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-00053

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what additional support it will provide to the hospitality sector to mitigate against the impact of the COVID-19 restrictions.

Question reference: S6O-00059

Asked by: Natalie Don-Innes, MSP for Renfrewshire North and West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what support is available for students impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Question reference: S6O-00054

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting the growth of jobs that will support a greener economy.

Question reference: S6O-00064

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether funding allocations earmarked for new and existing teaching posts will be made permanent, to enable local authorities to award a greater number of permanent contracts.

Question reference: S6O-00057

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to provide secure, sustainable and long-term post-COVID-19 pandemic skills and training opportunities.

Question reference: S6O-00051

Asked by: Audrey Nicoll, MSP for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what support it will make available to businesses in light of the continuation of the current COVID-19 restrictions.

Question reference: S6W-00367

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 16 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will meet with representatives of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar to discuss (a) short-term and (b) medium-term proposals for the improvement of ferry services (i) to, (ii) from and (ii) within the Western Isles.

Transport Scotland (TS) and the Scottish Government Islands Team meet regularly with elected members and officers of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar to discuss a range of ferries issues including future planning and have also engaged on the Comhairle's Local Transport Strategy. The Comhairle were also a partner in a recent study, commissioned and funded by TS, of future options for ferry services to, from and within the Outer Hebrides. The Comhairle has produced a paper setting out proposals for ferry service improvements and future vessel investments and an initial meeting to discuss this with government officials has been arranged.

Question reference: S6W-00374

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 16 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that people in every community can access NHS dentistry.

Question reference: S6W-00778

Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 June 2021
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Clare Haughey on 16 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its progress towards the delivery of the expansion to 1,140 hours of funded early learning and childcare.

The Improvement Service published its latest Early Learning and Childcare Expansion Delivery Progress Report. The report is available on the Improvement Service website and linked on the Scottish Government ELC Joint Delivery Board web page.

This report provides an update on progress by local authorities towards the delivery of 1140 hours of funded ELC at the end of April 2021 as reported by local authorities, comparing this to their reported position throughout this academic year. As members of Parliament will be aware, the duty on local authorities to provide 1140 hours of funded early learning and childcare to all eligible children will come into effect in August 2021.

As the report sets out, local authorities continue to make good progress towards delivery, with an additional 10,510 children accessing 1140 hours since February 2021. The report also shows that the local authority ELC workforce in Scotland is reported to have increased by 7,178 FTE since academic year 2016/17, including an increase of 230 FTE since February 2021.

Following a revision to the Improvement Service data collection framework in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, data gathering is planned for the beginning of each academic term through to April 2022.

Question reference: S6W-00556

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 16 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the financial support available to larger self-catering units accommodating seven or more people.

We continually review the financial support that we provide to businesses to ensure that we direct funding to businesses impacted by COVID-19 while recognising that are simply unable to make up for all of the losses incurred by businesses. As part of this process we have provided additional funding to self-catering properties, alongside other accommodation providers in Glasgow and Moray impacted by the decision to retain Tier 3 Restrictions for an additional period in these areas. With no new consequentials made available by the UK Government with which to support businesses we are having to make difficult decisions about which businesses to prioritise for support, particularly those in areas which have experienced recent Covid-19 outbreaks and face continued closure. We will keep making the case to the UK Government for more funding to make additional financial support available to businesses that require further assistance and to transfer the fiscal levers required to enable us to respond fully to the needs of Scottish businesses.