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-31120

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 August 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 24 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will list any concerns that it has raised with the SQA regarding the 2020 exam system.

The Scottish Government had regular discussions with the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) with regards to the awarding of results in 2020. I asked the SQA to develop an alternative approach to certification in the absence of the 2020 exam diet and SQA undertook that task in good faith. In light of the issues raised in my statement to Parliament on 11 August 2020, I directed the SQA to award results on the basis of estimates submitted by teachers and lecturers.

Question reference: S5W-31119

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 August 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 24 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it had with the SQA regarding the 2020 exam modelling system.

Question reference: S5W-31118

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 August 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 24 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether the SQA was aware that the 2020 exam modelling system would result in lower grading of students from certain postcode areas.

Question reference: S5O-04510

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 August 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what impact the COVID-19 restrictions have had on the night-time economy.

Question reference: S5F-04272

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 August 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 August 2020

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to reports of an increased number of evictions predicted for this autumn.

Question reference: S5W-29641

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 26 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what capacity there is for 90-minute COVID-19 testing.

Question reference: S5W-29662

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 18 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government which phase of the COVID-19 lockdown transition plan will allow community centres to reopen and function.

Question reference: S5W-29560

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 01 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 18 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what public health initiatives it plans to promote the importance of maintaining good physical and mental health during the various stages of the COVID-19 lockdown process.

We are working collaboratively with partners across the physical activity sector to ensure that we are best able to support people to keep physically active during the Covid-19 outbreak and as restrictions continue to be lifted.

sport scotland in partnership with SAMH (Scottish Association for Mental Health), is linking physical activity and mental health in a bid to encourage people to continue to reap the benefits of exercise through their #WeAreHere campaign.

In April, the Scottish Government launched the ‘Clear your Head’ campaign to help people look after their own mental health and wellbeing during, and after, the COVID-19 outbreak. Working with partner organisations, the TV, radio and digital campaign and its website provide practical advice and tips on coping with the restrictions and signposts people to further sources of information and support ( www.clearyourhead.scot ).

Question reference: S5W-29665

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 11 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with energy companies to help alleviate any fuel poverty that has been caused or exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis.

The Scottish Government is engaging regularly with Energy UK and Ofgem to ensure that the needs of fuel poor households are considered. We are also engaging with individual suppliers to discuss how they are supporting their customers. I last spoke to Energy UK on 2nd June when I pressed for their members to provide support in a more consistent way.

As energy is reserved, I wrote to the UK Government on 21 April to press them to take further action and provide additional financial help for households.

The Scottish Government has also strengthened existing arrangements for support to fuel poor households, including increasing the funding for the Scottish Welfare Fund and providing funds to various organisations supporting those struggling with energy costs at this time.

We continue to engage regularly with stakeholders to understand the issues that households are facing and where relevant we share this feedback with both Energy UK and Ofgem to ensure it can be acted upon.

Question reference: S5W-29640

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 11 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government at what stage in the easing of lockdown restrictions physiotherapists will be able to return to work.

The Scottish Government recognises the important role that Physiotherapists play in maintaining the health and wellbeing of the people of Scotland and while progress out of the crisis has not be as quick as any of us would have wished for, we must move forward at a pace that continues to protect public health.

As we move forward in Phase 1, it is important that we follow the spirit of the route map and support the key public health message to ‘stay at home as much as possible during phase 1’.

We appreciate that Physiotherapists will be anxious to know when each phase will start. However, it is not possible to be precise with the timings of when we will move into each phase. Indeed it may be that not all parts of each phase will be introduced at the same time.

Transition from one phase to the next will very much depend on the changes we see in the spread of the disease, only moving to a less restrictive phase if it remains under control and if we can keep the ‘R’ number below 1. By adopting the phased approach to restarting services and not encouraging significant numbers of people to travel for treatments or procedures that are not essential or urgent we will help to reduce the risk of potentially raising the value of R.