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: S6O-03313

Asked by: Stephanie Callaghan, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 April 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Child Poverty Action Group’s recent analysis of official data showing that 4.3 million children were in relative poverty across the UK, up from 3.6 million in 2010-11.

Question reference: S6W-26447

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by George Adam on 10 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the anticipated local government elections in 2027, what information it has on when any work to redraw mainland council wards will commence.

Boundaries Scotland has the statutory responsibility to review the electoral arrangements for local government areas. In line with the requirements of the Local Government Act 1973, Boundaries Scotland must submit to Scottish Ministers a report on its review of the electoral arrangements for a local government area no more than 15 years after the previous report for that area was submitted. Boundaries Scotland is currently conducting the Second Review of Scottish Parliament Boundaries, and will report to Ministers by 1 May 2025. Work to review council wards will recommence once this review has been submitted. The Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Bill proposes an amendment to the deadline by which Boundaries Scotland must complete the next local government reviews, from 31 December 2028 to 30 April 2031. This is to align the 15-year period between reviews with the five-year local government election cycle.

Question reference: S6W-26552

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Emma Roddick on 10 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects to introduce a bill on ending conversion practices.

The Scottish Government is committed to introduce legislation to end conversion practices in Scotland that is as comprehensive as possible within devolved competence.

Conversion practices, which aim to change or suppress a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, are damaging and destructive acts that violate people’s human rights. Whilst our proposals will protect people from the harms of conversion practices, our approach also recognises and respects established rights and freedoms. This includes freedom of thought, conscience and belief and private and family life as well as parents exercising their rights and responsibilities in relation to their children.

Our public consultation, containing detailed proposals, ran for 12 weeks and closed on 2 April 2024. Responses to that consultation will now be analysed and considered.

Future legislative programmes will be announced in relevant Programmes for Government in the usual way.

Question reference: S6W-26346

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 9 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what practical measures it is taking to sustain the expertise and learning curves developed by the project team on the Edinburgh Trams to Newhaven project in order to optimise the delivery of the Clyde Metro project.

The current phase of Clyde Metro is being led by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, working alongside Glasgow City Council and with Transport Scotland providing support in a project assurance role.

I am advised that the multi-partner project team has been engaging with colleagues from the Trams to Newhaven project and across the private and public sector to learn from experiences elsewhere in the development of mass transit projects and ensure lessons learned and best practice are embedded within Clyde Metro’s future development.

Question reference: S6W-26352

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 9 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what review it will undertake of the funding formula for health services, in light of the projected population growth in the NHS Lothian area.

We remain committed to ensuring funding is distributed equitably across the country as set out in the 2021-22 Programme for Government. The existing National Resource Allocation Formula (NRAC) is updated on an ongoing basis for a range of factors including population demographics, relative health needs and remote and rural factors. We will continue to assess the need for a more detailed review of the formula, in line with developments in National Care Service funding and Integration reform.

Public Health Scotland review the calculations each year, which informs the geographical allocation of the NHS budget, ensuring resources are distributed fairly. The Scottish Government is not involved in the calculation of the target values. However, we use the formula to ensure appropriate allocation of resource. In 2024-25, we will provide an additional £31.1 million in parity funding, ensuring that all Boards remain within 0.6% of their target.

Work to determine how the review should be taken forward is underway, with an initial meeting of the Technical Advisory Group on Resource Allocation (TAGRA) having taken place to consider the next steps to determine scope and timing of the review.

Please note that the main driver of the NRAC formula is the population size of each area for the target year and as such each run incorporates the most up-to-date population information available. This includes the latest population estimates (including census data) and sub-national projections published by National Records of Scotland (NRS).

Question reference: S6W-26338

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 9 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many whole-time equivalent advanced nurse practitioners are currently employed within primary care.

Advanced Nurse Practitioners are employed within a range of settings within Primary Care.

The 2023 General Practice Workforce Survey ( https://turasdata.nes.nhs.scot/data-and-reports/official-workforce-statistics/all-official-statistics-publications/general-practice-workforce-survey-2023/annual-report/?pageid=10709 ), reports that there are 553.7 whole-time equivalent (WTE) Advanced Nurse Practitioners (ANPs) employed by and working in General Practices.

Alongside this, the ‘Primary Care Improvement Plans - Implementation Progress Summary’ ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/primary-care-improvement-plans-summary-implementation-progress-march-2023/ ) reports that a total of 219.9 WTE ANPs employed by Health Boards within Urgent Care services.

The latest NHS Scotland Workforce data published by NES ( https://turasdata.nes.nhs.scot/data-and-reports/official-workforce-statistics/all-official-statistics-publications/05-march-2024-workforce/ ) shows that there are 4.8 WTE ANPs employed by the Scottish Ambulance Service, as well as 1.0 WTE ANP employed by NHS 24.

Question reference: S6W-26375

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 9 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with (a) Port of Cairnryan, (b) P&O Ferries and (c) Clyde Marine Recruitment regarding the application of the Fair Work Convention to ferry services between Cairnryan and Larne.

The Scottish Government has not held recent discussions with the Port of Cairnryan, P&O Ferries or Clyde Marine Recruitment regarding the Fair Work Convention and ferry services between Cairnryan and Larne.

While employment law remains reserved to the UK Government, we will use our Fair Work policy to promote fairer work practices across the labour market in Scotland. In December 2022, we announced the strengthening of our conditionality approach, and now recipients of public sector grants awarded on or after 1 July 2023 are required to pay at least the real Living Wage and provide appropriate channels for effective employee voice.

Both shipping and employment law remains reserved to the UK Government and we would expect all ferry operators to ensure compliance with UK regulations on employees’ pay and conditions.

Question reference: S6W-26242

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 9 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown by local authority of how the £16 million of funding for access to counselling services in all secondary schools will be allocated in 2024-25.

All allocations in the Local Government Settlement are published on the Government Website at: 4 Tables and Interactive Dashboard - Scottish Local Government Finance - Green Book: 2024-2025 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The allocations for school counselling services for 2024-25 is as follows:

	£000s
Aberdeen City	513
Aberdeenshire	771
Angus	328
Argyll & Bute	372
City of Edinburgh	1,052
Clackmannanshire	165
Dumfries & Galloway	497
Dundee City	404
East Ayrshire	347
East Dunbartonshire	404
East Lothian	330
East Renfrewshire	403
Falkirk	467
Fife	1,006
Glasgow City	1,361
Highland	1,015
Inverclyde	237
Midlothian	297
Moray	279
Na h-Eileanan Siar	173
North Ayrshire	418
North Lanarkshire	986
Orkney Islands	186
Perth & Kinross	434
Renfrewshire	509
Scottish Borders	324
Shetland Islands	260
South Ayrshire	328
South Lanarkshire	959
Stirling	312
West Dunbartonshire	283
West Lothian	579
Total	16,000

Question reference: S6W-26270

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 9 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is has any further plans to purchase or hire ferries from other countries, in light of reports of the successful delivery of the MV Isle of Islay from a company in Turkey.

Question reference: S6W-26253

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 9 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the number of canine breeding services operating in Scotland over the last five years.

Parliament dissolved ahead of election

Chamber and committees

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