- Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2022
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 3 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to a recent survey, which found that 65% of those asked preferred to see the national flag of Scotland on their food.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 3 February 2022
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 26 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to mitigate any risks to wildlife that may be caused by light pollution, as a result of the 2022 arts project, Green Spaces Dark Skies, which is part of the programme UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK.
Answer
Unboxed is a festival of creativity and innovation with Green Spaces, Dark Skies one of the six cross-UK programmes funded directly by the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sports and administered via Festival UK Ltd.
Details of all planned activity across these cross-UK programmes and the relevant contacts for further queries are available using the URL UNBOXED | Creativity in the UK (unboxed2022.uk) .
The organisers of the Green Spaces, Dark Skies programme across the UK (Walk the Plank) are responsible for delivery of their programme in all Four Nations and the Scottish Government understand that they have already been in contact with NatureScot (Scotland's nature agency), the relevant National Park Agencies, Historic Environment Scotland, the RSPB and relevant local partners in each community to ensure the work will be responsive to the sensitivities at the selected sites, including no adverse impact on wildlife and bio-diversity.
- Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 20 December 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 26 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, in the light of funding constraints, whether flood prevention schemes will be subjected to more rigorous tests of viability than were applied in their approval or priority designation.
Answer
Every six years, when preparing Flood Risk Management Plans, SEPA assess measures for reducing flood risk against a range of criteria and consider the priority to be given to each measure. The availability of Scottish Government funding is not one of the criteria used to prioritise measures.
It is for individual local authorities to take forward the design and construction of schemes proposed in the Plans ensuring that the schemes meet the necessary statutory requirements for approval set out in Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009. To support this work, the Scottish Government provides a minimum of £42million per annum through the General Capital Grant. An additional £150million has been committed over the next 5 years.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 26 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £10 million Long COVID Support Fund has been (a) spent, (b) allocated and (c) identified by the Strategic Network for targeting at areas where this additional resource is most needed, since 18 January 2021.
Answer
NHS National Services Division is establishing a Strategic Network bringing together clinical experts, NHS Boards and lived experience to support the ongoing development, resourcing and implementation of services for people with long COVID. When established, the Strategic Network will have a key role in identifying and ensuring that the £10m long COVID Support Fund is targeted at areas where support is most needed and can make the biggest impact.
We anticipate that the long COVID Support Fund will be allocated and spent over the next three financial years, providing Boards with additional resource to respond in a flexible and tailored manner to the needs of people with long COVID.
For this financial year, 2021-22, total health portfolio funding exceeds £16 billion, with a further £1.9 billion provided to address pressures related to COVID-19. This substantial investment is already benefiting a range of NHS services which are supporting the needs of people living with long COVID.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 26 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to ensure that those with “worker” rather than “employee” status are eligible for financial support as a result of any COVID-19-related closures in the culture sector.
Answer
The Scottish Government has provided £240m to the culture sector over the pandemic, including £65m to help alleviate the financial pressures that individuals and organisations face following cultural venue closures and event cancellations in light of the Omicron variant.
Cultural organisations employing workers are eligible for the £25m COVID-19 Cancellation Fund for Cultural Organisations, administered by Creative Scotland. We would expect any organisation who applies to the Creative Scotland Cultural Organisations Cancellation Fund would use any money they receive to pay all their workers.
- Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 26 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to review sentences given to people found guilty of hare coursing under the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002.
Answer
The Animals and Wildlife, Penalties, Powers and Protections (Scotland) Act 2020 recently introduced higher penalties for a range of wildlife crime offences including offences related to hare coursing. The Act increased the maximum penalty for killing or injuring hares in their close season under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and the maximum penalty for hunting a hare with a dog under the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002, from six months imprisonment and/or a £5,000 fine to five years imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine. The new maximum penalties are available for offences committed after 30 November 2020.
With the sentencing regime having recently been updated and strengthened, we have no plans to review the sentences given to people found guilty of hare coursing under the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 26 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it holds statistics on birth delivery methods in each NHS maternity ward for the last two years.
Answer
Data on birth delivery methods are not collected or held centrally. Public Health Scotland collects and publishes data on method of delivery at NHS Board level in its annual Birth in Scottish Hospitals report. The most recent report, for the year ending 31 March 2021, is available online and provides data on method of delivery by NHS Board of residence for live singleton births. The report is available via the following link: Births in Scottish hospitals - Year ending 31 March 2021 - Births in Scottish hospitals - Publications - Public Health Scotland .
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 26 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to tackle idling of private vehicles, and whether it will introduce further measures to tackle idling.
Answer
The Road Traffic (Vehicle Emissions) (Fixed Penalty) (Scotland) Regulations 2003 provide local authorities with powers to issue fixed penalty notices to drivers of parked idling vehicles who refuse a reasonable request to switch off their engines. It is for individual local authorities to decide how to make use of their powers. The Scottish Government provides guidance and financial support to assist authorities in undertaking these duties.
The Government's new air quality strategy 'Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 - Towards a Better Place for Everyone', which was published in July 2021, sets out a wide range of measures intended to deliver further air quality improvements over the period to 2026.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 26 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review birth delivery methods, processes and practices, in light of reports that emergency caesarean section has become the main method of delivery in recent months.
Answer
Following the publication of The Best Start – caesarean section rates: review report on 2 September 2021, the Scottish Government has asked the Maternity and Children’s Quality Improvement Collaborative (MCQIC), part of the Scottish Patient Safety Programme, to lead on work to improve our understanding of the variation in caesarean section rates in Scotland.
The Scottish Government continues to work with senior leaders and clinicians across Scotland to prioritise improvements to care through the implementation of The Best Start programme. The programme is driving a transformation in maternity care in Scotland, with women receiving continuity of carer throughout their pregnancy, resulting in improved relationships and outcomes.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 26 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it (a) currently does and (b) will collect data on the diagnosis, management and treatment of heart valve disease, including statistics on referrals and echocardiograms.
Answer
For more detail on data relating to echocardiograms, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05550 on 21 January 2022. 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
Information on outpatient referrals can be found here ( Waiting times - Data & intelligence from PHS (isdscotland.org) . Waiting times information is not broken down by diagnosis code.
In April 2021, we commissioned Public Health Scotland to develop the Scottish Cardiac Audit Programme, this includes the collection of data on Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implant, and Adult Cardiac Surgery in Scotland, both of which are relevant to the management and treatment of heart valve disease.
Further development of this audit programme and decisions around any future data to be collected will be undertaken in collaboration with clinicians and people with lived experience of heart disease in Scotland.
