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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 42362 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-08610

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 31 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the level of food insecurity in each local authority area, in each of the last five years.

Food security levels in Scotland have been measured using the Scottish Health Survey since 2017. Survey respondents are defined as being food insecure if they answer positively to the question: ' During the last 12 months, was there a time when you were worried you would run out of food because of a lack of money or other resource?'.

Sample sizes for local authority areas are too small to publish statistics annually, however, by combining data from multiple years (2017-2019), local authority level figures can be produced. Statistics are publicly available on the Scottish Health Survey dashboard: Scottish Health Survey (shinyapps.io) .

Question reference: S6W-08350

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of no ScotRail services calling at Lockerbie Station, what steps it is taking to ensure that passengers seeking to travel to and from Lockerbie have access to the same promotions and incentives to travel by rail as other passengers across the country.

Question reference: S6W-08645

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 31 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what support can be given to anyone who may be reluctant to attend sexual health and cervical smear appointments at clinics where anti-abortion protests are taking place.

The Scottish Government believes that all women have the right to access comprehensive universal healthcare, including abortion services, without fear or intimidation.

The Scottish Government is currently looking at how to tackle protests and vigils that intimidate women as they access healthcare services, and are seeking to make progress as soon as practicable.

In light of the recent protests outside of sexual health clinics, if an individual feels uncomfortable attending an appointment, they should contact the clinic directly to discuss their concerns.

Question reference: S6W-08568

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 31 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to reduce the time taken to receive a coeliac diagnosis, and what role no-biopsy strategy would play.

Question reference: S6W-08569

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 31 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of Coeliac Awareness Week, which ran from 9 to 15 May 2022, whether it will consider supporting the development of a coeliac training programme for primary care physicians and other allied healthcare professionals to improve current understanding of the disease and support its prompt diagnosis.

Question reference: S6W-08567

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 31 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will assess the role of incentive schemes to support primary care physicians to encourage (a) earlier diagnostics for coeliac disease to be prescribed, and (b) the examination of any person who may have been misdiagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome.

Question reference: S6W-08572

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government who is building the new website to provide NHS patients with indicative waiting times, and how much it estimates this process will cost.

Question reference: S6W-08582

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 31 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made on the roll-out of a single clinical pathway for coeliac disease across Scotland on a "Once for Scotland" basis.

Question reference: S6W-08650

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 31 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of businesses and projects which have received money from the Scottish National Investment Bank, since it was established, specifically with the aim of helping Scotland meet its net zero targets.

Since the Scottish National Investment Bank opened for business in November 2020 it has committed £206.9 million in 16 investments in line with its strategic missions.

Details of the each of the Bank’s investments, including the alignment to missions, are published on the Bank’s ‘Our Portfolio’ page: https://www.thebank.scot/our-portfolio/ .

Many of these investments support our net zero targets and some meet more than one mission.

Question reference: S6T-00750

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to protect communities from off-market land sales by so-called green lairds.