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: S6F-02863

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 February 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 February 2024

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to prevent convicted sex offenders from changing their identity.

Question reference: S6F-02856

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 February 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 February 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-02857

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 February 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 February 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-25216

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 26 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans to conduct a review into the dual role of the Lord Advocate.

The Scotland Act emphasises the Law Officers' independence from any other person as they undertake their prosecutorial and investigation of deaths functions, a principle they uphold in everything they do in an objective and professional manner.

The Scottish Government has commissioned expert research into the functions of the Law Officers which will be considered when determining next steps.

This research will ensure a detailed baseline understanding of the many distinct roles and functions of the Law Officers and will provide information on how the functions of Law Officers operate in other countries.

Question reference: S6W-25240

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 05 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 26 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how often it monitors and reviews the decisions taken by NHS boards on safeguarding training for non-clinical staff who interact with patients.

The Staff Governance Standard, which is applicable to all staff employed in NHSScotland, requires health boards to appropriately train and develop staff, as well as provide a safe working environment. The Scottish Government monitors compliance annually to ensure health boards, as employers, are meeting this standard. This includes providing the necessary training for staff according to statutory requirements.

Question reference: S6W-25238

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 26 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support is available to medical students during placement years, when they are unable to work elsewhere.

Scottish domiciled medical students are eligible for the standard student support package which is comprised of tuition fees and living cost support throughout the full duration of their medical degree. Additionally the most disadvantaged students can access up to £9,000 per year through a bursary and loans with the Scottish student support package currently the highest it has ever been. All Scottish domiciled students, irrespective of circumstances are eligible for a loan of up to £6,000 a year for the full duration of their medical degree.

It should be noted that students studying on the ScotGEM programme are eligible to claim a return of service bursary of £4,000 per year. This is only available to ScotGEM students, and for each year of the bursary accepted the students is required to work in NHS Scotland for the corresponding number of years.

Question reference: S6W-25215

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 26 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of the process that will be used to deal with the reported complaint that has been made against the Chief Constable of Police Scotland by a civilian colleague, the Deputy Chief Officer.

Question reference: S6W-25498

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 26 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the reasons for the reported increased number of unattended funerals.

The Scottish Government does not hold information about the types or numbers of funeral services in Scotland and does not make an assessment of trends in funeral choices.

Unattended funerals are most often direct cremations where there is no funeral service at a crematorium. Sometimes these are arranged as a preference by the deceased or by their relatives who might arrange a separate wake or celebration of the deceased’s life.

According to the recent Sunlife Cost of Dying report published in January 2024, the cost of a basic funeral rose from £3,953 in 2022 to £4,141 in 2023, an increase of 4.7%. The report shows there has been an increase in direct cremations over the past five years with 3% of funerals described as a direct cremation in 2019, rising to 20% in 2023. Direct cremations are often seen as a more affordable option but according to the Sunlife report there are various other reasons for choosing this option; this is often requested by the deceased or chosen because it is simpler to organise.

Issues relating to pricing and consumer protection are reserved to the UK Government. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) publish an annual review of market outcomes in the UK funerals sector and the most recent is available at: Review of funerals sector - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) . Officials continue to engage with the CMA as required in relation to their Funeral Markets Investigation and the upcoming regulations for inspection of the funeral industry and licensing of funeral directors being made under the Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016.

Question reference: S6W-25480

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 26 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what specific actions it is taking to reduce waiting times for ear, nose and throat treatment.

The Scottish Government commissioned Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) is playing a central role in working with Health Boards to ensure that they are able to continually identify new ways to increase capacity, and to respond to demand through service innovation and redesign.

CfSD programmes have developed strong clinically-led Specialty Delivery Groups (SDG), including one for Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT), which promote multidisciplinary team working, and support local adoption of service improvement programmes. These groups are now well established and have supported several new and innovative pathway developments to free-up additional capacity in the NHS system, many of which are now being successfully scaled up across Scotland. For ENT this includes Active Clinical Referral Triage (ACRT), Discharge Patient Initiated Review (PIR) and Opt-In Pathways.

We know there is more to do but we are making progress; since the introduction of our long wait targets in July 2022, ENT waits over two years have reduced by 93% for new outpatient appointments and by 54% for inpatient and day-case patients.

Question reference: S6W-25115

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 26 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Food Standards Scotland (FSS) written submission to the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee of 20 December 2023, in relation to public petition PE1997, what the timescale is for FSS to discuss any proposed consultation on mandatory braille labelling of food products with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Food Standards Agency in Wales and Northern Ireland.

FSS officials meet with officials in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in Wales and Northern Ireland, lead departments for food labelling in the rest of the UK, on a bimonthly basis. FSS continues to highlight that braille labelling of food products is being considered by the Scottish Parliament Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee, and the importance being placed on this issue in Scotland. Development of any policy proposals would need to be considered on a four-nation basis under the UK Food Compositional Standards and Labelling Common Framework.