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: S6O-00294

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports of people being "spiked by injection" or having their drinks spiked in nightclubs across Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-00298

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what plans have been made for the delivery of same-day prescribing under national Medication Assisted Treatment standards in Brechin, Angus.

Question reference: S6O-00297

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met representatives of Stirling Council, and what was discussed.

Question reference: S6O-00295

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is considering a scheme to support and incentivise social housing providers and homeowners to retrofit and refurbish long-term empty homes and bring them back into use as zero emissions housing.

Question reference: S6O-00293

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to promote manufacturing in Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-00299

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the new medical centre for Lochgelly.

Question reference: S6O-00296

Asked by: Emma Roddick, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support social housing providers in the Highlands and Islands.

Question reference: S6W-03213

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 20 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent report published by the University of Northampton, Sustainable Grouse Shooting?, which stated that “We believe that our conclusions, detailed above, are supported by the currently available evidence. However, we are conscious of the danger of legislation being driven by public (non-evidence based) perceptions of issues such as animal welfare, muirburn, rewilding etc. It is important that policy makers are presented with evidence, in a form that they find useful. This report will help in the production of this useful evidence”, and whether it will take the findings of the report into account when making decisions regarding how it supports grouse moor management.

We published our response to the recommendations of the Grouse Moor Management Group, an independent group tasked by the Scottish Government with assessing the environmental impact of grouse moor management, on 26 November 2020 – Grouse Moor Management Group recommendations: Scottish Government response - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

And as we set out in 2021 Programme for Government we will – ‘deliver the recommendations of the Grouse Moor Management Review Group as a matter of urgency, including the licensing of grouse moors. Licensing or further regulation will cover the key areas identified in the review, including muirburn, wildlife control, he use of medicated grit and wildlife crime.’

A full public and stakeholder consultation will be undertaken as part of this process.

Question reference: S6W-03403

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 20 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what measures are in place to monitor watercourses for the presence of (a) painkillers, (b) anti-inflammatories, (c) antidepressants and (d) over-the-counter medicines.

The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) sets the legal obligations to monitor and assess a range of chemicals in the water environment.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) monitors the water environment for a range of contaminants of emerging concern (including 4 antibiotics, 1 antidepressant, and 3 antifungal medicines) at targeted watercourses. Through the WFD watch-list prioritisation mechanism environmental quality standards for a number of pharmaceuticals are currently being developed by the EU. This includes antibiotic clarithromycin, painkiller ibuprofen, anticonvulsants and painkiller carbamazepine, anti-inflammatory diclofenac and estrogen medication EE2 in this study.

SEPA is working with partner organisations on the identification of chemicals of emerging concern in the environment, and is developing new analytical techniques that will allow it to screen environmental samples for a much larger number of chemicals, including a number of pharmaceuticals. This work will allow us to better understand the risks posed by pharmaceuticals in Scotland’s water environment.

Question reference: S6W-03407

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 20 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it plans to take to assess any damage that chemical pollutants have caused in waterways and rivers.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is responsible for assessing the impacts of chemical pollutants on the water environment under River Basin Management Planning, which began in 2009.

Along with a wide range of other water quality parameters, the Scottish Government directs SEPA to assess the impacts of priority substances (chemicals which have been identified as a significant risk to water quality and wildlife) through its comprehensive monitoring programme of the water environment. Environmental quality standards, which protect the water environment and wildlife, are used by SEPA to assess any damage that chemical pollutants have caused in waterways and rivers.