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-00675

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 January 2022

To ask the First Minister what impact the UK Government’s Nationality and Borders Bill will have on devolved functions.

Question reference: S6F-00671

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 January 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6T-00438

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 17 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to a recent report by Enable Scotland that highlights that over 250 people with learning disabilities are living in NHS Scotland inpatient units, with one woman being there for 60 years.

Question reference: S6T-00439

Asked by: Jim Fairlie, MSP for Perthshire South and Kinross-shire, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on any discussions it has had with OVO Energy regarding its reported decision to reduce its workforce by 1,700 employees.

Question reference: S6W-05365

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether the independent review of the aquaculture regulatory and planning framework will publish its recommendations for further work by the end of 2021, as committed to in the Scottish Government’s and Scottish Green Party’s Shared Policy Programme.

Question reference: S6W-05268

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 17 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what further consideration it has given to population-based recommendations and guidance on vitamin D supplementation, in light of Scotland's reported low vitamin D status and evidence that the vitamin may be able to play a role in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, including in the study, Therapeutic and prognostic role of vitamin D for COVID-19 infection: A systematic review and meta-analysis of 43 observational studies.

Our current advice on vitamin D supplementation is based on the consensus of the scientific evidence, as presented to all UK nations by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN).

On 19 June 2021, SACN published a paper summarising the monitoring of recent evidence on nutrition and COVID-19. It is available at

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/992875/SACN_Process_for_monitoring_evidence_on_nutrition_and_COVID-19__June21_.pdf.

SACN concluded that, to date, the monitoring exercise had not identified any new trials in relation to vitamin D and COVID-19 that would change current dietary advice or require the re-review of the rapid guideline published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), Public Health England and SACN on 17 December 2020. The rapid guideline states:

people should continue to follow existing advice on vitamin D supplementation to maintain bone and muscle health
there is currently not enough evidence to support taking vitamin D solely to prevent or treat COVID-19

The rapid guideline is available at https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/NG187

The UK COVID-19 Therapeutic Advisory Panel (UK C-TAP) is continuing to monitor ongoing COVID-19 related Vitamin D trials. I understand the SACN secretariat is in contact with the NICE surveillance team and officials supporting UK C-TAP to ensure complementary approaches. Evidence on vitamin D in relation to COVID-19 is also being monitored by the multi-agency initiative ‘Research to Access Pathway for Investigational Drugs in COVID-19’.

We will continue to look to NICE and others who are closely monitoring this evidence base.

Question reference: S6W-05217

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 17 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the timeline for plans to pilot free school breakfast provision in primary and special schools.

The 2021-22 Programme for Government committed to developing plans to deliver free breakfasts to all primary and special school children, and start to pilot this provision. In order to effectively deliver this universal breakfast offer we need to better understand the extent of current breakfast provision across local authorities, including a mixed model of in-school, private and voluntary provision of breakfast, often delivered alongside early morning childcare. The priority this year will be to map existing breakfast provision and plan what delivery of a future breakfast offer should look like to best meet the needs of children and families in Scotland. It will be important to combine the provision of breakfast with the provision of childcare – where it is appropriate to do so – recognising the importance of accessible childcare at the beginning of the day to enable parents and carers to enter and sustain employment. To understand this need, we will ask our People Panel for school age childcare what children and families want and need from a breakfast offer combined with childcare and consider how this can best be delivered.

Question reference: S6W-05221

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 17 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to keep pavements free from e-scooters.

Electric scooters (e-scooters) are illegal to ride on streets and in other public places across Scotland due to a number of pieces of UK-wide and Scottish legislation. E-scooters can only be ridden legally on private land with the owner’s permission.

The UK Government has signalled its intention to publish proposals in 2022 for potential further legalisation of e-scooters beyond the current trials in England. The Scottish Government is engaged with the UK Government in this regard and once more is known, we will consider any such proposals in order to inform future policy on e-scooters.

Enforcement of the law is a matter for Police Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-05278

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 17 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the reported shortage of bus drivers.

Bus service providers and passenger representatives regularly inform us about the additional pressures placed on the bus industry by the COVID-19 pandemic which are compounded by the ongoing consequences of EU EXIT.

We also receive data on driver shortages in Scotland from ongoing Department for Transport bus operator surveys and Transport Scotland is conducting its own monitoring exercise to gather information specifically on COVID-related absences.

Question reference: S6W-05246

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 17 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support it will provide to compensate for the impact that recent temporary emergency COVID-19 restrictions have had on airports.