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-08840

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 14 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether the spending mechanism used for determining the provision of social care will include a re-evaluation of the so-called eligibility of need threshold, which can reportedly cause regional inequality between local authority areas.

The Scottish Government wants to ensure the quality, fairness and consistency of social care support provision regardless of where people live in Scotland.

Eligibility criteria can be a barrier to accessing social care support. We want the focus to be on people getting the support they need when they need it, not on eligibility. The Scottish Government is committed to overhauling the current mechanism of eligibility criteria. We set out proposals for doing this in the National Care Service consultation and will be working with partners and stakeholders to co-design the development of alternative approaches.

Question reference: S6W-08917

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 14 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the current level of debt on school meals is in each local authority.

Information about the levels of debt on school meals across Scotland is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. The handling of school meal debts is a matter for local authorities, taking into account the local needs and circumstances of all families within their respective local areas.

The Scottish Government recognises the work which has been undertaken by Aberlour on this issue and the First Minister has committed that officials will work with COSLA to understand this issue more fully.

Question reference: S6W-08920

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many people who have resettled in Scotland through the (a) Syrian Resettlement Programme and (b) Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme are still currently living in temporary accommodation.

Scotland is committed to playing our part in welcoming and supporting all Asylum Seekers, Refugees and displaced people.

The UK’s Syrian Resettlement Programme, also known as the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS), ended in March 2021. The programme matched people with accommodation identified by local authorities prior to their arrival in the UK. All 32 of Scotland’s local authorities participated in the programme, supporting 3,328 refugees to settle in communities across the country.

All 32 local authorities have also confirmed their participation in Afghanistan Relocation and Resettlement Schemes. So far, there have been 127 families (520 individuals) relocated to 20 Scottish local authorities.

It is the Home Office who have responsibility for hotel accommodation for Afghan families across the UK. Its data currently shows that there are 12,000 people in hotels across the UK.

Question reference: S6W-08923

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 14 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to help GPs to identify the signs and symptoms of an eating disorder.

During Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2022, we welcomed the training offer that Beat, the UK’s eating disorder charity, has developed to ensure that our future workforce feels confident to support anyone who comes forward with concerns about disordered eating.

We were also pleased to announce additional funding for Beat which includes Beyond the Symptoms training for GPs and healthcare professionals. This supports them to identify when a patient has an eating disorder and confidently intervene early. This funding was in addition to the £5 million additional investment to support those with eating disorders in 2021-22.

More generally, our Programme of Government commits to ensuring that by 2026 each GP Practice will have access to a mental health and wellbeing service; creating 1,000 additional dedicated staff who can help grow community mental health resilience and direct social prescribing.

Question reference: S6W-08897

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 14 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action is being taken to increase the number of people that receive treatment for subclinical hypothyroidism following diagnosis.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that people living with hypothyroidism are able to access the best possible support and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.

We expect clinicians to adhere to current guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment options from authoritative sources such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the British Thyroid Association (BTA).

Question reference: S6W-08927

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how much has been spent on providing temporary accommodation for anyone requiring it in each local authority area in each year since 1999.

As set out in the response to S6W-06821 on 10 March 2022, the vast majority of homelessness funding provided to local authorities in the annual local government finance settlements since 1999 has been included in the block grant. It is at each local authority’s discretion as to how they use this resource to prevent and respond to homelessness, which includes providing temporary accommodation. This has been supplemented in recent years by additional, identifiable resource as follows:

Financial year	Rapid Rehousing Transition Plans	Homelessness Support
2017-18	£0m	£22.5m
2018-19	£2m	£23.5m
2019-20	£8m	£23.5m
2020-21	£8m	£23.5m
2021-22	£8m	£23.5m
2022-23	£8m	£23.5m
Total	£34m	£140.0m

Housing Benefit covers the costs of temporary accommodation for individuals who are in and out of work, as long as their income is not too high.

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

Question reference: S6W-08876

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 14 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve the consistency and reliability of data on delivery and funding of Frank’s Law across all local authorities.

Data on the number of people under the age of 65 receiving Free Personal Care and expenditure on personal care by local authorities is collected through the Scottish Government Quarterly Monitoring Return . The data is quality assured and sent back to local authorities for additional validation prior to publication.

Information on the number of people aged 65+ receiving Free Personal Care has been collected since 2002; however, in 2019-20 the Quarterly Monitoring Return was extended to cover people aged 18 – 64 following the implementation of Frank’s Law. Information on the expenditure on personal care delivered at home was also requested and the frequency of collection was changed from annually to quarterly.

We will review this collection now that the expanded data has been collected for multiple years. This will involve working with local authorities to determine what is possible to collect; how to improve the consistency and quality of information; whether the resource burden of completing the collection is proportionate; whether alternative sources are available and would be more appropriate; and to assess ongoing data requirements.

The data for 2021-22 is currently out for collection and is due to be returned at the end of June. Therefore, the review work will take place later in 2022, following quality assurance of the 2021-22 data.

Question reference: S6T-00781

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its nursery recruitment targets.

Question reference: S6T-00784

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 13 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what immediate action it will take, in light of recent reports that nearly £2 million in Pupil Equity Funding has been spent on police officers in schools since 2018.

Question reference: S6F-01228

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 June 2022

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government is doing to tackle the reported growing use of locum staff in the NHS.