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-18376

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-14626 by Lorna Slater on 28 February 2023, whether the guidance on the use of barcode stickers has been (a) produced and (b) published.

As stated in the response to S6W-14626, Circularity Scotland set out the requirement to use a GS1 compliant barcode in 2021 and this has not changed – it is an international standard. The ability to use a UK-wide EAN barcode within Scotland’s DRS was confirmed by SEPA in Summer 2022. Guidance on the use of barcode stickers, to support smaller producers who don’t currently use them on their products will be published in due course by Circularity Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-18382

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with the (a) Welsh Government and (b) Northern Ireland Executive to discuss the Deposit Return Scheme.

Question reference: S6W-18173

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 7 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S6W-17666 and S6W-17670 by Paul McLennan on 17 May 2023, whether it will provide a costing breakdown of the money that has been allocated so far in the current parliamentary session (a) in total and (b) as a proportion of the total money made available to the fund.

A total of (a) £18.181 million has been allocated from the (b) £30 million demand-led Rural and Islands Housing Fund for the current parliamentary term. The following table provides a breakdown of allocated funds between rural and island by local authority area.

Local Authority	Rural	Island
Argyll & Bute	0.000	4.196
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	0.000	0.813
Dumfries and Galloway	0.408	0.000
Highland	4.214	1.712
Moray	1.443	0.000
Orkney	0.000	0.961
North Ayrshire	0.000	1.512
Perth & Kinross	0.384	0.000
Scottish Borders	0.737	0.000
Stirling	0.586	0.000
West Lothian	1.215	0.000
Total	8.987	9.194
This table includes provisional programme management information for 2022-23 and 2023-24 and could be subject to change.

Question reference: S6W-18377

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 7 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what communication it has had with NHS Lothian regarding the proposed closure of the youth navigator service at (a) St John's Hospital in Livingston and (b) the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in Edinburgh.

Scottish Government has contacted NHS Lothian, which has confirmed the Youth Hospital Navigator pilot at both hospitals was funded only for a fixed term of two years which ends this month. The pilot was included in an external evaluation of all youth work provision commissioned by NHS Lothian.

NHS Lothian is considering this evaluation and its next steps over the next 6 months which includes designing a youth work model, based on learning and key findings from the evaluation and developing a business case to support this. Health Inequalities and Children’s Rights Impact Assessments will be commissioned as part of this process.

Question reference: S6W-18353

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, and what was discussed.

Question reference: S6W-18185

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to address the reported 84% increase in the number of Scottish applicants refused a place at Scottish universities since 2006.

The 84% quoted by the journalist is not correct. UCAS data is not comparable back to 2006 due to changes in the main UCAS cycle including the introduction of Nursing in 2010 and Teacher Training in 2015. As such, comparisons are only appropriate between 2015 and 2022.

For comparable data, between 2015 and 2022, there has been an 8% increase in Scottish domiciled applicants accepted to Scottish providers. The number of unplaced applicants over the same time period has decreased from 17,155 to 13,930, a 19% decrease.

There could be multiple reasons for applicants not securing a place. They might have accepted a place at a provider in the rest of the UK, or a Higher Education course at a Scottish College or decided to pursue a Graduate or Modern Apprenticeship, neither of which go through UCAS.

Question reference: S6W-18395

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the Educational Institute of Scotland Further Education Lecturers Association (EIS-FELA) was made aware of the recently announced £46 million reduction in funding for colleges and universities.

Question reference: S6W-18170

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many suspected marine invasive non-native species have been reported to Marine Scotland in each year for which data is available.

Marine invasive non-native species (INNS) are reported to the Scottish Government by statutory organisations such as NatureScot and SEPA and regional partnership groups, to inform international reporting obligations for INNS monitoring.

Year	Number of INNS reported to Marine Scotland (OSPAR data call & MSS data)
2022	8
2021	18
2020	2
2019	3
2018	6
2017	14
2016	32
2015	0
2014	2
2013	10
2012	5

A small number of ad hoc reports are received from the general public though these are not always possible to verify due to incomplete information received or absence of physical specimens to analyse in a laboratory. Marine INNS are not all reported directly to the Scottish Government but may be submitted via iRecord by members of the public. All verified reports are then collated on the National Biodiversity Network Atlas and freely accessible to all.

Question reference: S6W-18172

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S6W-17666, S6W-17669 and S6W-17670 by Paul McLennan on 17 May 2023, how much money has been allocated, in total, by the funds during the current parliamentary session, broken down by local authority.

A total of £18.181 million has been allocated from the demand-led Rural and Islands Housing Fund for the current parliamentary term, this includes spend of £9.088 million. The following table provides a breakdown by local authority area.

Local Authority	Allocated	Spend
Argyll & Bute	4.196	2.914
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	0.813	0.709
Dumfries and Galloway	0.408	0.408
Highland	5.926	1.931
Moray	1.443	1.424
Orkney	0.961	0.846
North Ayrshire	1.512	0.000
Perth & Kinross	0.384	0.000
Scottish Borders	0.737	0.737
Stirling	0.586	0.000
West Lothian	1.215	0.119
Total	18.181	9.088
This table includes provisional programme management information for 2022-23 and 2023-24 and could be subject to change.

Question reference: S6W-18175

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 6 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications to the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund it has received, since the additional funding of £15 million was allocated in April 2023 to date, and how many of any such applications have been successful.

Local application processes for the 2023-24 funding have not yet commenced.

National Fund Guidance and grant letters to Third Sector Interfaces (TSIs) will be issued by the end of June and will provide a date by which local application processes need to have commenced.

As set out in my reply to S6W-17501 on 12 May 2023, the timing of local fund processes, including award decisions, will vary across the country, with each TSI led partnership agreeing their own process and timetable.

Information on how to apply for this year’s funding will be shared, in due course, on the TSI Scotland website . All TSIs will be required to have distributed funding by 31 March 2024.

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