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-06755

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 4 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what it is doing to support the use of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) fuel in homes across Scotland.

The 2018 advice from the Climate Change Committee (CCC), our statutory advisers, was that over the next decade government policies should only support biomass use where this

a) provides cost-effective abatement whilst avoiding ‘lock-in’ to sub-optimal uses, and/or

b) develops key technologies and sustainable supply chains.

They recommend that we limit support for bioenergy use in buildings to biomethane produced from anaerobic digestion and other niche uses (as part of hybrid heat pumps systems in hard to treat off-gas homes, local combined heat and power systems and small-scale district heat networks) - whilst minimising air quality impacts.

Overall, the Scottish Government’s aim is to see bioenergy used where it has the greatest value in reducing emissions. We are currently working to understand the most appropriate and sustainable use of bioresources across the whole energy system in Scotland and intend to publish a Bioenergy Action Plan in 2023.

Biomass in a low-carbon economy - Climate Change Committee (theccc.org.uk)

Question reference: S6W-06698

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 4 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans to make sapropterin available on the NHS for people with phenylketonuria.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) previously considered Kuvan ® (the branded version of sapropterin) in August 2018 and the medicine was not recommended for use in NHS Scotland because the submitting company’s justification of the treatment’s cost in relation to its health benefits was not sufficient; in addition, the company did not present a sufficiently robust clinical and economic analysis to gain acceptance by the SMC. The SMC would welcome a resubmission of this medicine, the submitting company (BioMarin).

The first generic version of sapropterin has recently received a Marketing Authorisation from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), and we are currently considering how best to provide advice to Health Boards on whether it should be made available for routine use in NHS Scotland, based on the latest available evidence. Meantime, doctors can request access to medicines that are not generally available on the NHS on an individual case-by-case basis through the Peer Approved Clinical System (PACS) Tier Two process, where the treating clinician considers there would be a clinical benefit for their patient.

Question reference: S6W-06717

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 4 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many free laptops or tablets given to children in the (a) North Ayrshire, (b) Inverclyde, (c) Renfrewshire, (d) East Renfrewshire, (e) West Dunbartonshire and (f) East Dunbartonshire local authority area have been identified as being hacked by external actors; what remedial action was taken; how long this action took to complete, and whether any further security risks were identified with the devices after remedial action was taken.

Question reference: S6W-06784

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 4 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many opportunities there are for youth work placements through the current Modern Apprenticeships scheme.

Official Modern Apprenticeship (MA) statistics are published by Skills Development Scotland (SDS) quarterly, including the number of starts.

The following table shows the number of MA starts over the last five years on the Youth Work Framework:

Year	Starts
2020-21	28
2019-20	31
2018-19	29
2017-18	37
2016-17	27

Published on 15 February 2022, the Quarter 3 statistics covering April-December 2021, show there have been 16 starts on the Youth Work Modern Apprenticeship Framework by the end of Quarter 3. The Modern Apprenticeship 2021-22 Q4 (Year End) statistics are expected to be published in May 2022.

Apprenticeships are a key way for all employers to invest in their workforce, providing the skills the economy needs both now and in the future. Apprenticeship opportunities are led by demand from employers. Each year SDS carries out an extensive industry demand assessment to support planning and contracting across the apprenticeship family.

The Scottish Government will continue to work collaboratively with Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council to maximise apprenticeship opportunities and prioritise a recovery that creates new jobs, good jobs and green jobs, supporting the long-term future of work-based learning and the economy.

Question reference: S6W-06744

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 4 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether information collected by the NHS Scotland COVID-19 Test and Protect system in the case of an infection in a school setting is recorded under the "Group setting" category on the case management system, and if this is not the case, how this information is recorded, and for what reason it differs from the categorisation protocol for infections occurring in settings such as hospitals, care homes and restaurants, which are reportedly recorded under the "Events and Settings" category.

Question reference: S6W-06408

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 4 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether there will be a consultation on the proposed Scottish Education Exchange Programme.

Question reference: S6W-06347

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 4 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills to the Education, Children and Young People Committee on 28 January 2022, how it calculated that £150 is the cost of undercutting a door.

This example scenario was developed with input from the Scottish Futures Trust, and drew on the costings that had already been developed for the Business Ventilation Fund with input from the expert Covid-19 Ventilation Short Life Working Group.

An undercut of a door was only one element of an example scenario set out in my letter to the Education, Children and Young People Committee, used to illustrate the appropriate level of overall additional funding that might be needed to tackle problematic spaces.

Inclusion of the potential for a door undercut in the example is fully in line with expert advice. This makes clear that undercuts (small gaps at the bottom of a door) allow air pressure to be equalised on each side of the door, to ensure that additional force on one side does not make the door difficult to open. This includes cases where the pressure increase caused by mechanical ventilation systems – another key element of the example scenario – could impair the normal safe operation of a door.

Question reference: S6O-00861

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6O-00854

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) whether it will consider amending its policy on party identity or affiliation appearing on publications paid for by the SPCB.

Question reference: S6O-00855

Current Status: Withdrawn