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 48973 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6O-00531

Asked by: Emma Roddick, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to ensure that healthcare services in rural areas are working for the people that they serve.

Question reference: S6O-00542

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to creative industries in rural areas, including in relation to young people wishing to pursue a career in this sector.

Question reference: S6O-00544

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to support the promotion of cultural assets connected to Robert Burns in Dumfries and Galloway.

Question reference: S6W-04329

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 8 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to increase the proportion of the flood component of the General Capital Grant that is allocated to the City of Edinburgh Council for the purpose of undertaking flood risk management actions, and whether it will confirm if the flood component of the General Capital Grant takes account of any additional costs that must be met by local authorities in connection with surface water interventions.

We currently provide £42 million annually to local authorities through the flood component of the general capital grant. We are committed to providing an extra £150 million to the flood component over the next five years. This is a 70% increase to the flooding budget from £210 million to £360 million. We are working with SEPA and local authorities to decide the best way of allocating this additional funding.

A portion of the current flood component allocated to the City of Edinburgh Council can already be used for projects to reduce surface water flooding. SEPA prioritise flood risk management actions across Scotland every 6 years. 80% of the current funding is set aside for 40 large scale flood protection schemes, and 20% is divided amongst the 32 local authorities for other actions to reduce flood risk, including from surface water. A number of local authorities are undertaking studies to identify why surface water flooding is a problem in a given location and how it might be resolved.

SEPA are currently prioritising new flood risk management works based on information submitted by local authorities for the period 2022-2027. A number of surface water schemes or works have been put forward as part of this process.

Ministerial decisions will be informed by the recommendations of the joint Scottish Government/COSLA working group that is currently considering these issues.

Question reference: S6W-04530

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 8 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many hectares of peatland have been restored in each year since 2003, and how this compares to the (a) relevant annual target and (b) overall target.

The Scottish Government first established firm annual peatland restoration targets in 2018 in its report Climate Change Plan: third report on proposals and policies 2018-2032 (RPP3) .

Based on a 1990 baseline, this set a commitment to restore 50,000 hectares of degraded peatland by 2020 (including 10,000 hectares in 2017-18 and 20,000 hectares per year thereafter) as the first phase of a longer target to restore 250,000 hectares by 2030.

This implies a total restoration target of 70,000 hectares between 1990 and April 2021. Against this target, around 60,000 hectares of degraded peatland have been put on the road to recovery since 1990 as shown in the following table. Annual restoration totals are only available from 2012-13 when the Scottish Government began funding Peatland ACTION, the national peatland restoration programme delivered by NatureScot.

	1990-2013	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21
Restored (ha)	30,195 1	270 2	420 2	5570 2	2810 2	450 2	3,660 2	5,810 2	6,000 2	5,658 2
Target (ha)	-	-	-	-	-	-	10,000	20,000	20,000	20,000

Data sources

1 Evans et al (2017) Implementation of an Emissions Inventory for UK Peatlands , NEC05401, Issue number 1, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Bangor, Wales.

2 Peatland ACTION.

The Scottish Government has recently received the final report of work it commissioned from NatureScot in August 2021 on how to significantly increase annual peatland restoration rates. The Scottish Government will now review this work’s findings and recommendations and consider its next steps.

Question reference: S6W-04731

Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 29 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 8 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has about the efficacy of lateral flow tests in detecting the new Omicron variant of COVID-19.

Lateral Flow Devices (LFDs) used in the National Testing Programme are routinely evaluated and reviewed to detect early signals of changes in performance with emerging variants to ensure they can detect new variants of concern as soon as possible after they are identified.

LFDs that have passed validation at UKHSA Porton Down are currently being assessed against the Omicron variant, with priority being given to the LFDs currently deployed in the UK National Testing Programme.

LFDs used in the National Testing Programme have been evaluated against, and successfully detect the Delta variant, which is currently the dominant variant in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-04599

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 8 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-02085 by Maree Todd on 23 August 2021, how regularly women who have had breast cancer are screened following recovery, and how many women over 70 who have had breast cancer self-referred into the breast screening programme in each year since 2011.

Following treatment for breast cancer, women are followed up by the symptomatic breast service annually, commonly for at least 5 years. After that, women who are aged between 50 and 70 years are invited to attend the Scottish Breast Screening Programme (SBSP) every 3 years. Women who are aged 71 years or over following discharge from symptomatic breast cancer treatment and follow up appointments can ordinarily self-refer to the SBSP once every 3 years; however, self-referrals for women in this age-group are currently suspended due to capacity challenges in the programme associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number of women who had breast cancer and self-referred into the SBSP following treatment is not routinely collected or reported, and therefore the Scottish government cannot provide this information.

Question reference: S6W-04712

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Monday, 29 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 8 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what care support (a) it provides and (b) local authorities are expected to provide, that is specifically aimed at helping people with Down syndrome, and what new measures it will introduce to enhance the support that is presently available.

(a) In terms of Scottish Government support, we have set out our commitment to people with a learning disability, including those with Down’s Syndrome, and their families through the Keys to Life Learning Disability strategy and the Towards Transformation Learning Disability and Autism Plan . Both plans focus on outcomes intended to ensure people with a learning disability live healthier lives, enjoy choice and control over the services they use, and are supported to be independent and active citizens.

To this end, we have committed to introducing a Learning Disability, Autism and Neurodiversity Bill as part of the Programme for Government. This Bill will ensure that the rights of people with Down’s Syndrome, among others, are respected and protected. Additionally, we will create a Learning Disabilities, Autism and Neurodiversity Commissioner to champion the new law.

The Scottish Government works closely with a range of third sector partners and funds Down’s Syndrome Scotland as delivery partners in achieving the Keys to Life Learning Disability strategy and the Towards Transformation Learning Disability and Autism Plan as well as to allow them to provide direct support to people with Down’s Syndrome and their families.

Additional funding was also awarded to develop changes in Down’s Syndrome Scotland’s programme of work during COVID-19 and supporting families through the pandemic and the recovery phase, including their vital helpline.

(b) Whilst the Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care policy in Scotland, it is for the regional health & social care partnerships to determine the level of services that are required to meet local needs and to arrange an appropriate and suitable range of services to meet these local needs, as mandated under statute in the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act. The Scottish Government expects that the needs of people with Down’s Syndrome are identified, acknowledged and met, ensuring positive outcomes are achieved.

Question reference: S6W-04725

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 29 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 8 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the availability of emotional support for women with hirsutism.

Question reference: S6W-04619

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 8 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what recent estimate it has made of the number of small and medium-sized enterprises that have closed in the Central Scotland region, broken down by month since June 2020.

Business births, deaths and survival rates - based on VAT/PAYE registrations and de-registrations - are produced by the Office for National Statistics within their Business Demography publications. Data are not published for parliamentary regions, however data are available by local authority area. Data are not available on a monthly basis, only on a calendar year basis. Tables 2.1(a), (b) and (c) at the link below provide the business deaths by local authority areas, in Scotland, for 2015 to 2020.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/datasets/businessdemographyreferencetable

Parliament dissolved ahead of election

Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Filter your results Hide all filters

Answer

Answer

Answer

Answer

Answer

Answer

Answer

Answer

Answer

Answer