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-07869

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 28 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to reports that the number of children hospitalised for deliberate self-poisoning from paracetamol in NHS Grampian was almost three times higher in 2021 than in 2019.

We know that the pandemic has had a significant impact on the mental health and wellbeing of many children and young people. There is help available for anyone struggling with their mental health, including support for young people feeling suicidal – details are set out on the NHS24 website. Young people who are struggling are urged to speak to a trusted adult; to contact their GP; seek help via the NHS24 helpline on 111, or call Childline on 0800 11 11.

The Scottish Government set up the National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group (NSPLG) to oversee the delivery of the Suicide Prevention Action Plan ‘Every Life Matters’, published in 2018. The Plan continues to deliver a wide range of actions, including: improving suicide prevention skills of the workforce; ensuring effective, compassionate support to anyone in crisis, and supporting local suicide prevention planning. In addition, the NSPLG identified restricting access to means of suicide as a priority during the pandemic, and is currently drawing together international evidence to identify effective approaches to reducing access to means of suicide for people in crisis, including self-poisoning.

The NSPLG is setting up a Youth Advisory Group to bring together young people with lived experience of suicide, self-harm and poor mental health. This Group will ensure suicide prevention policies and approaches are designed to reach, and support, children and young people; this includes informing the new suicide prevention strategy which will publish in September. Finally, the NSPLG is planning a social media campaign over the coming months aimed at young people, with the objective of encouraging young people to talk more openly about suicide, and to seek help.

We recognise that for some people self-poisoning is a form of self-harm rather than a suicide attempt, and the Government is actively developing a stand-alone self-harm strategy to ensure the right policies and support are in place for people who self-harm. We are currently working closely with stakeholders and people with lived experience to inform the Strategy and supporting Action Plan. We are already investing approximately £1.5 million over three years to Penumbra to pilot self-harm support services for people currently self-harming, or people at risk of self-harming. The pilots will begin over the Summer, with the learning providing valuable insight to the development of the strategy.

We know that providing emotional support to school age children is vital, and we provide local authorities with £16m per annum so that every secondary school has access to counselling support. Additionally, a learning resource has been developed for school staff to help them recognise the signs of poor mental health among young people, including signs of self-harm, and giving them skills to respond.

Finally, having provided £11.25 million to local authorities to respond to the mental health impact of the pandemic on children and young people in Financial Year 20/21, since January 2021, we have provided significant additional funding enable them to deliver further mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people in their communities. This new investment totalled £15 million in Financial Year 21/22 and we are committed to doubling the funding for community mental health supports over the lifetime of this Parliament. In 2021-22 this funding included £2.87 million to local authorities within NHS Grampian, which has enabled a range of services including ‘Fit Like’ Family Wellbeing Hubs in Aberdeen, digital mental health support in Aberdeenshire and whole family support in Moray.

Question reference: S6W-07829

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 28 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the statement on the Circularity Scotland website that the retailer handling fee will be determined “annually by independent consultants”, whether (a) this statement is correct and (b) the consultants referred to are PwC, and, if so, what its response is to reports that PwC are not in fact determining the fee, but rather providing advice on the basis of which the fee will be determined by Circularity Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-01048

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the transition to secondary school and flexi-schooling models for pupils with additional support needs.

Question reference: S6O-01046

Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent report by the charity, Magic Breakfast, showing that four in 10 Scottish schools have no breakfast provision at all and that breakfast provision in Scotland reaches the fewest disadvantaged pupils per school of any UK nation.

Question reference: S6O-01049

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to accelerate energy efficiency and other measures in the coming months ahead of a further potential increase in the price cap in October.

Question reference: S6O-01047

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the report, A Just Transition? The Voices of Oil and Gas Workers.

Question reference: S6O-01051

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the A96 dualling project.

Question reference: S6O-01050

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met representatives from the hospitality sector.

Question reference: S6O-01031

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the delivery of affordable housing.

Question reference: S6O-01044

Asked by: David Torrance, MSP for Kirkcaldy, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding the support, including funding for local authorities, for displaced people settling in Scotland under the Ukraine Family Scheme.