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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 40595 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-33085

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 21 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how National Records of Scotland ensures the accessibility of its services for people in (a) rural areas and (b) any underserved communities.

I have asked Alison Byrne OBE, Chief Executive of National Records of Scotland (NRS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

Access to NRS Services is set out in our Public Access Policy - National Records of Scotland (NRS) .

For the range of services delivered by NRS, assessments including the EQIA, Island Communities Impact Assessment and Digital Scotland Service Standard Assessment are undertaken at the point of service change and improvement to help improve accessibility for citizens across all communities.

Question reference: S6W-33080

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 21 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to modernise the services provided by National Records of Scotland.

I have asked Alison Byrne OBE, Chief Executive of National Records of Scotland (NRS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

NRS’ function is to collect, preserve and produce information about Scotland's people and history and make it available to inform current and future generations. Our services including holding Scotland’s National Archives, one of 5 National Collections in Scotland, the registration of vital events (births, deaths, marriages etc) and the production of population and demographic statistics, including taking the decennial Census of Scotland’s people.

NRS is committed to improving its services and putting the needs of our customers at the heart of everything we do. Recent improvements include:

In 2024, NRS launched our refreshed and modernised Scotland’s People website and recently refreshed the corporate website. This improves online access to public records, archives and statistics, together with a modernised Digital Archive Search Room to provide a dedicated space for researchers to access digitised archival records.

An increasing number of birth and death registrations are now carried out remotely following implementation of the Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Act 2022.

NRS has launched a new and innovative interactive online mapping tool and Flexible Table Builder tool allowing users to access detailed Census 2022 data and combine information from different topics like religion, health or education down to neighbourhood level. This allows all users to utilise the information for their defined analysis alongside our continued delivery of all of our high quality demographic statistics in line with UK standards and through enhancement of our statistical services.

As records are increasingly created and held in digital form, NRS is scaling up its capability in order to ensure that it can continue to preserve and make available future additions to the national archive in ‘born-digital’ form.

NRS has for some years, provided a web continuity and web archiving service. This takes regular snapshots of key public authority websites, supporting business continuity for public bodies as well as providing valuable historical information for public transparency and research purposes.

Question reference: S6W-33058

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 21 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the availability of spectrum for community and rural broadcasting in Scotland, and what representations it has made to the UK Government on this issue.

Allocating spectrum and assessing appropriate levels of local content is the responsibility of Ofcom. While spectrum regulation is not a devolved matter, the Scottish Government maintains a close interest in stakeholder and audience views in relation to reception and spectrum allocation because of the wider implications for the economic, creative and cultural sectors in Scotland.

We continue to set out to Ofcom and the UK Government that maintaining and developing a radio network in Scotland that meets the specific needs for both urban and rural areas across the country, is key to ensuring audiences in Scotland are kept informed and entertained, and we will continue to do so. Our view remains that it is essential that local voices and coverage of local issues are protected and enhanced, and that the regulatory framework should allow for clear and effective regulation of the requirements.

Fundamentally, we believe that broadcasting should be devolved so that the decisions that impact audiences and the creative industries in Scotland can be determined by the Scottish public through the Scottish Parliament.

Question reference: S6W-33081

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 21 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how National Records of Scotland is funded, and what proportion of its funding currently comes from public sources.

Question reference: S6W-33046

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 21 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it provides to local authorities to encourage support for community radio stations.

The Scottish Government does not provide guidance to local authorities specifically about support for community radio stations. We are however clear that community radio is a valuable resource across many communities in Scotland and we will persist in championing the continuation and strengthening of these vital services for Scottish listeners through our engagement with relevant stakeholders, including the UK Government and the regulator Ofcom.

Question reference: S6W-33056

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 21 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of its advertising budget is currently being spent on promoting public health campaigns, broken down by medium.

Question reference: S6W-33052

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 21 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of its advertising budget has been allocated to community radio in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6T-02290

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will update the Parliament on the supply and availability of the flu vaccine.

Question reference: S6F-03735

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 January 2025

To ask the First Minister, in light of the inauguration of Donald Trump as US President, and the reported prospect of import tariffs, what sectors of Scottish business it anticipates may be most affected.

Question reference: S6F-03736

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 January 2025

To ask the First Minister what steps the Scottish Government is taking to address concerns regarding waiting times in A&E departments, following reports of a mother having to wait 50 hours for medical care at University Hospital Wishaw.