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-10376

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 1 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of any funding it has provided to charities for autism post-diagnostic support across Scotland.

A new National Post Diagnostic Support Service pilot was launched on 1 December 2020. This has now been extended until end of March 2023.

Post Diagnostic support is provided by seven organisations, where, following a diagnosis of autism, individuals, parents and carers living across Scotland are routed to appropriate support to understand and embrace their identity as an autistic person.

The Scottish Government has provided funding for Post Diagnostic Support which totals £500,000 in financial year 2020-21 and £544,000 in financial year 2021-22.

Question reference: S6W-10371

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 1 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-08457 by Mairi McAllan on 19 May 2022, what progress has been made on its consultation, Land Reform in a Net Zero Nation, which opened on 4 July 2022; which stakeholders have been involved to date, and whether any further public engagement events are planned before the consultation closes on 25 September 2022.

Following the opening of the consultation on 4 July 2022 a programme of six public meetings has taken place. Five in-person “Town hall events” have been held, as follows:

Langholm (20 July)

Invermoriston (25 July)

Helmsdale (26 July)

Stornoway (27 July)

Ballater (28 July)

An online event was held on Thursday 22 July, which was open to all and which attracted participants from across Scotland.

At each of these events the Minister and officials made presentations setting out what the SG aims to achieve with the next Land Reform Bill, and explaining the measures being put forward in the consultation. Local community groups also made presentations at the in-person meetings. This was followed by questions and discussion.

All six events were well attended.

Those attending included individuals, businesses, owners of farms and estates and their land managers and legal representatives, charity and third sector organisations, local authorities, and academic and research organisations/institutions.

The following stakeholder organisations registered to attend the consultation meetings:

Architecture and Design Scotland

Bòrd na Gidhlig

Central Association of Agricultural Valuers

Communities for Diverse Forestry

Community Land Scotland

Community Woodlands Association

Fauna & Flora International

Food, Farming and Countryside Commission

Foundation Scotland

National Sheep Association Scotland

National Farmers Union of Scotland

Paths for All

Scottish Land and Estates

Scottish Renewables

Scottish Rural Action

Highlands Regional Land Use Partnership

Trees for Life

We anticipate written consultation responses from a range of stakeholder organisations and members of the public. Engagement with stakeholders will continue after the consultation closes, in the light of the responses received.

Question reference: S6W-10374

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 1 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when its Autism and Learning Disabilities team last met with each of the Health and Social Care Partnership leads.

The Learning Disability and Autism team meets Health and Social Care Partnership leads on a regular basis and since October last year, has met individually with 21 of the 31 HSCPs to discuss their local work on learning disabilities and autism.

In addition the team attends the regular meetings of the relevant Social Work Scotland sub group at which all HSCPs are represented.

Dates and Partnerships met with are:

11 October 2021	Inverclyde
18 October	Perth and Kinross
25 October	West Lothian
1 November	Edinburgh
8 November	South Lanarkshire
22 November	Aberdeenshire
29 November	Shetland
10 January 2022	Mid Lothian
17 January	Dumfries & Galloway
31 January	East Lothian
14 February	Falkirk
14 March	Aberdeen city
28 March	Dundee city
13 April	Scottish Borders
25 April	Renfrewshire
9 May	Moray
20 June	Fife
4 July	Argyll and Bute
11 July	Highland
23 August	Orkney
29 August	North Ayrshire

Question reference: S6W-10375

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 1 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the first results and reports will be available from the adult neurodevelopmental pathway pilot involving four Health and Social Care Partnership areas.

Question reference: S6W-10267

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 1 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many cases of Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease have been reported in Scotland in each year since 1996.

Question reference: S6W-10300

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 1 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many older people have required to be restrained as a result of them being “purposeful walkers”, broken down by each NHS hospital in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S6W-10338

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 1 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to ban plastic tree guards and promote the use of delayed biodegradable tree guards.

The Scottish Government is fully supportive of efforts to remove, reduce or recycle plastics used in the woodland and forest environment. Forestry and Land Scotland is moving away from plastic tree shelters and using more biodegradable ones. More work is needed, however, on biodegradable and compostable alternatives before a ban on plastic tree guards is possible. Scottish Forestry is supporting research to test alternatives with partners in the public and private sectors across UK and Ireland.

Question reference: S6W-10534

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 1 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to figures reported in the Times Education Supplement stating that only 50% of post-probationary primary teachers are expected to be in work in Scottish state schools by September 2022, down from 77% in 2021.

Local councils are responsible for the recruitment and deployment of their staff. This includes providing a complement of teachers which best meets the needs of each of their schools and its pupils within the resources available.

The Teacher Induction Scheme provides a one year probationary placement to allow teachers to meet the Standard for Full Registration. This does not provide a guarantee of future employment with a particular local authority. Teaching posts should be advertised and filled in a fair and transparent manner by the local authority employer.

During the pandemic, the Scottish Government provided an additional £240m to local authorities to support the recruitment of additional teachers and support staff.

We have since committed further permanent funding of £145.5m a year to support education staffing. This provides assurance of funding for councils, and removes any uncertainty as a barrier to employing staff on permanent contracts.

Question reference: S6W-10201

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 08 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many excess deaths there were during July 2022, and in the event that there were excess deaths, what plans it has to assess the extent to which they may be related to the heatwave that month.

Weekly data from National Records of Scotland show that there were 498 excess deaths from all causes between 4 July and 31 July 2022 inclusive. This data does not, however, attribute individual deaths to events such as heatwaves.

The Scottish Government is committed to continuing to build resilience to the impacts of global climate change, as part of a just transition to net-zero by 2045. This includes managing the risks to human health, wellbeing and productivity during heatwaves, the increasing urgency of which has been identified in the 2022 update to the statutory UK Climate Change Risk Assessment. Alongside delivering our current package of adaptation policies (as set out in “ Climate Ready Scotland: Climate Change Adaptation Programme 2019-2024 ”), we are now developing a new programme, in response to the updated Risk Assessment and including enhanced monitoring arrangements, for publication in 2024.

Question reference: S6O-01330

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many houses it estimates need to be built to tackle the current housing waiting lists in Scotland.