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-04271

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 11 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many vacancies for qualified STEM teachers are unfilled in secondary schools.

Question reference: S6W-04012

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 11 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to decrease the moisture content limit for the sale of firewood to 20%, as set out in its consultation paper, Cleaner Air For Scotland 2, published in October 2020, and, if so, whether it will provide details of the reasons for choosing the 20% limit, in light of hardwood that is airdried for two years in the traditional way reportedly having a moisture content of between 17% and 23%, which may mean that half of all such hardwood is unfit for sale.

The Scottish Government published its new air quality strategy ‘Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 – Towards a Better Place for Everyone’ in July this year. The strategy sets out a wide variety of actions. One action is to work with businesses, and others that might be affected, on proposals to control the sale of the most polluting domestic fuels, which include wet wood. In order to take this forward we have set up a specialist domestic (household) emissions working group, with representation from industry and key stakeholders. These proposals are still at an early stage, further consideration will be required and additional information will be made available in due course.

In taking forward this work, we will be mindful of the potential impact on businesses and domestic users. Any new measures would require to be implemented over a period of time, such as a transitional period during which businesses could adapt to the new requirements without disproportionate costs.

Question reference: S6W-04024

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 11 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Interface Care and Discharge without Delay programmes will extend to mental health services.

The ideals and principles of the Interface Care and Discharge without Delay programs extends across all care groups, including Mental Health.

In addition to this work, in March 2021 we issued a £20 million Community Living Change Fund to be used during 2021–2024. This funding will be used to redesign services for people with complex needs including intellectual disabilities and autism, and for people who have enduring mental health problems, avoiding the need for out of area placements and reducing delayed discharges from hospital.

Question reference: S6W-03977

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 11 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many NHS staff are administering COVID-19 booster jabs, and how this compares with the initial vaccination programme.

We issued standing instructions to health boards as part of the delivery of phase 1 of the Covid-19 vaccinations programme (broadly December 2020 – August 2021), requiring health boards to build a capacity to deploy up to 1,400 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) vaccinators in any given week, subject to scheduling of appointments and supply. We maintain this standing instruction for the current winter seasonal Flu and Covid-19 booster programme which requires up to 1,400 WTE vaccinators to be in place for deployment. Deployment in any given week is determined in coordination with the scheduling of appointments and clinics. The substantive difference between phase 1 and the winter programme is that we co-administer flu and Covid-19 boosters, which allows Boards to administer vaccinations at significantly higher rates. We continue to monitor workforce deployment capacity on a weekly basis through the collation of management information.

Question reference: S6W-03898

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 11 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many additional nursing students it believes will be needed to resolve the reported staffing issues, and how much it believes it will cost to fill these places.

Growing our nursing workforce is crucial and we have steadily increased places on undergraduate nursing courses over 9 consecutive years. Each year we undertake a robust nursing student intakes planning process to determine the target number of nursing students to which Scottish universities should recruit to meet future nursing workforce demands. The process involves significant input from key stakeholders from across the health and education sectors, and uses detailed modelling of current and projected staff and student numbers, including workforce supply and demand for 3-5 years hence, as well as anticipated key service drivers, in coming to a decision.

To address more immediate staffing pressures, the NHS Recovery Plan, which was published on 25 August 2021, commits more than £1 billion of targeted investment for the recovery and renewal of our health service. A key requirement to delivering the Recovery Plan is having the right workforce in place at the right time and it is therefore key that we now develop a new supporting workforce strategy to enable us to do this. We will therefore publish a National Workforce Strategy by the end of this year, which supports remobilisation, recovery and renewal of Health and Social Care Services.

Question reference: S6W-03896

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 11 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the cost is of training a nursing student.

The Scottish Government package of support for Scottish student nurses and midwives is currently at its highest level. The average cost of training a nursing student, over three years of full-time university education, is £55,000. This comprises:

Teaching grant and tuition fee payments to the university;
£10,000 non-means tested, non-repayable annual bursary payments to the student;
travel costs;
uniform costs;
health checks;
disclosure checks;
and a range of additional funding students can also apply for, such as Dependant’s Allowance, Single Parent’s Allowance, Childcare Allowance for Parents and Disabled Students’ Allowance.

Question reference: S6W-03778

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 11 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when it will update the guidance for international school and educational visits, which was due to be reviewed at the end of August 2021, in order to bring it in line with the current framework for international travel.

Question reference: S6W-04333

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 November 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answer expected on 24 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body when it last met with trade unions representing Scottish Parliamentary Service and MSP staff.

Question reference: S6W-04332

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 November 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answer expected on 24 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what it considers to be its obligations under the Fair Work Convention with regards to staff employed directly by MSPs.

Question reference: S6O-00372

Asked by: Emma Roddick, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the anticipated timescale for the publication of the independent public inquiry into the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.