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-19885

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what financial modelling it has carried out to calculate its cost basis projection for re-opening the Independent Living Fund (ILF) Scotland 2015 Fund.

A financial modelling exercise for the cost of re-opening the Independent Living Fund (ILF) 2015 Fund was carried out for the Independent Review of Adult Social Care (IRASC) and explored the number of people in receipt of care packages over a range of support costs. This analysis suggested £32 million per annum was required to re-open the ILF 2015 Fund based on an indicative care package value of £600 per week.

Subsequently the SG undertook further analysis to better understand the data relating to the costs of care packages offered by Local Authorities (LAs). This identified significant variations in how these costs are recorded and therefore uncertainty around likely costs of reopening the ILF 2015 Fund. Work is ongoing to improve social care data more broadly to support the establishment of the National Care Service in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-19884

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what portion of the funding allocation for the Independent Living Fund (ILF) Scotland, as agreed with the UK Government, has been spent by it on activity other than ILF in each year from 2016 to date.

Funding for the Independent Living Fund (ILF) Scotland is transferred each year to ILF Scotland to meet existing commitments to the current ILF population under the ILF Scotland policy framework. These policies are set by Ministers and can be found on the ILF website: ILF Scotland Policies | ILF Scotland .

The Scottish Government receives £53.3 million per year from the UK Government to help maintain support for the former ILF/UK population transferred in July 2015. The following table shows the funding allocated by SG to ILF Scotland annually since the first full financial year of 2016-17. In addition, the annual outturn of ILF Scotland can be found within their published accounts (linked here: ILF Scotland Annual Accounts )

Year	ILF Funding Allocation £’000
2016-17	£48,515
2017-18	£47,700
2018-19	£46,220
2019-20	£46,101
2020-21	£49,923
2021-22	£47,740
2022-23	£47,724

Question reference: S6W-19887

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what happens when recipients of the Independent Living Fund (ILF) Scotland 2015 Fund return any unused funds for any reason, including death.

Unused recipient funds, including those in consequence of the death of recipients, are returned to ILF Scotland who in consultation with SG officials, decide whether to use it for spending priorities associated with ILF or to offset ILF Scotland’s monthly drawdown on its annual funding allocation. In the past funds have been used to cover the cost of Scottish Living Wage uplifts for personal assistants employed by ILF recipients, reductions in contributions from recipients towards the cost of their support and a Digital Transformation for ILF Scotland IT systems.

Question reference: S6W-19893

Asked by: Stephanie Callaghan, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on the latest known levels of tuition fees for a first full-time degree in Scotland, and on how this compares to the levels in (a) England and (b) Wales.

Question reference: S6W-19796

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of the merits of introducing national guidance on liver disease to address the specific epidemiology of liver disease in Scotland.

Scottish Government has made no recent assessment of the merits of introducing national guidance on liver disease to address the specific epidemiology of liver disease in Scotland.

However, there are policy initiatives to address the main risk factors associated with chronic liver disease, such as alcohol use, obesity and hepatitis C.

These policy initiatives include Minimum Unit Price for alcohol, Scotland’s diet and healthy weight delivery plan to address obesity and effective elimination of hepatitis C by 2024.

Question reference: S6W-19695

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what percentage of students graded by the SQA are being assessed based on "alternative evidence" in the academic year 2022-23, also broken down by subject.

Question reference: S6W-19818

Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 31 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether third sector organisations are still able to receive funding through the National Drugs Mission.

Question reference: S6W-19686

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 any estimate of the number of public sector buildings currently (a) partially and (b) fully closed due to issues related to reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, broken down by (i) building type and (ii) location.

As noted in the reply to S6W-19672, five organisations have contacted The Scottish Government on the presence or suspected presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete within their building estate.

At this time, the following public sector buildings are reported to us as partially or fully closed:

Building type	No.	Location	Partially or fully closed?
School	1	East Lothian	Partially closed
School	5	West Lothian	4 partially closed, 1 fully closed
Police Scotland property	1	Edinburgh	Partially closed
Police Scotland property	1	Dundee	Partially closed

We will continue to work collaboratively with local authorities’ Scottish Heads of Property Services network and Scottish Futures Trust to better understand the presence of RAAC across the school estate.

Question reference: S6W-19674

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 how it will ensure that every public sector body is aware of the risks and dangers of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.

Question reference: S6W-19647

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2023
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.