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-19559

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether any other part of the civil service made use of social media to advertise for the recruitment of paid patient panels to make recommendations on serious health conditions, and, if this is the case, what methods of verification were used, in light of reports that its Clinical Priorities Unit used paid volunteers to make recommendations on treatment pathways for chronic pain, rather than formally diagnosed representatives.

This is a matter for the relevant part of the civil service. The Scottish Government does not hold information for other parts of the civil service, for example those that serve UK Government ministers.

Regarding recruitment and verification for the Scottish Government Pain Panel, there are generally no preconditions specified, except for the requirement to acknowledge and honour an individual’s expressed willingness to contribute to a particular process based on their personal knowledge of the subject matter. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring a range of people and organisations can contribute to collective means through a variety of ways. I also refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17660 on 19 May 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 .

Question reference: S6W-19679

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in private sector buildings, including those that were initially built for the public sector, and how it will raise awareness of any problems related to its presence.

The focus of our activity remains engagement with public sector organisations to seek reassurance of both their awareness and any action identified on this issue. Maintaining the safety of buildings is the responsibility of building owners, and this includes responsibility for any assessment of the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in private sector buildings.

Authoritative guidance on identification and assessment of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete is already published by organisations such as the Institution of Structural Engineers. We continue to engage with the UK government and such organisations to understand and support broader action being taken to raise awareness of this risk topic across all sectors.

Question reference: S6W-19676

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in (a) public sector buildings and (b) privately owned buildings in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-19703

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what meetings it has had with An Comunn Gàidhealach since May 2021, and what the agreed outcomes were of any such meetings.

Question reference: S6W-19668

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it will make available to NHS boards that find reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete present in (a) hospital buildings and (b) other NHS board buildings, in order to (i) manage and (ii) remove it.

NHS Scotland Assure are conducting a survey programme which will confirm how many buildings in the NHS Estate contain reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.

Once the extent of the programme is determined, the condition will be assessed, thereafter it will be possible to establish the management and removal plans that may be necessary. This means however, that it is not currently possible to assess what these plans might cost until the survey work is complete.

Question reference: S6W-19658

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of how many tenancies currently in operation may not be covered by the rent cap.

The Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022 aims to ensure that the majority of tenants living in the private rented sector are protected by the temporary, emergency measures.

Tenancies under the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 are exempt from the temporary rent cap, and there are only a small number of remaining tenancies under this Act. For these tenancies, rent increases can only occur every 3 years and the restrictions on rent increases already built into the system operate to ensure rents in respect of the 1984 Act are raised at fair levels.

Certain tenancies under the Housing (Scotland) Act 1988 are not covered by the rent cap. The Housing (Scotland) Act 1988, as amended by Schedule 1 of the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022, sets out that the rent cap will apply to rent increases during the course of assured and short assured tenancies, except in the case of an exempt tenancy ( section 23A, Housing (Scotland) Act 1988 ). Common law tenancies are also not included, for example, agricultural tenancies.

We do not centrally hold data on the total number of tenancies described above, so it is not possible to provide the number of tenancies currently in operation that are not covered by the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022 rent cap measures.

Question reference: S6W-19657

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what estimates or modelling it holds of the number of joint tenancies that may not be subject to the rent cap, in situations where some tenants are moving out and others are remaining in the property.

The Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022 is an emergency response to provide additional protection to people who rent their home during the cost crisis. It aims to ensure that the majority of tenants - including those who are part of a joint tenancy in the private rented sector - are protected by the temporary emergency measures, by capping in-tenancy rent increases.

Joint tenancies are subject to the cap on in-tenancy rent increases. The Scottish Government do not hold details of the turnover of joint tenancies in Scotland so are unable to estimate or model how many such tenancies may be ended due to some joint tenants moving out while others remain in the property.

Question reference: S6W-19673

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will establish a register of public sector buildings that have been found to contain reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.

Maintaining the safety of buildings is the responsibility of building owners. Our focus remains on engagement with public sector organisations to gauge awareness and response to this issue. This will include receipt of information on the status of buildings in the public sector. A decision on whether there is a need to establish a register of buildings would be based upon the information received and subsequent input from our Ministerial Working Group on Building and Fire Safety.

Question reference: S6W-19677

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has identified whether reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete is present in any Scottish Government buildings.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken an inspection for reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in the Core SG Estate since 2021 and as such has not identified any reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in the core SG estate.

A specialist has been appointed to support the development of a scope to undertake building inspection surveys which will also assist in identifying the presence of Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in the Core Estate. The Core Estate is defined as those sites/buildings where SG Directorates operate from.

Question reference: S6W-20249

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many teachers left the profession, also shown as a percentage of total teachers, in each year since 2016, broken down by local authority area in the Highlands and Islands region.