There was a commitment to build links between officials to support the development of gambling policy in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-22198

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that dementia is the leading cause of death among women in Scotland, what work the Women's Health Champion is doing to address the (a) cause, (b) diagnosis and (c) treatment of the illness in women, and whether further iterations of the Women's Health Plan will include dementia going forward.

Professor Anna Glasier is Scotland’s independent Women’s Health Champion, and her remit encompasses all of the aims of the Women’s Health Plan.

There are many other issues and conditions that are important to women and their health, and there is a range of work under way to help women affected by dementia.

This includes the Scottish Government’s New Dementia Strategy, published in May 2023. The Scottish Government is also working together with COSLA and a lived experience panel, which includes women with a diagnosis of dementia, to agree priorities for the first delivery plan for the strategy, which will be published in January 2024.

The priorities for any future Women’s Health Plan are not yet determined. Consideration for future areas of focus and priorities will be informed by evidence and developed in collaboration with women and girls, a women’s health lived experience group, clinical experts and relevant stakeholders.

Question reference: S6W-22174

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many dogs have been destroyed following a court of any type issuing a destruction order, in each year since 2012.

This information is not held centrally and relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body.

The SCTS have provided the following table detailing how many orders of destruction were issued by the courts. However, they don’t hold records of how many dogs were then subsequently “destroyed”. Following an order being issued by the court, appeals and other protocols can occur. Once the order is issued SCTS do not find out the outcome of whether the dog was destroyed or not, the specific information is not held by SCTS.

Destruction orders issued under both the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 and the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010 at Scottish Courts

Financial Year	Destruction order	Contingent Destruction order
2012-13	8	6
2013-14	12	7
2014-15	11	10
2015-16	11	6
2016-17	13	5
2017-18	6	9
2018-19	11	10
2019-20	9	4
2020-21	4	1
2021-22	8	8
2022-23	11	12
2023-24 YTD	8	5
Total	112	83

Source: SCTS

Data Notes

1. Data is based on all cases disposed in the Sheriff, Justice of the Peace and High Courts from 1st April 2012 until 30th September 2023 where at least one charge falls under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 or the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010.

2. These orders are from the courts disposals that occurred within that period regardless of when the case was registered. This is at case/accused level where at least one order falls under the charges from Acts above. A distinct order is only counted once per person per case.

3. Contingent Destruction Orders are not a final destruction outcome and a breach of this order may not be subsequently recorded as such through the court disposal system. A contingent destruction order is a court order that allows a dog to be spared from being destroyed if the owner complies with the conditions set out in the order.

4. YTD is 1st April 2023 until 30th September 2023.

5. There is a possibility that text disposals may also exist that impose a destruction order. As this is a manual field all text disposals would require manual interrogation.

6. There is an option to proceed through the civil court system to acquire a dog destruction order, however as there is no specific case category, type and subtype which would allow SCTS to identify these cases, they are unable to electronically extract any information in relation to these.

The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service uses a live operational case management system for the processing of court business. The information held on the system is structured for these operational needs, rather than for statistical reporting or research purposes. The information provided is based on the best information available from the case management system as at 20-10-2023.

Question reference: S6W-22189

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has gathered any information on awareness of endometriosis among the general public, and, if so, whether it will publish those findings.

In March 2023, the Scottish Government ran an endometriosis public awareness campaign in partnership with Young Scot, targeted primarily at increasing young people’s awareness of the condition.

Following the campaign a post-evaluative survey ran to measure the impact of the information on the audience. Key statistics are as follows:

82% of young people agreed or strongly agreed that they are more informed about the symptoms of endometriosis
71% of young people agreed or strongly agreed that they are more informed about how to support someone with endometriosis
74% of young people agreed or strongly agreed that they would know where to get support or what steps they could take if they thought they may have endometriosis
97% of young people who visited young.scot/Endometriosis found it useful or very useful

Question reference: S6W-22175

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients with underlying health conditions have died as a result of norovirus or had norovirus listed as a contributory cause of mortality, in each year since 2015, also broken down by NHS board.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. Public Health Scotland (PHS) monitors and publishes weekly prevalence and surveillance management information data on laboratory confirmed reports of norovirus. All published reports can be found here .

PHS also publish a dashboard by board detailing the number of hospitals and wards closed due to norovirus. The latest dashboard can be found here .

Question reference: S6W-22190

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has discussed the most appropriate ways to support people with endometriosis with colleges and universities in Scotland’s further and higher education sectors; if so, when these discussions last took place, and when any further discussions are planned to take place.

Question reference: S6W-22154

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with energy network operators and the wider utilities sector to review their processes for (a) establishing restoration plans and timelines during times of severe weather and (b) communicating regular updates to responders and the public.

The Energy sector is reserved to the UK Government. This limits the Scottish Government ’ s ability to directly engage with energy network operators and ask for a review of their processes.

However, the Scottish Government does regularly engage with UK Government Departments and the energy network operators in Scotland along with the wider utilities, particularly during severe weather events, where we encourage and emphasise the importance of accurate restoration plans and timelines.

In addition, we continue to work closely with the UK Government lead departments when they are developing statutory reporting arrangements and will make clear the requirements of the Scottish Government during a severe weather response.

The Scottish Government also supports the three Regional Resilience Partnerships (RRPs) who coordinate communications between Scottish Government, utility companies and categorised responder organisations who are working in affected areas during emergency responses. In this role the RRP coordinators engage with stakeholders on restoration plans at a local level as well as in the statutory requirement of category one responders to communicate with the public in emergency responses.

Question reference: S6W-22121

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 October 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its implementation of the short-term recommendations from the Independent Review of Audiology Services in Scotland.

There are a number of recommendations that have been made through the Independent Review of Audiology Services in Scotland, many of which are targeted specifically at Health Boards and other partners, as well as the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government is considering all of the recommendations made. Given the broad scope of the recommendations, and the seriousness of the issues raised, it is important that sufficient time is taken to fully plan how any actions will be taken forward.

We will provide an update to Parliament in due course.

Question reference: S6W-22141

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what objectives it set for the funding that it provided to Relationships Scotland - Tayside and Fife in 2022.

The Scottish Government did not provide any direct funding to Relationships Scotland Tayside & Fife in 2022.

Relationships Scotland operate a network of 21 Member Services across Scotland, including Relationships Scotland Tayside & Fife.

In 2022, the Scottish Government provided Relationships Scotland with core funding via the Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention and Adult Learning & Empowering Communities third sector fund; and with grant funding to provide child contact services.

Question reference: S6W-22122

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 October 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish all correspondence that it had with the British Dental Association Scotland between 1 October 2022 and 5 October 2023 regarding reform of the dental payment system.