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-00289

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration the rural affairs secretary has given to ensure that fish farms have the support they need to meet environment standards, in light of reports that SEPA has rated one in ten as "unsatisfactory".

Question reference: S6O-00272

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how its policies and actions across government will take account of the key findings and recommendations of the Royal Society of Edinburgh's Post-Covid-19 Futures Commission published earlier this week.

Question reference: S6O-00298

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what plans have been made for the delivery of same-day prescribing under national Medication Assisted Treatment standards in Brechin, Angus.

Question reference: S6O-00294

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports of people being "spiked by injection" or having their drinks spiked in nightclubs across Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-00297

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met representatives of Stirling Council, and what was discussed.

Question reference: S6O-00295

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is considering a scheme to support and incentivise social housing providers and homeowners to retrofit and refurbish long-term empty homes and bring them back into use as zero emissions housing.

Question reference: S6O-00293

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to promote manufacturing in Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-00296

Asked by: Emma Roddick, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support social housing providers in the Highlands and Islands.

Question reference: S6O-00299

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the new medical centre for Lochgelly.

Question reference: S6W-03138

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 20 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government which of its departments was responsible for the decision for non-symptomatic school pupils to be offered COVID-19 lateral flow tests, as opposed to PCR tests; who made the decision, and when.

The decision to recommend the use of LFD tests for children, young people and staff in the event of having been identified as a low-risk contact was based upon expert public health advice and through engagement with the Covid-19 Education Recovery Group (CERG) and other partners. The decision was confirmed by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills on the 14 th September, following previous advice from Advisory Subgroup on Education and Children’s Issues (‘the subgroup’). The minutes of all the subgroup’s meetings are routinely published here .

The updated letter templates to inform staff, parents and pupils of whether they or their child have been identified as a low-risk contact were shared with local authority colleagues on 15 September, although it was made clear that they should be discussed with local health colleagues in each area, and amended where appropriate, prior to issuing to schools.

We know that PCR and LFD testing options play different roles in supporting us to control the virus:

Lateral flow is useful for finding out if a person is infectious now, and able to transmit the virus to others. The level of sensitivity is high enough to detect the vast majority of these cases. Lateral flow testing is less likely to return a positive result outside the infectious window. Results from LFD testing are also available more quickly than PCR tests, which require to be sent to a laboratory. Therefore LFD testing is viewed to be more convenient for regular testing, and provides less disruption to peoples’ lifestyles.
PCR is useful for confirming a suspected case of COVID-19, where the person is already self-isolating and is showing symptoms. Higher sensitivity of PCR means it can identify genetic material from COVID-19 even after the active infection has passed.