- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 October 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 7 November 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether there are plans to improve timely reporting by Salmon Fishery Boards of wild salmon catch statistics, including penalties for boards that are very late in publishing statistics.
Answer
There are no obligations on District Salmon Fishery Boards to report or publish wild salmon catch statistics.
The Scottish Government requires proprietors or occupiers of salmon fisheries to provide it with information each year relating to the fishery. Refusal to comply with the request for information or providing false information is an offence.
Official Statistics on the Scottish salmon and sea trout fishery are published annually. Statistics for the 2022 season are available at - Scottish salmon and sea trout fishery statistics 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 October 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 7 November 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that more than half of people in Scotland with chest, heart and stroke conditions and long COVID do not get referred for the rehabilitation that they should receive under national standards and guidelines.
Answer
This Government understands the critical role of rehabilitation in supporting people affected by chest, heart, and stroke conditions, long COVID and other long-term health conditions. We are committed to ensuring that all adults who require rehabilitation have timely access to the right information and services by the end of 2025 through our Once for Scotland Rehabilitation Approach.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 October 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Elena Whitham on 7 November 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide the outcomes of any reviews that it has conducted regarding the effects of second-hand cannabis smoke.
Answer
We have not commissioned any reviews into the effects of second-hand cannabis smoke, so we have no outcomes to report. We are aware of studies which have been conducted in North America including What are the effects of secondhand exposure to marijuana smoke? | National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) (nih.gov)
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 October 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 7 November 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been convicted of an offence in relation to violence at railway stations in each year since 2016.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.
The Member may wish to contact British Transport Police, who might be able to provide this information.
- Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 October 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 7 November 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding changing the licensing regime to increase the production of industrial hemp in Scotland.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-22375 on 3 November 2023 . 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 .
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 October 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 7 November 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, as part of its regular discussions with the Scottish Law Commission on its work programme, whether it can confirm if the commission is looking specifically at work-related involuntary act culpable homicide as part of its review of homicide law.
Answer
Paragraph 1.27 of the Scottish Law Commission's Homicide Project Discussion paper indicates corporate homicide is one of a number of topics that the Commission will not be considering as part of their project. As paragraph 1.27 and associated footnotes indicates, a Bill was presented to the Scottish Parliament in 2020 in this area of law and the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament made a statement that the Bill was not within the legislative competence of the Parliament. The Commission's Homicide project relates to matters which would be within the competence of the Scottish Parliament.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 October 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 7 November 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on the number of households in Scotland that currently have a prepayment meter for their (a) electricity and (b) gas supply.
Answer
The Scottish House Condition Survey provides a snapshot of the Scottish housing stock in each survey year including the construction age and built form of Scottish domestic buildings. Within this it provides estimates of the number of dwellings with a prepayment meter for gas or electricity.
The most recent estimates of households with a prepayment meter are from 2019, and are presented in the following table.
Table 1: Number of households with prepayment meters.
Meter type | Total number of households |
Gas Prepayment meter only | 20,000 |
Electric Prepayment meter only | 150,000 |
Both Gas and Electric prepayment meter | 260,000 |
| |
Total | 420,000 |
Notes
1. Figures do not sum due to rounding.
2. Source Scottish House Condition Survey 2019.
3. The SHCS is a sample survey and therefore all figures are estimates which lie at the midpoint of a confidence interval which depends primarily on sample size. A statistical tool for calculating 95% confidence intervals around these estimates can be found at Scottish House Condition Survey: Local Authority Analysis 2017-2019 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 October 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 7 November 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish all the evidence and data on which it reportedly decided to downgrade neonatal services at University Hospital Wishaw.
Answer
The New Model of Neonatal Care is aimed at the most premature and sickest of babies and is based on a review of evidence carried out by Dr Anna Gavine, Dr Steve MacGillivray and Prof Mary Renfrew of the University of Dundee and a summary of the evidence review is published within The Best Start ( Appendix H ).
The evidence showed that outcomes for very low birth weight babies (VLBW) are better when they are delivered and treated in Neonatal Intensive Care Units with full support services, experienced staff and a critical mass of activity (expert recommendation defines this as care for a minimum of 100 VLBW babies a year).
This evidence has since strengthened with the publication in 2021 of the British Association for Perinatal Medicine (BAPM) Framework for Practice , which sets out optimal arrangements for neonatal intensive care.
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 October 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 7 November 2023
To ask the Scottish Government by what stage of pregnancy it expects women to have had a face-to-face meeting with their named midwife.
Answer
The antenatal booking appointment is usually the first contact point between the primary or named midwife and pregnant women. We expect all women to have an initial assessment of their health, obstetric and social needs completed, and be offered appropriate screening referrals and other care options by the 12th full week of pregnancy.
The Scottish Government Local Delivery Plan standard for early access to antenatal care states that at least 80% of pregnant women in each Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) quintile will have booked for antenatal care by the 12th week of gestation. This standard has been met or exceeded consistently since 2013-14. Public Health Scotland published its latest annual statistical report on antenatal booking, Antenatal Booking in Scotland , in March 2023, which shows that 92.8% of pregnancies were booked by 12 weeks in the year ending 31 December 2022.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 October 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 7 November 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether any road projects, which are underway or planned, have had their costs reprofiled, and, in relation to any such projects, whether it will set out the detail of the project, the revised timescale, and the revised cost.
Answer
As set out in the Programme for Government, we are committed to prioritising capital spending to achieve net zero and maintain high quality public infrastructure across Scotland. We have been consistently open about the challenges facing our capital investment plans and tough decisions will need to be taken at the 2024-25 Budget to ensure we remain fiscally sustainable.
The challenging economic conditions of the last few years resulting from Brexit and high inflation as well as the real terms fall in the capital grant allocation from the UK Government has significantly impacted our ability to deliver on all capital infrastructure commitments. Given the economic challenges we face, we have committed to refreshing the multi-year capital spending envelopes and resetting the infrastructure project pipeline, including road projects, alongside the 2024-25 Budget.