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-00498

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the report, A Vision for Scotland's Railways, produced for Scotland's rail unions.

Question reference: S6W-04319

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 1 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what is being done to ensure that sustainable hourly rates are being paid to private, voluntary and independent sector providers as part of the roll-out of 1,140 hours of funded early learning and childcare.

The payment of sustainable rates to providers in the private, third and childminding sector to deliver funded early learning and childcare (ELC) is a key aspect of Funding Follows the Child. To support this the landmark multi-year funding agreement reached by Scottish Government and COSLA in April 2018 to fully fund the expansion to 1140 hours includes funding to enable local authorities to pay sustainable rates to providers delivering funded ELC.

In August 2021 alongside the Financial Sustainability Health Check the Scottish Government published updated information ( Overview of local authority funding and support for early learning and childcare providers ) on the sustainable rates that services currently receive from their local authorities. In light of this report and the findings from the Health Check we are working with COSLA and local authorities to progress the actions set out in the Health Check to strengthen the processes by which local authorities set local sustainable rates.

Question reference: S6W-04372

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 1 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has the power to compensate veterans who are in receipt of benefits and who are being financially disadvantaged as a result of receiving military compensation, by topping up their benefits or providing a discretionary payment.

The Scottish Government is not aware of existing scenarios where veterans would be financially disadvantaged as a result of military compensation payments reducing or removing reserved benefit entitlements.

As such, there has not been any examination of whether the Scottish Parliament's existing powers could be used for top-ups or discretionary payments. In scenarios where veterans were being disadvantaged as a result of compensation payments it would be appropriate for this to be remedied at source by the Department for Work and Pensions and the Ministry of Defence.

Question reference: S6W-04405

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 1 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether Scotland's performance in relation to training pharmacists is declining, and whether it will consider introducing further incentives to encourage talented students (a) in general and (b) from working class backgrounds to study pharmacy.

The Scottish Government does not agree that Scotland’s performance in relation to training pharmacists is declining. In fact, since 2020-21 there has been an increase in the overall numbers of students studying pharmacy.

There are approximately 240 students each year who graduate from the two Schools of Pharmacy in Scotland. In 2018 to support the pipeline of new pharmacists we extended the number of NHS pre-registration pharmacists places we funded nationally from 170 to 200. In 2019 we committed to increasing pharmacy pre-registration places again in the Integrated Health and Social Care Workforce Plan. Therefore, by 2024/25 there will be a further 120 pharmacist trainees over 5 years staying in Scotland to complete their pre-registration training.

The Scottish Government continues to work with NHS National Education for Scotland (NES) and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in developing a joint programme to encourage more students, and not just school leavers, to consider careers in pharmacy, including ensuring the output reaches deprived and remote and rural communities.

In addition, both Schools of Pharmacy work towards the widening access targets set by the Commission on Widening Access for universities to drive forward the delivery of equal access in Scotland.

There are also wider initiatives such as The Scottish Wider Access Programme (SWAP). The partnership develops access programmes for adults returning to education, and targets adults who reside in the most disadvantaged areas of Scotland and particularly those who have no, few or out of date qualifications. This can help support people with few suitable qualifications to progress to degree level Pharmacy studies.

Question reference: S6W-04487

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 1 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses have undertaken the training developed by Keep Scotland Beautiful since the publication of the Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan 2020-2025 in December 2020.

The Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan (CESAP) published in December 2020 sets the Scottish Government’s approach to ensuring our workforce has the skills to support Scotland’s transition to net zero. This approach includes raising awareness amongst employers of all sizes of the need to change behaviours and workplace practices to contribute to the transition to net zero and of the options available for upskilling and retraining.

The implementation of the CESAP requires a collaborative approach to action and investment across employers, local and national government, and its skills agencies.

The Scottish Government does not however hold information on the number of businesses that have undertaken training developed by Keep Scotland Beautiful.

Question reference: S6W-04370

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 1 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to applications to Social Security Scotland for means-tested devolved benefits, whether military compensation is exempt from being categorised as income, and if this is not the case, under what circumstances could military compensation be categorised as income.

Question reference: S6W-04358

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 1 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Lord Advocate’s statement to the Criminal Justice Committee on 3 November 2021 that she supports the recommendation by the Lord Justice Clerk for a pilot of judge-led trials for certain solemn offences.

During the Scottish Government Debate on ‘Justice and the 16 Days of Action’, I confirmed that after careful consideration we will now move forward with the immediate establishment of a Scottish Government led Governance Group, comprising key stakeholder interests, to enable progress and detailed consideration of the individual and collective recommendations within Lord Justice Clerk’s Review Group report on improving the management of sexual offence cases. That will include the specific issue of a time-limited pilot of single judge trials.

Question reference: S6W-04371

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 1 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has the power to exempt military compensation as normal income from benefits that are primarily “passported” from reserved benefits.

Question reference: S6W-04167

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 1 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many rejected applications to the Scottish Forestry Grant Scheme have been appealed, and of those how many (a) were upheld following appeal and (b) are awaiting a decision, in each year since 2015.

The following table provides information on how many applications to the Forestry Grant Scheme have been rejected, in how many cases the applicant formally requested a review of the approval decision, how many reviews have been upheld and how many are awaiting a decision, in each year since 2015.

FGS Case Approval Status	Calendar Year							Total
FGS Case Approval Status	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Applications whole or partially rejected	0	1	3	6	3	6	2	21
Rejections for which a review was requested	0	0	1	2	3	5	2	13
No. of requests for review upheld	0	0	0	0	2	2	1	5
No. of Reviews awaiting a decision	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Question reference: S6W-04304

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 1 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the RSPB report, Birdcrime 2020, which states that there were 26 confirmed incidents of raptor persecution in Scotland in 2020.

The Scottish Government is clear that wildlife crime is abhorrent, reprehensible and unacceptable. The persecution of birds of prey has no place in modern Scotland. It is also completely at odds with our work to address the biodiversity crisis, which is supported by so many people and organisations across Scotland.

That’s why we have taken a number of steps over recent years to strengthen the law on wildlife crime - most recently through the introduction of the Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Act which makes a number of important changes to wildlife legislation.

The Act, which was passed by the Parliament in June 2020, increases the penalty for a range of wildlife offences, including the killing of birds of prey. Individuals found guilty of those types of offences can now face up to five years imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine. The Act also gives Police Scotland more time to investigate wildlife crimes.

Furthermore, we commissioned, and committed in our 2021-22 Programme for Government to delivering the recommendations of, the Grouse Moor Management Review Group. This is being done as a matter of urgency and includes the licensing of grouse moors.