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-22927

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 30 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the number of Scottish Prison Service (a) dogs and (b) dog handlers that are trained to detect drugs and other contraband since this information was last provided to the Scottish Parliament's Health and Sport Committee on 10 January 2018.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

As of 24 November 2023, the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) has 15 trained dogs and 9 trained dog handlers.

All our dogs are trained to detect drugs, whilst some of our dogs are trained to detect arms and explosives and/or various prohibited items including mobile phones.

All our dog handlers form part of the National Tactical Search Unit and are highly trained in the searching of people, property, communal spaces and living areas i.e., cells.

Question reference: S6W-22719

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 30 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what oversight it has of Stagecoach and any investigations that the company carries out to ensure that its vehicles have maximum fire safety protections.

Question reference: S6W-22698

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 30 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on Dundee City Council only posting a draft statement of its accounts for the financial year 2021-22.

Question reference: S6W-22716

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 30 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on Glasgow City Council only posting a draft statement of its accounts for the financial year 2021-22.

Question reference: S6W-23481

Asked by: Karen Adam, MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2023
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Mairi McAllan on 30 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support people, businesses and communities to recover from Storm Babet.

Following the first meeting of the Ministerial taskforce, we announced a grant scheme to support those suffering from the impacts of Storm Babet. After the second meeting of the Taskforce held on Wednesday 29 November, I can announce that applications for these grants will open on Monday 4 December. The grants will comprise a £1,500 community recovery payment for people whose properties have been flooded, and a £3,000 business recovery grant for businesses, community groups and organisations impacted by flooding. Grants will be administered by eligible local authorities which are those that had an exceptional red warning for rain during October’s storm - Angus Council and Aberdeenshire Council - and also in areas that were affected with catchments that cross local authority boundaries.

As well as these individual grants, the Scottish Government is providing more support in a range of ways. We want to do all we can to help people rebuild their lives. The Scottish Government is therefore providing additional funding of up to £100,000 to help those families who have lost everything to resettle. We have announced funding to help farmers repair floodbanks damaged by the extreme rainfall during October.

We have also initiated the Bellwin Scheme to help councils with weather related costs, and have extended it by two months. We will also share technical advice and expertise to help Angus Council identify and provide for future housing need.

This support is over and above our long-standing annual funding of £42 million and the additional £150 million for flood risk management together with our £12 million commitment for coastal change adaptation over the course of this parliament.

We continue to work with local authorities and those directly affected by Storm Babet, to help councils, people, businesses and communities to recover in the short term, but also to consider longer term issues like repairing infrastructure.

Question reference: S6W-23455

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2023
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on plans to ensure that all women aged over 71 can self-refer for a breast screening appointment, as was the case prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As set out previously, since 29 August 2022 women aged 71 to 74, and those 75 and over with a history of breast cancer, were able to register for self-referral appointments by contacting their local breast screening service. From 1 st December, all women aged 75 and over regardless of their history with breast cancer, will be able to register for self-referral appointments by contacting their local breast screening service, if they have not been screened in the last three years,. As a result, all women aged 71 and over will now be able to self-refer for breast screening, in line with procedures in place before the pandemic.

The impact of the restart on programme capacity and wait times will continue to be monitored closely to ensure there is no adverse impact on those who are invited for screening and for whom there is the clearest evidence of benefit.

Question reference: S6W-23001

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 30 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its capital expenditure per head of population has been in each local authority area in each of the last 10 years.

The following table shows capital expenditure per head of population for the 32 local authorities shown.

In any given year, capital expenditure per person varies substantially between local authority areas. This will in part reflect the different priorities of local authorities. However it also reflects differences in the timing of capital projects. Expenditure on capital projects can be highly variable as some projects can be high-value and infrequent, and expenditure per head in local authority areas will move, possibly substantially, from year to year as projects begin or wind down.

Capital expenditure information is excluded from the table for Valuation Joint Boards, Tay Road Bridge and Transport Authorities (HITRANS, NESTRANS, SESTRAN, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT), SWESTRANS, TACTRAN and ZetTrans).

See Scottish Local Government Finance Statistics ( Scottish Local Government Finance Statistics 2021-22 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) ) for more information.

Capital Expenditure (£) per head of population by Local Authority, 2011-12 to 2021-22

Sources:

LFR CR & LFR CR Final. Various Years.

NRS Population Estimates Time Series Data.

Local Authority	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
Aberdeen City	328	290	362	432	607	950	1,261	1,181	919	591	1,005
Aberdeenshire	297	340	528	673	546	508	495	538	708	812	753
Angus	352	360	286	426	503	631	375	429	383	361	788
Argyll & Bute	305	422	401	462	340	315	1,068	429	441	268	505
City of Edinburgh	690	686	510	423	365	383	401	533	875	627	825
Clackmannanshire	168	320	501	448	320	326	373	443	402	350	318
Dumfries & Galloway	219	245	322	295	207	369	706	374	210	191	232
Dundee City	603	611	601	508	599	694	1,060	956	655	390	510
East Ayrshire	576	520	345	475	314	461	555	1,100	895	467	488
East Dunbartonshire	301	300	248	356	392	607	421	282	417	378	779
East Lothian	722	573	454	385	517	403	520	571	682	535	879
East Renfrewshire	247	343	231	242	266	410	540	436	535	368	384
Falkirk	333	383	526	392	329	399	389	414	479	412	511
Fife	466	499	424	431	557	638	378	387	469	376	440
Glasgow City	486	455	524	484	444	486	392	503	1,190	379	439
Highland	442	494	629	650	780	855	604	664	764	533	871
Inverclyde	1,048	614	403	333	393	371	393	349	338	223	289
Midlothian	562	567	399	271	364	715	310	729	917	354	696
Moray	923	585	640	604	489	523	646	433	796	538	438
Na h-Eileanan Siar	2,025	1,147	811	661	745	693	417	442	694	750	1,072
North Ayrshire	306	379	462	455	565	531	772	455	530	630	673
North Lanarkshire	563	362	273	354	355	426	393	475	591	411	514
Orkney Islands	1,853	2,280	1,335	851	703	568	671	645	873	718	590
Perth & Kinross	312	294	400	503	454	641	803	531	742	390	614
Renfrewshire	472	493	418	404	278	358	387	369	509	302	453
Scottish Borders	274	207	259	310	405	547	515	425	382	757	513
Shetland Islands	742	627	577	537	623	988	3,208	1,038	1,521	693	781
South Ayrshire	200	164	268	294	401	598	583	475	776	465	807
South Lanarkshire	508	514	529	445	439	397	293	356	353	377	418
Stirling	417	400	489	422	563	434	403	370	456	474	629
West Dunbartonshire	356	493	678	730	778	991	1,017	802	1,222	1,039	734
West Lothian	445	415	400	389	541	667	541	542	386	432	761
Average across the 32 Local Authorities	479	457	453	449	461	537	542	536	687	472	605

Question reference: S6W-23056

Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 30 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the Parole Board for Scotland plans to publish its annual report for 2022-23.

Question reference: S6O-02856

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to accelerate new woodland creation in order to meet its targets.

Question reference: S6O-02858

Asked by: Edward Mountain, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on enabling patients to access all of their primary and secondary care medical records, from one source.