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-11659

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 15 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to support pharmacies in their recruitment and retention of pharmacists.

Whilst responsibility for recruitment and retention of pharmacists in community pharmacies is a matter for individual community pharmacy contractors, Scottish Government is increasing the number of pharmacist pre-registration training places by 120 over 5 years from December 2019, to create the opportunity for more pharmacists to enter the profession. To date we have increased places by 66, with the remaining places due to be available by 2024-25.

In addition to ensure the competencies required of pharmacists to meet future workforce demands, the pharmacy regulator, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), has introduced new standards for the initial education and training of pharmacists to ensure pharmacists are equipped for their future roles. These changes include: incorporating the skills, knowledge and attributes for prescribing in order to enable pharmacists to independently prescribe from the point of registration; introducing a new set of learning outcomes to assess the full five years of education and training (undergraduate and pre-registration) and which can link into post-registration education; and making the fifth year of initial education and training a pre-registration foundation training year with strengthened supervision and support and collaborative working between higher-education institutions, statutory education bodies and employers.

In order to aid retention of pharmacists in community pharmacy we have developed a Community Pharmacy NHS Post Registration Foundation Programme, which sees up to 130 places made available for a two and a half year programme for early career pharmacists. The programme is an experiential learning programme designed to develop confidence in pharmacy practice specific to Scotland, building on the skills and resilience established during the pre-registration Foundation Training Year. A Scottish NHS community pharmacy contractor will employ post-registration pharmacists qualifying in the summer of each year as pharmacists in a permanent role.

Question reference: S6W-11667

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 October 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Scottish Safer Buildings Accord has been agreed.

The Scottish Safer Buildings Accord is an ambitious attempt to secure the cooperation of Scotland’s leading developers to address the cladding problem. It is a complex and commercially sensitive negotiation. The Scottish Government has held productive discussions with Homes for Scotland and developers in recent months and subject to satisfactorily concluding negotiations the Accord will be agreed and signed in the coming weeks.

Question reference: S6W-11978

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 15 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many primary school children in (a) Inverclyde and (b) North Ayrshire are eligible for its school clothing grant.

The Scottish Government provides funding to local authorities of over £11 million per year to provide the school clothing grant for eligible children and young people. Local authorities are directly responsible for setting the eligibility criteria at the local level, therefore the Scottish Government does not hold information about how many children and young people are eligible to receive the grant.

However, the Scottish Local Government Finance Statistics workbooks contain information about the number of school clothing grants issued by local authorities in each financial year. In 2020-21, the most recent year for which this data is available, Inverclyde Council issued a total of 1,400 school clothing grants to primary school children and North Ayrshire Council issued 3,689 grants.

In total, Inverclyde Council issued 3,282 school clothing grants to eligible pupils across all age groups and North Ayrshire Council issued 6,283 grants.

This information is available on the Scottish Government’s website through the following link: Scottish local government finance statistics (SLGFS) 2020-21: workbooks - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Question reference: S6W-11973

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 15 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to any of the key recommendations in the final report of the Scottish Mental Health Law Review to which it agrees, what action it plans to take to implement the recommendations.

The Scottish Mental Health Law Review published its final report at the end of September 2022 and set out over 200 proposals for reform.

Cross-government work is now underway to assess their implications and we will set out our response, including priority actions that will be taken forward, in due course. As part of this work, we are considering the timescales for implementation and any recommendations that can be progressed in the short-term as part of our existing work to strengthen mental health and incapacity policy and law.

Question reference: S6W-11747

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 October 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 15 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-08833 by Lorna Slater on 14 June 2022, whether it will publish the gateway review in full, and whether it is the case that the review has not yet been published because it is reportedly highly critical of the Deposit Return Scheme and the progress made.

The latest Gateway Review into our Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) was carried out in May 2022. In line with standard practice for this type of review, the Scottish Government put in place an action plan to address recommendations. We have working with the Scheme Administrator, Circularity Scotland, and industry to address recommendations and launch the UK’s first DRS, as planned, on 16 August 2023.

The action plan, and progress against recommendations, has now been assessed by the review team. We will look to publish the recommendations of the review, and our response in due course.

Question reference: S6W-11595

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 October 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 15 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-11363 by Jenny Gilruth on 5 October 2022, whether the Caledonian Sleeper will continue to provide at least the same level of service frequency as it does at present, when it the Franchise Agreement with Serco is terminated in June 2023.

Question reference: S6T-00975

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that nursing staff at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital are routinely left in charge of up to 30 patients and are forced to conduct 5.00 am bed washes due to staff shortages.

Question reference: S6T-00960

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that its claim that Scotland has 25% of Europe’s offshore wind potential lacks evidence and that it knew that there was no basis for it.

Question reference: S6T-00961

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to Baroness Helena Kennedy KC's final report of the Independent Commission of Inquiry into Asylum Provision in Scotland, published on Friday, which highlights avoidable failings in the provision of care to New Scots during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Question reference: S6F-01534

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 November 2022

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government supports the introduction of a domestic abuse register.