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-14184

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 20 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 31 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that 1,300 charities are facing closure within the next 12 months due to the cost of living crisis, and whether it will provide details of any support it plans to offer such charities.

The Scottish Government values the important role of Scotland’s third sector in working across communities to tackle tough social issues at source.

We recognise the impact of rising operating costs across society, including on charities and voluntary organisations in the third sector. We continue to invest widely in the third sector and have committed to increasing multiyear funding wherever possible.

Under Fairer Funding principles, multiyear arrangements for third sector organisations are preferred where appropriate, and we are committed to multiyear grants being the default position. This will allow us to work in partnership to design and deliver the kind of transformation our communities need to be fit for the future, whilst ensuring public services are sustainable.

We know from the longitudinal survey we support through the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations that 92% of those surveyed are confident that they will still be operating in 12 months’ time.

Question reference: S6W-14193

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what recent improvements to road safety have been undertaken at the Hillend junction on the A702/A703.

Improvements to the A702/A703 junction were made in early 2012 to simplify the layout to reduce the number of southbound lanes on the A702 on the approach to the junction with Old Pentland Road. In addition, footway build-outs were formed to improve sightlines for drivers joining the A702 from the side roads. These measures were carried alongside high friction surfacing and road marking enhancements being introduced at the junction.

Design work to install traffic signals at the junction is ongoing, with a preferred option being agreed by both Transport Scotland and Midlothian Council in 2022. A detailed design is programmed to begin in the coming financial year, which will take into account the numerous site constraints at this location .

Question reference: S6W-13972

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 31 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government on how many occasions (a) ministers and (b) its staff have flown (i) out of and (ii) in to Prestwick Airport since 2013, broken down by year.

Question reference: S6W-13981

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its commitment to provide such access, whether all patients are now able to view and update information contained in their records, and access information such as test results, letters and treatment/care plans.

It is the intention of the Scottish Government to deliver this capability through the Digital Front Door, further details of which can be found in the answer to question S6W-13979 on 30 January 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-13964

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent in each year since 2007 on the provision of access to free Wi-Fi for patients and residents currently being cared for by health and social care services (a) at their bedside and (b) in public areas within their healthcare setting.

Question reference: S6W-13957

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what plans there are to evaluate the virtual health treatment tool, Near Me, and whether any such evaluation will involve service users.

Near me video consulting service has been evaluated from 2 separate occasions but the university of oxford. See links –

https://www.gov.scot/publications/evaluation-attend-anywhere-near-video-consulting-service-scotland-2019-20-main-report/

https://www.gov.scot/publications/evaluation-near-video-consulting-service-scotland-during-covid-19-2020-main-report/

In addition to this, a public consultation was undertaken that reached an excess of 5000 people and professionals. This resulted in this summary capturing views on the service –

https://www.gov.scot/publications/near-video-consulting-programme-national-equality-impact-assessment/

We have also developed an Equalities and Impact Assessment for the Near Me service which you can find here –

https://www.gov.scot/publications/public-clinician-views-video-consultation-executive-summary/documents/

There are currently no further plans for further evaluation at this point.

Question reference: S6W-14348

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 31 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many homes have been built through the Islands Housing Fund in each year since 2016-17.

The number of homes built through the Rural and Islands Housing Fund in each year since 2016-17, broken down by rural (mainland) and islands is provided in the following table. There are also a further 141 units through the fund that have been approved or are on-site. The Rural and Island Housing Fund plays an important role in offering support to community organisations and others to deliver affordable homes, while complementing the delivery through our mainstream programme by Councils and Registered Social Landlords. More than 6,000 homes have been delivered over the course of the previous Parliament in rural and island areas.

	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
Rural	2	21	1	37	16	45	24
Islands	-	4	-	3	4	8	8
Total	2	25	1	40	20	53	32
Note: 2022-23 is based on provisional programme management information to end December 2022 and could be subject to change.

Question reference: S6W-14349

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 31 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many homes have been built through the Rural Housing Fund in each year since 2016-17.

Question reference: S6W-14071

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-12397 by Jenny Gilruth on 6 December 2022, whether it will provide an update on how many journeys have been completed by young people using a free bus pass through the Young Persons' (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel scheme, based on the latest information available.

Question reference: S6W-14089

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment in its Digital Health and Care Strategy, what it is doing to develop digital services as part of social care reform.

Through the Digital Social Care programme of work, the Scottish Government is doing a range of things to support social care reform, delivery of which is ongoing. This includes work to support building strong digital foundations, skills and leadership, and enhancing digital services. Further details can be found in ' Care in the Digital Age: Delivery Plan 2022-23 ' and details about the programme can be found here: Digital Social Care | TEC Scotland . An update to the Delivery Plan will be published later this year with delivery priorities for 2023-24, and will include an overview of progress against existing commitments.

Calendar year	Ministers	Officials
2013	0	2
2014	1	1
2015	0	1
2016	0	0
2017	0	0
2018	0	0
2019	0	0
2020	0	0
2021	0	0
2022	0	0