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-02266

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 June 2023

To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government will recommit to the leadership needed to tackle the climate emergency.

Question reference: S6F-02256

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 June 2023

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-19286

Asked by: John Swinney, MSP for Perthshire North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 June 2023
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 19 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the next paper in the Building a New Scotland series.

I am pleased to inform the Parliament that the Scottish Government is continuing to deliver on its commitment to give people the information they need to make an informed choice about their future, and is today publishing Creating a Modern Constitution for an Independent Scotland.

The fourth paper in the Building a New Scotland series sets out the proposals for developing a written constitution for an independent Scotland, providing the opportunity to replace the sovereignty of the Westminster Parliament with the sovereignty of the people in Scotland.

The paper sets out how the people of Scotland would have the direct opportunity to shape and build a better country. It contains this Government’s proposals for how an independent Scotland could put in place an ambitious written constitution, that would enshrine and protect rights. A written constitution for Scotland, designed by the people who live here, could also protect key features of Scotland’s democracy, such as the Scottish Parliament and the courts, and provide constitutional recognition of the NHS in Scotland, giving people the right to access a system of health care, available free at the point of need.

The Scottish Government intends to seek agreement of the Parliamentary Bureau to a debate on this paper in the next week.

The next paper in the Building a New Scotland series will give more detail on citizenship in an independent Scotland and will be published in the summer.

Building a New Scotland: Creating a Modern Constitution for an Independent Scotland is available to view on the Scottish Government website from today at www.gov.scot/newscotland .

Question reference: S6W-19006

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 19 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-18313 by Maree Todd on 6 June 2023, whether it has any plans to attempt to determine how many nursing homes or social care settings may be fitted with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.

Question reference: S6W-19004

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 19 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it next plans to publish the statistical publication Learning Disability Statistics Scotland.

The Scottish Government is engaged in ongoing discussions with Public Health Scotland and the Scottish Commission for Learning Disabilities (SCLD) on how the Learning Disability Statistics Scotland (LDSS) report can be improved to provide the most precise picture of people with learning disabilities across Scotland. This includes consideration of publication timescales.

We understand the importance of reliable evidence and data about people with learning disabilities and are committed to improving the evidence base through our autism and learning/intellectual disability transformation plan 'Towards Transformation'.

Question reference: S6W-18963

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 19 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what impact the reported withdrawal of fire appliances at Maryhill, Govan and Cowcaddens in Glasgow, Kingsway East in Dundee, Greenock, Dunfermline, Glenrothes, Methil, Perth and Hamilton will have on the safety of the public.

The safety of those in our communities is paramount for the Scottish Government and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS).

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service decision to temporarily remove these appliances was made following detailed modelling using historic incident data and a robust assessment of the risks present in the communities those fire stations cover. SFRS will continue to respond to every incident in Scotland with the appropriate level of resources

Question reference: S6W-18966

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 19 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on what impact any increased incident response times by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service have on the safety of the general public and people endangered or affected by incidents.

Question reference: S6W-18968

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 19 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Scottish Public Health Observatory update, Estimated numbers of people prescribed opioid substitution therapy in Scotland, published on 30 May 2023, what measures are being taken to address any issues associated with Community Health Index (CHI) capture for opioid substitute therapy, in order to ensure more accurate figures for the number of people prescribed these medications.

Following initial discussions, a small number of NHS boards have approached the Pharmacy Service Improvement Team in Practitioner Services Directorate within Public Health Scotland over the past 2 years to obtain data from the Prescribing Information Store (PIS) of the Corporate Data Warehouse, in conjunction with prescriptions images held, and asked for assistance/analysis to support them to increase their levels of CHI capture for OST prescriptions.

Based on various discussions, analysis and findings, the following conclusions were made on the scenarios and conditions that lead to poor CHI capture:-

EMIS Prescribing System – it was noted that the CHI number prints correctly on GP10(SS) stationery, however, on Nurse prescriptions, GP10N(SS) stationery, the CHI number is printed with spaces, e.g. 0 2 0 2 2 0 x x x x and, therefore, the CHI number is not in the correct format to be captured successfully.
Prescribing locations:-
In primary care, there are a number of GP10(SS) printed prescriptions from GP Practices with no electronic support/barcode and the CHI number may not be captured via ICR as a result of the other scenarios detailed below.
In specialist addiction clinics, there is a wide variation across NHS Boards on how these services have been set up locally and the prescription stationery they use to prescribe, e.g. some specialist clinics operate out of primary care and use GP10(SS)/GP10N(SS) stationery and others use hospital locations and use Hospital Based Addict Prescription pads (HBPA) or printed stationery (HBPA(SS)). It was noted that a significant number of printed HBPA prescriptions also had the CHI number in the incorrect format with spaces and the CHI number was not being captured. However, this has recently been addressed in NHS Ayrshire & Arran.

There are other scenarios that result in poor to no CHI capture when prescriptions are scanned via intelligent character recognition (ICR) for remuneration to community pharmacies and these include:

The quality of printed output, e.g., low toner/ink and the CHI number is not captured.
Misaligned or obscured CHI number - if this is not printed in the correct position of the prescription form or is obscured by handwriting.
The Pharmacy Practice stamp in the CHI area is obscuring part of the CHI number.
Handwritten CHI numbers – there is a very poor ICR capture rate of handwritten CHI numbers.
No CHI number printed or incomplete CHI number, where only a DOB has been provided.

Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland are actively considering options to resolve the issues outlined, which focus on updating current systems to improve the consistent formatting of prescriptions, consequently improving the automated capture of information.

Question reference: S6W-18965

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 19 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether average incident response times have increased or decreased since the creation of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, and by how much.

Question reference: S6W-18964

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 19 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the budget for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service would be in 2023-24 had its budget increased in line with inflation since it was created.

SFRS was formed in April 2013 and the Resource budget for its first year of operations in 2013-14 was £277.23 million. Adjusting that figure using the ONS annual inflation figures for CPIH (Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs) means the equivalent annual budget for 2023-24 would be £340.185m.

The SFRS Capital budget for 2013-14 was £15.292m. Using the same adjustments means the equivalent annual budget for 2023-24 would be £18.765m.

The non-fiscal element of the SFRS budget has not been included for the comparison of the impact of inflation. Whilst this element is included in the total budget allocated to SFRS each year, the amount is allocated on the basis of actual cost to SFRS to cover accounting elements such as depreciation. As such, this element of the SFRS budget is not subject to inflationary pressures.