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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 40714 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-12903

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 17 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what value of Tenant Hardship Loan Fund loans have (i) been (A) repaid and (B) written off and (ii) yet to be repaid and remain outstanding.

Question reference: S6W-13619

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 17 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it established a short-life working group to develop "Once for Scotland" recommendations on hepatitis C diagnosis and treatment for people who inject drugs, and, if it did, what the outcomes from that group were.

A short life working group to look at Hepatitis C treatment in people who inject drugs was established in early 2021.

Membership comprised the Scottish Government, Public Health Scotland and clinical representation from NHS Tayside, which was one of the first areas in the world to effectively eliminate Hepatitis C 11 years ahead of the 2030 World Health Organisation target of 2030.

The group recommended exploring the development of a national service, delivered through the community pharmacy network, to provide Hepatitis C testing and treatment to people who inject drugs, and thereby support elimination of Hepatitis C as a major public health threat in Scotland by 2024. Discussions will be taken forward with the representative body, Community Pharmacy Scotland, to explore how the community pharmacy network can support this work.

Question reference: S6W-13613

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 17 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it projects that it will meet its goal of eliminating hepatitis C by 2024.

The Scottish Government remains committed to eliminating Hepatitis C as a major public health concern by 2024.

We must recognise the impact the covid-19 pandemic has had on services, as well as the monitoring and evaluation of HCV data.

However, despite that impact, PHS recently published a report (“Surveillance of hepatitis C in Scotland”) which shows that major progress has been made on a number of key targets including a large drop in cases in people who inject drugs, with some parts of Scotland seeing as much as a 70% reduction. This is hugely encouraging. As we continue to recover from the pandemic, we must build on that progress and continue to work with key stakeholders to remove this public health threat.

Question reference: S6W-12902

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 17 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on administering the Tenant Hardship Loan Fund.

The total spend on administration of the Tenant Hardship Loan Fund is £433,886.88.

Admin costs 2020-21 = £240,217.20 inclusive of VAT

Admin costs 2021-22 = £162,210.30 inclusive of VAT

Admin costs 2022-23 (until October 2022) = £31,459.38 inclusive of VAT

This is the administration costs for loan fund awards with a total value of £733,894.

The Tenant Hardship Loan Fund was one part of a range of support and interventions put in place to help people who were struggling with rent because of changes to their finances caused by the Pandemic.

To enable the loan fund to be delivered quickly given the infra-structure and resource requirements, an existing contract with Energy Savings Trust for administration of the loan was extended.

Administration costs for the fund are based on a contractually agreed annual management fee, dependant on whether the scheme is open or closed, combined with a cost per application, regardless of whether the application resulted in a successful award or not.

The loan fund was demand led and affordability and ability to repay a loan was a key part of the assessment of all applications to protect applicants from unsustainable borrowing.

Question reference: S6W-13558

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 17 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the new international office in Warsaw, announced in the Programme for Government 2021-22, will become operational.

Question reference: S6W-13293

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 17 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, as of 19 December 2022, how many people (a) are eligible for, (b) have applied for and (c) have received an under-22 bus pass through the Young Persons’ (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel scheme.

There are an estimated 930,000 people eligible for the Young Person’s Free Bus Travel Scheme. This refers to the number of people aged 5-21 who have become eligible for concessionary travel as a result of the Young Person’s Scheme.

(b) Transport Scotland does not hold application information. The Improvement Service are in charge of applications made through getyournec.scot and parentsportal.scot, and all other applications are managed by the individual local authorities.

This data is supplied by the National Entitlement Card Programme Office (NECPO). NECPO support the 32 local authorities by assisting with the integration of various national and local public services on the National Entitlement Card (NEC) and are the joint controller with local authorities of this data. The figure includes travel products collected from the Transport Scot Pass Collect mobile application.

Question reference: S6W-13376

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 17 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what mode(s) of transport the Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants' Rights used to attend the Open Government Partnership Europe Regional Meeting in Rome on 11-12 October 2022; what the job titles were of the Scottish Government officials or employees that attended with him, and what the total costs were of attendance at this meeting.

Question reference: S6T-01103

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported comments by the Chief Inspector of the Constabulary that some Police Scotland officers lack empathy and show outdated attitudes in domestic abuse cases.

Question reference: S6T-01104

Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to comments by Prostate Cancer UK regarding reported figures showing that men in Scotland are more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer too late for it to be successfully treated than in any other part of the UK.

Question reference: S6F-01736

Asked by: Stephanie Callaghan, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 January 2023

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to the report, Closing the Accountability Gap, published by National Autistic Society Scotland.