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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 3221 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-16918

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 21 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to mark Reusable Nappy Week 2023.

Whilst the Scottish Government have no official plans to mark “Reuseable Nappy Week 2023”, we promote and raise awareness of reusable nappies by including a voucher for 1 waterproof nappy wrap, with 5 stay dry nappy pads inside Scotland’s Baby Box.

As well as helping families to start using reusable nappies free of charge, the voucher also signposts families to the Scottish Government ParentClub website which highlights the benefits of using reusable nappies and provides helpful advice and tips on nappy use.

Question reference: S6W-16976

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many people who received Scottish Child Payment, and whose child met the age conditions, received Best Start Grant (a) Early Learning and (b) School Age Payment, following automatic checks by Social Security Scotland.

Social Security Scotland routinely releases information on Scottish Child Payment and Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods including applications received, application outcomes, and payments. These are currently available on Social Security Scotland’s statistics webpage: https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/about/statistics/social-security-scotland-statistics-publications

As part of data improvement, development is currently underway to include the number of Best Start Grant (a) Early Learning and (b) School Age payments made automatically to clients in receipt of Scottish Child Payment in future editions of the Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods statistics publication.

Question reference: S6W-16929

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 20 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that planning authorities are able to recover financial contributions from developers in a timely and efficient manner.

Subject to the tests in Circular 3/2012 being met, planning obligations entered into under Section 75 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 can be used to secure contributions from those carrying out development. Planning obligations are enforceable, including against successors in title where an obligation is registered in the Land Register of Scotland or the General Register of Sasines.

Question reference: S6W-15640

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 20 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider introducing an equal right of appeal in the planning system.

Question reference: S6O-02150

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 April 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide an update on what progress has been made on its commitment to pilot access to universal free school meals in secondary schools.

Question reference: S6W-16084

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 19 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many GP practices have been taken over by NHS (a) Lanarkshire and (b) Forth Valley in each year since 2016.

Question reference: S6W-16971

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 19 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Scottish Fire and Rescue Service regarding taking preventative action to protect firefighters and their families from carcinogenic contaminants.

The Scottish Government moved swiftly to meet with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) after the Members debate on the FBU DECON Campaign on 19 January 2023. In addition to regular discussions with the SFRS Chair and Chief Officer, the former Minister for Community Safety met with the SFRS at their Headquarters on 21 February 2023 to discuss current actions that the SFRS are taking and also future plans to further protect firefighters from contaminants. Officials are also in close contact with the SFRS on an ongoing basis on these issues.

Question reference: S6W-16970

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 19 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has appropriate levels of resources to respond to every incident in a safe and timely manner.

The Scottish Government has continued the commitment to support SFRS service delivery and reform with a further uplift of £10m resource for 2023-24. In recognition of the pay and inflationary pressures faced by SFRS, we have provided SFRS with additional budget cover of up to £4.4m on top of the allocation set in the 2023-24 budget announcement.

The Scottish Government’s Fire and Rescue Framework for Scotland 2022 sets out that SFRS should ensure that the capability of its assets and staff, combined with technological improvements, enable it to respond to incidents with the right resources at the right time across communities in Scotland. The deployment of the appropriate level of resources to deal with an incident is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

Question reference: S6W-16972

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 19 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the Minister for Community Safety last met with the Fire Brigades Union, and what issues were discussed.

Question reference: S6W-16991

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 19 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-01240 by Humza Yousaf on 9 August 2021, how many deaths have been attributed to sudden arrhythmic death syndrome in each year since 2019, broken down by (a) age group, (b) gender and (c) ethnicity.

Further to question S6W-01240 submitted by Monica Lennon answered by Humza Yousaf on 9 August 2021. The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Information on deaths by cause are held by National Records of Scotland (NRS). Data is available at: List of Data Tables | National Records of Scotland (nrscotland.gov.uk) . Detail on how to request further information from NRS can be found at Requesting Information | National Records of Scotland (nrscotland.gov.uk) .