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: S6W-02391

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 9 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making on bringing deer management into closer alignment with Scotland’s Forestry Strategy 2019-2029.

Woodland creation is central to our meeting Scotland’s ambitious climate change targets. Scotland's Forestry Strategy 2019-2029 sets out the Scottish Government’s commitment to increase woodland cover to 21% of the total area of Scotland by 2032 and robust, effective deer management is fundamental to the strategies success.

The report by the independent Deer Working Group includes legislative and non-legislative changes and recommendations which will bring the Scottish Forestry Strategy and Scotland’s systems of deer management into closer alignment.

We are working closely with Scottish Forestry, an agency of Scottish Government, and other key partners, including NatureScot who have statutory responsibility for deer management in Scotland, to progress these recommendations which will ensure there are robust systems of deer management in place within the forestry sector.

Question reference: S6W-02569

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 9 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects to conduct and complete a review of the delivery of the guidance on the provision of short-term mobility aids.

Following the publication of Guidance on the provision of wheelchairs on short term loan in March 2021 ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/guidance-provision-wheelchairs-short-term-loan/ ) Scottish Government officials will shortly commence a 6 month review of implementation with Health and Social Care Partnerships, who have delegated responsibility for the provision of community equipment, including short-term wheelchair loans.

The review will seek an update on local areas progress towards implementation and will also offer implementation support to any areas requiring it. Following the 6 month review we would expect the guidance to be fully implemented across all Health and Social Care Partnerships by March 2022.

Question reference: S6W-02523

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 9 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government by what date a learning disability, autism and neurodiversity bill will be introduced.

The First Minister announced in the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government on 7 September that this Government will carry out scoping work on the remit and powers of a Learning Disability, Autism and Neurodiversity Bill, in this Parliamentary year.

A decision on the timing of a Bill will be taken by Cabinet in the context of setting the content of future legislative programmes. Meantime, the Scottish Government will work closely with stakeholders to consider the issues and how to deliver change quickly and effectively to uphold people’s rights.

Question reference: S6W-02571

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 9 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its deadline is for the full delivery of the provision of short-term mobility aids across all NHS boards.

Question reference: S6W-02522

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 9 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government by what date a learning disability, autism and neurodiversity commissioner will be appointed.

Question reference: S6W-02572

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 9 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government which agency is responsible for the provision of short-term mobility aids, in each NHS board area.

Question reference: S6W-02412

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 9 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it provides to (a) local authorities and (b) NHS boards to carry out suicide prevention training.

The Scottish Government does not provide specific funding to local authorities or territorial NHS Boards to carry out suicide prevention training. The Scottish Government provides funding to Public Health Scotland (PHS) to manage the licences and processes to enable delivery of Scottish Mental Health First Aid training and suicide prevention training programmes (safeTALK and ASIST), which are delivered by accredited third-party trainers. This training is available to individuals living in Scotland, including those working in local authorities, NHS boards, third sector organisations and community groups. Between 2018-19 and 2020-21, PHS was allocated a total of £400,000, principally for the management of these training programmes as part of its mental health improvement and suicide prevention work programme.

Through work with our National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group to deliver on our Suicide Prevention Action Plan (Every Life Matters) , the Scottish Government funds PHS and NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to jointly develop and promote freely-available online learning resources on suicide prevention, mental health, and self-harm for the Scottish workforce. These resources are accessible through the NES online training platform. Between 2018-19 and 2020-21, the total allocation to NES and PHS, principally for this work on learning resources, was £495,659.

Question reference: S6W-02479

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on what proportion of children who finished primary school in each year since 2018 were able to swim, also broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S6W-02019

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 9 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on what types of tree have been planted in Scotland since 2018, broken down by how many of each type has been planted.

Under the current Forestry Grant Scheme, in the period 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2021, Scottish Forestry has calculated that approximately 81.7 million conifers have been planted. Of this, Sitka spruce forms the majority species with 51 million trees. Other major conifers species planted include Douglas fir, Norway spruce and Scots pine are 21 million; minor conifers including cedars, other pines, other firs and other spruces is 9.7 million.

Similarly approximately 29.9 million broadleaves have been planted. These are normally planted at a lower density per hectare than conifers hence the lower number. For the majority of grant options, Scottish Forestry requires that native species are used; these species typically include oak, alder, ash, birch, hazel and hawthorn. Native species make up c.80% of the total broadleaves planted.

On Scotland’s national forests and land, managed by Forestry and Land Scotland data for conifer trees planted in the period 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2021 is 33.9 million trees planted; of this Sitka spruce forms the majority species with 22.4 million, with Scots Pine, Norway Spruce, Douglas Fir, Lodgepole Pine, other minor conifers totalling 11.5 million.

Similarly for broadleaves planted on Scotland’s national forests and land in the same time period data is 6.3 million trees planted; with 5.9 million native broadleaves and 0.4 million non-native broadleaves.

Question reference: S6O-00147

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 September 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the finance secretary has had with the health secretary regarding the allocation of additional funding for the Scottish Ambulance Service to increase staffing and resources, particularly in rural and remote areas.