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-03490

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 November 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-03491

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 04 November 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 November 2024

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-30736

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-29010 by Neil Gray on 28 August 2024, when the final Transport to Health plan will be published.

Question reference: S6W-30512

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 4 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the publication of the Criminal Justice Modernisation and Abusive Domestic Behaviour Reviews (Scotland) Bill, what its position is on what any differences in principle are between the proposed domestic homicide and suicide reviews and existing fatal accident inquiries.

Part two of the Criminal Justice Modernisation & Abusive Domestic Behaviour Reviews (Scotland) Bill, introduced to the Scottish Parliament on 24 September 2024, includes provisions to create the statutory framework for what will be Scotland’s first national multi-agency domestic homicide and suicide review model.

The purpose of domestic homicide and suicide reviews is to learn lessons following a death where domestic abuse is suspected to improve services and help prevent further deaths. The reviews will be undertaken by a review panel which will include an independent chair with a review oversight committee overseeing the completing of a review.

The Lord Advocate, is the Head of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and is also responsible for investigating all sudden, suspicious and unexplained deaths. Supported by Procurator’s Fiscal, in circumstances where a death is sudden, suspicious or unexplained, the Lord Advocate will investigate the death and seek to establish the cause of death and the circumstances of the death. A death investigation may lead to a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI.) The legislative framework which governs the holding of an FAI is the Inquiries into Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths etc. (Scotland) Act 2016.

The purpose of a Fatal Accident Inquiry is to establish:

• where and when the death took place;

• the cause of the death;

• reasonable precautions whereby the death might have been avoided;

• the defects, if any, in any system of working that contributed to the death or any accident resulting in the death; and

• other facts relevant to the circumstances of the death.

As with the aims of a domestic homicide and suicide review, to prevent future deaths from happening in similar circumstances. However, unlike a domestic homicide and suicide review, FAI’s are a judicial process and a public examination of the circumstances of a death conducted before a Sheriff with the Sheriff issuing a determination at the conclusion of the Inquiry.

A domestic homicide and suicide review will take place where domestic abuse is suspected. An FAI is broader and can either be ‘mandatory’ in terms of Section 2 of the Act, and conducted where the death occurred (i) as the result of an accident when the deceased was acting in the course of their employment or occupation or (ii) when the deceased was in legal custody or was a child detained in secure accommodation at the time of the death or ‘Discretionary’ in terms of Section 4 of the Act, or ‘discretionary’ and conducted, on the Authority of the Lord Advocate, where the Lord Advocate considers that the death was sudden, suspicious or unexplained or that it occurred in circumstances that give rise to serious public concern and it is decided that it is in the public interest for an Inquiry to be held in to the circumstances of the death.

It is anticipated that the majority of cases likely to be reviewed under the domestic homicide and suicide review model, would not result in a FAI. The information gathered as part of a domestic homicide and suicide review will be information rather than ‘evidence’ and the reviews will have a specific focus on domestic abuse which will follow through to the learning and recommendations made from a review which will likely have a broader reach to safeguarding victims of domestic abuse in addition to the prevent of deaths.

Question reference: S6W-30575

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 4 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the recorded causes of road traffic incidents at the Toll of Birness have been since January 2024.

The Scottish Government has reviewed the personal injury accident information provided by Police Scotland and can confirm that there has been one personal injury accident at the Toll of Birness junction between 1 January 2024 and 30 September 2024, the date for which data is currently available. As this road traffic collision is subject to ongoing Police enquiries no further information can be provided on its cause at the present time.

Question reference: S6W-30568

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 4 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met Police Scotland to discuss road safety at the Toll of Birness.

Question reference: S6W-30444

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Monday, 07 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 4 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it expects that its National Care Service proposals will lead to benefits in social care outcomes beyond those that would have been delivered by the existing social care structure and, if so, what (a) these benefits might be and (b) evidence it has used to determine this.

The Independent Review of Adult Social Care recommendations, consultation and co-design with thousands of people who receive or provide social care have told us change is needed in how social care and support in delivered. We are working with people to design a system that best fits the needs of the communities it serves.

The National Care Service will improve participation and empower people who use and deliver care services, to have a say in how social care is developed and delivered. The NCS will also promote transparency of both performance and investment in social care. The NCS Board will improve the scrutiny of local services, allow intervention at earlier stages to identify good practice, and target efforts on areas where there are emerging issues.

Question reference: S6W-30443

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Monday, 07 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 4 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of its spending on the National Care Service up to 2032 will be directly on pay for frontline care workers.

Projected spending on the National Care Service up to 2032 is focused on strategic improvement of the sector, including improving standards for our workforce. The NCS Board will improve oversight, accountability and transparency on the delivery of integrated health and social care across Scotland. Allowing for greater consistency across local areas and helping frontline workers deliver their services to the best of their ability. We have already implemented Fair Work measures, including paying our commissioned social care workforce at least the real living wage of £12 an hour from April 2024 and improving standards through the NCS will make the sector a more attractive career.

Question reference: S6W-30873

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 25 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the adequacy of the NHS non-emergency patient transport service in meeting the specific clinical and logistical needs of young cancer patients under 25, in light of any need they may have to travel as a family unit, their immunocompromised status and the often significant treatment-related side effects that they may endure.

The Scottish Government’s role is to set the strategic policy for the NHS in Scotland, NHS Boards are responsible for service delivery and treatment. As set out in our recently published Transport to Health Plan All Health Boards should consider patient transport needs when they plan and deliver services and must ensure Patients have access to all information on any relevant patient transport (including community transport) and travel reimbursement entitlement.

Individual Boards are responsible for developing and assessing their own policies, including determining eligibility for escorts and reimbursement rates, whilst ensuring patient care and safety.

Question reference: S6W-30860

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 25 October 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 4 November 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) High, (b) Sheriff and (c) Justice of the Peace Court trials (i) have been delayed since April 2024 and (ii) were delayed in each year since 2017-18.

Parliament dissolved ahead of election

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