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: S6T-00745

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what contingency plans it has in place should train drivers reject the latest pay offer, in light of the reported hundreds of cancellations at the weekend.

Question reference: S6F-01183

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 June 2022

To ask the First Minister what her position is on whether Scotland’s Census 2022 has been a credible exercise.

Question reference: S6F-01175

Asked by: Gillian Mackay, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 June 2022

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the finding of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine report, Beds in the NHS, that, since 2010, 4,227 hospital beds have been taken out of active service in NHS Scotland.

Question reference: S6F-01167

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 June 2022

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is regarding the impact on Scotland to the energy profits levy, commonly referred to as a windfall tax, on the oil and gas sector to help support families struggling with the cost of living crisis.

Question reference: S6F-01165

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 June 2022

To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government plans to address the reported potential spending gap of £3.5 billion in its budget by 2026-27.

Question reference: S6F-01160

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 June 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-01159

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 June 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-08574

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 30 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the new website to provide NHS patients with indicative waiting times, whether details of all NHS procedures and their indicative waiting times will be made available, and if this will not be the case, whether it can provide details of the procedures that will be included.

Question reference: S6W-08592

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 30 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-07899 by Maree Todd on 3 May 2022, whether it will confirm how it is supporting the Scottish honey industry.

The honey industry and honey production is dependent on maintaining a healthy population of honey bees. The Scottish Government has a dedicated Bee Health Team, including bee health inspectors, that works in close partnership with the Bee Health Improvement Partnership (BHIP) which is made up of stakeholders with an interest in honey bees in Scotland. The objective of the BHIP is to achieve a healthy and sustainable population of honey bees for pollination and honey production in Scotland.

Scottish Government contributes to the funding of BeeBase, a database designed for beekeepers which supports inspections and health programmes in Scotland, England and Wales and provides a range of apicultural information for beekeepers. Scottish Government Bee Inspectors also collect samples of honey from beekeepers and honey producers in Scotland for medicine residue analysis as part of the Veterinary Medicines Directorate statutory surveillance scheme .

Scottish Government have worked with the key trade bodies across the food and drink sector to develop a COVID-19 recovery plan, which was announced in November 2020. We have committed support of £10m over in 2020-2022 towards the plan which contains 50 actions to support all sectors of Scotland’s food and drink industry to recover from Covid and Brexit. The focus is on two overarching aims: stimulating more demand in key markets; and supporting businesses to capitalise on this demand. Scotland Food & Drink lead on the delivery of the recovery plan and any honey producer looking for advice or support can contact them at [email protected]

In addition, a new £10.2m round of the Food Processing and Marketing Cooperation (FPMC) grants scheme was launched on 9 May 2022 with applications closing on 19 June 2022. Further information on the funding round can be accessed at https://www.ruralpayments.org/publicsite/futures/topics/all-schemes/food-processing--marketing-and-co-operation/ and we would encourage any honey producers who fit the eligibility criteria to consider applying.

Question reference: S6W-08545

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 30 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in (a) South Ayrshire and (b) East Ayrshire who have been found guilty of child abuse since 2010 were not given a prison sentence.

Child abuse is a broad term that doesn't have a specific legal definition. For context the World Health Organisation has defined 'Child maltreatment' as ‘the abuse and neglect that occurs to children under 18 years of age. It includes all types of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect, negligence and commercial or other exploitation, which results in actual or potential harm to the child’s health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power'. ( Child maltreatment (who.int) )

In general the Scottish Government does not hold information centrally on those convicted of crimes against children, as the Official Statistics on criminal proceedings do not include details on the age of the victim. This would include cases of non-sexual violence such as assault, and some sexual crimes such as rape and attempted rape. We can however provide this information for those crime types where it is clear from the legislation used that the victim was either a child or the intention of the perpetrator was to target a child.

We have received a clarification from the member who indicated they were interested in the Sexual assault of older child (13-15); Sexual assault of young child (under 13) and Sexual Abuse of trust of person under 18 crimes only. This is presented in the table below, showing convictions that did not result in a prison sentence for the years 2010-11 to 2019-20. The 2020-21 criminal proceedings Official Statistics will be published on 21 June.

People convicted for the Sexual assault of older child (13-15); Sexual assault of young child (under 13) and Sexual Abuse of trust (where main crime), excluding custodial sentences, 2010-11 to 2019-20 .

East Ayrshire	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20
Sexual assault of young child (under 13)	-	-	3	-	2	3	-	2	1	1
Sexual assault of older child (13-15)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Sexual Abuse of trust of person under 18	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	-	-

South Ayrshire	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20
Sexual assault of young child (under 13)	-	1	1	-	-	1	-	-	-	-
Sexual assault of older child (13-15)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Sexual Abuse of trust of person under 18	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database

1 - includes Having intercourse with older child, Sexual abuse of trust (children), Voyeurism towards a young child; Causing an older child to look at sexual image;

2 - includes Tattooing of minors, Drunk in public place while in charge of a child under 10;

Please note: Some of the crimes and offences committed against children might be prosecuted under more generic offences.