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-22820

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 23 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what sites are currently identified by the Drinking Water Quality Regulator for Scotland as being of potential concern and requiring sampling by Scottish Water.

The Drinking Water Quality Regulator for Scotland’s active and past Enforcement Notices are published on www.dwqr.scot/regulator-activity/enforcement/ . Monitoring requirements for Scottish Water are set out in The Public Water Supplies (Scotland) Regulations 2014. Some additional sampling is specified as a requirement of Enforcement Notices, and Scottish Water is expected to undertake additional operational sampling based on its assessment of risk.

The Drinking Water Quality Regulator’s annual reports summarise data on water quality in public and private supplies across Scotland, as well as covering water quality events and incidents and consumer contacts to Scottish Water. They are available at www.dwqr.scot/information/annual-report/ .

Question reference: S6W-22819

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 23 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much Scottish Water has paid to private sector contractors in each year since 2007, expressed both in monetary terms and as a percentage of overall spend.

Question reference: S6W-22817

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 23 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what amount of Scottish Water’s (a) construction projects and (b) maintenance, operation and repairs have been delivered (i) in-house and (ii) by external contractors, in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S6W-22814

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 23 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with the trade unions involved in the planned industrial action at Scottish Water.

Question reference: S6W-22825

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 23 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether an equality impact assessment was carried out by Scottish Water regarding its recent job evaluation proposals.

Question reference: S6W-22826

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 23 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6F-02515 by Humza Yousaf on 9 November 2023, whether it will detail the ministerial discussions that took place regarding approval for setting the remuneration in the current regulatory period of the chief executive of Scottish Water.

The remuneration of Scottish Water’s Chief Executive is set out in its Annual Reports. These can be found on Scottish Water’s website at www.scottishwater.co.uk/Help-and-Resources/Document-Hub/Key-Publications/Annual-Reports .

Ministers considered and agreed the salary limit for the new Chief Executive on 7 September 2022 ahead of the appointment process. This reflected the need to recruit very experienced personnel to run these vital services from a highly competitive market for such talent.

Question reference: S6W-22818

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 23 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government which private sector companies have been contracted by Scottish Water in each year since 2007 for (a) construction projects and (b) maintenance, operation and repairs.

Question reference: S6W-22590

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 22 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what efforts are being made to support the education and training of line managers in workplaces so that they are aware of menopause symptoms.

The recently published NHSScotland Menopause and Menstrual Health Policy is intended as an example of best practice so that employers across Scotland can adapt it for their organisation, should they wish. The supporting resources, includes line managers’ guidance and workplace adjustment guidance and are intended for use more widely across a variety of employment sectors. They are available on the National Wellbeing Hub .

Question reference: S6W-22589

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 22 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to women experiencing menopause in rural or remote areas.

The Scottish Government recognises the challenges facing those living in remote and rural areas and the importance of women being able to access the support they need, when they need it. Work is ongoing to ensure services are developed in a flexible and innovative way, recognising local population needs and geographic challenges and there is now a menopause specialist in every mainland NHS Board, with a buddy system in place for the Island Boards.

Question reference: S6W-22838

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 22 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the announcement by NHS England on 7 November 2023, whether anastrozole will be introduced as a preventative breast cancer drug by NHS Scotland.

The National Cancer Medicines Advisory Group (NCMAG) will review the use of Anastrozole as a preventative treatment for post-menopausal women at a moderate or high risk of breast cancer, along with several other medicines for the chemoprevention of breast cancer at their Council meeting on 21 March 2024 and will publish their advice on 25 April 2024.

Alongside the NCMAG advice, consideration is being given to how it may fit into a chemoprevention care pathway in NHS Scotland, including screening and monitoring.