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-04246

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the report, Economic Impacts of Short-term Lets in Scotland, specifically in relation to the Scottish Borders.

Question reference: S6O-04227

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it remains committed to dedicating 10% of frontline NHS spend to mental health and 1% to CAMHS.

Question reference: S6O-04225

Asked by: Edward Mountain, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the three main aims of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill are.

Question reference: S6O-04230

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with NHS Dumfries and Galloway regarding the provision of dentistry.

Question reference: S6W-32307

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Dorothy Bain on 15 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of cases handled by the Aberdeen office of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) in the last year involved alleged offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

Question reference: S6W-32316

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Dorothy Bain on 15 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how often the Aberdeen office of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) has consulted with victims and families before proceeding with cases involving fatalities in each of the last three years.

COPFS communicates with bereaved relatives in every case before proceeding with cases involving fatalities and continues to do so during those court proceedings. The Family Liaison Charter sets out the Crown’s obligations in relation to liaising with and providing information to bereaved relatives. These obligations apply equally to deaths arising in any area of Scotland.

The various specialist death investigation teams within COPFS consider deaths from all over the country, therefore communication with families in respect of fatalities occurring in Aberdeen, may be undertaken by staff situated in offices other than Aberdeen.

Question reference: S6W-32301

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Dorothy Bain on 15 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of cases handled by the Aberdeen office of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) resulted in a conviction in each of the last five years.

In the last 5 years, almost 100,000 charges have been reported to the Aberdeen Office of COPFS.

COPFS uses a live, operational database to manage the processing of reports submitted to Procurators Fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies throughout Scotland. It is designed to meet business needs in the processing of criminal cases, rather than for statistical analysis. Any data sought in the requested period would encompass convictions for cases reported out with that period. As such, any figures would not accurately reflect numbers of convictions in respect of the cases reported in that period.

Question reference: S6W-32765

Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 15 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what protections it will provide to non-medical aesthetic practitioners, in light of its proposed regulations for the sector.

The Scottish Government launched a consultation on 20th December 2024, to seek views on how best to further regulate non-surgical cosmetics procedures.

The consultation has been informed by extensive work with a range of stakeholders, including beauty industry representatives, among others, but it is important we receive further feedback before the Scottish Government commits to any proposals.

In taking forward work on any potential new regulations, we will continue to seek views from, and consider the impact on, existing businesses.

Our proposals aim to be both robust and proportionate, protecting the public and supporting reputable business to operate safely.

Question reference: S6W-32511

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Dorothy Bain on 15 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how often the Lord Advocate’s instructions have been used to protect victims of human trafficking and exploitation since the commencement of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015.

The Lord Advocate’s instructions for non-prosecution of victims of human trafficking | COPFS were first published in May 2016 and the manual collation of data commenced at that stage.

As of 6 January 2025, proceedings involving 188 individuals, who were reported to the National Lead Prosecutor for Human Trafficking in accordance with the instructions, were not raised or were discontinued on the basis that the two-part test in the Lord Advocate’s instructions was satisfied.

The information is provided under the caveats that:

?A decision to discontinue proceedings can be taken at any time during a proceeding. Therefore, although the National Lead Prosecutor has not discontinued proceedings against an accused person, that may not be the final decision. Should further information become available, such as a positive Conclusive Grounds Decision, the National Lead Prosecutor may decide to discontinue proceedings on receipt of that information.

The data is manually collated and so whilst the data is as accurate as it can be, full accuracy cannot be guaranteed.
The data changes constantly depending on when new information is received.

Question reference: S6W-32704

Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 15 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reported statistics from Cancer Research UK showing that only one in two people in Scotland know that alcohol causes cancer, whether it plans to raise public awareness of the link between alcohol consumption and cancer.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of highlighting the link between alcohol and non-communicable disease. Evidence is clear that alcohol consumption increases the risk of developing non-communicable diseases, including some cancers.

A refreshed cross-government and cross-sectoral approach to population health - focused on prevention - is being progressed. Increasing healthy life expectancy and reducing health inequalities across Scotland remains a clear ambition for this Government. It is clear the reform of health and care services alone will not be enough to stem the current tide of population health decline in Scotland.

The Population Health Framework is being developed jointly by the Scottish Government & COSLA and in collaboration with Public Health Scotland, Directors of Public Health and key local, regional and national partners. The Scottish Government will set out key actions to reduce alcohol harm following the Population Health Framework, including the role of public health messaging and awareness.

Criminal cases reported to COPFS Aberdeen Procurator Fiscal office during the financial year 2023-24

	2023-24
Percentage of cases reported which contained one or more charge under - Misuse of Drugs Act 1971	7%