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-18024

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 30 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many quasi-governmental agencies, also known as quangos, it has funded in each year since 1999, and how much it spent on each.

Quasi-government agencies (quangos) are referred to as devolved national public bodies. There is no requirement to maintaining financial records of devolved national public bodies as far back as 1999, therefore, this information is not held centrally.

The national directory of all devolved national public bodies is in the public domain, and may be accessed in the following link. It provides information on Scottish Government funding for the current year, where applicable. It also provides links to the webpages containing published accounts for the various bodies.

https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-public-bodies-directory/pages/introduction/

Question reference: S6W-18018

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 30 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the current levels of public debt in the public sector.

Every Public Body publishes an Annual Report and Accounts which will include details of amounts owed to them. These annual accounts will normally be available online on the website of the individual organisation.

The Scottish Government continues to support struggling households, which is why both last year and this, we have allocated almost £3 billion to support policies which tackle poverty and protect people as far as possible during the ongoing cost of living crisis. We will also allocate at least £11 million in 2023-24 to support free debt, welfare and income maximisation advice.

Question reference: S6W-18019

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 30 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients have been referred by NHS Scotland for private surgery in other parts of UK in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S6W-17946

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 30 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many of its agencies or directorates have been relocated or opened outside of the Lothian region since 2007, and how many are in the West Scotland region.

Three agencies have been opened outside of the Lothian region since 2007 with no relocations during this time. There is one Agency located in the West Scotland region.

There have been multiple changes to Scottish Government Directorates over the last 15 years. Available data would not provide accurate assessment of the number of Directorates relocated or opened outside of the Lothians over the period.

Directorates particularly in DG Net Zero and DG Communities continue to be located outside of the Central Belt in locations close to their stakeholders and operations.

Question reference: S6W-17908

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that everyone diagnosed with ovarian cancer has access to the best possible support.

Question reference: S6W-17928

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with (a) Coeliac UK and (b) other patient representatives regarding any challenges in relation to the under-diagnosis of coeliac disease.

In 2018, a new national evidence-based pathway for coeliac disease was launched across four health boards (NHS Lothian, NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Tayside). It was funded by Scottish Government’s Modernising Patient Pathways Programme (MPPP) and co-produced in partnership with key stakeholders including Coeliac UK, and people living with coeliac disease and clinicians.

Recently, Maree Todd MSP, the then Minister for Public Health, Women’s Health & Sport attended ‘Coeliac Disease: The Challenge of Underdiagnosis’ in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday 9 March 2023. The event was supported by Coeliac UK and included a presentation from a patient representative.

Question reference: S6W-17937

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 30 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the finding by the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland that black and minority ethnic people in Scotland are 4.8 times more likely to be compulsively sectioned during times of crisis than their white counterparts.

We know the pandemic has exacerbated pre-existing structural inequalities within our society, putting some communities and groups within the population disproportionately at risk for more adverse impacts on their mental health. That is why we have committed to making the mental health of these groups a priority.

We have established an Equality and Human Rights Forum to help influence and deliver measurably improved outcomes for minority ethnic groups. The forum will set out actions to address racialised mental health inequalities in the upcoming Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy and Delivery Plan and will build on our existing work.

We are also considering the report from the Scottish Mental Health Law Review which included recommendations to improve monitoring and address ethnicity in rates of detention and compulsory treatment. We intend to set out our initial response to the report, including priority actions, by summer 2023.

Question reference: S6W-17942

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 30 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many of its buildings do not have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of at least band C, and whether it will list them.

There are 17 owned buildings on the Scottish Government Core Estate. 11 have EPC ratings lower than C.

Thainstone Court	Inverurie	B
St Andrew's House	Edinburgh	C
Victoria Quay	Edinburgh	C
Longman House	Inverness	C
Cameron House	Oban	C
Marine Laboratory	Aberdeen	D
Saughton House	Edinburgh	D
Tweedbank	Galashiels	D
Cadzow Court	Hamilton	D
Freshwater Laboratory	Pitlochry	D
Tankerness Lane	Kirkwall	E
Scorrybreac	Portree, Isle of Skye	E
Balivanich	Isle of Benbecula	F
10 Keith St, Stornoway	Stornoway	F
Governor's House	Edinburgh	G
SASA	Edinburgh	G
Strathbeg House	Thurso	No EPC Available

All EPC certificates are available to download online

Home (scottishepcregister.org.uk)

Question reference: S6W-18217

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 30 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the upgrading of a number of laybys on the A77.

Question reference: S6W-18575

Current Status: Withdrawn