- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 31 July 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what consideration it has given to introducing compulsory sale orders for vacant properties.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6O-02398 on 21 June 2023 which is available at Meeting of the Parliament: 21/06/2023 | Scottish Parliament Website .
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 July 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 31 July 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will undertake a review of the length of time that it takes to receive a diagnosis for hypothyroidism and other thyroid diseases, in light of reports that it can take several years to receive a diagnosis, that the disease can result in an additional 5% wage penalty for women and that this could widen the existing gender pay gap.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that people living with hypothyroidism and other thyroid diseases are able to access the best possible support and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.
We expect clinicians to adhere to current guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment options from authoritative sources such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the British Thyroid Association (BTA) and have no plans at present to undertake a review of timescales for receiving a diagnosis.
While employment law is reserved to the UK Parliament, our Fair Work approach seeks to improve workers’ rights and conditions and aims to address women’s workplace inequalities by encouraging employers to take action to tackle gender pay gaps across the labour market in Scotland.
Our refreshed Fair Work Action Plan: Becoming a Leading Fair Work Nation by 2025 published in December 2022, reiterates our commitment to tackling Scotland’s gender pay gap and recognises that an intersectional approach is needed to address the overlapping labour market inequalities faced by women, disabled people, racially minoritized people and the over 50s workforce.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 July 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 31 July 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-19056 by Fiona Hyslop on 29 June 2023, for what reason, in Strathclyde Partnership for Transport's (SPT) application for an accessibility standards exemption for the new Glasgow Subway trains, under the Rail Vehicle Accessibility (Applications for Exemption Orders) Regulations 2010, published on 6 February 2023, it reportedly states that "The first new trains are scheduled to enter passenger service January 2023 to March 2023", in light of its answer stating that "Introductory dates for the new trains into passenger service have not been set by SPT nor has SPT previously set out proposed introductory dates in reporting", and what the revised schedule is for the new trains to enter passenger service.
Answer
Introduction of the new trains into passenger service is a matter for Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) given SPT is responsible for both the Glasgow Subway modernisation programme and the operation of the Glasgow subway and is not the responsibility of the Scottish Government.
The Scottish Government understands that SPT did make an application, as part of the regulatory process, for an exemption from the Department for Transport (DfT) under the Rail Vehicle Accessibility (Applications for Exemption Orders) Regulations 2010 for the headroom in the new trains which incorrectly stated the first new trains would enter passenger service January 2023 to March 2023. SPT has advised that this incorrect statement was clarified and rectified with the DfT at the time.
Testing of the new trains and development of the safety case is ongoing and the trains will not be handed over to SPT until the fault free run testing is complete, with introduction of the fleet expected to be autumn 2023 as set out in SPT’s Partnership Report on Subway Modernisation - progress update for its 23 June 2023 meeting .
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 July 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 31 July 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on the Healthy Working Lives online platform in each financial year since its creation.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises improving population health as a key priority and invests in a range of initiatives to support people with health conditions to sustain or return to work, including Healthy Working Lives (HWL). HWL is a programme delivered by Public Health Scotland (PHS) and the detail of the spend on the online platform is a matter for PHS. The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 31 July 2023
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason some joint tenancies, in situations where some tenants are moving out and others are remaining in the property, are reportedly not covered by the rent cap.
Answer
The Private Residential Tenancy was designed so that one tenant cannot terminate a joint tenancy on behalf of all the joint tenants, as this could result in a person who wished to stay in the let property being made homeless when another tenant chooses to leave.
Current legislation does give the landlord the right to decide not to agree to continuing the existing tenancy in those circumstances and can request that a new tenancy be issued at the point of a new person moving into the property. As the rent cap element of the emergency Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022 applies only to in-tenancy rent increases, where a new tenancy is created the landlord is able to increase the rent being requested.
Whilst we believe the emergency Act is bringing significant extra protections for people living in the private rented sector during the ongoing cost crisis, it was not able to make more fundamental changes to the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016 with respect to joint tenancy arrangements.
We are committed to taking forward longer-term reform to the rented sector and as part of our work to deliver a New Deal for tenants we are considering joint tenancy issues in the private rented sector, including the existing approach to ending such tenancies.
- Asked by: Ivan McKee, MSP for Glasgow Provan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 21 July 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 31 July 2023
To ask the Scottish Government when its proposed £12 minimum wage for social care staff will be implemented.
Answer
The Scottish Government are considering the timetable of the implementation of £12 an hour for social care staff.
- Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 July 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 July 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many schools have been built, from 2017 to date, broken down by local authority.
Answer
A total of 147 school builds were completed between 2016-17 and 2021-22. Figures for 2022-23 are not yet available.
Table 1 shows the breakdown by local authority. Only builds with a cost of £500,000 or more for primary and £1 million or more for secondary and special are included.
A breakdown by individual year is available from Table 7.1 in the school estate statistics supplementary data tables https://www.gov.scot/publications/school-estate-statistics-2022/documents/ .
Table 1: Schools built by local authority between 2016-17 and 2021-22.
Local Authority | Schools Built |
Aberdeen City | 5 |
Aberdeenshire | 3 |
Angus | 5 |
Argyll and Bute | 3 |
City of Edinburgh | 4 |
Clackmannanshire | 0 |
Dumfries and Galloway | 5 |
Dundee City | 9 |
East Ayrshire | 11 |
East Dunbartonshire | 4 |
East Lothian | 2 |
East Renfrewshire | 2 |
Falkirk | 1 |
Fife | 5 |
Glasgow City | 16 |
Highland | 8 |
Inverclyde | 2 |
Midlothian | 7 |
Moray | 3 |
Na h-Eileanan Siar | 0 |
North Ayrshire | 5 |
North Lanarkshire | 2 |
Orkney Islands | 1 |
Perth and Kinross | 7 |
Renfrewshire | 3 |
Scottish Borders | 6 |
Shetland Islands | 1 |
South Ayrshire | 5 |
South Lanarkshire | 10 |
Stirling | 2 |
West Dunbartonshire | 7 |
West Lothian | 3 |
Total | 147 |
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 July 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 31 July 2023
To ask the Scottish Government by what date its reported new £1 million Autism Support Fund will be launched by Inspiring Scotland.
Answer
Inspiring Scotland will open applications for the new Autism Support Fund in the next couple of weeks. The application window will remain open for a period of 4 weeks and awards will be announced to recipients two to three weeks after applications close.
- Asked by: Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 July 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 July 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how much Pupil Equity Funding each school in the G74 and G75 postcode areas (a) received in 2022-23 and (b) will receive in 2023-24, broken down by school.
Answer
Pupil Equity Funding allocations are updated and published annually to take into account new, closed and merged schools of that year. The 2023-24 Pupil Equity Funding allocations are currently being finalised and will be communicated to local authorities shortly with publication in due course thereafter. All previous allocations can be found here: Pupil attainment: closing the gap - Schools - gov.scot (www.gov.scotwww.gov.scot) .
For 2022-23, over £130m of Pupil Equity Funding was to allocated to 97% of schools in Scotland, schools in South Lanarkshire Council received over £8.9m, and of which £1,916,375 was allocated to schools in the G74 and G75 postcodes. The breakdown of 2022-23 allocations for these schools can be found in the following table.
Seed Code | LA Name | School Name | Post Code | 2022-23 PEF Allocation |
8531323 | South Lanarkshire | Kirktonholme Primary School | G74 1DJ | £ 63,700 |
8520038 | South Lanarkshire | St Andrew's and St Bride's High School | G74 1NL | £ 104,125 |
8532125 | South Lanarkshire | St Kenneth's Primary School | G74 1PU | £ 42,120 |
8532028 | South Lanarkshire | St Hilary's Primary School | G74 2AX | £ 26,950 |
8530521 | South Lanarkshire | Blacklaw Primary School | G74 2BP | £ 29,400 |
8531625 | South Lanarkshire | Mount Cameron Primary School | G74 2EX | £ 19,600 |
8534527 | South Lanarkshire | Mount Cameron Primary School Gaelic Unit | G74 2EX | * |
8525749 | South Lanarkshire | Sanderson High School | G74 2LP | £ 71,050 |
8530033 | South Lanarkshire | Calderglen High School | G74 2LP | £ 161,700 |
8531528 | South Lanarkshire | Maxwellton Primary School | G74 3DP | £ 42,875 |
8534144 | South Lanarkshire | Greenburn School | G74 3DP | £ 72,275 |
8531420 | South Lanarkshire | Long Calderwood Primary | G74 3QT | £ 55,125 |
8532222 | South Lanarkshire | St Leonard's Primary School | G74 3YA | £ 60,025 |
8531226 | South Lanarkshire | Hunter Primary School | G74 3YB | £ 37,975 |
8531021 | South Lanarkshire | Halfmerke Primary School | G74 4BU | £ 66,150 |
8534543 | South Lanarkshire | West Mains School | G74 4BU | £ 73,500 |
8531927 | South Lanarkshire | Our Lady Of Lourdes Primary School | G75 0AG | £ 72,275 |
8531722 | South Lanarkshire | Murray Primary School | G75 0JP | £ 71,050 |
8532427 | South Lanarkshire | St Louise's Primary School | G75 0NF | £ 29,160 |
8531129 | South Lanarkshire | Heathery Knowe Primary School | G75 0NG | £ 69,825 |
8530629 | South Lanarkshire | Canberra Primary School | G75 8HD | £ 42,875 |
8530823 | South Lanarkshire | East Milton Primary School | G75 8LG | £ 61,250 |
8533229 | South Lanarkshire | Mossneuk Primary School | G75 8XQ | £ 39,200 |
8533431 | South Lanarkshire | Duncanrig Secondary School | G75 8ZT | £ 193,550 |
8534225 | South Lanarkshire | Crosshouse Primary School | G75 8ZY | £ 95,550 |
8532524 | South Lanarkshire | St Vincent's Primary School | G75 9DG | £ 80,850 |
8530726 | South Lanarkshire | Castlefield Primary School | G75 9DH | £ 52,920 |
8530025 | South Lanarkshire | Auldhouse Primary School | G75 9DT | £ 9,800 |
8532621 | South Lanarkshire | South Park Primary School | G75 9DU | £ 50,225 |
8530920 | South Lanarkshire | Greenhills Primary School | G75 9JD | £ 121,275 |
Total | £ 1,916,375 |
* The allocation for Mount Cameron Primary School Gaelic Unit has been redacted and replaced with a *, as revealing the allocation level may be disclosive to individuals.
- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 July 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 31 July 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-19295 by Maree Todd on 5 July 2023, whether the entire allocation for the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund was spent in the financial year 2022-23, and, if not, how much was left over.
Answer
A grant of £15 million for the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults was distributed to Third Sector Interfaces across Scotland in August 2022, to support local, grassroots community organisation. £14,975,678.28 had been distributed by the end of March 2023. Third Sector Interfaces reported a total underspend of £24,321.72 for that year.
A grant of £1,136,695 was provided to support administration costs and the capacity building efforts of Third Sector Interfaces in 2022-2023. Third sector interfaces reported a total underspend on the administration grant of £4,948.63.