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-22378

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 7 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the impact on production in Scotland, what its position is on whether the current industrial hemp licensing regime is a "light touch regime", as stated by the UK Government.

Question reference: S6W-21860

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 7 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates it will receive the Scottish Law Commission’s findings and recommendations from its review of homicide law, which is due to report in 2023.

Question reference: S6W-22148

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 7 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether historic peak times will in future determine when discounts are available on ScotRail trains with a 16-25 railcard.

The terms and conditions of GB Railcards are set out by National Rail (part of the Rail Delivery Group). Neither Transport Scotland nor ScotRail regulate the rules for the use of national railcards.

As such, future decisions on when discounts would be available using the 16-25 national railcard are not controlled by the Scottish Government.

Where a National Railcard dictates a minimum fare for travel during peak times - such as the 16-25, 26-30, and Veterans Railcard and the minimum fare will still apply.

I would encourage the member to contact Jacqueline Starr CEO, Rail Delivery Group to raise this matter at [email protected]

Question reference: S6W-22073

Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 7 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding any potential impact on the health and wellbeing of people in Scotland, particularly people experiencing poverty, what discussions it has had with the UK Government in relation to safeguarding the future of free-to-air terrestrial TV and radio services in Scotland beyond the current licence period, which ends in 2034.

The Scottish Government has not had any conversations to date with the UK Government in relation to the future of broadcasting beyond 2034. Although decisions on broadcasting are reserved to the UK Government, the Scottish Government retains a strong interest, and we believe that broadcasting policy should be devolved to Scotland to ensure that proportionate decisions can be taken which recognise the requirements of viewers and listeners in Scotland. We continue to make clear, in our engagement with the UK Government and Ofcom, the importance of audiences across Scotland having continued access to the high-quality broadcast TV and radio services they rely on, and we would welcome any conversations with the UK Government to support this aim. We will also continue to engage with stakeholders, such as Arqiva who I am meeting on 6 December, who are driving work on this issue.

Question reference: S6W-22444

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 7 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action is being taken to improve access to support for people with chest, heart and stroke conditions and long COVID in (a) general and (b) rural and remote areas.

Our Heart Disease Action Plan, Respiratory Care Action Plan and Stroke Improvement Plans recognise the importance of timely and equitable access to care for people living with chest, heart and stroke conditions. We are working closely with NHS Boards and people with lived experience, as well as our national advisory groups as we implement these strategies. We have also established a £10 million long COVID Support Fund to support NHS boards to increase the capacity of existing services, develop these into more clearly defined local pathways and provide a more co-ordinated experience for people living with long COVID.

We are aware that people living in remote and rural areas may face disparities in access to health care. To address this we are committed to publishing a Remote and Rural Workforce Strategy and have recently established a National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Social Care.

Question reference: S6W-22468

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 7 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of concerns about the quality of auditory brainstem response (ABR) testing outlined in the report of the Independent Review of Audiology in Scotland, what action it has taken to conduct a wider audit of the assessment of infant ABR cases referred from the Universal Newborn Hearing Screening programme.

Question reference: S6W-22470

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 7 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of concerns about the lack of external peer review of auditory brainstem response (ABR) testing outlined in the report of the Independent Review of Audiology in Scotland, what action it has taken to establish a national external peer review scheme for audiologists who conduct ABR assessment of infants.

Question reference: S6W-22456

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 7 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many passengers boarded trains at stations in (a) Inverclyde and (b) North Ayrshire local authority areas from 1 January 2022 to 1 January 2023, broken down by (i) station and (ii) calendar month.

Question reference: S6W-22471

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 7 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it has taken to support and assist children and their families who may have been adversely affected by any poor-quality infant auditory brainstem response (ABR) assessment, as described in the report of the Independent Review of Audiology in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-22457

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the headcount of each of its (a) directorates and (b) agencies was in each year since 2015.