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-19800

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) practices and (b) dentists have (i) established new, (ii) expanded and (iii) purchased existing dental practices through the Scottish Dental Access Initiative since it was launched.

For the period 2007 to 2020 our records show the number of Scottish Dental Access Initiative (SDAI) Grants made by NHS Boards as follows:

	Practice
Established a new practice	68
Expanded a practice	63
Purchased an existing practice	30

We are in the process of updating our records for the period following the interruption of the pandemic and will provide updated figures as soon as possible. There have been a number of practices interested in SDAI in recent weeks with applications expected to be submitted by Health Boards shortly.

Question reference: S6W-19801

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 31 July 2023

Information on the number of dental students expected to graduate is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

Scottish Government makes a recommendation on intake targets each year for Scottish dental schools but we do not hold information on students’ progress towards graduation. However, dentistry generally has a high completion rate and NHS Education for Scotland forecast data predicts around 160 graduates will enter into dental vocational training in 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26.

Question reference: S6W-19779

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it plans to have with the UK Government regarding consideration of the licensing of Androfeme or similar testosterone treatments for menopause for use in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-20024

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many schools have been substantially refurbished, from 2016-17 to date, (a) in total and (b) broken down by local authority.

A total of 255 substantial refurbishment projects were completed between 2016-17 and 2021-22. These figures do not include new-build schools. Figures for 2022-23 are not yet available.

Table 1 shows the breakdown by local authority. Only refurbishments with a cost of £500,000 or more for primary and £1 million or more for secondary and special are included. School extensions meeting the cost thresholds are counted as substantial refurbishments.

A breakdown by individual year is available from Table 7.2 in the school estate statistics supplementary data tables https://www.gov.scot/publications/school-estate-statistics-2022/documents/ .

Table 1: Substantial refurbishments by local authority between 2016-17 and 2021-22.

Local Authority	Substantial refurbishments
Aberdeen City	11
Aberdeenshire	18
Angus	1
Argyll and Bute	2
City of Edinburgh	8
Clackmannanshire	2
Dumfries and Galloway	12
Dundee City	0
East Ayrshire	2
East Dunbartonshire	1
East Lothian	5
East Renfrewshire	4
Falkirk	6
Fife	17
Glasgow City	73
Highland	35
Inverclyde	4
Midlothian	2
Moray	11
Na h-Eileanan Siar	2
North Ayrshire	6
North Lanarkshire	1
Orkney Islands	2
Perth and Kinross	5
Renfrewshire	2
Scottish Borders	1
Shetland Islands	2
South Ayrshire	6
South Lanarkshire	10
Stirling	2
West Dunbartonshire	0
West Lothian	2
Total	255

Question reference: S6W-19687

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 any risk posed to the effective operation of public services by any future disruption caused by (a) managing and (b) removing reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, and how any disruption will be minimised for (i) children and young people learning in school, (ii) patients undergoing treatment and (iii) other groups of people using public services.

It is the statutory duty of local authorities, the NHS and other public service providers to manage and maintain their estate. We have been in close contact with local authorities, the NHS and others and expect contingency plans to be in place to minimise any potential disruption to services. We will continue to engage across sectors to direct public and private sector organisations towards guidance and good practice with regards to identifying, assessing and managing reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.

Question reference: S6W-19675

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 what guidance it has issued to (a) local authorities, (b) NHS boards and (c) other public sector bodies regarding reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.

The Scottish Government has issued guidance on reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) to Local Authorities via the Scottish Heads of Property Services and the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland.

NHS Scotland Assure, which is leading the national RAAC survey programme of the NHS estate on behalf of Scottish Government, issued a Safety Action Notice to Health Boards in February 2023 on the risk of catastrophic structural failure of RAAC planks in building roofing, walls, and flooring. This guidance note included recommendations on identification, risk management, monitoring and replacement of RAAC planks where necessary.

Question reference: S6W-19683

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, in light of reports on 14 June 2023 that the UK Government has launched an expanded government-wide inquiry into the use of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, whether the Scottish Government has any plans to launch a similar programme of investigations and reporting.

Question reference: S6W-19769

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 28 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the levels of funding have been for the operation of rail services in each of the last five years, and how that funding compares with the funding for bus services in the same periods.

The levels of funding associated with bus and rail operations can be found in Transport Scotland's annual accounts. Please note the annual accounts for 1 April 2022 – 31 March 2023 will be available later this year.

Links provided below for the five years as requested:-

Annual Report & Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2022

Annual Report & Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2021

Annual Report & Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2020

Annual Report & Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2019

Annual Report & Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2018

Question reference: S6W-19586

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 28 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been raised by ports charging an environmental levy for cruise ships in each year since 1999, broken down by port.

Question reference: S6W-19592

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 28 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding has been allocated to (a) Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland and (b) Stroke Association, in each year since 2018-19.