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-00574

Asked by: Gillian Martin, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what plans are being put in place for the 2022 school examinations.

Question reference: S6O-00571

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what further financial support it considers may be necessary to assist the hospitality sector as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.

Question reference: S6O-00565

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce waiting times for people calling Police Scotland’s non-emergency 101 phone line.

Question reference: S6O-00569

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Scottish Fiscal Commission report, which anticipates a funding shortfall of £190 million in 2022-23 driven by slower growth in employment in Scotland compared to the UK.

Question reference: S6O-00578

Asked by: Jim Fairlie, MSP for Perthshire South and Kinross-shire, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made in recruiting STEM teachers, especially in rural areas.

Question reference: S6O-00572

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on its commitment to increase the number of employee-owned businesses in Scotland to 500 by 2030.

Question reference: S6W-04805

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish data on the number of applications that were submitted to the Winter Support Fund, the success rate and other monitoring data, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S6W-04786

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what plans are in place to manage the reported rising number of people experiencing homelessness being placed in temporary accommodation within the Glasgow area.

Temporary accommodation offers an important safety net for anyone who finds themselves homeless. However, it should only ever be temporary. Our commitment to invest £50 million over this parliamentary term to end homelessness builds on the £37.5 million we have already provided to local authorities to implement plans for rapid rehousing and Housing First and prioritise settled accommodation for all.

Both the pandemic and Brexit have created challenges for social landlords in repair, maintenance and allocation of stock which is leading to longer waits for new permanent homes. My officials are in regular contact with Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership who are working hard to address these challenges and move people as quickly as possible into appropriate settled accommodation.

We have established a working group to develop a legally enforceable temporary accommodation standards framework. The group will bring forward concrete proposals in 2022 which will help ensure that temporary accommodation is of a good standard and well regulated, and that time spent in it is limited.

Question reference: S6W-04797

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 03 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that children and young people are not without warm and weatherproof clothing this winter due to poverty.

Tackling child poverty is a national mission for this government and we are delivering a range of direct support to families.

The Scottish Child Payment is currently supporting around 106,000 children under 6 with £10 a week payments. Together with Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods this provides families with £5,300 of financial support by the time their first child turns 6.

For children of school age, we are paying £520 this year through Bridging Payments, supporting around 150,000 children and young people from low income families ahead of the roll out of the Scottish Child Payment to under-16s by the end of 2022 – with £160 to be paid this month. We have also increased the School Clothing Grant to a new national minimum of £120 for primary school and £150 for secondary school children – helping to meet the cost of the school day for families.

Additionally we delivered a £130 Low Income Pandemic Payment for around 500,000 low income households by the end of October, helping to meet increased costs of living for families.

We have also announced plans to invest a further £41 million in a Winter Support Fund for low income households to help people struggling financially during the winter. This includes £10 million to help people who are struggling to pay fuel bills, £25 million of flexible funding for local authorities to help support wellbeing and respond to financial insecurity based on local needs, and £6 million for third sector partners to support low income families.

Question reference: S6W-04801

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 15 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when the Parole Board for Scotland will publish its annual report and accounts for 2020-21.