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-14613

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 6 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with Circularity Scotland, in light of the reported concerns of producers that the Deposit Return Scheme registration process for glass is too detailed to complete before the registration deadline.

Question reference: S6W-14720

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 6 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the announcement by the UK Government of a fund to stimulate innovation in occupational health, and whether it will investigate establishing a similar fund.

The Scottish Government has long recognised that health and work are inextricably linked. Creating workplaces which support and promote good physical and mental health benefits both employees and employers.

While health and safety legislation itself is reserved to Westminster, the Scottish Government is using its devolved healthcare powers to support the physical and mental health of the Scottish workforce. This includes the Healthy Working Lives service which provides advice and guidance to employers and the services offered by NHS Scotland. We are also considering Occupational Health provision as part of our update of the Fair and Healthy Work for All strategy this year.

Additionally, last year, together with Public Health Scotland and in partnership with a range of employers, Trade Unions, mental health organisations and public sector partners we launched a new mental health and wellbeing platform to help Scottish employers actively support and promote mental health at work.

Question reference: S6W-14732

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 6 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to provide so-called 50/50 funding for adult hospice care places.

Question reference: S6W-14576

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 6 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide an update regarding the selection process of patient representatives with lived experience of chronic pain to the pain management panel.

Question reference: S6W-15332

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 6 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been convicted of a crime of animal cruelty, of any kind, in each year since 2016, and, of those, how many were given a (a) lifetime and (b) temporary ban on owning animals.

The latest available information on convictions is for the financial year 2020-21 and is provided in the following table.

Number of people convicted for animal cruelty offences, where main charge, 2016-17 to 2020-21.

	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21
Total convicted	60	75	63	56	33

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database.

Note: Main charges were under Animal Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 sections 19-23,29(1)(A)(B) and 29(2)(A)&(B); Protection of Badgers Act 1992 Section 2; Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002 Section 1(1); Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 Sections 10A(1), 11(1)(A), 11A(2)(B)&(6), 11(1)(AA), 11C(B), 11(G)(1) and 11(2)(A)&(F); Welfare of animals (Transport) (Scotland) Regs 2006 Regulation 3(1)(A); Protection of Animals (Scotland) Act 1912 Section 7.

(a), (b) The number of disqualifications on owning animals is not held centrally.

Question reference: S6W-14915

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 6 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-12081 by Mairi McAllan on 24 November 2022, whether it will provide the information requested regarding how many (a) ministers, (b) civil servants, (c) ministerial staff and (d) other Scottish Government representatives attended COP27, and what (i) travel, (ii) accommodation and (iii) other expenses were incurred for this delegation.

Question reference: S6W-14651

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 6 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications to the SME Loan Scheme have been (a) received, (b) approved and (c) rejected in each year since 2020-21, also broken down by the (i) annual expenditure on the scheme and (ii) average size of (A) loan and (B) cashback awarded.

The Scottish Governments SME Loan and Cashback scheme has provided significant financial support to SMEs in Scotland to decarbonise, improve their energy efficiency, cut energy bills and become more economically competitive over the Scheme’s lifespan.

The tables below show the requested information between the relevant financial years. The data provided does not include applications yet to be decided or where further information has been requested from the applicant. The most common reasons for querying an application include incompleteness and missing supporting documents.

Information regarding financial year 2022/23 can be made available at the end of the current financial year.

Table A

Financial Year	Applications Received	Applications Approved	Applications Rejected
2021-22	461	320	126
2020-21	286	211	75

Table B

Financial Year	Value of loans paid	Value of grants paid
2021-22	£4,579,125	£1,838,233
2020-21	£3,954,576	£945,647

Table C

Financial Year	Average loan value	Average grant value
2021-22	£15,682	£6,963
2020-21	£20,384	£5,802

Question reference: S6W-14660

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 6 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on including access to incontinence pads in the free period product schemes, including for those experiencing menopausal or perimenopausal symptoms who might not meet the criteria for prescription pads.

The aim of the Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Act 2021 is to ensure that everyone in Scotland who menstruates can have reasonably convenient access to period products, free of charge, as and when they are required. The definition of period products in the Act does not include incontinence products and there are no plans at present to change this. The Act does not limit the number of products that can be accessed so those experiencing such symptoms are entitled to access as many period products as they need.

To help support people experiencing menopausal or perimenopausal symptoms our Women’s Health Platform, on NHS Inform, includes a resource on menopause and work is underway to refine and create resources on pelvic health. This will include urinary incontinence, looking at prevention, treatment options and reducing stigma.

Question reference: S6W-14704

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 6 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) summary and (b) solemn cases resulted in a community payback order (CPO) being issued, broken down by each year for which data is available.

February 2011 saw the introduction of Community Payback Orders (CPO), making 2011-12 the first full financial year for which this disposal was available.

The latest available information, by court type, is provided in the following table which is based on people rather than number of cases. Total numbers of CPOs issued is also available from table 7a of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland 2020-21 statistical bulletin Supporting documents - Criminal proceedings in Scotland: 2020-2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

Data for 2020-21 are affected by the pandemic and subsequent court closures and may not be indicative of long term trends .

People receiving a Community Payback Order by type of court, where main disposal, 2010-11 to 2020-21

Financial Year	A:Summary courts	B:Solemn courts	Total
2010-11	461	-	461
2011-12	10,108	272	10,380
2012-13	14,001	939	14,940
2013-14	15,396	979	16,375
2014-15	15,546	1,219	16,765
2015-16	15,533	1,233	16,766
2016-17	14,889	1,085	15,974
2017-18	13,287	785	14,072
2018-19	11,117	695	11,812
2019-20	11,975	806	12,781
2020-21	6,320	461	6,781

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database

Question reference: S6W-14667

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 6 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to implement a person-centred and co-designed community-based awareness, prevention and detection programme for high blood pressure and high cholesterol.