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: S6F-01098

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 May 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-01099

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 May 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-08425

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 16 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle Scotland’s reported litter problem, in light of comments by Keep Scotland Beautiful regarding a "looming litter emergency", and whether local authorities will be given support to help address this.

The Scottish Government is taking a range of action to ensure that we minimise the blight of litter on communities. We recently consulted on proposals for our new National Litter and Flytipping Strategy, including measures to strengthen enforcement measures, including raising fixed penalties, improve data collection, support private landowners and promote responsible behaviours. We will publish the final Strategy later this year, taking account of consultation responses. The Strategy is being developed in partnership with Zero Waste Scotland, Keep Scotland Beautiful and SEPA, and we are actively engaging with stakeholders throughout this process.

Local authorities are responsible for, and best placed to make decisions on the prioritisation of, measures to tackle litter at local level. However, the Scottish Government continues to work collaboratively with local authorities on this issue and our draft Strategy proposes measures to develop and adopt a shared approach between Scottish Government, local authorities, public agencies and the third sector, to effectively support litter prevention and behaviour change across Scotland.

Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging, which will be implemented from 2024, will include requiring producers across the UK to cover the costs associated with litter-prevention communications and managing litter disposed of in bins. The Scottish Government considers that producers should also cover the cost of managing litter disposed of on the ground, and we are working with the Welsh Government to explore options to put this in place.

Question reference: S6W-08421

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 16 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether full consideration is being given to the Sugar Warehouse in Greenock as a potential location for a national slavery museum, as part of action to address historic links to the transatlantic slave trade.

Further to my answer today to the Member's question S6W-08418 on 16 May 2022, the Scottish Government is not currently at the stage of considering preferred locations for a national slavery museum.

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-08369

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 16 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of schools reportedly reducing subject choice as a result of budget pressures, and whether this was a policy intention when it set local authority budgets.

This Government has delivered the highest spending, and more teachers, per pupil than any other UK nation. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

Schools and local authorities are encouraged and supported to consider innovative ways to ensure there are a wide choice of courses available to their learners. It is for them, working together with partners, to plan course choices in their areas. Expansion of course choice is reflected in the growth of vocational provision for young people in the senior phase. There has been a year on year increase in the number of school leavers attaining vocational qualifications at level 5 and above of the Scottish Qualifications & Curriculum Framework since 2014. The latest attainment stats reflect an increase from 7.3% in 2013/14 to 26.1% in 2020/21.

Question reference: S6W-08387

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 16 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the accuracy of bullying levels recorded in SEEMiS.

Question reference: S6W-08394

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 16 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it anticipates a shortfall in future staffing levels among Police Scotland officers (a) at each rank and (b) in each area as a result of the McCloud remedy, and, if so, what impact it anticipates this will have on officer capacity (i) at each rank and (ii) in each area.

Question reference: S6W-08405

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 16 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what additional funding it is providing for mental health services to help people impacted by the cost-of-living crisis.

Poverty is the single biggest driver of poor mental health and there is a structural relationship between wider socio-economic inequality and mental health. The Scottish Government is aware that many people across Scotland will experience financial hardship as a result of the economic downturn and we know that heightened stress can be a risk factor in relation to suicide.

This is why in our mental health Transition & Recovery Plan we have committed to strengthening alignment of mental health policy with work to tackle poverty and reduce inequality and we have committed to further develop a response to those whose mental health has been affected by issues relating to debt, working closely with a range of advice organisations including Citizen’s Advice Scotland to better understand and tackle these issues.

Our Transition & Recovery Plan, is backed by our £120m Recovery and Renewal Fund, is transforming mental health services, with a renewed focus on prevention and early intervention and funding allocated since it was introduced in 2021-22 includes:

? £9m to enhance Psychological Therapies, including £5m to address waiting times.

? £15m to improve the mental health estate and physical environment for both service users and staff.

? Nearly £5m to support the NHS 24 Mental Health Hub, ensuring a 24/7 response.

? Almost £2m to roll out digital innovations, including online access to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

? Funding to improve mental health care for children and young people, including £40m for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.

The Scottish budget confirmed the direct programme budget for mental health in 2022-23 at over £290m – a 6% increase on the current year, and 139% more than in 2020-21.

Question reference: S6W-08426

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 16 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is monitoring the level of rainfall in Scotland, and what measures are being put in place to address the potential risk of water shortages in the summer.

SEPA has an extensive network of rainfall monitoring gauges across the country and the data collected are available at SEPA’s Rainfall data for Scotland website.

Scotland’s National Water Scarcity Plan is available on the SEPA website. This sets out how water resources will be managed prior to, and during, periods of prolonged dry weather.

SEPA has started publishing a weekly Water Scarcity Report for this year as some parts of the country are already experiencing drier than average conditions. The current report can be found on SEPA’s water scarcity page.

The report uses a range of hydrological and meteorological data to set water scarcity levels across the country. The National Water Scarcity Management Plan explains what the different levels mean in terms of communication with licence holders and further regulatory action.

Scottish Water routinely monitors water levels at abstraction points and will contact public to advise them to use less water where there is a risk of a water shortage. Local Authorities are contacting owners and users of Private Water Supplies to remind them to check on their water supplies to ensure that they are resilient to the impacts of a dry summer.

Question reference: S6W-08420

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 16 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work of the Empire, Slavery and Scotland's Museums steering group.