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-00185

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 September 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it did not commit to introducing a Crofting Bill in its Programme for Government.

Question reference: S6W-02739

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 15 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many play parks in each local authority are earmarked for refurbishment.

We do not currently hold this information.

The Scottish Government and COSLA have agreed that the whole play estate will be considered and all play parks that have been identified for refurbishment in line with nationally agreed principles and influenced by local plans and investment priorities will be refurbished over the course of parliamentary term.

The Scottish Government has met its 100 days commitment and agreed the first £5 million allocation of funding to local authorities and we will continue working with COSLA and local authority partners to agree the allocation of the remainder of the funding over the course of this parliamentary term.

We are continuing work with COSLA to establish a reporting process to track the progress of refurbishment within each local authority and a suite of national principles to underpin and provide a framework for the play park refurbishment programme. The principles will ensure that local authorities prioritise the needs of all children and young people, key to this will be the engagement of children, young people, and families at each stage of the process. The national principles will set out how local authorities should review their existing estate, prioritise refurbishment work, and design play parks that offer improved play opportunities for all children and families.

Question reference: S6W-02738

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 15 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the distribution of its first round of funding to refurbish play parks, broken down by local authority area.

The funding distribution and allocations are provided in the following table:

Local Authority	Renewing every Play Park in Scotland - Initial capital allocation for 2021-22

Aberdeen City	188,000
Aberdeenshire	296,000
Angus	108,000
Argyll and Bute	76,000
Clackmannanshire	47,000
Dumfries and Galloway	140,000
Dundee City	125,000
East Ayrshire	112,000
East Dunbartonshire	102,000
East Lothian	108,000
East Renfrewshire	102,000
Edinburgh, City of	414,000
Eilean Siar (Western Isles)	29,000
Falkirk	147,000
Fife	344,000
Glasgow City	525,000
Highland	234,000
Inverclyde	65,000
Midlothian	98,000
Moray	92,000
North Ayrshire	118,000
North Lanarkshire	324,000
Orkney Islands	24,000
Perth and Kinross	140,000
Renfrewshire	158,000
Scottish Borders	113,000
Shetland Islands	28,000
South Ayrshire	94,000
South Lanarkshire	298,000
Stirling	84,000
West Dunbartonshire	81,000
West Lothian	186,000

SCOTLAND	£5,000,000

Question reference: S6W-02480

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 15 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what additional support it has put in place during the COVID-19 recovery period to increase access to swimming lessons for everyone.

Our approach during the pandemic has been to permit as much sport and physical activity as much as possible in a safe way, in particular prioritising under eighteen sport. The Scottish Government is in discussion with key stakeholders involved in the provision of swimming lessons and water safety education. We recognise the importance of swimming lessons in helping to build water confidence and learning to be safe in and around water, as well as the benefits swimming provides to physical and mental health.

Question reference: S6W-02478

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 15 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown restrictions on children's access to sport and leisure facilities.

We recognise that the opportunities for physical activity, particularly for organised sport, have been significantly affected by the restrictions. Our approach during the pandemic has been to permit as much sport and physical activity as much as possible in a safe way, in particular prioritising under eighteen sport, recognising the importance to both physical and mental health.

Our Programme for Government commits to doubling investment in sport and active living to £100 million a year by the end of this Parliament. That investment will enable us to rebuild capacity and resilience in the sector following the pandemic, and ensure we address inequalities in access to physical activity and sport.

sportscotland works in partnership with all 32 local authorities to invest in and support the Active Schools Network. Over the coming year, we will also work with sportscotland on the next steps to ensure that Active Schools programmes are free for all children and young people by the end of this Parliament, providing them with more opportunities to take part in sport before, during and after school.

We invested over £20m in our Get into Summer Programme across Local Authorities and 18 National Partners to support the wellbeing and mental health of those children and young people most impacted by Covid. This included funding of £1.4m to sportscotland for Active Schools coordinators, Sports Development officers and Community Sport Hub officers to enhance opportunities for all children and young people to participate in activities and experiences over the summer.

Question reference: S6W-02394

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 15 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to prevent diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) in vulnerable groups of type 1 diabetics, in light of the study, Rising Rates and Widening Socioeconomic Disparities in Diabetic Ketoacidosis in Type 1 Diabetes in Scotland: A Nationwide Retrospective Cohort Observational Study, which concludes that there are rising rates and widening socioeconomic disparities in DKA in type 1 diabetes in Scotland.

The Scottish Government are committed to improving outcomes for people living with diabetes in Scotland. Our Diabetes Improvement Plan contains specific commitments to raise awareness of the dangers of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) and also has a significant focus on equity of access to care and services. This can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/diabetes-improvement-plan-diabetes-care-scotland-commitments-2021-2026/documents/ .

DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis) happens when there is severe lack of insulin in the body. When this happens, chemicals called ketones are released, and can be extremely serious if left untreated. We are working collaboratively with clinical teams, third sector and people living with diabetes to relaunch the national education campaign: Think, Test, Telephone. This campaign is designed to support people living with Type 1 diabetes to better understand the risks of DKA and how to avoid it. We will continue to capture and track data on SCI-Diabetes to assess the impact of this on DKA rates.

Treatments for diabetes are complex and multifaceted. Many treatments require people to go through a formal education programme in order to self-manage their condition from home. This means there are many barriers facing people living with diabetes and in particular, those living in areas of deprivation or people that have English as a second language.

We are committed to understanding these barriers and are working in partnership with Diabetes Scotland and the Alliance to ensure the needs of people living with diabetes are fully understood. We will take targeted action to ensure equity of access across Scotland and share progress of this using data from SCI-diabetes.

Question reference: S6W-01843

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 15 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have accessed residential rehabilitation in each NHS board in the last 24 months.

There a number of routes into drug and alcohol residential rehabilitation treatment that do not always involve the Alcohol and Drug Partnerships or NHS services.

While the information requested is not currently held centrally, the Scottish Government is working with Public Health Scotland to develop a monitoring system which will include reporting on number of people accessing residential rehabilitation treatment from each Alcohol and Drugs Partnership area.

Getting people into the treatment and recovery that is right for them at the right time is at the core of our national mission to save and improve lives. £100 million of the additional £250 million funding announced as part of the National Mission will support further investment in - and expansion of - residential rehabilitation and associated aftercare over the next five years.

Question reference: S6W-02517

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 15 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to re-establish the Crofting Bill Group in the current parliamentary session.

Question reference: S6W-02628

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 14 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what support it will provide to women who have been unable to access their legal right to routine dental treatment during pregnancy and for a year after the birth of their child due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dental services have not been stopped during the pandemic period. Dental practices were initially closed with urgent and emergency dental care provided through urgent dental care centres. Dental practices reopened following a phased remobilisation programme which culminated on 1 November with dental teams able to provide the full range of NHS care and treatment to patients. While it is the case patient numbers continue to be less than pre-pandemic - as dental teams are required to operate within strict infection, prevention and control guidance - pregnant women and nursing mothers who required urgent or emergency dental care would still be seen during the pandemic period.

Question reference: S6W-02601

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many empty homes officers have been employed by each local authority in each year since 1999.

There are currently 27 empty homes officers working across 25 local authority areas. We can advise that the following local authorities do not have an empty homes officer post:

Clackmannanshire

East Dunbartonshire

East Lothian

East Renfrewshire

Midlothian

The Shetland Islands

West Lothian

Data on the number of empty homes officers is collected by the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership therefore we do not hold any information prior to the Partnerships inception in 2010. This information is reported each year in the annual reports. Copies of the reports are published on their website at: https://emptyhomespartnership.scot/about-us/ .