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: S6O-00229

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 September 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress with the dualling of the A96.

Question reference: S6W-03270

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 September 2021
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Government when it will provide an update on the COVID-19 vaccination certification scheme.

Question reference: S6W-02346

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 22 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government which cabinet secretary or minister has responsibility for climate justice.

Question reference: S6W-02917

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 22 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason regular cervical screening tests have been changed from every three to every five years.

Question reference: S6W-02816

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 22 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-00480 by Jamie Hepburn on 14 June 2021, when it last met the Scottish Funding Council to discuss the (a) International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA) working definition and (b) low uptake of universities adopting this.

The Scottish Government and Scottish Funding Council meet regularly to discuss a range of matters, including equalities issues.

Universities, as autonomous institutions, are aware of the IHRA definition of antisemitism. Many are actively and presently consulting within their diverse communities and stakeholder interests on the definition, with three (University of Glasgow, University of Edinburgh and Abertay University) having adopted it to date. Universities UK is working with the Union of Jewish Students to raise awareness and understanding of antisemitism and to share best practice in tackling and eliminating it.

The Scottish Government continues to work with universities and the Scottish Funding Council to tackle racism and antisemitism.

Question reference: S6W-02920

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 22 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve fracture liaison services.

Scotland is the second country in the world, after New Zealand, with 100 per cent Fracture Liaison Service provision across all 14 Health Boards.

Our NHS Recovery Plan, published on 25 August, outlines that the Centre for Sustainable Delivery will work collaboratively with Health Boards, health and social care partners, third sector, academia and industry to identify and implement improvements to care pathways across Scotland. This will include extending new approaches to delivering care that minimise the requirement for patients to travel, and provide services more efficiently – for example virtual appointments and virtual fracture clinics.

Question reference: S6W-02747

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 22 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what targets it has set for the uptake of naloxone kits, made available to the public.

We believe that Naloxone should be available to anyone who might witness an overdose. Our overall aim is to widen the access to it as much as possible.

Since the inception of the NNP the Scottish Government has commissioned Public Health Scotland (PHS) to report on take-home naloxone (THN) kit distribution using monitoring data supplied by NHS Boards, this report is produced quarterly. The last report (covering 1 January to 31 March 2021) stated that coverage was now estimated to be 57.47% (an increase of around 1.5% compared to the previous quarter – 56.04%).

International evidence suggests that focus should not only be on the distribution but also on encouraging carriage and accessibility of Naloxone.

To improve awareness of naloxone, and to ensure people would recognise the signs of a drug overdose, we launched a nationwide marketing campaign on International Overdose Awareness Day (31 August), in partnership with Scottish Drugs Forum.

Question reference: S6W-02750

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 22 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-01134 by Graeme Dey on 15 July 2021, whether it will provide an update on its position regarding the Island Communities Impact Assessment on Highlands and Islands Airports Limited’s (HIAL) Air Traffic Management 2030 Strategy, and whether ministers now plan to discuss the outcomes of the impact assessment with HIAL.

Modernisation and investment in Air Traffic Control is essential if we are to ensure safe, reliable and sustainable air services for the future in the Highlands and Islands. Ongoing implementation of the Air Traffic Management 2030 Strategy, including potential mitigation measures arising from consideration of the Islands Communities Impact Assessment, remains an operational matter for Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd.

Question reference: S6W-02774

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what progress the National Partnership for Culture has made in establishing a measuring change group "to inform progress towards realising the national outcome for culture and the delivery of the culture strategy", as set out in the 2020 Culture Strategy for Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-02742

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 22 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to recent reports that a significant proportion of publicly-available electric vehicle charging points are not working.

CPS has transitioned to a new charge point network operator (CPNO), with all charge points and members being migrated from BP Pulse to SWARCO on the 27 th July. This was the outcome of a rigorous tender exercise to find a new operator to manage CPS on behalf of the Scottish Government.

Migrating over 2000 charge points and 32,000 driver accounts is a significant undertaking which required months of planning and preparation by a range of technical and operational specialists.

The process of bringing the entire ChargePlace Scotland estate online for the first time under one operator has been a huge undertaking. And while some interruptions had been expected, the level of disruption many drivers have faced was regrettably on a scale we did not foresee. Transport Scotland officials understand how critical it is for EV drivers to have access to a comprehensive and reliable network and we fully appreciate the service levels members expect from CPS.

I am pleased to update you that the network has now been stabilised and significant progress has been made in resolving some of the key issues which initially affected drivers, including RFID card access, customer account set-up and, above all, charge point availability. The network now has over 1800 publically available charge points connected and in working order. We are now in a second phase of the CPS migration programme, with the team endeavouring to resolve outstanding charge point repairs as a matter of urgency.