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-31107

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 12 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the trust provisions within the Trusts and Succession (Scotland) Act 2024 will come into force.

The following provisions of the Act have come into force

Section 76 dealing with the effect of divorce, dissolution or annulment on special destination;
Section 77 involving the rights of succession to intestate estate respectively;
Section 7, under which an unfit trustee may be removed by the court for the purposes of section 8; and,
Parts of section 9 concerning removal from office by a majority of co-trustees of a trustee who is no longer a member of a regulated profession or entitled to practice, and who was appointed or assumed to provide professional services in managing the trust, together with sections 13 and 14 by which decisions on the removal of a professional trustee by co-trustees are to be governed for these purposes.

The remaining provisions of the Act will come into force in due course although no decision has been taken about a date for that. The decision on when to commence the rest of the provisions generally is closely related to ongoing work with UK Government regarding the provisions covering the reserved matter of pension trusts.

Question reference: S6W-30976

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 12 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in Scotland have contracted HIV in each year since 2016.

It is not possible to determine how many people contracted HIV in any given year as people may not be tested or diagnosed for a number of years after they contract HIV.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) publishes an annual HIV in Scotland surveillance report which includes data on new diagnoses. The report includes indicators of recently acquired infections and late diagnoses since 2017, however this does not identify the year in which people acquired HIV. In addition to this there are a number of people who remain undiagnosed, which is why it is important that anyone who thinks they may have been at risk seeks a HIV test.

Data on the number of new HIV diagnoses in Scotland each year from 2014 to 2023 can be found in Table 3 of the latest HIV in Scotland report at: https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/29204/final-hiv-in-scotland-update-to-31-december-2023-1.pdf.

Question reference: S6W-30974

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 12 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided to each NHS board in each year since 2018 to support the implementation of the sexual health and blood borne virus action plan.

The Scottish Government provides core funding annually to Health Boards for sexual health and blood borne virus (BBV) services. From 2018-19 to 2023-24, Health Boards received funding through the annual Outcomes Framework allocation to cover a range of outcomes, including sexual health and BBVs. It was up to Health Boards to decide how much to allocate to each outcome within this envelope. In order to give Boards more control over local priorities this funding was baselined in 2023-24.

The total value for Outcomes Framework allocations since 2018-19 is set out in the following table.

Year	Total Outcomes Framework (£m)
2018-19	66.2
2019-20	75.7
2020-21	71.9
2021-22	74.1
2022-23	74.1
2023-24	74.1

The Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Action Plan was published in November 2023 and is supported by funding for a range of projects which align with the priorities in the plan. These projects are being taken forward by a variety of organisations including Health Boards, academia and the third sector. Full details can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/sexual-health-blood-borne-virus-action-plan-2023-2026/documents/.

Question reference: S6W-30467

Asked by: Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Cowdenbeath, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 12 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the report in The Courier on 7 March 2024, "The Fife girls fighting for better school lunches: ‘We’re not asking for McDonalds, just meals that fill us up’", what meetings it had with the pupils of Beath High School, and what the outcomes were.

A Scottish Government official met with pupils and representatives of the Council, at Beath High School on 18 March 2024. This was an opportunity for pupils to present on their concerns and for them to get an understanding of the School Food Regulations and that flexibility exists for Fife Council to address the issues raised by the pupils in a way that balanced local preferences alongside nutritional needs. Following the meeting, Fife Council and the pupils were to discuss matters further to identify what changes could be made to the meals offer in their schools.

Question reference: S6W-31007

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 October 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 12 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide extra funding for pulmonary rehabilitation services in light of the Barnett consequentials arising from the UK Budget and, if so, how much.

We recognise that pulmonary rehabilitation is an important element in managing respiratory disease and it is already a key recommendation for all appropriate patients in NICE clinical guidelines which we expect all NHS Boards to follow.

The funding announced in the UK Autumn Statement is welcome, however, the Scottish Government continues to face the most challenging financial situation since devolution. The new Scottish Budget will be presented to Parliament on Wednesday 4 December 2024. This will detail Scottish Ministers spend proposals for the year ahead.

Question reference: S6W-30985

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 12 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason there was reportedly no external evaluation of the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) prior to its retendering, and what substantive changes were made to the tender as a result of the call for feedback on CARES.

The Scottish Government continually reviews the support available to communities through the CARES scheme and uses this information to inform future support. An evaluation of the current contract, which is due to end on 31 March 2025, will be completed prior to the beginning of a new contract. Stakeholders will have an opportunity to input into this evaluation.

The Scottish Government has published an Invitation to Tender for the new CARES contract with a submission deadline on 26 November 2024. Ahead of publication, the Scottish Government gathered information from stakeholders via an in-person supplier engagement event and Request for Information. The feedback gathered from these engagements were taken into consideration when developing the new CARES Statement of Requirement.

Question reference: S6W-31014

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 12 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the maximum punishment available to the courts on (a) summary conviction and (b) indictment under section 40 of the Regulatory Reform (Scotland) Act, and whether it plans to review this.

Section 40 of the Regulatory Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 introduces an offence of significant environmental harm and sets maximum penalties for convictions for this offence. As set out in the Scottish Government’s draft Annual Report on the Scottish Government's commitment to align with the European Union where appropriate that was laid on 31 October 2024, we are considering Directive (EU) 2024/1203 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 April 2024 on the protection of the environment through criminal law. As a part of our consideration of this Directive, we are assessing the provisions for qualified offences for conduct that causes widespread and substantial environmental damage to particular features of the environment, and comparing this with existing provisions in Scots law to protect the environment.

Question reference: S6T-02182

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland's call for it to introduce "legal protection for children on the use of physical restraint and seclusion in all situations where children are in the care of the state".

Question reference: S6F-03527

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 November 2024

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to reported concerns that its proposed formula for calculating rent controls in the Housing (Scotland) Bill will require above-inflation rent rises for hundreds of thousands of renters, thus not tackling unaffordable rents.

Question reference: S6F-03538

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 November 2024

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to reports that its spending on private consultants has almost doubled in the space of five years.