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-24817

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 2 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many CalMac sailings have been cancelled because of mechanical, technical, or structural issues with vessels in each of the last five years, broken down by vessel.

CalMac Ferries Limited are unable to provide the information requested as the data is not held in this format. In each of the last 5 years during CY03 – CY07 the total number of cancellations amounted to 40,130. Of this number 6,302 were due to technical issues and 24,789 were due to weather. As answered in S6W-24402, on 19 January 2024, Information from May 2023 will be available in the future, once CalMac Ferries Ltd have completed their audit and validation of this data. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

Question reference: S6W-24698

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 2 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported figures published by Reform Scotland showing that 611 school pupils between P1 and S3 did not attend a single day of school in 2023.

I am advised that data cited from Reform Scotland was gathered via FOI in October for school years, 2017-18, 2018-19, 2021-22 and 2022-23. Whilst most local authorities provided some information, I am advised that there was not 100% return across all areas and for all years – and the type of data provided by local authorities on this matter will vary.

Notwithstanding Schools and education authorities should engage with parents and carers whose children are at risk of non-attendance to provide reassurance on any concerns, overcome any barriers to learning, and support attendance.

At the end of 2023 I asked Education Scotland to undertake work to better understand the current barriers and challenges experienced by schools, children and young people and their families which influence school attendance. Education Scotland published this report, “Improving Attendance: Understanding the Issues,” on 28 November 2023.

As part of our response to this report, I have tasked the Interim Chief Executive of Education Scotland to work directly with Directors of Education to take forward improvement on attendance as a matter of priority. We are currently reviewing the findings of this report and will consider the recommendations for any future work on addressing attendance in schools.

We are also considering the findings from our Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research, which also published in November 2023, and provides evidence-based information on the extent to which pupils are disengaging from learning.

Question reference: S6W-24697

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 1 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to improve mental health waiting times for young people, in light of reported figures showing that at least one patient in NHS Ayrshire and Arran waited 91 weeks before their first child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) appointment.

The latest statistics show that 75.6% of child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) patients started treatment within 18 weeks of their referral. At Board level, 13 out of 14 CAMHS services have effectively eliminated their long waiting lists where 3% or fewer of all waits are over a year.

We regularly engage with Boards at official level, continually monitoring CAMHS waiting times performance and backlogs and directing tailored support to those Boards with the longest waits, including NHS Ayrshire and Arran. We provide access to professional advice, ensuring they have robust improvement plans in place and monitor their implementation.

We have commissioned all Boards to submit performance trajectories up to March 2024, including a timeline for clearing long waits. These will be updated annually and used to inform further targeted improvement work to ensure all Boards consistently meet the CAMHS waiting times standard.

Question reference: S6W-24701

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 1 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to increasing its support for cancer patients, in light of reported figures from the cancer care charity, Maggie's, stating that 40% of people with cancer in the UK have used annual leave for their appointments.

The Scottish Government has been working in partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support to improve the support offered to those affected by cancer through the Transforming Cancer Care Programme (TCC) since 2016. This partnership - the first of its kind in the UK - has seen £18 million invested to date. Both the Scottish Government and Macmillan Cancer Support have committed to a further £4.5 million investment each over the next 3 years.

This will ensure that every patient with cancer in Scotland has access to a specialist key support worker, who can provide emotional, financial and practical support.

Cancer is classified as a disability under the Equality Act 2010. Although the Act is a reserved matter, we would expect employers to adopt the Scottish Government’s Fair Work approach, including flexible working practices, to support employees affected by cancer.

Question reference: S6W-24702

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 31 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to ensure the reliability of ferry services, in light of reported figures showing that CalMac's annual compensation figures are eight times higher than they were in 2017-18.

To improve Scotland’s ferry, the Scottish Government have committed to investing around £700m in ports and vessels. This includes 6 new major vessels for the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service (CHFS) fleet before the end of this Parliament session.

Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited and CalMac Ferries Ltd continue to seek additional tonnage. The current charter of the MV Alfred is an example of this, as a resilience vessel on the CHFS network.

We continue to provide resilience funding to CalMac Ferries Ltd to enable additional works and upgrades to vessels where required. This is on top of the funding included in the annual subsidy to CalMac Ferries Ltd for vessel maintenance.

Question reference: S6W-24700

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 30 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) stating that almost 200,000 people were out of work because of ill health between July 2022 and June 2023, which is reportedly around 29,000 more than in the same period before the COVID-19 pandemic.

More recent statistics are available for comparison from the ONS Annual Population Survey.

In the pre-COVID period October 2018 to September 2019, 762,700 people were classed as economically inactive. Of this, 215,800 or 28.3% said that long-term sickness was the main reason for inactivity.
In the most recent comparable period of October 2022 to September 2023, 762,600 people were classed as economically inactive. Of this, 242,000 or 31.7% said that long term sickness was the main reason for inactivity.
This is an increase of 26,200 people giving long term sickness as the reason for inactivity whilst the level of inactivity overall had fallen modestly by 100. This suggests that people are changing their reason for inactivity rather than becoming inactive as a result of illness.

We were among the first in the UK to turn serious attention to economic inactivity, initially focussing on ill health, and our National Strategy for Economic Transformation contains a commitment to address Scotland’s labour market inactivity challenges. To progress this commitment we have undertaken engagement with employers about how our health system can better support employers and employees to enable people to stay healthy in work and move back in to work from inactivity.

In addition, we are committed to supporting people into work through our devolved employability approach No One Left Behind, a lifetime skills offer for adults to target support at those who need it most, and supporting more diverse and inclusive workplaces as part of our Fair Work agenda.

The Scottish Government also funds NHS initiatives to support people with health conditions to sustain or return to work, including Working Health Services Scotland and Public Health Scotland's Healthy Working Lives . These provide advice and support on work-related physical and mental health promotion and ill health prevention, return to work practices and workplace safety for employers and employees.

Question reference: S6W-24699

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 30 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported figures from Citizens Advice Scotland stating that nearly 24,000 people have been forced onto an electric prepayment meter against their wishes, and around 12,000 have been forced onto a prepayment meter for gas.

We share the concerns that have been expressed by Citizens Advice Scotland and others concerning the reintroduction of forced pre-payment meter installations. Ofgem's Code of Practice requiring suppliers to meet a number of conditions before taking such action is an important step; however, too many households in Scotland remain at risk from this practice, especially with energy and other costs that are still too high. We believe that energy suppliers must exhaust all possible options, including meaningful support to struggling households to manage debt before imposing pre-payment meters. I have raised the issue of pre-payment meters many times with my UK Government counterparts who hold all the levers to act on this issue, and I will continue to raise these issues and concerns directly with the UK Government and Ofgem over the coming weeks in addition to my calls for a social tariff for the most vulnerable customers of energy companies.

Question reference: S6O-03017

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported comments by the Faculty of Advocates and the Law Society of Scotland that an exodus of defence solicitors has left the legal system close to collapse.

Question reference: S6W-22488

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 December 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 12 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many college places were available in STEM subjects in each of the last 10 years, also broken down by (a) headcount, (b) number of full-time equivalent places and (c) college.

We do not hold data on how many places were available in STEM subjects at College in each of the last 10 years.

Funded places are not allocated to specific subjects, it is within the remit of colleges to distribute places to the set of subjects they each offer.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) collect and publish data each year on College enrolments. This included providing college enrolment data for 2014-15 to 2020-21 for the ‘STEM education and training strategy - refresh: annual report’. This is available in the background data at the following link:

STEM education and training strategy - refresh: annual report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Question reference: S6T-01718

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 January 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will reconsider its position on further regulating the ownership of American XL bully dogs in Scotland, in light of reports that widespread rehoming from England to Scotland is raising public safety and animal welfare concerns.