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: S5W-33973

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 6 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government on what dates it has met the Interim Director of Mental Health at NHS Tayside in the last year, and whether it will publish the minutes.

Since the Interim Director for Mental Health was appointed to the role, she has attended two virtual meetings I have held with Tayside's Leadership Team. These took place on 11 September and 2 October 2020. The Minister for Public Health was also in attendance during the September meeting with the Interim Director. I will write separately to the member to share a copy of the minutes from these meetings.

In addition, there have been monthly meetings between Scottish Government mental health officials with the Interim Director to discuss progress on Tayside’s mental health action plan, ‘Listen, Learn, Change’. Minutes are not routinely taken at these meetings.

The Interim Director has been also been part of the weekly Tayside Silver Command meetings that were set up in response to Covid to share intelligence and understand where support needs to provided. The Scottish Government was in attendance for approximately 20 of these meetings. The minutes of these are held by and available from NHS Tayside on request.

The Chair of the Perinatal and Infant Programme Board and SG officials met with the Interim Director as part of a series of meetings with the Executive Leads for perinatal mental health at Boards. The meeting was on the 7 August 2020. The output of these meetings are not published but can be provided.

The Director for Mental Health and Social Care also had an additional telephone update discussion with the Interim Director on 11 October 2020. Minutes of this conversation were not taken.

Question reference: S5O-04895

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with third sector organisations in Dundee working in the field of drug addiction.

Question reference: S5F-04641

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 07 December 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 December 2020

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on whether puberty-blocking drugs should continue to be administered to children in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-27736

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 March 2020
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers the level of funding provided to charities supporting victims of human trafficking in April 2019 is sufficient to make evidence-based interruptions to the criminal supply chain active in human trafficking, and whether it has plans to renew and broaden the funding and scope of action once the current funding cycle ends at end 2020-21.

The Scottish Government is clear that any form of human trafficking or exploitation is completely unacceptable, and funds services to provide vital support to victims of this crime.

In April 2019, Migrant Help and Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance (TARA) were awarded a combined £1,032,160 for the current financial year to support victims of trafficking and exploitation across Scotland. In November 2019, the Scottish Government awarded a further £85,334 to reflect an increase in numbers accessing these services through the National Referral Mechanism. Officials are in regular contact with both organisations and levels of funding are continually under review.

The Scottish Government are also providing £120,000 this financial year to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to provide a national psychological trauma support service to adult trafficking victims. The Scottish Guardianship Service (SGS) has provided support to unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, including victims of child trafficking, since 2010. The Scottish Government is providing SGS with funding of £300,000 in 2019-20.

The Trafficking and Exploitation Strategy, published in 2017, sets out the framework within which partners across Scotland are tackling human trafficking by supporting and protecting victims, disrupting the activities of perpetrators and addressing the conditions which foster trafficking.

Funding for these bodies is specifically for supporting victims of trafficking and exploitation; they are not directly involved in interrupting the criminal supply chain. However, a wide range of activity by the Scottish Government and partners has been undertaken to improve evidence-based interventions and address human trafficking in supply chains. Detail of this work can be found in the two annual progress reports on implementation of the Strategy: https://www.gov.scot/policies/human-trafficking/trafficking-and-exploitation-strategy/.

Under the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015, the Strategy must be reviewed within three years of publication. A comprehensive engagement process to gather views from a variety of groups and individuals including survivors, support organisations and key partners is ongoing.

The current three-year funding agreement for Migrant Help and TARA runs until 31 March 2021 and decisions on future arrangements will be considered following the Strategy review and as part of the 2021-22 Draft Budget process.

Question reference: S5W-27735

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 March 2020
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what work is being done to understand the critical enablers that facilitate human trafficking in Scotland and to identify access points used by criminal gangs, the transporters and online enablers of the criminal supply chain.

The Scottish Government is committed to tackling human trafficking and exploitation by working in partnership with criminal justice agencies to improve the detection and disruption of perpetrators who facilitate human trafficking and exploitation, in line with Action Area Two of the Trafficking and Exploitation Strategy.

Police Scotland have developed an intelligence operation to assess threats and emerging trends using a number of methods including setting up the National Human Trafficking Threat Desk (NHTTD). The NHTTD monitors intelligence from a number of sources and develops an emerging threat picture which is used to inform operational activity. There are currently a number of live joint cross-border investigations including methods of travel, embarkation and disembarkation points and developing opportunities to disrupt the facilitators of human trafficking. Police Scotland also have four large-scale dedicated investigations across Scotland carrying out enquiries into human trafficking as well as a number of smaller investigations being conducted at Divisional level.

Border Force carried out a month long partnership intensification period at Glasgow Airport in November 2019 where at-risk flights were targeted. Analysts are currently compiling profiles on routing, types of exploitation, modes of transportation and connection to traffickers.

Operation Aidant, coordinated by the NCA, are human trafficking themed joint working intensification periods which take place six times a year. In 2020 the themes include ports and borders, labour exploitation, child trafficking, sexual exploitation and adult services websites.

Question reference: S5W-27537

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 4 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is a requirement for sportscotland funding for new buildings to have same-sex toilets and changing facilities.

Question reference: S5W-27536

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 4 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what building specification criteria sportscotland required to be met for its funding contribution to the Regional Performance Centre in Dundee.

Question reference: S5O-04117

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5W-26557

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 18 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the additional £20 million in funding that was announced by the Minister for Public Health, Sport and Wellbeing in summer 2019 has been allocated to NHS Tayside.

Question reference: S5W-26717

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 18 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release of 29 October 2019, Safeguarding environmental standards, whether it will confirm who it has appointed to its advisory panel to ensure that environmental standards are maintained in the event of a no deal Brexit, and what the process was for making these appointments.