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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 48567 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-07121

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 22 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the Deposit Return Scheme and the estimates it made of the costs of loss of revenue to retailers caused by the loss of space necessary to accommodate a reverse vending machine (RVM), whether it will state (a) what specific evidence it obtained from Envipco whom it cites as the basis for the figure used of around 0.5 square metres, (b) what discussions it had with representatives of small retailers in connection with the business and regulatory impact assessment (BRIA) of 2019 (paragraph 174) and the Final BRIA of 2021 (paragraph 209), (c) what its response is to reports that many small retailers believe that the space required for the smallest RVM that would permit its location in a shop and its use for its intended purpose, including extraction of recyclate, is 3 square metres of floor space, which is around six times more than what was estimated and (d) what it estimates will be the total annual cost of loss of revenue for retailers that is attributable to the loss of floor space required for RVMs based on the area of (i) 0.5 and (ii) 3 square metres.

The most up to date information available regarding the impact of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme on retailers, including information about the use of Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs) can be found in the amended Final Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA), which was published on 22 December 2021 and can be downloaded from the Scottish Government’s website here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/deposit-return-scheme-scotland-final-business-regulatory-impact-assessment/ .

Question reference: S6W-07136

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 22 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what evaluation it has made of the impact on the Scottish labour market of the UK Government’s proposed reduction in the time offered to unemployed social security recipients to seek work in their preferred job sector from three months to four weeks.

The Scottish Government routinely publishes a range of labour market statistics and analysis to monitor changes in our labour market. These can be accessed at the following link: Labour market statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

No evaluation of the UK Government’s proposed reduction in the time offered to unemployed social security recipients to seek work has been carried out by the Scottish Government. However, this recent announcement from the UK Government is yet another example of a system which doesn’t work well enough to help our most vulnerable people, in a time when support is most needed. Universal Credit, which is the responsibility of the UK Government, is too often failing the people it is designed to support and driving more people into poverty.

Question reference: S6W-07111

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 22 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the comment by the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity at the meeting of the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee on 25 January 2022 that it will "begin to build counting and sorting centres in August 2022", how many of each of these two types of centres will be built; where each will be built; at what costs, and how many employees will be employed at each of them.

Question reference: S6W-07125

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 22 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what the basis is for the assumption that 3,021 reverse vending machines (RVM) will be required for the Deposit Return Scheme, as shown in Table 2 of the business and regulatory impact assessment (BRIA) of 2019 and the Final BRIA of 2021, and how many RVMs Circularity Scotland estimates will be required.

Question reference: S6W-07155

Asked by: Paul McLennan, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 22 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when people who are over the age for automatic inclusion in the breast screening programme will be able to make breast screening appointments at locally available screening units.

In recognition of the anxiety the pause for those over the age of 71 to self-refer is causing, I asked for work to explore options that will accelerate the restart of self-referrals for women aged 71 and over. Any decision will be informed by clinical advice and the on-going pandemic. As part of these considerations our goal is to restart the option to self-refer by the end of September 2022, with a number of factors still to be worked through. The restart will be done in a phased way without unduly impacting appointment times for the eligible screening population for whom there are clear screening benefits. Every effort continues to be made to increase capacity in the screening programme, including through deploying additional mobile units and offering weekend and evening appointments.

Regardless of their age, women should remain symptom aware and report any symptoms to their GP immediately for these to be investigated.

Question reference: S6W-07175

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 22 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address any lack of awareness among health professionals and GPs of the reported potential impact of Essure contraceptive implants on women's health.

Question reference: S6T-00610

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 21 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with DP World and P&O Ferries regarding the loss of jobs for ferry staff working out of Cairnryan.

Question reference: S6T-00613

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether there are any measures in place to prevent serious violent offenders from changing their names.

Question reference: S6F-00950

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 March 2022

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to the Spring Statement.

Question reference: S6F-00948

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 March 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 March 2022

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government is doing to ensure that perpetrators of domestic abuse do not go on to reoffend.