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-00575

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 December 2021

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-04680

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 29 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 13 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the publication of its consultation report on the draft licensing order and business and regulatory impact assessment (BRIA) for short-term lets, how many local authorities responded to the consultation exercise and, of those who responded, how many (a) raised no issues with the proposed licensing and (b) highlighted concerns over (i) fees, (ii) resourcing, and (iii) a lack of start-up costs associated with licensing.

A total of eleven local authorities responded to the 2021 consultation on the draft Licensing Order and draft Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA). The Scottish Government also received responses from the Society of Local Authority Lawyers & Administrators in Scotland (SOLAR), and the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers (ALACHO).

Four local authorities and SOLAR raised concerns in relation to the fees set out in the draft BRIA. Two local authorities highlighted concerns about resourcing and two called for the Scottish Government to provide financial support to cover establishment costs.

Published consultation responses can be found here: https://consult.gov.scot/housing-and-social-justice/short-term-lets-draft-licensing-order-and-bria/consultation/published_select_respondent

Question reference: S6W-04716

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 29 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 13 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the proposed governance structure for when the ScotRail franchise is managed by the Operator of Last Resort from March 2022.

Question reference: S6W-04673

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 29 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 13 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many standard bicycles it (a) has purchased since 2007 and (b) owns.

Question reference: S6W-04733

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 29 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 13 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the timetable for introducing Anne’s Law is.

The Scottish Government remains absolutely committed to strengthening residents’ rights in adult care homes through the introduction of ‘Anne’s Law’. This will give people who live in adult care homes the right to see and spend time with those who are important to them. Our public consultations on Anne’s Law and the strengthening of health and social care standards closed in early November 2021. We have received a considerable number of responses which will be used to inform work to implement Anne’s Law. It is important that we carefully consider the views from the public and stakeholders that took the time to submit a response to our consultations. We intend, where permission has been given, to publish the consultation responses and a report summarising the consultation responses to Anne’s Law and the strengthening of health and social care standards will be published in early 2022.

Question reference: S6W-04736

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 29 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 13 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress towards delivering road equivalent tariff (RET) on Pentland Firth routes, and what the timeframe for implementing this is.

Question reference: S6W-04524

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 13 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether the review of snares will include considering banning their use to trap domestic animals, including cats.

Question reference: S6W-03605

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 13 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason some people experienced difficulties accessing the NHS Scotland Covid Status App in the 72 hours after launch.

Most people were able to access the NHS Scotland Covid Status App without difficulty from launch. Where people experienced difficulties it was when they requested access to their vaccination status through the app after having verified their identity. This process involved the app linking to an existing NHS system. There was an extremely high number of initial users trying to access this NHS system that matched a verified an individual with their health record at the same time. This led to the system being overwhelmed for a short period and a related fault developing in the NHS system that routed these requests. The fault, along with the required fix, was identified within the first 24 hours and the fix successfully implemented on the evening of 1 October. The backlog of health record matching requests had been cleared within 48 hours of the app being launched, during which time people who experienced difficulties at that time could continue to use their paper version, or their PDF downloaded copy.

Question reference: S6W-03148

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 13 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many GP appointments in each month since March 2020 have taken place (a) face to face, (b) over the telephone and (c) virtually, broken down by NHS board.

(a) & (b) We collect high quality data from across the health system, and are working with stakeholders to improve the quality of data we can collect from GP practices to ensure it is comparable and robust. There is no obligation on practices or health boards to report data on activity to Scottish Government, therefore we don’t have a robust time series of data covering the full time period asked for at health board level.

GP practices have remained open, accessible and at the forefront of our community services to deal with non-COVID-19 medical care throughout the pandemic.

We have continued to meet routinely with GPs and their representatives, and hear regularly from patients, to help build intelligence around appointments and pressures in GP practices throughout the pandemic, and are currently working together with NSS and PHS on a more advanced digital solution for capturing this information moving forward.

(c)In relation to virtual appointments, the table placed in the Scottish Parliament Information centre under bib number 62934, shows the number of face to face appointments being undertaken using the video consulting platform Near Me, but would not fully cover the various digital means of engaging with the Health Board - for example to feed in blood pressure readings and receive feedback through a managed service.

Question reference: S6W-03685

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 13 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it (a) has taken and (b) plans to take to increase the number of face-to-face appointments with GPs.

Public Health Scotland has published guidance on distancing and infection control measures in health settings changing the 2 metre rule to 1 metre – this means more potential space for patients in waiting rooms where it is appropriate, while continuing to ensure everyone is kept safe.

Following this, NHS and Scottish Government guidance for general practices was published on 7 September. This is an important step in getting more in person appointments in primary care.

This guidance also makes clear that there is no longer a need to triage every patient, although they should continue to screen patients for Covid before seeing them face to face. It contains resources for practices to help improve their communication with patients as well as access arrangements.

The Scottish Government’s recently announced winter funding package will help increase NHS and social care capacity this winter. The new funding will support a range of measures to maximise capacity in our hospitals and primary care. Up to £28m of additional funding will underpin a range of measures to aid Dentistry and General Practice.