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-20430

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 13 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to make it easier for women with learning disabilities to access cervical screening.

We are investing up to £5 million from the Cancer Strategy to tackle inequalities in access to screening, including cervical screening. This funding is supporting new activities, sharing of learning from local practice and innovation, to improve uptake of screening programmes, particularly amongst those least likely to participate.

A number of these projects focus specifically on women with learning disabilities and recent examples include:

The recruitment and training of Learning Disability Health Champions to raise awareness and understanding of the cancer screening programmes, including cervical.
Initiatives to help people with learning disabilities engage with the cervical screening programme through creative learning sessions such as using theatre, focus groups and champions.
Working with the Learning Disabilities Service to promote health literacy and to encourage a culture of “Normalisation and Talkability” around cervical screening to ensure that people with learning disabilities have additional support and increased engagement with services.

Officials continue to work closely with Cervical Screening Coordinators from all NHS Boards to develop local level initiatives to improve uptake for all women and to promote cervical screening services by communicating effectively with a range of audiences.

Question reference: S5O-02703

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 December 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve support for women who have lipoedema.

Question reference: S5W-19808

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 12 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the number of female apprentices completing their training reportedly falling by 11% in the last four years, what it is doing to reverse this trend, and what specific action it will take on this issue in relation to STEM-related subjects.

The figure stated is not an accurate reflection of female achievement. Apprenticeship frameworks vary in the number of years they take to complete, therefore achievement level by year is not necessarily the most reliable indicator of success of any particular group. On this basis considering the overall female achievement rate is a more meaningful figure, which in 2017-2018 was 77%. Overall, the proportion of females starting apprenticeships has been consistent over recent years.

Through our Developing the Young Workforce – Youth Employment Strategy and our STEM Strategy for Education and Training we make clear our ambitions to improve gender balance in areas such as early years and construction. And, we are seeing early positive signs of improvement in STEM, with an increase in female apprentice starts from 6.6% in 2016-17 to 9.1% in 2017/18 (+ 2.5%).

In addition, the Skills Development Scotland (SDS) five year Apprenticeship Equalities Action Plan (EAP) details the measures SDS will deliver to stimulate change in the short, medium and long-term. The plan specifically outlines the challenges to be addressed to improve gender imbalance within uptake of some occupational frameworks.

The Apprenticeship Equality Action Plan also highlights Skills Development Scotland’s actions with training providers and employers on both recruitment practices to attract more young women to choose apprenticeships, and the support they provide to ensure they stay on and complete their apprenticeship.

Question reference: S5O-02693

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 December 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the procedures used by the Public Defence Solicitors' Office and the Scottish Legal Aid Board to investigate workplace bullying and harassment.

Question reference: S5W-19856

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 29 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its spokesperson’s comment in the Scottish Daily Mail on 10 November 2018, whether it will confirm that it does not support the decriminalisation of abortion and, if so, what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

The Scottish Government confirmed in its Programme for Government for 2016-2017 that it had no current plans to change the law on abortion. The Scottish Government is not opposed in principle to the decriminalisation of abortion. However our priority is to focus efforts on improving abortion services. The Scottish Government is continuing to work with NHS Boards to look at how further improvements can be made to abortion services in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-19807

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 29 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the support with (a) pregnancy and maternity and (b) childcare for women researching for PhDs.

Maternity benefits (Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance) remain a reserved matter for the UK Government, however, students may receive either of these providing they meet the standard eligibility criteria. The Scottish Government provide free healthcare support for pregnancy through the NHS. All 3 and 4 year old children, and eligible 2 year olds, are entitled to 600 hours per year of funded early learning and childcare currently – the Scottish Government is committed to almost doubling this entitlement, to 1140 hours per year for these children, from 2020. The Scottish Government has conducted no assessments on the support available specifically for PhD students.

Question reference: S5W-20187

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 28 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that the £17 million additional finance for Alcohol and Drug Partnerships in 2018-19, which it announced in its Programme for Government, and any underspend carried forward to 2019-20, is spent on establishing new services and posts and not used to manage any deficits of health and social care partnerships.

Scottish Government wrote to Integrated Authorities (IAs), Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs), NHS Boards and Local Authorities on 23 August 2018 to outline the resources allocated through this fund for decision making by, IAs and ADPs who should agree local arrangements for improvements.

The letter issued set out the investment areas for this funding and confirmed that IAs hold responsibility for the effective investment of the budget to meet the needs of the affected population in the local area. We expect IAs to enable (and be accountable for) ADPs to develop an effective investment plan to deliver measureable improvements at a local level.

Question reference: S5W-19812

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 28 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many foundation apprenticeships in STEM subjects have been offered in the current quarter, broken down by gender of the person they were offered to.

Question reference: S5W-19805

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 28 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many women (a) applied for and (b) received funding through grant schemes of the Chief Scientist Office in each of the last 10 years, also broken down by scheme.

Question reference: S5W-19813

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 27 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to ensure equality of access to foundation apprenticeships.

Equality considerations have been embedded in the Skills Development Scotland commissioning process for Foundation Apprenticeships, with delivery partners required to detail the steps they will take to attract and support individuals from under-represented groups.

The Foundation Apprenticeships: Early Progress and Learning Insight Progress Report details participation statistics for Cohort 1 (2016-18) and Cohort 2 (2017-19) of the programme. The report shows the overall gender balance for Foundation Apprenticeship starts as: 50.3% male vs 49.7% female for Cohort 1; and, 46.3% male vs 53.7% female for Cohort 2.

From August this year, Skills Development Scotland will capture Foundation Apprenticeship data as part of the Apprenticeship Equality Action Plan. The five-year plan sets out a range of measures it will take to support equality of opportunity for all in apprenticeships.

In addition, Skills Development Scotland will continue to work with delivery partners for Foundation Apprenticeships to align activity in addressing gender imbalance in subject and career choice. Skills Development Scotland are also working closely with colleges and universities to join up any action to address gender imbalance as identified in their Gender Action Plans.