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: S6W-32887

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2025
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when the PADmap web portal will go live, to enable people to view local suggestions for the placement of public access defibrillators, in light of the previous announcement that it would be completed by the end of Q2 in 2024.

Question reference: S6W-32906

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-32468 by Alasdair Allan on 20 December 2024, whether it will detail what concerns and changes to the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme it has raised with the UK Government, and whether this includes introducing a compensatory scheme for individuals who have installed underfloor foam insulation under the ECO4 insulation scheme.

I wrote to the UK Minister for Energy Consumers on 17 October 2024. Scottish Ministers proposed changes to the ECO4 scheme to enable ECO financed work to benefit from stronger management and quality control as part of local and national fuel poverty schemes in Scotland. Scottish Ministers emphasised the need to re-build public trust in the reliability of `government backed’ schemes, citing the inappropriate use of spray foam insulation in lofts as an example.

The UK Minister for Energy Consumers replied on 19 December to say that the UK Government was reviewing the current consumer protections in place for retrofit work and how they could be strengthened. They advised that any changes in their approach to consumer protection will form part of the UK Government’s Warm Homes Plan.

We will continue to press the UK Government to allow a better managed approach to ECO4 delivery in Scotland and request further details about any proposed changes to consumer protections.

Question reference: S6W-32914

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the availability of (a) the drug, naloxegol, and (b) alternatives to this drug in the event of a shortage.

The supply of medicines is currently a reserved matter for the UK Government. We continue to engage with the UK Government’s Department of Health and Social Care on all medicines supply issues. The NHS in Scotland has robust processes in place to manage supply issues when they do arise and normally there are alternative products which can be prescribed and dispensed.

The Scottish Government is aware that, since April 2024, there has been ongoing supply issues with the availability of naloxegol (Moventig®) tablets. Initially both strengths (12.5mg and 25mg) were impacted by this supply issue. The latest information provided by the Department of Health and Social Care indicates that supplies of naloxegol (Moventig®) 25mg strength are back in stock however supply issues remain for the 12.5mg strength and that this supply issue is expected to continue until May 2025. The Scottish Government issued advice to NHS Scotland in April 2024 on this supply issue and available alternatives.

Question reference: S6W-32870

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions is had with the Scottish Ambulance Service in response to the recently implemented level four resource escalation action plan following reports of some patients waiting up to 12 hours for a vehicle, and what plans the Scottish Ambulance Service has to reduce waiting times overall.

The Scottish Government meets with the Scottish Ambulance Service regularly to discuss demand, capacity, and pressures. Since escalating to REAP level four the Service has been submitting twice daily situational reports on pressures and we have been meeting with their operations Director on a frequent basis.

The First Minister has also Chaired several meetings to discuss NHS pressures more widely which were attended by SAS and other key partners.

The Scottish Ambulance Service has implemented a number of actions to mitigate the effects of pressures throughout the healthcare system over the past few weeks and continues to maintain its focus on improving response times to patients.

Question reference: S6W-32884

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether the review commissioned by Public Health Scotland into the potential regulation of alcohol advertising and marketing will involve (a) calls for evidence and (b) stakeholder evidence sessions.

The evidence review undertaken by Public Health Scotland (PHS) will focus solely on existing literature, studies and research in order to set out potential areas of action on alcohol marketing and advertising. The commission is not seeking to develop or deliver new studies or research.

PHS will have independence in developing its review structure, resources and methods upon identifying its requirements for delivering this strand of work, ensuring that quality, integrity and transparency are achieved.

Question reference: S6W-32915

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with (a) NHS National Services Scotland and (b) Community Pharmacy Scotland regarding the availability of the drug, naloxegol.

The Scottish Government is aware that, since April 2024, there has been ongoing supply issues with the availability of naloxegol (Moventig®) tablets. On 25 April 2024, the Scottish Government issued a Medicines Supply Alert Notice to NHS Scotland on the availability of naloxegol (Moventig®) tablets. Medicines Supply Alert Notices are circulated to Medical Directors and Directors of Pharmacy across all Health Boards including national Health Boards (such as NHS National Services Scotland) for onward dissemination to healthcare professionals. Community Pharmacy Scotland also receive a copy of the Medicines Supply Alert Notices for onward dissemination across their network.

Question reference: S6W-32885

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much the review commissioned by Public Health Scotland into the potential regulation of alcohol advertising and marketing will cost.

Question reference: S6W-32886

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the timetable is for the review commissioned by Public Health Scotland into the potential regulation of alcohol advertising and marketing.

Question reference: S6W-32838

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many Early Learning Payment Best Start Grants have been awarded in (a) Aberdeen and (b) Scotland since their introduction.

Social Security Scotland routinely releases information on Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods applications and payments.

Since the introduction of the Early Learning Payment in April 2019, 126,840 payments with a combined value of £34,465,468 were paid to eligible clients throughout Scotland by 30 September 2024.

Whilst the latest statistics do not contain the number of payments issued broken down by local authority area, the total value of payments issued to clients in Aberdeen City was £1,099,329 over the same period.

The next Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods publication, covering the period to the end of December 2024, will be published on 25 February 2025.

Question reference: S6W-32835

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether all cycle 1 flood prevention schemes have been approved, and in which financial year the resource will be drawn down.

Local authorities are responsible for developing and delivering flood protection schemes and the Scottish Government provides funding to support this.

31 cycle one flood protection schemes remain eligible for grant funding as they were notified as required under the Flood Risk Management Act 2009 by the 31 March 2024 deadline agreed by Ministers and COSLA Leaders.

8 have been withdrawn from the cycle one funding programme (2 voluntarily and 6 because they failed to meet the notification deadline of 31 March 2024).1 is no longer required.

Local authorities provide a spend profile for each flood protection scheme annually to the Scottish Government and this determines how much funding is distributed to each eligible scheme in any given year.